Dissident Shawn Fain Elected UAW President

[Lowell]

Change continues to roll over the UAW as the first non-insider, Shawn Fain, has narrowly been elected its new president in the wake of scandals that saw two of the UAW's former presidents sent to prison.

This has huge implications for Detroit, the upcoming contract negotiations, and the Union's choice of a target company in September. It also comes at time of upheaval as the auto companies rapidly transition from ICE to EV.

Fain is considered more militant than the old guard. He is considered hostile to Stellantis [formerly Chrysler] for whom he worked and the company that famously corrupted union officials during its days as Chrysler-Fiat. GM is also considered a target.

Full article from today's Free Press here.

[Richard]

Considering that RTW has been repealed those coffers should be overflowing soon with plenty of opportunities for future revenue “bonuses “.

With EVs its easy enough for the companies to branch off in different divisions elsewhere in the country as separate divisions and just phase out murky waters if it comes down to that,no good having an arm twisting union,if there is no arms to twist.

[CassTechGrad]

I started with UAW local 140 back in the 1960's, then went to local 212 at the Mack Ave stamping plant on a diemaker apprenticeship. Joe Zappa was president of local 212 then and it had the largest membership. The UAW was good to me and I hope everything works out for the best.

[Henry Whalley]

The UAW's revenue come from its investments mostly, not from dues as in the early days of the union. IMHO RTW is grossly unfair in that the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 forces a union to negotiate contracts on behalf of all workers in the bargaining unit, and to represent all workers who have grievances, who face disciplinary measures, etc., whether or not they pay dues. These duties aren't optional, but paying dues is optional. Eliminating RTW simply eliminates this unfairness. Calling it "right to work" was a clever marketing gimmick dreamed up by a union buster on Madison Ave.

Granted, more dues mean more revenue in union coffers, but the primary source of revenue will continue to be the Wall St. portfolio.

P.S. It's worth noting that Congress never attempted to revise the NLRA vis-a-vis the RTW so-called, even when Democrats had the power to do so. IMHO the fact that Michigan repealed RTW is something Michiganders ought to be proud of. YMMV.

[Richard]

I really do not know much about unions,or what they invest like n on Wall Street.

So I am limited to research and what I find is how union dues is spent is a closely regulated ordeal and have been able to find zero on Wall Street investments.

So the next thing is to see where the collected dues are actually spent,like in the case of where the teachers union spent $66 million in 2020 alone supporting progressive,liberal and democrat politicians.

I am not going political but that 66 million was over and above what they collected from members over and above for PACs.

In fact they only spent 9% of $374 million collected in representative activities for the members.

https://americansforfairtreatment.or...-your-dues-go/

The union is operating as a super pac for the Democratic Party and when they spend more in politics then representing the workers it would question what their mission really is.

When jobs were fleeing this country while the union was pumping millions per year into super pacs why were the jobs allowed to leave,surly it was in the best interests of the union to have more jobs so they could collect more fees.

They clearly have the power to sway public policy but they did not.

The feds fought to get the mob out of the unions,but after a little research it’s clear it was more of a power play so another mob could step in and collect in the form of super pacs.

I would be interested in knowing how they invest in Wall Street when were their money goes is a closely scrutinized public disclosure.

The hotel workers union went on strike in Atlantic city demanding more wages from the casinos after the crash of 2008,the casinos did not budge and bankrupted and shut it all down,14,000 lost their jobs overnight and were stuck in a city that had no jobs to replace them.

So what is to stop the auto manufacturers in Detroit from saying,we are moving production of EVs to a non union state as separate entities like they have already told you they are going to structure ,and just shut down production in Michigan bankrupting the ice divisions in order to get rid of the legacy costs that have them at a disadvantage.

Push comes to shove and it comes down to survival who do you think is going to make sure they survive ?

Michigan is a graveyard of past auto manufacturing brand names,the most recent being Chrysler/Dodge.

In the EV world nobody is going to care if their EV is a Ford or GM,brand loyalty went out the trunk decades ago,car manufacturers loyalty to the customer went out the trunk decades ago.

Their one and only goal is to sell products,if those products get built in Mexico they do not care.

The only objective of a corporation is to make money for the shareholders,they can set up a base to make that money anywhere in the world.

My question is,if the unions mission is to protect the workers and offer them security in employment why have they spent 100s of millions supporting politicians as the very jobs their members need are and have been shipped overseas.

Second question is,how come the non union manufacturers in the south are not being subject to the same abuse that the the union members are paying a fee every month to avoid?

There are actually already labor laws in place that offer the same protections as the union does,people pay taxes on top of dues in order to benefit from those laws.

The difference is after paying all of those years of dues making everybody else comfortable financially,a company decides to shut down and you are out of a job,you are still out of a job.

Its funny,the unions in this country have been fighting for the workers for decades,but they still only get a 30 min lunch break and 2 15 minute breaks.

In France,you get 2 hours for lunch,everybody shuts down.

My uncle was in the union with a major auto manufacturer,he was a line Forman,when affirmative action kicked in,they used to send the new hire African Americans to his line and he would make sure they quit pretty quick,but the manufacturer met there quota for new hire African Americans,it was not their fault that they quit after a week.

He was protected by the union,where was the new hires protection ?

I am not anti union or pro union,it’s a numbers thing for me,when I see millions collected based on looking out for the workers best interests while they very jobs those workers depend on have been flying out the window for decades.

The return on investment from the workers dues pretty much sucks for the workers,they are paying dues every month with no guarantee that they will have a job from one day to the next.

But yet millions of their money is being spent to make politicians rich and to further their careers and $500k a year salaries so people can figure out what politicians to support.

It would probably be better if the millions in collected dues were spent on Wall Street investments and the workers were supplied with a pension of sorts over and above.

But the reality of it is and like with my friend,retirement from an auto manufacturer at age 40 and not having work anymore,is a thing of the past.

There is no way in the world U.S. auto makers as they exist today can compete with a new EV start up while holding decades in legacy costs.

If they are going to survive they have no choice but to shed dead weight which is anything and everything related to ICE and the decades behind it.

The elephant in the room is,where does that leave Michigan and Detroit in this new world of the future.

Granted you have welcome China into your loins with a battery factory investment and Ford has revamped the train station so that’s a start.

But Ford also took a 3 billion dollar loss this year and still wakes up to a new day.

3 billion sounds like a lot to us little people but it is a drop in the bucket to companies like Ford,they could probably take a 1 year 50 billion dollar hit and exit the state completely and not bat an eye because it becomes a 1 year hit and not counted as a long term loss.

All of those manufacturers can walk tomorrow and not bat an eye if it becomes cheaper and easier to do business in another state or country and now that you are so deep in bed with the unions,what company in their right mind is even going to look at investing there.

Shareholders look at numbers,they do not care about train stations or history or anything else,the CEO make those numbers or they are replaced.

Its about having options,on one hand steps were taken to protect your options today,but on the other hand removing the options of the future is the price you will pay.

You guys already went down that road before and you are still paying the price for what almost completely destroyed you,I am finding it hard to understand why you are choosing to follow the same path when you know full well it led to your destruction the last time?

[Henry Whalley]

...where was the new hires protection ?

tldr

[Richard]

tldr

yep sticking your head in the sand has worked out so well in the past,so keep doing it while expecting different results.

You said that the union has Wall Street investments,please educate me and show me where those investments are.

The Biden administration awarded $36 billion Thursday to prevent cuts to the pensions of roughly 357,000 union workers and retirees.
It’s the largest federal award of its kind, according to theWhite House

• The $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill offers $86 billion in grants to failing multi-employer pension plans, to help pay benefits for union workers.
• Funding in more than 100 plans [[nearly 10% of the total) are in critical shape. A Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation program that serves as a financial backstop is also nearly insolvent.
• If the unions were investing in Wall Street they would not need non union taxpayers to bail them out,so the reality of it is,hard working non union taxpayers are having to pay the way for union members to enjoy the benefits of what the union provides.
• So one union alone spends $66 million to fund politicians and then has to be bailed out by everyday non union workers.

You are forcing me as a taxpayer to support the unions and the candidates of their choice when I have zero to do with unions and want zero to do with the candidates of their choice.

So how come that same $66 million was not spent on the members who put it up ?

So you are taking not only members dues to support causes and politicians you are also forcing non members,People that have zero to do with unions a forcing them to support the unions and to pay to support politicians that they would never support.

You would be okay with me forcing you to kick in to financially support a candidate of my choice while not giving you a choice?

The more I dig into it,the unions are not there to support the workers,they are there to exploit the workers for the benefit of the politicians,it’s like a little socialist run country within a country disguised as a union.

The reality is you guys just hitched your wagon to a dead horse ,and like Mr Henry instead of dealing with it,people are going to stick their head in the sand and hope it goes away.

Just great going down this fricking rabbit hole,now in the future when somebody tells me they are retired on a pension it will be a fancy way of saying they are on section 8 and I have to pay more in taxes in order to help support them so they can live a comfortable lifestyle.

Better then me in a lot of cases.

You have to admit they are pretty savoy,spend $66 million to buy politicians and get $86 billion in return ,people are sitting in prison for schemes like that.

So how exactly did the unions protect the workers,they did not they just used them as a means to an end and between them and the politicians squandered their money and forced them onto the public dole in the end.

No wonder RTW was repealed in Michigan,it’s a very profitable enterprise for the politicians that support it at the cost of the workers and every other taxpayer in the country.

No wonder they did not care about jobs leaving this country and actually protecting the workers best interests,they knew if they supported enough socialist friendly politicians they would be able to generate revenue and convince them to operate and treat it as a socialist tool in order to push that agenda.

It’s not the union anymore,it’s the socialist workers party where everybody goes to work and puts into the system and the government pays their pension,no different then in China or Russia.

The union boss is the party representative between the workers and the state,no different then in China where every business has to have a CCP representative on site.

Talk about a coup.

Irregardless of what the unions used to be and how they protected the workers,those days are long gone,they appear to have become a financial tool of the socialist and progressive party’s agenda and a door into what they have become,a socialist workers party tool to generate revenue for those at the top so they can gain power and influence,at the sacrifice of the very workers they are supposed to protect.

A Trojan horse.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

This guy talks a tough game. We'll see how tough he is soon enough

[Henry Whalley]

This guy talks a tough game. We'll see how tough he is soon enough

Taft-Hartley de-fanged our labor unions and neo-liberalism castrated them, making it nearly impossible for the Fain regime to be tough. But hopefully it will be less corrupt.

[CassTechGrad]

Labor Union Depictions in Hollywood [[Part I): From Demonized to Ignored or Mafia Plot Cliché. Adam Johnson, Citations Needed | July 27, 2022

“One of Hollywood’s longstanding and most favored tropes: the corrupt, mobbed up union, and more specifically, the corrupt union boss. It lends itself to countless stories: The rise and fall of a Mafia-backed labor head, the rebellion of rank-and-file workers against their tyrannical leadership, the precarious union on the verge of implosion. Accordingly, over and over again, we’ve seen stories of labor unions entangled with extortion, bribery, blackmail, theft and murder.”

[Henry Whalley]

...labor unions entangled with extortion, bribery, blackmail, theft and murder.”

Doing the math, it turns out that everyone is corrupt.

Jesus of Nazareth may have been the exception that proves the rule. It's a pity that his ideas never caught on.

[jcole]

Did anyone else notice his name echoes "Sinn Féin"? His parents must have had ideas for their boy.

[Henry Whalley]

This guy talks a tough game. We'll see how tough he is soon enough

UAW reaches milestone in filing for union vote at second nonunion automaker
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/u...144537177.html

[Jimaz]

President Fain NJ CEASE message

UAW President Fain shares why a new lawsuit was filed and why New Jersey casino workers deserve a safe and healthy working environment.

[Henry Whalley]

President Fain NJ CEASE message

Thanks to removing the UAW's criminal element -- in other words, the UAW's old-guard leadership from coast to coast -- Fain's an unintended consequence.

[Richard]

President Fain NJ CEASE message

Thats what they said in Atlantic City as they helped bankrupt the casino industry there and 7000 lost their jobs forever overnight.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Thats what they said in Atlantic City as they helped bankrupt the casino industry there and 7000 lost their jobs forever overnight.

They'll find work. The economy is booming right?

[Henry Whalley]

They'll find work. The economy is booming right?

Of course. They'll find better jobs

[Richard]

They'll find work. The economy is booming right?

I guess it depends on where one is sitting on the gravy train,holding the reins or riding in the back of the buckboard.

It’s like squeezing blood from a turnip trying to pass increased costs down to the consumer anymore.

When the dollar stores start shutting down,ya might have an economics problem.

The upper middle class is spending like there is no tomorrow while the middle class on down is hurting,it’s like we are back in the 70s again.

Clearly those at the top are out of touch with reality or maybe they figure if you wish for something hard enough it becomes reality all by itself or people will believe it,the increased costs are just everybody’s imagination.

There were no more jobs in Atlantic City after the casinos shut down everybody had to move to find one.

On an off note - There was an apartment in the building that Nucky Lived in the series Board Walk Empire,listed for sale for $75,000 it was the Ritz hotel in the series but still like it was in all its glamour when built in the late 1800s,really cool building ,anywhere else that would be $600k to over 1 million.

But between the union and the mob by the time you give everybody their kickbacks it probably would cost more to live there then in Manhattan.

[Henry Whalley]

SUNDOWNING ai Orange Julius BLASTS MSNBC WITH “THE NARCISSIST’S PRAYER”
https://youtu.be/f5FB7_xvD84

[Henry Whalley]

Woodford Reserve tried to undermine unionization effort at its Kentucky distillery, judge rules [[yahoo.com)

[Richard]

In 1917 the Richman Bros opened a new men’s clothing factory in Cleveland Ohio.The father started the original one in 1873.

The brothers wanted each employe to feel like they were a part of the family,so they had

2 weeks paid vacation,maternity leave,36 hour work week,no time clocks and no interest loans to any employee going through a rough time and the founder knew each of the 2000 employees by name.

In the 1940s they expanded the employee benefit package to include,free life insurance,hospital and surgery benefits,childbirth benefits and expanded payed vacation to 3 weeks and pensions for anybody working for over 15 years.

They were non union

In 1950 the ACWA - Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America Union starting picketing all of their 43 clothing store locations while trying to force them to become unionized.

They actually had better benefits as a non union factory then the union factories did.

In 1969 the company sold to FW Woolworth and in 1990 FW Woolworth considered the factory financially unstable and shut it down.

They had kept Richman Bros as a stand alone company and by 1975 they had 275 stores in 39 states while they took the union battle to the U.S. Supreme Court.

They always remained a non union company until closure and had over 4000 employees in those 39 states.

So if the unions goal is worker protection,why would they spend so much time and energy destroying a non union factory that actually provided better benefits then what as being offered by the union?

For an organization that claims to be for the workers,they sure have a history of destroying jobs and putting 1000s out of work at a time.

Those jobs are never replaced.

[Henry Whalley]

Clothing Workers v. Richman Brothers Co. :: 348 U.S. 511 [[1955) :: Justia US Supreme Court Center

Interesting case with monumental relevance this month in that federal courts can't enjoin NY State proceedings against Orange Julius.

Much as the traitorous majority in SCOTUS may wish to save his turd-caked ass later this month in the porn star hush-money trial, we're still a nation of laws. So, thank you 348 U.S. 511 [1955].

And thanks U.S. courts, prosecutors FBI, etc., for cleaning union corruption among Teamsters, UAW. etc.

"Labor Law - Federal Procedure - Stay of State Court Proceedings Involv" by Arne Hovdesven S.Ed. [[umich.edu)

P.S. Are Diaper Dictator's Depends expenses tax deductible?

https://youtu.be/_umTRhBwEMI

[Henry Whalley]

https://youtu.be/TEd_Rkxs93s

[Henry Whalley]

...And thanks U.S. courts, prosecutors FBI, etc., for cleaning union corruption among Teamsters, UAW. etc.

Southern governors tell autoworkers that voting for a union will put their jobs in jeopardy [[yahoo.com)