It’s not Blackmail, It’s Brownmail
Jul 17, 2009 Political
Man oh man- just when you think people can not possibly get much weirder, here you go.
In a “payback” scheme, the Hussein administration is trying to “level” the playing field for UPS, which is a mainly ground deliverer, versus FedEx, who ships mainly by air. Why does this matter? Because FedEx has fewer onerous labor contracts with unions, who backed the Hussein administration, and now want mo’ money and more control over FedEx.
Now it is the Teamsters’ turn at the trough. Congress might change labor law to assist UPS, a Teamsters stronghold, by hindering its principal competitor, FedEx.
At 2 a.m. in Memphis, where FedEx is headquartered, the airport is humming as FedEx sorts and dispatches many of the 3.4 million packages — 10 million pounds of freight — it ships daily, mostly with its fleet of 654 aircraft. Eighty-five percent of FedEx packages go by air; 85 percent of UPS’ go only by truck. This matters because:
The growth of railroads had put America’s increasingly integrated economy at the mercy of local strikes. “Brakemen in Altoona, signalmen in Wichita,” says Fred Smith, could cripple the transportation network. Smith, FedEx’s CEO, says that in 1926 Congress, to protect commerce, passed the Railway Labor Act (RLA). It ensured that any bargaining unit for workers must be systemwide so that no local unit could hold the railroads hostage.
In 1935, the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act), which covered everyone except railway workers, allowed organizing and bargaining based on localities. The path to unionization is steeper under the RLA, which requires a nationwide vote by all workers.
—–George Will, Washington Post, 7/18
This would be bad enough for FedEx, since it faces a threat of being hamstrung by every rinky- dink local union that figures it needs mo’ money, but apparently every organization wants a bite of FedEx’s butt- people you might think are friends turn out to be whores themselves, and sell their allegiance for money- you say mercenary, I say whore.
The American Conservative Union asked FedEx for a check for $2 million to $3 million in return for the group’s endorsement in a bitter legislative dispute, then flipped and sided with UPS after FedEx refused to pay.
For the $2 million+, ACU offered a range of services that included: “Producing op-eds and articles written by ACU’s Chairman David Keene and / or other members of the ACU’s board of directors. (Note that Mr. Keene writes a weekly column that appears in The Hill.)”
The conservative group’s remarkable demand — black-and-white proof of the longtime Washington practice known as “pay for play” — was contained in a private letter to FedEx that was provided to POLITICO.
The letter exposes the practice by some political interest groups of taking stands not for reasons of pure principle, as their members and supporters might assume, but also in part because a sponsor is paying big money.
politico.com
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In 1981, UPS began air services and in the 1990s it tried to be put under the RLA. In 1993 UPS said all its operations, “including ground operations,” are properly subject to the RLA “because the ground operations are part of the air service.” FedEx supported UPS’ efforts, even though the vast majority of UPS parcels never go on an airplane, whereas FedEx’s trucking operations exist to feed its air fleet and distribute what it carries.
FedEx characterizes itself as the “world’s most effective airline” and UPS as “a 100-year old trucking company.” FedEx, Smith insists, is not anti-union; its pilots are unionized. He says that the pay and benefits for its drivers are, on average, higher than those of UPS drivers, and that new FedEx drivers must wait only three months to be eligible for benefits whereas UPS drivers must wait a year. Nevertheless, today’s Democratic majority in Congress, with UPS now aligned with the Teamsters, wants to put FedEx’s ground pickup and delivery operations under the NLRA, thereby making FedEx’s entire integrated system susceptible to disruption by local disputes.
FedEx characterizes what Congress might do for UPS as the “Brown Bailout.” But properly used, “bailout” denotes a rescue of an economic entity from financial distress. Although UPS is suffering from the recession, so is FedEx. Furthermore, UPS, whose revenue is 36 percent more than FedEx’s, began advocating this injury to FedEx long before this recession.
What UPS is doing is called rent-seeking — bending public power for private advantage by hindering a competitor. This practice is banal but can have entertaining ricochets:
If Congress makes FedEx’s operations more precarious by changing the law to make it easier for local disputes to cripple its operations, Smith says a multibillion-dollar order for 15 Boeing 777s will be automatically canceled. One of the unions lobbying on behalf of UPS and the Teamsters is the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, whose members make 777s.
—- George Will, Washington Post 7/18
I just have to shake my head at the complete and utter stupidity of unions- the saying “cut off your nose to spite your face” must have been coined about the ridiculous actions of these unions, but to then have a Conservative group tearing like piranhas at the fresh meat of FedEx, hoping to get money for their endorsement is just cynical in the extreme, and cannot help the economy, or any other aspect of life in the United States, it’s just lining the pockets of white collar extortionists.
The unions can be excused- they are the village idiots here.
It’s the so- called “Conservatives” that I find to be criminally liable and totally without morals.
And that is inexcusable.
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Tags: extortion, hussein, union graft, union incompetence, unprincipled people
A Little Test For The Big Three
Nov 18, 2008 Political
The Big Three American automobile makers are in dire straights and they are begging for a taxpayer provided bailout to cover their inept business practices. There is no way that taxpayers should be paying to bailout businesses that are not well run and that will never be profitable as long as executives make huge salaries (have to keep those private jets flying) and union thugs extort more from a well that has long run dry.
The news today indicated that the bailout would not take place because of Republican resistance. NOW the Republicans get conservative…
Anyway, the Republicans are on the right side of this issue but that won’t last very long. In a few short months the Democrats will have a president and a majority in the Congress. They will essentially be able to pass what they want because a few spineless Republicans will join them. Barack Obama favors a bailout of the automakers because he is beholden to the unions and that is probably one of the biggest in the country.
It does not matter that these companies make inferior products, they pay inflated salaries for jobs that require little education or skill and they have benefits packages that unions have negotiated through the stratosphere. The fact is, the executives want their big salaries, the strong back weak minded union members want their union jobs and the unions want payback for supporting Democrats. Therefore, the Democrats will kill to get the Big Three some of your money.
Oh, the test. If the companies want us to believe that they provide such a great product then we need to conduct a little test. Someone should go to the parking lots of each of the Big Three and count how many foreign (or non Big Three) cars are on the lot. I am willing to bet that a large number of those vehicles will not be made by the company for whom the driver works.
If the people who make the cars do not trust the company (or their own craftsmanship) enough to buy its products, why should we trust the company or the workers enough to bail them out?
Government does not belong in private business. If we end up bailing these companies out we will only be rewarding them for their failures (and encouraging unions to continue their extortion). We will also only be delaying the inevitable because it is unlikely that a taxpayers bailing them out of the mess they created will suddenly cause them to do things differently.
It will be more of the same but this time it will be with our money…
Related:
My Way
Tags: bailout, big three, extortion, failure, thugs, unions, us automakers
Empty Promises of the Democratic Party
Oct 28, 2007 Political
There is a segment of society that believes people are entitled to everything in life at no cost whatsoever. These people have been around for quite some time but they have multiplied in numbers since the 1960s when LBJ and his policies created a group dependent upon government for everything. These policies helped to breed new generations of people who believed that they were entitled to anything they wanted from health care to college free of charge, paid for by the government. Unfortunately, those among this group who chose to go to school were failed by the educational system that did not teach them that whatever the government gives away is taken from others who have worked hard to earn it.
Those in the government, particularly the Democratic party, who espouse higher taxes and wealth redistribution believe that this is only proper and that it is our duty to care for those less fortunate. People like John Edwards, Martin O’Malley (Maryland Governor), Hillary Clinton, and B. Hussein Obama believe that we should all contribute to these programs or that we all have to sacrifice. They use euphemisms to mask what is really taking place and that is extortion. We do not make contributions and we are not sacrificing because these are acts that are voluntary. We are relieved of our money under threat. Our money is coerced from us under the strong arm of the government and the jack booted IRS who will crush us and put us in jail if we refuse to pay those who are extorting from us. A bigger problem is that the federal government can increase the amount we are required to pay at any time and we either take it or go to jail, or we find ways to earn less money so that we do not pay as much to the tax collector.
The Democratic hopefuls for the office of President have all expressed their desires to raise taxes on those who work so that those who do not may reap benefits from our hard work. I do not believe that people are entitled to free heath care and they are not entitled to a free college education. Of course, it would only be free to them because someone, those paying taxes, would have to pay the bills.
I believe that people are entitled to affordable health care and affordable education. I have, many times, written about health care and how it could be made affordable. My plan involves less government intervention and requires people to be responsible for their choices. I also believe that education should be affordable and that people should be able to take out low cost loans in order to get an education. None of these items requires taxpayers to foot the bills. Of course, in order for people to be able to get a good college education we must overcome the dismal performance of public schools in preparing people for college.
Another issue is Social Security and this is also an area where the Democrats do not want people to have a choice. They are content with raising the rate or cap upon which SS is based in order to pay out meager retirement checks and thus keep the elderly beholden to the government. Social Security should be privatized so that people can make their own retirement decisions. Any plan that involves retirement money should allow people to pass their savings on to their heirs, something the Democrats oppose.
No matter how it is sliced the Democrats espouse class warfare with social programs that force those with money to pay for those without. Unfortunately these programs have a stifling effect on production and growth and cause more and more people to become dependent upon the big nanny government. The Democrats know this and that is their end game. The more people beholden to them the more votes they can count on.
The unfortunate reality is that most people who vote Democrat do not see the error of these kinds of policies. They go through life blind to the realities and as long as they get their checks they do not care.
Related item:
Concord Monitor
My Way
Tags: democratic hopefuls, extortion, heath care, Hillary Clinton, irs, John Edwards, o malley, Obama, tax collector, wealth redistribution