Our first recent story takes us to Longview, where the longshoremen (remember this guy?) ignored a judge's order to get back to work:
After a union wildcat strike turned violent on Thursday, triggering a walkout at five ports in Washington state, longshoremen went back to work on Friday.What's special about this case is that the company used union labor to do a job, just a different union.
But in an unusual twist, the National Labor Relations Board succeeded in getting a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction Thursday against further union activity at the Port of Longview after the union ignored the temporary restraining order that he issued a week earlier.
And just down the street in Tacoma, teachers are illegally striking:
As Tacoma families prepared for another day without school today, negotiations between the Tacoma teachers union and the school district continued late into the evening Sunday.Good that the adults are setting the example up there, showing children the importance of following the law. And please, don't insult me by insinuating or even outright saying that these situations are in any way similar to the civil disobedience practiced in the civil rights era, wherein mistreatment and degradation of people was enshrined in law. Stating such would not only insult my intelligence, but would embarrass me for you.
The head of the state Public Employment Relations Commission, Cathy Callahan, mediated bargaining sessions.
The union said talks will resume this morning...
Tacoma teachers voted to strike Sept. 12, then voted again last week to remain on strike despite a judge’s order to return to work.
I just wonder why they still have a job. Where I work if I don't show up for work after three days it's assumed I've resigned and I am terminated.
ReplyDeleteUpdate: the judge who handed down the back-to-work order (the teachers ignored it) now says that he may permit the district to hire replacement teachers. I'm hoping that Judge Chushkoff will jail union leaders for contempt and levy heavy fines on each striking teacher until all parties comply with the Court's order
ReplyDeleteIf they don't want to work, fine--let them look for a job elsewhere. The things that the strike seems to be about (1.9% pay cut, seniority matters rather than merit, and so on) seem rather petty when compared to private sector woes.
ReplyDeleteAnd the union bosses clearly show us that this is NOT about the children and parents, who are being held hostage in this situation.
I think it is becoming tradition around here for the school year to begin with a teachers' strike. :(
ReplyDelete