March 31, 2011

Wisconsin State Employees Union, AFSCME Council 24, threatens to boycott businesses that don't put up window signs supporting the union.

It's sending around a letter:
"Failure to [display the sign] will leave us no choice but (to) do a public boycott of your business," the letter says. "And sorry, neutral means 'no' to those who work for the largest employer in the area and are union members."
Which side are you on? Cue Pete Seeger. Neutral means you on the boss's side. In the case of the public employees, that's... well, it's the taxpayers, isn't it? You'd better not not be on that side, you lousy scab.
The union-led effort is an outgrowth of a boycott campaign by the Wisconsin Professional Police Association and other unions in which M&I Bank and Kwik Trip were targeted because either the companies themselves or their executives supported Gov. Scott Walker's budget initiatives.
The police? I can't get my head around the concept of police involvement in boycotting businesses. That reads like pure corruption. I can't believe it's being done openly. Can someone explain to me how you can even argue that it is acceptable for police to extort political support from citizens?
Jim Haney, the outgoing head of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, a pro-business lobby, said... "It's kind of like the old protection racket... If you have the right sticker, we won't break your knees.' This is beyond the pale to force a small-business person to choose when they want to stay neutral. But that isn't good enough."

In the letter, [Jim Parrett, a field representative of Council 24 for Southeast Wisconsin] writes: "It is unfortunate that you have chosen 'not' to support public workers rights in Wisconsin. In recent past weeks you have been offered a sign by a public employee who works in one of the state facilities in the Union Grove area. These signs simply said, 'This Business Supports Workers Rights,' a simple, subtle and we feel noncontroversial statement given the facts at this time."
Meade and I talked to a several local business owners, after one protester threatened us and purported to "ban" us from various shops and restaurants in town. We wanted to know if we were still welcome, and everyone we spoke to wanted to be politically neutral.

163 comments:

Moose said...

As long as the media chooses NOT to cover activities such as these, the unions will win. And don't pulled over without a union sticker on your car, nosiree...

Chip S. said...

Just in time for a pro-Prosser campaign ad.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Look for the Union Label.....or else!!!

The Dude said...

Unions are great. They made Detroit into the city that it is now.

Triangle Man said...

This land is my land, it is not your land.

Quilly_Mammoth said...

I posted this story on Facebook and one comment is great:
"I'm the kind of person who would put the requested sign up. Along with a copy of the letter, and a second sign stating "THIS SIGN POSTED UNDER DIRECT THREAT FROM ASCME COUNCIL 24, THE WISCONSIN STATE EMPLOYEES UNION."

Chip S. said...

At some point it will be cheaper to just pay for Mafia protection and eliminate the middleman.

Anonymous said...

So now that the left needs support for their unions, suddenly they're in tight with the police?

The same left that calls the police fascist pigs?

The same left that calls out the ACLU every time a policeman has the temerity to pull over a driver of color?

Pastafarian said...

We're fuckin'AFSCME. We haul your trash and shit away, we drive your fuckin' buses.

Scott M said...

That reads like pure corruption. I can't believe it's being done openly. Can someone explain to me how you can even argue that it is acceptable for police to extort political support from citizens?

Just further proof that the left doesn't have principles, they have positions. When you have that kind of moral freedom, it doesn't matter what lofty niche of civilization you hold or that you're supposed to be above the fray between citizens. Plus...you gots guns...

James said...

I live in Racine County where this is taking place and early indications don't look good for the union:

Numerous Union Grove shops threatened with union boycott

"In Union Grove, that must be a long list. The union thanked shops it counted as supporters, listing 27 local businesses. But merchants and The Journal Times could only find two Main Street businesses displaying the AFSCME sign Wednesday.

One was Raceway Food Mart, 1645 Main St. Owner Hushyar Singh said one of his workers told union members the store would take a sign.

"I will just keep it a week or two, because I don't want to have so many signs in the window," said Singh, who clearly had no passion for the issue."

Pastafarian said...

Link to the quintessential fuckin' AFSCME video, in case there are 3 people out there that haven't seen it:

http://www.brooklynron.com/afscme/

ricpic said...

Sad to say terrorism works.

Dale said...

What is this - Chicago in the 60's? Detroit in the 70's?

The police should be in jail for extortion like this. The place is going mad.

It's time to but some guns. When you can't trust the local police to do their job, it's time to but some guns.

Freeman Hunt said...

This makes me want to move to Madison in a car covered with pro-Walker stickers, into a house decked out in pro-Walker signs, to open a business decorated in pro-Walker murals, while wearing a sandwich board reading, "I support Walker. Down with AFSCME."

Scott M said...

Sad to say terrorism works.

Only when the powerful suffer self-inflicted restraint. Terrorism didn't work well against the Romans, for instance. Hordes of Gauls, on the other hand, sure...

Moose said...

It seems no one remember the union corruption and thuggery in the 70's in Detroit with Hoffa and the UAW's pension funds. Somehow we think that now, with public union's controlling billions of dollars in pension funds, they're above thuggism.

Seems no one learns from the lessons of history...

Paddy O said...

I'm curious if a small business owner could file a lawsuit over this or have other legal responses. Any lawyers, and there are many hereabouts, want to weigh in on various options.

reader_iam said...

The police? I can't get my head around the concept of police involvement in boycotting businesses. That reads like pure corruption. I can't believe it's being done openly. Can someone explain to me how you can even argue that it is acceptable for police to extort political support from citizens?

This.

Scott M said...

It's time to but some guns. When you can't trust the local police to do their job, it's time to but some guns.

How long is the waiting period to but a gun in WI? Does butting a gun have anything with concealed carry?

DADvocate said...

Thug Nation taking over Wisconsin. Fire them all and start over.

I will look for the union label and then buy something else.

SteveR said...

What the unions and its supporters fail to recognize is winning this battle does not mean the war will not be lost. Actually they probably know too well, to delay the inevitable just gives them more time to suck a little more from the system.

traditionalguy said...

I favor the decal method that must be put upon the cars windshield if the owner don't want a weaving in the road citation that leads to an arrest for Resisting a Police Officers Union. Wasn't it a Union prophet who said that Walker supporters could not even hide behind a big rock or a tree?

DADvocate said...

How long is the waiting period to but a gun in WI?

The waiting period in Ohio was about 5 minutes for me while they ran the computer check. I don't think Wisconsin has concealed carry.

Lincolntf said...

We're really getting a peek under the Dem/Union skirt this time around, aren't we?
Good luck Wisconsin, I think you're gonna need it.

Scott M said...

The waiting period in Ohio was about 5 minutes for me while they ran the computer check. I don't think Wisconsin has concealed carry.

It was a "but" / "buy" joke, but it's never funny if it has to be pointed out.

reader_iam said...

Forcing someone or something to pick a side when they want to remain neutral can be as coercive, even fascistic, as anything else. "Choice" either includes the option of *not choosing* or it is not choice at all.

michaele said...

This is really disturbing. It makes my stomach turn. I guess the only course of action for a taxpayer who finds this abhorrent is to NOT patronize a place of business that gives in to extortion. How could law enforcement want to be a part of this.

Tibore said...

That is bloody outrageous. It's perfectly acceptable to court, but it is absolutely unacceptable to threaten.

Damn... I wonder how close to violating RICO that is. Not a lawyer, so someone else would have to fill me in. To me as a layman, it sounds like it violates some aspect of it, but again, I'm not a lawyer.

Sharc 65 said...

Happens all the time. I presume you've never gotten a call from the Police Benevolent Association "encouraging" your "donation" in exchange for a "support" sticker to mount next to your tags? One phone center caller told me my donation would likely shorten the response time to my home in the event of an emergency call, "although we do our best for everyone, you know."

WV: raissest. So it starts already.

Unknown said...

This is what Michael Barone meant about 2 1/2 years ago when he wrote about the coming Obama thugocracy.

Be interesting to see how many people reject this overreach at the polls.

If they can get past the goons.

And the cops.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

But of course card check would just be another option by which employees could freely express their wishes on whether to unionize or not.

William said...

It is wrong to do this. It is a much greater wrong that they do not realize that it is blatantly wrong to do this.....The left is always warning of slippery slopes as they slalom towards the cliff...The Praetorian Guard did more to destroy Rome than the Gauls.

John henry said...

At the risk of being pedantic,don't cue Pete Seeger. Or cue him if you like, I am a fan of his music if not his politics.

But you seem to imply that he wrote "Which Side are you on?" and he did not.

This is an old International Workers of the World or Wobblies song dating to at least pre-WWI, perhaps earlier.

As for the idea of the signs, it is HORRIBLE! and should be illegal. Sounds like extortion to me.

A brave business might put the sign in their window and add, boldly with a Sharpie, under "We support worker's rights"

"Including the right not to be forced into a union."

Then wait for your windows to be broken out.

John Henry

MadisonMan said...

What a foolish step to take.

Caroline said...

I can't get my head around the concept of police involvement in boycotting businesses.

Nor can I. It is shocking how brazenly they engage in thuggish behavior towards the people who pay their salaries. Where is their shame?

I used to be neutral regarding public sector unions, meaning I never really gave them much thought to form an opinion. The actions in WI of the past few weeks now make me wholeheartedly applaud all attempts to bust public sector unions.

They've become too dangerously powerful and corrupt. They have become a threat to the public they are meant to serve. Fire them!

KCFleming said...

Once the cops and firemen are politicized, you have passed a point of no return.

You can no longer trust them to do the right thing because they have to consider whether you are "one of them", and only then deserve their protection.

It's disheartening, like seeing a mythic hero turn coward.

Freeman Hunt said...

Bravo, Ohio. Every state should do the same.

hiawatha biscayne said...

i liked pete seeger's music in the 60s, when i was a kid who didn't know any better. now he's just another rich, tired old lefty.

X said...

Boycott the unions. Amazon Prime. Buy online. Zero sales tax.

X said...

everyone we spoke to wanted to be politically neutral.

Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved

ken said...

Ohio is ok and Gov. Kasich is doing a commendable job. But it has had some weird political types. Don't know if it is because of the districts they represent, but Dennis Kucinich for POTUS, anyone? Or Congressman James Traficant jailed for bribery and corruption. Maybe Jerry Springer did a fine job as mayor of Cincinnati?

Wonder just what state is currently a leader in government corruption? I'm in So. Florida and the political corruption seems endemic.
Of course people dead for decades still manage to vote in Phily.
The Chicago (and Springfield also) Way runs on and yet people are too stupid to see through it or vote the crooks out. Looks like the squeaky union wheel wields immense power in Wisconsin and an abetting media contributes to the nonsense. Yeah, elections have consequences unless you are a liberal assclown. Then it is up to courts in the pocket of unions and lobbyists to alter the outcome.
And who calls Eric Holder's Justice Department on bias and illegalities of enforcement?

Wince said...

While I fearing eliciting the Goodwin principle: is this more like the inverse of the Jewish star in Nazi Germany, or more like goat's blood above the door from the Old Testament?

bil_d said...

I for one will be looking for these stickers in retailers windows.

Any retailer I was considering doing business with that has one displayed will receive not my business, but my boycott. It's a matter of principle.

I will walk in and explain to the owner/manager/employee how much I was considering spending, and that when I saw the sign/sticker it immediately changed my impetus to shop and spend at the business.

I will further inform the owner that I will boycott his business and attempt to do my shopping with a local competitor who does not have such a sign. Also, I will inform the owner/manager/employee that I plan to let everyone I come in contact with about the store and its overt policy. And lastly, I'll let the store know that if I cannot do business with a local competitor, I will very likely make my purchases online with a business that is located OUTSIDE of Wisconsin.

Chip S. said...

A very principled, civilized response, bil_d. But wait 'til the cops set up their hotline for reporting haters like you.

Unknown said...

Just Lurking said...

I can't get my head around the concept of police involvement in boycotting businesses.

Nor can I. It is shocking how brazenly they engage in thuggish behavior towards the people who pay their salaries. Where is their shame?

I used to be neutral regarding public sector unions, meaning I never really gave them much thought to form an opinion. The actions in WI of the past few weeks now make me wholeheartedly applaud all attempts to bust public sector unions.


Assuming Just isn't a troll, I imagine a lot of people are being pushed the same way.

Saw the same sort of thing in suburban Philadelphia as a kid.

Freeman Hunt said...

Bravo, Ohio. Every state should do the same.

Thank you, ma'am.

EDH said...

While I fearing eliciting the Goodwin principle: is this more like the inverse of the Jewish star in Nazi Germany, or more like goat's blood above the door from the Old Testament?

Whatever, but you ever notice what eventually happens to people who give God's Chosen a hard time?

Bzod said...

The below is from mafia movie Goodfellas. Thought exercise: substitute "unions" for Paulie. Any difference?

"Henry: Now the guy's got Paulie as a partner. Any problems, he goes to Paulie. Trouble with the bill? He can go to Paulie. Trouble with the cops, deliveries, Tommy, he can call Paulie. But now the guy's gotta come up with Paulie's money every week no matter what. Business bad? F*ck you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? F*ck you, pay me. Place got hit by lightning huh? F*ck you, pay me."

Alex said...

So Wisconsin officially becomes North Korea.

Alex said...

Wisconsin = Thugocracy.

Anonymous said...

I live in michigan, and I've been aware of this for a couple weeks (seemingly).

As well as police complicity.

It's a total societal breakdown.

Even as Althouse has witnessed it herself at the Capitol, she seems very slow to warm to the realities she observes.

Der Hahn said...

We've been seeing a similar police reaction to the newly passed 'shall issue' concealed-carry permit law in Iowa. It includes a provision allowing pretty much anybody to post a 'no guns allowed' sign.

A number of county sheriffs and other LEO are upset with the reduction in their power. Several have sent letters to all the businesses in their jurisdiction and made the claim that unless the business posts one of the 'no guns allowed' stickers they would be unable remove a person from the property if they had a gun, with the clear implication that this would apply even in cases where the person was causing a disturbance and not simply carrying concealed.

Scott M said...

So Wisconsin officially becomes North Korea.

A point of order. This analogy doesn't hold. Wisconsin doesn't have a huge, scary, unfinished hotel.

Caroline said...

Assuming Just isn't a troll,

It's my name, isn't it? My husband said it was stupid.

No troll. Just one of those independent voters everyone wants to impress.

Alex said...

Even as Althouse has witnessed it herself at the Capitol, she seems very slow to warm to the realities she observes.

Would you be fast to admit the horror unfurling right before your eyes? Her denial is understandable. The horror, the horror.

Paco Wové said...

"I used to be neutral regarding public sector unions, meaning I never really gave them much thought to form an opinion. The actions in WI of the past few weeks now make me wholeheartedly applaud all attempts to bust public sector unions."

This. This. A million times this.

Anonymous said...

@Alex

It wasn't a shot at Althouse, just an observation.

On top of all this:

-Prosecutor not investigation threats against republicans

-Sumi edicts

-Sumi threatening lawyers who criticize her edicts

-election next Tuesday; better pray Klopperhead wins, or Madison burns.

You guys need a break.

I hope you get one....soon.

J said...

Some unionists have mob-like attributes though nothing like the baptist-mormon-zionist mob, aka Teabaggers--TP y'all. Tough mutha-f-ers there. RICO em.

Original Mike said...

Luigi: (looking round office casually) You've ... you've got a nice army base here, Colonel.

Colonel: Yes.

Luigi: We wouldn't want anything to happen to it.

MadisonMan said...

Wisconsin doesn't have a huge, scary, unfinished hotel.

Yes it does, at the corner of Monroe and Regent.

Although I do note that work has re-started on it, after a break of -- 2 years?

Original Mike said...

I wouldn't call it huge, and I wouldn't call it scary. Ugly, yes. Scary, no.

Sigivald said...

Can someone explain to me how you can even argue that it is acceptable for police to extort political support from citizens?

"Because unions are just good because of like the 20s and stuff and you're a monster for not just supporting them la la la - thank the union for a 40 hour week, you ingrate!"

I know that's superficial and kinda mean, but at the same time it sure does seem to be what union supporters I know boil it down to.

They never seem to be able to name anything good unions have done for The Working Man since, oh, 1925 or so.

And of course the defense of public sector unions is utterly incoherent to my ears - because I wasn't raised on The Union Label.

Ban public sector unions. FDR was right!

M. Simon said...

But I thought you voted FOR Obama.

You didn't know what went with that?

Eyes fully open yet?

granmary said...

The thuggish unions are fond of comparing walker to Hitler but didn't the Nazis use "police" to intimidate and threaten the citizenry. Tell me again, Which side is actually using Hitlerish tactics?

Anonymous said...

Parrett Parrett he's the man,
Showing hate for all he can,
Wants to drive his neighbors out,
But he's actually a lout,
Band together, come on strong,
Throw him out, for he is wrong.

There once was a man named Parrett,
Who aspired to be like Barrett,
He sent out a letter,
And should have known better,
For now he sports tar and feathers.

Sofa King said...

-Prosecutor not investigation threats against republicans


Say, yeah, what's happening with this? I heard they knew who sent the letter and since then it's been a total blackout.

Milwaukee said...

The linked Journal Sentinel article had this paragraph "Parrett said a number of WSEU locals in his region represent more than 1,300 union workers who have a combined yearly income of more than $56 million." Quick with the calculator, that works out to more than $43,000 a year in salary. Not bad. Bet there are lots of small businesses who would think that was doing well.

Greg Toombs said...

Any lawyers, and there are many hereabouts, want to weigh in on various options.

Inspiring a thought... old world map with a notation far from land:

Thar be lawyers.

former law student said...

The police? I can't get my head around the concept of police involvement in boycotting businesses. That reads like pure corruption. I can't believe it's being done openly. Can someone explain to me how you can even argue that it is acceptable for police to extort political support from citizens?

Free men, free markets. Customers may freely choose where they spend their money. If they prefer to do business with those who have a Jesusfish in their window, so be it. If they prefer to do business with those who have a union business sign in their window, so be it.

Lincolntf said...

Separate but equal shopping districts.

Sofa King said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sofa King said...

If they prefer to do business with those who have a union business sign in their window, so be it.

And if we as taxpayers prefer not to employ them - ?

Steven said...

I think that this is more damaging to comity than anything else over the last weeks - legislators fleeing the state, legislative leadership closing votes early, people marching with fists raised, even the isolated death threats. I'm actually less appalled by the police involvement and the, if not implied, at least inferable, threats than I am by the disallowance of neutrality on an controversial issue. The right to stay out of it should be respected by both sides. And, actually, if that doesn't backfire, it means that my opinion of Wisconsinites is too high.

Leslie Bates said...

For the professional parasite POWER IS LIFE.

autothreads said...

If I had a shop in Wisconsin, I'd put the following sign in my window:

"The worst crime against working people is a company which fails to operate at a profit." - Sam Gompers, founder of the American Federation of Labor.

The notion of public employee unions would have been abhorrent to Gompers.

Locomotive Breath said...

What EDH said. It's roughly equivalent to asking a business to post a "keine Juden hier" sign. Just to know what windows to break.

The Crack Emcee said...

Neutral means either "uninformed" or "coward".

I'd abandon anyone who took such a position when the wrong is obvious. That's how the unions are playing it, and so would I.

Scott M said...

Neutral means either "uninformed" or "coward"

Not necessarily. In the case of a small sole proprietorship family business that's hanging by a shoestring, it means neutral. As in, I welcome everyone's dollars to buy my goods and services because, you know, I like to keep a roof over my kids' heads and food in their bellies.

autothreads said...

"Because unions are just good because of like the 20s and stuff and you're a monster for not just supporting them la la la - thank the union for a 40 hour week, you ingrate!"

Another one of organized labor's foundational myths. Unions didn't give us the 40 hour week. That was Henry Ford, when he realized that switching to an 8 hour workday, 5 days a week, allowed him to run three shifts a day and keep his production lines running 24hrs a day.

Ford also introduced an employee health clinic and of course there's the famous $5/day wage, an example of how wages were climbing long before most US industries were organized by labor unions.

Unions take credit for workplace safety (invented by E.I.DuPont over 200 years ago) and child labor laws. Child labor laws and OSHA were the result of legislation, not collective bargaining.

Labor unions opposed child labor for the same reasons they originally opposed civil rights for blacks: they didn't want to compete with cheaper labor.

TMink said...

How wonderfully thuggish! It is delicious when the left fulfills their negative stereotypes! More threats, more goons, more broken windows!

Rage against that thin shred of respectability that the labor movement had gained!

Trey

former law student said...

And the Ford and DuPont initiatives spread to which other companies?

Anonymous said...

I'd put Public Enemy on the work playlist and cue up "F*** tha Police" every time one walked in the door.

Police officers who extort local businesses are no longer cops. They're just gang members. They deserve to be treated as such.

autothreads said...

Free men, free markets. Customers may freely choose where they spend their money. If they prefer to do business with those who have a Jesusfish in their window, so be it. If they prefer to do business with those who have a union business sign in their window, so be it.

It's not a free market. We have taxes coerced to pay the people who then say they will boycott us.

And if you think there's no implicit threat that non-complying businesses will suffer retribution from those public employees while engaged in their official government capacities, well, there are a number of bridges connecting to Brooklyn that I understand are for sale.

It's not a free market when the people doing the boycotting are government employees.

I run an embroidery shop. If I choose to make an anti-union t-shirt, I'm cool with UAW members boycotting my business (they already do, in a manner, since that union rarely if ever does business with non-union shops).

The UAW operates in a free market. They can buy their t-shirts from a union shop, and I can buy a Honda if I don't want to financially support the UAW.

With government workers, I have no such recourse. PEUs have monopolies on their services, unlike private sector unions.


Of course that's a side issue to the implicit corruption inherent in a threat of a boycott by public employees.

If I make a t-shirt that is critical of government workers, and I then receive a threat of a potential boycott from those same workers, what assurance do I have that their off the job economic boycott of my business won't extend to an on the job discrimination against me in terms of providing services to citizens and legal residents? Furthermore, the city buys logo apparel. What assurance do I have that bids I make for city business will be treated fairly?

This stinks, you know it, and the fact that you would try to defend it shows just how off kilter your moral compass is.

Derve Swanson said...

Kwik Trip: 1/2 gallon bag of milk for 99cents. =$2/gallon.

I hope they boycott themselves back to the grocery stores to pay $3+. "Whose money? OUR money!"

autothreads said...

And the Ford and DuPont initiatives spread to which other companies?

Ford's $5/day wage became the standard in industry. Henry wasn't a saint, he raised wages to overcome a 93% turnover rate of new hires. Working in a Ford factory was the definition of drudgery (Ford didn't invent the assembly line - his contribution was breaking it down to individual tasks, and doing the same simple task can be mind numbing - not to mention the noise, dirt and danger in a 1914 era factory - even a modern one designed by Albert Kahn), and people would quit. Ford paid more money, they stayed.

In any case Ford's $5/day wage pretty much established the wage floor for other industrial labor. As I said before, this was part of a general upward trend for wages before the widescale union organization of American industries.

The UAW didn't successfully organize the auto industry until the late 1930s, more than a decade after Ford went to a 40 work week and more than 20 years after Ford started paying enough money so that a working man (women didn't get the salary bump - Ford's progressive views only went so far) could actually support a family.

As for DuPont, he made gunpowder so safety was important. How much that influenced other businesses, I don't know, but employee injuries cost money and hurt productivity so I'm sure that smart businesses have always used state of the art safety procedures.

Today's level of industrial safety is due more to government regulation (admittedly some at union behest) and industry's embrace of safety and safety technology as a productivity/cost issue than due to collective bargaining.

Unions don't keep workers from getting their hands cut off in a stamping press. Robots, "hands off" switches, and laser/IR motion detectors keep workers from losing their hands.

How do you think a union president would react if a company said that they were going to replace a dangerous job with a robot?

nikrok1 said...

All cops are thugs to one degree or another.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...


943.30 Threats to injure or accuse of crime. (1) Whoever, either verbally or by any written or printed communication,
maliciously threatens to accuse or accuses another of any crime or offense, or threatens or commits any injury to the person, property, business, profession, calling or trade, or the profits and income of any business, profession, calling or trade of another, with intent thereby to extort money or any pecuniary advantage whatever, or with intent to compel the person so threatened to do any act against the person’s will or omit to do any lawful act, is guilty of a Class H felony.

Jaded said...

You know when the human being EXPECTS something all manner of selfishness ensues. What we have here is a failure of the humanity of the unions members, they have become animals. It is time to end ALL government unions, it is not a RIGHT for unions to bargain with politicians against We The People.

Alex said...

Crack - in spirit I'm with ya 'bro, but what is a small business owner to do in this climate of fear and distrust?

Alex said...

UnionNow - Mar 31, 2011 1:26 AM
» Report abuse
9 124
It's about time you stupid business owners go broke!

Either you are smart and support your union workers, or you are stupid like
Bobo and you will go broke for not. It's that simple! I don't want to
participate is a non answer, taken as a no! Get used to it! This is the way
things will be for now on! It's about time you businesses paid up!!


*shudder* The thugocracy is upon us.

M. Simon said...

Not to worry Ann,

My mate voted for Obama and I try to remind her every day.

JAL said...

RICO anyone?

Ofc. Krupke said...

One phone center caller told me my donation would likely shorten the response time to my home in the event of an emergency call, "although we do our best for everyone, you know."

Don't ever give to those callers, they're mostly scammers with little or no connection to actual law enforcement.

In my experience with police dispatch, the idea that a donation would shorten response time (or that no donation would lengthen it) is frankly bizarre.

WV: corms. As no surprise.

Ofc. Krupke said...

I'd put Public Enemy on the work playlist and cue up "F*** tha Police" every time one walked in the door.

It was NWA, actually.

Unknown said...

It would appear that James Palmer, head of the WPPA, has put every law enforcement official under the WPPA in breach of the WI law enforcement code of ethics.

Madison Police Procedure Manual Page 8 Code of Ethics:
“I will never act officiously or permit personal feelings, prejudices, animosities or friendships to influence my decisions, I will affirmatively seek ways to avoid conflicts and potential conflicts of interest that could compromise my official authority or public image”

http://www.town.madison.wi.us/police/information/Town_of_Madison_Policy_and_Procedure_Manual_080905.pdf

All law enforcement agencies have similar ethical codes.

Does a threatening letter imply a conflict of interest for a police force? or a fire department? Of course it does.

pst314 said...

"Which side are you on? Cue Pete Seeger."

Very appropriate, because Pete Seeger was on the side of Stalin.

galdosiana said...

This just goes to show, once again, how absolutely corrupt and disgusting the unions' tactics truly are.

Of course, it also gives conservatives an easy way to purposefully frequent businesses that appeal to their own interests.

Paul said...

Looks like the unions work just like the drug cartels or mafia... But then I have no doubt those two have some fingers in the Union organizations.

ErnieG said...

Back when I was in school (Class of '60) we had a song about the People's Artist. I only remember two verses:

They handed him his orders at Party Headquarters,
Saying, "Pete, you're way behind the times.
This is 1958, it's not '37,
Better get with the new Party line.

So let's give three cheers for the People's Artist,
May his spirit ne'er be broke.
As he goes right along with his noble venture
Of teaching folk songs to the folk.

M.E. said...

The boycott is having the opposite effect. Conservatives are "buy-cotting" the companies, and they are doing very well. Kwik Trip's business is booming. Sendik's (a local grocery store that was vandalized presumably by pro-union types) is doing great.

Gives me hope. We surround them. They will lose. But they probably will do an awful lot of damage going down.

@Freeman Hunt, 1st comment: Love it!!!

Willys said...

Great! I'd go in every shop that displays the Union support sign with intent to do business.

In a grocery, I'd load up a shopping cart but at check out I'd inquire if they have their Union sign properly displayed. If yes, I'd just announce I couldn't do business there, park my full cart and leave.

In a restaurant I'd go through the process of business, right up to ordering and then inquire about the Union sign. If yes, I'd announce I would not be able to do business there.

In any business, take them to the point of transaction then inquire about the sign.

Much as with the Union 'position'... screw 'em if they can't take a joke.

davidvs said...

Police have no responsibility to protect individuals -- only society as a whole.

So when a police department choses to protect only certain individuals, it is certainly rude, and by most people's morality unethical, but definitely not illegal.

So I'm not sure that I can agree with Ann that doing so is corrupt. Perhaps that behavior is not corrupt. Perhaps the larger legal structure is corrupt and needs fixing, although I expect demanding that police be responsible for every individual would cause more harm than good. So perhaps it makes the most sense to say that the expectation that police offer their services equally to everyone is simply naive and "corrupt" in the sense of "rotten and full of holes" instead of "rotten with egocentric abuse of power".

a psychiatrist who learned from veterans said...

A seemingly favorite Freud story of a psychoanalyst from the South, who I assume was sensitive to living in pressures of social conformity, involves, not to crash the thread, the Nazis. Even after the Anschluss, fame could get him, born a Jew, out of Vienna. He was asked to sign a paper, in fact, attesting that he had not been ill treated by them. he signed it and appended, "I recommend the Gestapo to all my friends." Earlier when the Germans marched in, his daughter asked him if they should commit suicide; of course some did. He asked her, 'Do you think they would like us better?'

Synova said...

That letter is outright hostile.

I suggest they send it around again next week.

Better yet, send around a counter-letter praising businesses for their inclusive neutrality with a window sticker that says, "Freedom of thought zone." The graphic can be a head with the slogan across the temple.

former law student said...

"Which side are you on? Cue Pete Seeger."

Very appropriate, because Pete Seeger was on the side of Stalin.


So was Churchill. And yet GW Bush had a bust of that comsymp in the Oval Office.

David said...

The Wisconsin police have become politicized. They no longer merit the public's trust.

Synova said...

"Free men, free markets. Customers may freely choose where they spend their money. If they prefer to do business with those who have a Jesusfish in their window, so be it. If they prefer to do business with those who have a union business sign in their window, so be it."

Yeahbut... no one is going around telling people to put up a Jesusfish in their window or else!

It's the threat that makes the difference, I think. Also the fact that the people making the threat are police officers.

pst314 said...

"So was Churchill. And yet GW Bush had a bust of that comsymp in the Oval Office."

Churchill was a Stalinist???

former law student said...

synova has a very good point. The union should have put a positive spin on it: "Those of you who choose to put our sign in your windows will be rewarded with more of our members' business."

former law student said...

pst31: I have it on good authority that Pete Seeger, Stalin, and Winston Churchill were all on the same side.

pst314 said...

Churchill temporarily allied with Stalin only to fight Hitler, but Pete Seeger was a Stalinist through and through.

Former Law Student beclowns himself with his transparent and risible dishonesty.

Automatic_Wing said...

pst31: I have it on good authority that Pete Seeger, Stalin, and Winston Churchill were all on the same side.

Pete Seeger was (and probably still is) a Stalinist dead-ender. To compare him to Churchill, one of the great anticommunists of all time, is an absolute joke. Crikey.

Sam vfm #111 said...

When asked about the deal with Stalin, Churchill said "I would ally with the devil himself if he would fight Hitler." He knew what Stalin was.

Mike Thiac said...

I posted on a similar letter sent out on my blog (http://acopswatch.blogspot.com/2011/03/we-are-good-guys.html)  and it was signed by seven union chiefs, including fire, police and sheriff unions.

The part of the letter that gets to you the second to last paragraph.

"In the event that you cannot support this effort to save collective bargaining please be advised that the undersigned will publicly and formally boycott the goods and services provided by your company. However, if you join us, we will do everything in our power to publicly celebrate your partnership in the fight to preserve the right of public employees to be heard at the bargaining table. Wisconsin’s public employee unions serve to protect and promote equality and fairness in the workplace. We hope you will stand with us and publicly share that ideal."

This is a written mob letter! You get the mental image a group of large men in your office saying "you got a nice business here...must make some good money for you...we'd hate to see something happen to your place...hey, we can help you with that if you just drop us some consideration..." And it's different when a cop or fireman does it as opposed to a teacher. I'm not knocking teachers who provide a vital service to the public. But police and fire provide (regularly) urgent life services...handling fires, people needing emergency medical support, help when you’re getting your ass kicked or house broken into. What is implied by this letter is "we will be watching you and we remember..."

As a 13 year veteran of a major police force this is an embarrassment.  And it makes me sick.

AST said...

Doesn't freedom of speech also protect the right to be neutral, or not to speak?

I know, let's ask Judge Sumi!

Chip S. said...

@David V.S. said, Police have no responsibility to protect individuals -- only society as a whole.

I can't make any sense of this statement. What could it possibly mean to protect "society as a whole" without protecting the individuals who make up the society?

The court decisions you linked to do not seem to correspond very well to the case at hand. I read them as simply saying that the police's resources are finite, so that their failure to show up at a crime scene soon enough to prevent harm is not a violation of some fundamental rights. That is completely different from having the very union that represents all police intimate that protection from harm will be denied in premeditated fashion to people who do not agree with the political aims of that union.

What is being threatened is extortion by the very people whose job is to protect us from such threats.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? is the fundamental dilemma for a civilized, free society. This is, IMO, the most serious problem by far that has arisen in this entire sordid affair.

Anonymous said...

1. So, to the unions it is: You are either with us or against us.

Funny, George Lucas taught me that only the Sith (and George Bush) deal in absolutes.

2. Now we see why leftists think only the cops should be allowed to possess firearms.

reader_iam said...

How do you think a union president would react if a company said that they were going to replace a dangerous job with a robot?

Given that my husband spent many years doing process-control engineering design at, first, textile-manufacturing companies but mostly at steel-manufacturing companies, it's more a matter of "know" than "think."

vdavisson said...

former law student said...

"And the Ford and DuPont initiatives spread to which other companies?"

I've worked 40 hours a week and had workforce safety since I started working in 1975 and I never would deign to belong to any union ever. What are you trying to say?

reader_iam said...

That said, he's a rather strong proponent of resisting the urge to dump all the experienced, full-of-process-knowledge, full-of-institutional-knowledge guys and replacing them with the cheapest, supposedly (ahem) interchangeable-as-if-people-are-widgets labor. Some things technology can replace, and some things it can't, and well he knows it (on account of experience). The wisdom is in knowing the difference and finding the balance.

reader_iam said...

None of that is *inherently* a strict argument pro- or anti-union, pro- or anti-corporate, per se, in heavy industry/manufacturing.

It depends.

SDN said...

I really hope the cops like the world they live in when the attitude of "don't cooperate with the police" becomes good and widespread.

Read some of the actual medieval histories from England. Over and over again the account tells of villages asked to assist the sheriff's men (which the law required) and refusing, refusing to convict people who killed them, etc. Trust me, we can revive that system if needed.

former law student said...

I really hope the cops like the world they live in when the attitude of "don't cooperate with the police" becomes good and widespread.

I got a t-shirt for you:

http://images.usatoday.com
/news/_photos/2006/03/28/
snitching-rayco.jpg

DUE_DILIGENCE said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DUE_DILIGENCE said...

Here is the issue: Unions cannot use their position to browbeat neutral small businesses into supporting their position... While unions have provided benefits (note past tense), they cannot successfully force small businesses through threats and intimidation to support them. A clear conflict of interests... (and I live in the Chicago area which is renowned for police "issues" with the public...)

Maybe they will send these letters out on a frequent regular basis... in WI and OH and DC and pretty much anywhere where the public employees unions have apparently flunked basic math class??

Charles said...

Perhaps local store owners can post a copy of Kipling's Dane-Geld in their windows.

Sid Simo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Eric said...

Unions are great.
-Small Business IT Support

reader_iam said...

Alan:

Public employee unions are NOT great, you spammer, you.

reader_iam said...

And why ever would a small-biz IT company want its spammers to post on a public-employees union (or, pretty much, ANY union) blogpost/comments thread?

Focus, people. Focus.

Unknown said...

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Terminator said...

Only when the powerful suffer self-inflicted restraint. Terrorism didn't work well against the Romans, for instance. Hordes of Gauls, on the other hand, sure...

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Unions had a significant purpose in the days when workers were abused and not protected by laws. Today they create economic inefficiencies and serve as a glass ceiling preventing workers from advancing their careers and pay. IT Support Los Angeles industry does not have unions and is prospering.

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