Monday, August 16, 2010

Anti-union Unions

It's always funny whenever the employees of a teachers union--you know, the people who answer the phones, do publicity, and keep the union itself running--want to go on strike. The arguments you hear from the union employees are exactly like those you hear from teachers during contract disputes, and the unions themselves act like the old union-busters of old. Sometimes they even lock their employees out, all the while whistling past the Hypocrisy Graveyard. EIA, the nation's repository of all teachers union information, frequently writes about such happenings.

Sometimes you might be tempted to wonder if a story is true, it's just so wild. And even when strikes aren't the issue, you might wonder if unions can be so stridently anti-union. Seriously, though, you can't make stuff like this up:

In a move of stunning hypocrisy, the United Federation of Teachers axed one of its longtime employees -- for trying to unionize the powerful labor organization's own workers, it was charged yesterday.

Jim Callaghan, a veteran writer for the teachers union, told The Post he was booted from his $100,000-a-year job just two months after he informed UFT President Michael Mulgrew that he was trying to unionize some of his co-workers...

"I told him I want to have the same rights that teachers have," said Callaghan, 63, of Staten Island. "He told me he didn't want that, that he wanted to be able to fire whoever he wanted to."

The UFT has long strenuously resisted city efforts to make it easier for school administrators to fire teachers.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/this_oughta_teach_him_rQamwIU0sNZxyrmyNBxz4L#ixzz0wnqFhIe5

1 comment:

maxutils said...

I really don't see this as being hypocritical: rather, it's a really good example of why unions are important. The management of any business, if seeking maximum profit or efficiency, should be anti-union --- just like corporations should always think of their shareholders first. Without the protection of a union, they can and will have their way with their employees. That's why we have pro labor legislation -- to help workers balance the scales. So, this looks bad, perhaps, but it's no different than in any other business.