By Getzy Markowitz
The era of the mob has come to a close. Once the fixtures of the back alley and in-your-face sudden attacks, the Capones and Gotiis have been relegated to movie screenings. The mafia still exists, but like bad Hollywood take-offs, they are generally try-hard copycats.
However, many would argue that a new brand of mobsters have become legitimate criminals. Drive-by shootings are replaced by character assassinations in the drive-by media. A refusal of their demands will welcome impossible ones. Their wars have become deadlier and dirtier. Although wrong and offensive, they are backed by legal authority.
A nation once united by a union force is now hostage to a fierce union movement that is more of a confederacy. The land of the free has been placed in shackles with the exception of the few resistant brave. These labor unions will twist their victims’ arms until they cry mercy, and finally yield. Claiming to protect workers’ rights, the union offends the freedoms granted them in the Bill of Rights. It is their way or the highway, and they are eager to take the low road to suit their interests.
Consider 16 year old Danielle Cookson, an Albertson’s clerk. She refused to become a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, even after they had made it clear that joining was compulsory. The alternative was losing her job. Danielle is no activist; she simply did not want to pay the $80 initiation fee, plus a monthly membership of $30 to an organization she didn’t want to be part of. How could her rights be protected by people who would harm her for having rights to begin with?
While we worry about terrorist sleeper cells, there are some active groups that should have triggered a wake-up call long ago. I don’t hesitate to compare some unions to terrorists. They hate our freedom and our very way of life; submit to their fundamentals or be damned.
Since May, one of this country’s largest leftist unions has been bullying victims right in America’s heartland at the Agriprocessors meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa. Through fabrications, distortions, and exaggerations, the union has dealt a powerful blow to our nation’s righteous might. Their tactics are cowardly, while their opponents are admirably courageous. Agri’s only crime has been refusing to unionize, and choosing to be governed solely by the democratic political body we the people have elected.
The union’s unbending determination has them bending the rules. The employees they sought to defend have been incarcerated for refusing their protection. The employers who provided the best for their human resources have been disparaged for allegedly doing the extreme opposite. To be sure, I am not accusing the unions of these despicable actions, I only need highlight their own statement: “It’s no longer sufficient to use a strike or other work disturbance to pressure a company to do the right thing. Increasingly, it’s necessary to pressure a company by causing a crisis of confidence among its customers, shareholders, directors or other constituents.”
Even as the bulk of the ridiculous allegations has been controverted, the media have been sparing in rebuttals or clarifications. But as the mighty union fails to bring down an upright giant, selfishly the union won’t surrender and has moved on to new tactics. A Minnesota plant under their sway is now offering Agri workers better pay, being as they are “mistreated” and “underpaid.”
I wonder why personnel would stay in a job whose package includes personal abuse and mistreatment? There is obviously a gap that could be filled by the competition. As wages are competitive, why would workers stay at an indecent Agriprocessors? If workers are so eager to leave the company, then why do they need to be bribed with a pay raise to do so?
The truth, as documented in independent video interviews by organizations such as the Five Towns Jewish Times, is that staff at Agriprocessors say that they are happy with their working environment and treatment. One employee said that she was treated better and paid more than in her previous job at Tyson chicken. If the workers have complaints, Agriprocessors has encouraged them to make suggestions. By their own testimony, workers’ concerns are properly addressed.
The liberty granted these unions is appalling, even as they threaten the everyday American’s own. Their opposers are treated as dissidents and will have their human rights threatened. While we need to stand up against these subjugators, identifying their hand when we see it is a good start.
