Why Do We Accept Union Violence?

by Publius

Asks Bill Frezza over at RealClearMarkets:

Things sure turned ugly fast in the recent Verizon strike. The Associated Press reported 70 acts of sabotage in the first week. A New Jersey judge had to issue an injunction banning members of the Communications Workers of America from “Dropping, spreading, throwing, placing or otherwise causing nails, glass, cinder block, spikes, feces, clubs, rocks, screws, or puncture devices of any kind, or other object or debris to be thrown or strewn in, on, or about Verizon’s driveways, parking lots, entrances, exits, vehicles and adjoining roads to any of Verizon’s property or at any work site.” Investigative reporters may be nowhere to be seen, but thanks to cell phone cameras some nasty videos are beginning to pop up on the web.

According to the National Institute for Labor Relations Research there have been 4,400 recorded acts of labor violence since 1991. The Teamsters lead the pack with 454, as one would expect from an organization once infiltrated by organized crime. The Teamsters have plenty of company, yet few offenders are called to account. In the Homestead tradition, law enforcement tends to melt away when a union goes on a rampage. Barely three percent of violent crimes committed by union members lead to an arrest or conviction.

This can only happen due to public acceptance.

If violent behavior on the part of unions was met with the same kind of opprobrium meted out to child molesters it would disappear in a heartbeat. Let’s face it, these are our neighbors. In all other respects they are normal people. They would never dream of walking into a supermarket and beating up the cashier if she charged more for a can of soup than what some union boss determined was the “right” price. Yet these same people, when dealing with differences of opinion over labor prices, think nothing of becoming raging hooligans, or worse. The only way to make them ashamed of their violent behavior is to name and shame them.

More often than not, it’s not management that union members beat up to protect their turf. Like any schoolyard bully, they pick on the weak not on the strong. Most victims of union violence are unemployed workers looking for a job so they can feed their families. “Scabs,” they call them. Subhuman scum. Untouchables. People who, in the minds of unionists and their enablers, are worthy of the same kind of vile abuse that Klu Klux Klansman used to dish out to African Americans that didn’t know their place.

Speak out. Report what you see. Post it on the web. Anyone who looks the other way is part of the problem.

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Posted Aug 22nd 2011 at 11:41 am in Big Labor, Culture | 154 Comments