Hey you, buddy, display the union label ... or swim with the fishes

Original Post: Lakeland Times

Gregg Walker

There's an old union slogan, Labor is entitled to all it creates.

These days, we might say, Labor is entitled to all it can extort. At least that's what they apparently believe. They force workers to pay union dues so they can lavish campaign money on crony politicians who will in return richly reward them come contract time.

In tougher times, well, they just threaten to shut everybody down. That's what they have done to state government these past few weeks; that's what we now know they are trying to do to many local businesses in the Northwoods and around the state.

It's a good time to bring Jimmy Hoffa The Younger But No Less Thuggier into the column. C'mon in, Jimmy!

We have mentioned in these pages the recent appearance of America's top union boss to help lead the Madison protests. Ah, the face of American unionism.

How apt that Hoffa showed up as union bullies labored in the streets to take us all hostage and put on one of the more remarkable displays of greed and corruption in American history, a throwback to the good old days when union goons would just as soon shoot you than negotiate with you.

Of course, Hoffa didn't have to use inflammatory language to help incite the crowd. Just his appearance would do the trick. Thuggery is as thuggery does, and thuggery looked pretty active in the streets of Madison last week.

There they were, the teachers who theoretically educate our children, carrying signs portraying the governor as Hitler or Mubarak, and at one point chasing down and surrounding Sen. Glenn Grothman at a Capitol entrance.

It was an ugly scene and alarmed some people to the point that they chanted "Peaceful, peaceful," to remind their fellow protesters to keep things under control. They did, and Grothman escaped with the help of liberal leftist Demotator Brett Hulsey of Madison.

But while that crowd kept its control, union thuggery has not been so controlled elsewhere. Now businesses who publicly decline to declare their open support for the unions are being threatened with boycotts, even those who want simply to stay neutral.

That's something the public-sector unions don't want to tolerate. These days, it's display the union label, buddy - or swim with the fishes.

In Two Rivers, as has been widely reported, a stir was created when a print shop printed a pro-Walker T-shirt for a high school student ("Scott Walker My Hero" it read on the front; "He's got Nads," on the back). When the student wore the shirt to school, the head of the local teachers' union promptly threatened the print shop owners.

Wes Glenna, the union president, sent an email to owners David and Bridget VanGinkel, asking, "...have you taken the time to figure out how your recent decision could result in the loss of profits to your business?"

The owners told local papers they felt threatened by a boycott.

Glenna backed away from his written remarks, saying he was only objecting to the word 'Nads' on the back of the shirt though he later apologized for the email. The school continued to let the student wear the shirt with the offensive word covered.

Then, right in our back yard, in Rhinelander, more thuggery yet.

As Northwoods River News editor Joe VanDeLaarschot wrote , a pro-union protester threatened to put a local restaurant "out of business" because the business owner refused to put a pro-union sign in the window.

The incident took place as union members demonstrated against an Americans for Prosperity rally for Walker at Wolff's Log Cabin Restaurant in Rhinelander.

One of the owners asked if they were being blackmailed and, as we reported, was told, "you can call it what you want, but we're putting you out of business."

Four other people confirmed the incident.

In all this we see demonstrated the union's height of hypocrisy and stupidity. Union members say they are fighting for their livelihoods, but they do so by threatening the livelihoods of others - there's the hypocrisy - and, if they do manage to bankrupt local business owners, there will be less money flowing into the public trough for union bosses to slurp down. That's the stupid part.

The beat goes on. At Wausau West High School, teachers reportedly posted letters urging boycotts of local businesses supporting Walker, while teachers in Green Bay considered staying away from a major Chamber of Commerce event.

It is all a form of extortion. Either give us what we want politically, or we'll shut the state down and kidnap senators. Either express public support for us, and do what we tell you, or we'll put you out of business.

It is very important to understand the mentality behind this kind of thinking. It reeks of an old-fashioned mob mentality, as organized labor veers very close to the edge of organized crime. Too often, in the past, their paths have already intersected, which is why it's so chilling to see Hoffa mount the stage to adoring cheers from Wisconsin's teachers.

With his arrival, the union establishment, particularly the public-sector union establishment, has gone full circle, right back to the days of the real mob and of Jimmy Hoffa the Elder.

It's worth remembering how the mob really worked. In the old days especially, the mob ran local businesses with an iron fist, much like the unions are trying to do now. We'll protect you for a fee. In return, you'll get a safe neighborhood and preferential treatment. If any businesses moved in and refused to pay, they would be burned out, if the owner was lucky.

Does this remind us of anything? How about mandatory union dues? It's the same thing: Pay us whether you like us or not and we'll represent you at the bargaining table whether you want us to or not. And if you don't want to pay up, oh by the way, you're fired.

Burned out.

And it's the same tactic going with local businesses. There's no place for such union thuggery, but it is the nature of that institutional beast.

If the union's goal is to put hardworking people and private businesses out of business, then that's one more reason why this bill needs to pass - for, in the end, it is the people who are entitled to the wealth they create, not the union bosses who want to take it through lavish collective bargaining schemes or forced union dues.

It's time to put the union label away in state government once and for all.