Apatosaurus & Big Labor

DATELINE: 150 million years ago

Apatosaurus (a.k.a. Brontsaurus) Goes Extinct

DATELINE: Today

Big Labor On Verge Of Bankruptcy - May Follow Apatosaurus

The top story in the June 11th Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal:

Unions in Debt

Big labor has big financial problems it wants to keep quiet.

Andy Stern even bragged about spending over $60 million over to elect (buy) Barack Obama. WSJ tells us:

The SEIU and AFL-CIO have been spending so much on politics that they're going deeply into debt.

And? We already know that, what's new?

Tom Buffenbarger, President of the International Machinist and Aerospace Workers and an AFL-CIO finance committee member warns:

"If we are not careful, insolvency may be right around the corner,"

I'm sorry Tom, is that the good news or the bad news?

Mother Nature decided she'd had enough of Apatosaurus and the species vanished almost overnight. Another dinosaur, the labor union, has been sewing the seeds of it's own destruction for quite a while and may be poised to follow Apatosaurus. Watch out boys, Mother Nature is a BITCH!

dino courtesy of Heathers Animations

UNITE HERE page on UNION DISCLOSURE BLOG

There is a UNITE HERE page on UNION DISCLOSURE BLOG
 
Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees & Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union

Whee doggie! The National has a lot of money but that's to be expected - 366,958 local members and receipts of more than $141 million! Of course, the National has to have a lot of rev-e-news when they dish out $41,502,155 to the boss-es & em-ploye-s. I guess they just trying to keep the un-emply-ment rate low!

The comments section is interesting: lawsuits, employee theft, money going everywhere - you need an accounting degree to understand it! The comments do pose a question. If the union is currently undergoing an audit to determine if the LM-2 is correct, how can they answer "yes" to question 12? I thought you were supposed to conduct an audit prior to filing.

12. During the reporting period did the labor organization have an audit or review of its books and records by an outside accountant or by a parent body auditor/representative?

Yes

Picky, Picky.

I leave the $10,768,258 depreciation of a $12,294,826 asset (office furniture and equipment) to anyone who understands IRS Pub 946.

I'm not the only fan of UNITE HERE. A quick google turns up, among others, UNITE HERE EXPOSED. Read a little and it seems that the 2004 merger between UNITE and HERE has come apart at the seams.

Former UNITE leaders Bruce Raynor (suspended April 21st from his job as UNITE HERE general president) and Edgar Romney have teamed up with, who else, SEIU strongman Andy Stern against their rival, former HERE boss, John Wilhelm. It's open conflict and blood in the streets (not really but one can dream now and then:-). Read Ben Smith's reporting.

I say "Keep up the good work" to the whole bunch.

California Financial Crisis and SEIU

From what I gather SEIU boss, Andy Stern, is not a real nice guy and some of the SEIU tactics are more reminiscent of a 30's gangster movie or the early Hoffa Teamsters than what you'd expect in 2009 America. Be that as it may, Google Reader just brought me an interesting WTH post on THE UNION LABEL BLOG. WTH (Warner Todd Huston) attributes his post to the Jon Ortiz The State Worker blog on the Sacramento Bee site.

The interesting tidbit both report:

Ortiz notes that on page 18 of the overview of the 2009-10 state budget, the report suggests the following:

The Legislature could direct the administration to score budgetary savings if it chooses not to approve the labor agreements proposed by the Governor with the state employee units represented by Service Employees International Union Local 1000. (These agreements reduce the number of furlough days for these state workers from two days per month to one day per month.) In addition, the Legislature could reduce state employee salaries by an additional 4.6 percent in 2009-10 for more General Fund savings.

Someone in the state's Legislative Analyst's Office grew a pair and decided to "tell it like it is" It remains to be seen what the SEIU reaction is going to be.

photo courtsey of WIKIMEDIA COMMONS