Rating: Summary: "On The Waterfront" -- circa 2004 Review: A book the union leaders would rather you didn't read!Few teachers, for instance, are fully aware of just how political teachers' unions have become over the years and how their own hard-earned money--paid out each month in membership dues--fuels the partisan political machine that the National Education Association(NEA), for example, has converted itself into. Other major unions have gone down the same road. As the authors lay out in chilling detail, the union movement in general no longer fights for better and safer working conditions for its members--but rather for revenues and political power. The continued inflow of dues money has become an obsession at union headquarters, and what they're able to do with this mountain of wealth and just how they go about it makes for unsettling reading. A riveting look at behind-the-scenes American politics.
Rating: Summary: Empty Diatribe--Not much new here Review: Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics, by Linda Chavez and Daniel Gray, Crown Forum, NY, 2004
Chavez and Gray give us an overview of unions in politics, but the treatment is a shallow anti-union diatribe with very little new insight. They announce that unions are a major force in Democratic politics, and that they spend members funds and expend much effort to select and elect candidates that support their views. This basic thought is stretched to 233 pages, plus footnotes.
Most of us would agree that unions are a special interest group. They work for their membership in a variety of ways, including working for better legislation. That legislation in many cases benefits all of us who work for a paycheck. Still excessive power can allow unions to strangle economic activity. Union executives may dress and act like blue collar workers, but many enjoy six figure salaries. Members funds allow ample opportunity for corruption and participation of organized crime. Public employees unions are especially onerous. Unions select and elect their own candidates and then effectively negotiate their contracts with themselves leaving taxpayers to pay the bill. The bottom line is unions are useful to society, but union power must be limited.
Chavez goes the next step and labels unions liberals. Still it is the labor segment of the Democrats that Carl Rove split so effectively with issues like gun control, abortion, gay marriage, and women's rights. These are issues favored by the liberal wing of the Democrats but often opposed by individual workers. Hence, one would better describe labor as conservative Democrats. Labor does have deep socialist roots. There are still those who support protecting the working man from the ravages of capitalism and redistribution of wealth to accomplish that. But following the economic collapse of the Soviet Union, you would think those ideas are an anachronism.
The book ends with eight ideas to limit the power of unions. There is not much new here. Audit union books. Allow workers more chances not to join the union or to oppose union political contributions. Overturn prevailing wage laws.
I would rate this book as a waste. It is strongly biased and not very convincing. It could have been written twenty years ago. Union power must be limited, but the book offers no exciting new ideas on how to accomplish that. Index.
Rating: Summary: It's pretty obvious what Union shills are rating this a zero Review: Consider these facts: 10% of Private sector employees are Union 40% of Public sector employees are Union 50% of Union membership nationwide are public sector employees $800,000,000 in Union political expenditures yearly go exclusively to the (D)'s Union dues for public employees now go directly to the Unions via tax deductable, therefore tax payer subsidized, deductions the members never see. These Unions, now dominated by public sector employees, have a vested interest in bigger government and higher taxes. In other words... Socialism. Read all about it:
Rating: Summary: The root of the problem Review: Henry David Thoreau gave a clear-eyed description of politics and life (as well as inspired the name of one of my favorite web sites) when he wrote, "There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root." Today, for all the seeming thousands of books hacking at Haliburton, Big Oil, swift boats, who-lied-about-what, and all the other leafy branches of American politics, at least one book has finally struck at the root: The massive and growing Big Labor political empire.
In another memorable quote, Thomas Jefferson once said something along the lines that "To force a man to pay for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical." "Betrayal," by Linda Chavez and Daniel Gray, is the story of how this sin and tyranny has come to be visited on us through the government-granted power of forced unionism, and how all of American politics has been twisted as a result. Indeed, from the presidency to local school boards, it's hard to find any political arena where the forced-dues-fueled Big Labor political machine isn't a -- or *the* -- most significant power.
In fact, Big Labor's political power dwarfs that of corporations, the various "special interests," and even the political parties themselves. The authors give us chapter and verse, figures, footnotes, and lots of disturbing stories. The special legal privileges enjoyed by Big Labor, up to and including immunity from prosecution for committing acts of violence, should be especially disturbing to anyone who believes in a level playing field.
It's a shame that this book probably won't get the attention it deserves. Anyone who doubts that the political game is by and large a fixed one needs to open these pages and discover that far more than Big Oil, Skull and Bones, or various other alleged Illuminati "running the country," the hands really pulling the strings belong to the labor union bosses.
Rating: Summary: The book reveals the union thuggery Review: I came from a household that lived and breathed unionism. My grandfather was a union member in the South when it was tough to organize there. We had to have a union label on food, clothes or whatever we bought. My grandfather fought with lead pipes and other means to defeat scabs, as he called them. However he feared the day that his beloved AFofL would become like the CIO and he died in 1945. I am glad that he did not see his union taken over by thugs. My father was a member of the Railroad engineers union. He changed his mind about unions before he died in 1984 and swore to always vote Republican. However he voted Democrat for five years after his death before I had his name purged from the voting list. Unions don't mean the same today and Linda Chavez really makes the point.
Rating: Summary: Quite revealing but few surprises Review: I came from a union family. We loved FDR. Our bread and clothes had to have the union label. However my grandfather was an old AFL trade union plumber. The union had an active program of apprenticship that garanteed a qualified worker through written and practical tests. My grandfather dispised the CIO that he did not live to see them join with the AFofL as he called it. He also had owned his own business which he lost in the Great Depression. His favorite quote "If you hire a union man he will make money for your business." This is no longer the case. Unions have gone boom and bust. I am sure that the unions have become too strong in the political realm and not caring about the quality of workmanship or the improvement of the plight of the business person. I admire the courage of Linda Chavez because many of these union thugs are dangerous. I refused to join or pay dues to the NEA union here and I was almost shunned by other teachers. However our state has a right to work law. I am a Republican and I did not want to donate to left wing Democrats. I used to be a Democrat before I served in the military during the Vietnam war and the Dems produced jerks like J.F. Kerry. Many teachers are too timid to refuse entry into this sordid union.
Rating: Summary: Must read - union agenda is frightening Review: I found this book to be very informative.
Everyone should read this book especially if you are a union member. The extent to which union bosses are using members's dues to corrupt the political system are very disturbing.
Contrary to what one reviewer posted, Linda Chavez cites a variety of sources including union publications.
Rating: Summary: This book will make you angry Review: I've just finished reading Betrayal, and I must say I am furious. Furious that we've been letting these union bosses and their corrupt buddies in the Democratic party get away with so much for so long. If you belong to a union, without question you need to read this book. It will forever change the way you think about unions. Trust me.
Rating: Summary: Election Year Drivel Review: If you feel you must read this, wait until it hits the discount stand when you should be able to buy it for $1.98.
Rating: Summary: Unions: The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing Review: Linda Chavez and Daniel Gray tell a shocking account of how unions in the U.S. have ironically gotten more powerful despite their membership numbers falling. The root of union power and political influence comes from the very people they claim to defend and protect: workers. In most states, union dues are forced out of workers' checks without consent. Only a small percentage of those dues are used on bargaining or other worker related activities. The bulk of dues go directly to political activity, almost exclusively to Democratic candidates for office. Forced use of dues wouldn't be so bad except that many workers (roughly %40) do not support the union's political activities (i.e., they vote Republican), and of course, some are bound to be apolitical.
Apart from their political use of dues, Chavez and Gray discuss at length the terrible abuses of union funds. In effect, the average worker is subsidizing the lavish lifestyle of union executives. Travel expenses, luxury goods, even silverware and shoes, are all bought by union excutives because worker dues pay the bill.
Unions boldly act without fear of repercussions. They often intimidate replacement workers, commit acts of terror and lethal violence, continue to forcibly extract the hard earned money of the common worker, and push a far left agenda that very often has very little to do with contract bargaining.
The final section of "Betrayal" outlines various proposals for correcting the rampant abuse of unions. One hopes the Republicans in Congress will atleast begin some efforts at reform, such as forcing unions to disclose their expenses, offer workers a choice in where their money goes, and focus on protecting workers, rather than using them as human chips for a brazenly liberal political agenda.
Highly recommended.
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