From Black Friday protests to fast-food strikes to healthcare ballot initiatives, Big Labor sure is busy this holiday season. While the issues would seem to be unrelated, there is one underlying motivation – union bosses are getting desperate to increase their numbers.
In California and Oregon, according to The Wall Street Journal, the nation’s largest healthcare union is threatening to mount ballot initiatives that it claims will lower healthcare costs. However, “industry officials say the real goal is to pressure hospitals into making it easier for the union to organize thousands of workers.” No surprises there. Let’s call it what it is: blackmail.
In California, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) official Dave Regan said “he is prepared to spend $4 million starting next year to get the signatures needed and then $10 million to $20 million on the campaign.”
And this is where blackmail – or leveling a threat for the purpose of making a gain or cause a loss to another unless a demand is met – comes in. According to the SEIU, if the healthcare industry in California and Oregon agrees to work with the union, it will back off its plans to pursue ballot initiatives.
Meanwhile, the SEIU is also behind an effort to stage what is being billed as one-day fast-food worker strikes Thursday in 100 cities nationwide. Ostensibly, the goal of these protests is to demand a $15/hour wage for fast-food employees, but of course that isn’t the only reason the SEIU is backing this effort. The union is “also demanding that restaurants allow workers to unionize without the threat of retaliation.” But how practical are these strikes and will they work?
According to the National Restaurant Association, the one-day strikes are nothing more than “publicity stunts.” Furthermore, they warn that increasing pay to more than double of the current federal minimum wage would “cause restaurants to rely more on automation and hire fewer workers.”
And are these even real, organic demonstrations? Doubtful. According to one news report, once again, labor bosses are subsidizing the unrest bringing into questions its legitimacy.
These unions might also have an ulterior motive to push for a higher minimum wage for non-union workers. It turns out that many union contracts include a clause that increases wages for union members when the minimum wage goes up. And when those workers are paid more, the union bosses are too, because dues go up.
Clearly, higher pay for fast-food workers and lower healthcare costs aren’t the real reasons the SEIU is waging a battle of protests this holiday season. And while it’s nice that they can point to these as part of their goals, we all know their real objective: to push unionization as far and wide as they can, no matter what the cost. ‘Tis the season!
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