Anna Burger Quits SEIU and Change to Win to ‘Build Progressive Infrastructure’

Originally posted on Big Government Aug 12th 2010 at 7:06 am

by Liberty Chick

The Democracy Alliance is alive and well, and its Vice-Chair is about to be born again.

Today, the “Queen of Labor”, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer and Chair of the Change to Win labor federation, Anna Burger, announced her retirement.

Anna Burger was defeated by current SEIU President Mary Kay Henry when she ran against Henry for the spot vacated by outgoing President Andy Stern.  Despite that loss, Burger had insisted that she’d be staying on as Secretary-Treasurer of SEIU.  Instead, she will be replaced as the head of Change to Win by United Food and Commercial Workers president, Joe Hansen.  Henry is likely to appoint one of her own insiders as SEIU Secretary-Treasurer, a practice that was already causing tension between Burger and the new guard of SEIU (even though both guards are not all that different from one another).

Burger’s departure marks not just the end of an era for SEIU, but more importantly it’s indicative of a new era for the Progressive movement.

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Firestone Revisited: Was Toyota a Takedown Target in the Name of NUMMI?

by Liberty Chick on BigGovernment.com

As a gloomy, snowy February came to a close in the nation’s capital, so did the most recent circus attraction on Capitol Hill.  Several days of congressional hearings on the Toyota recalls didn’t exactly deliver many more facts for Americans but they did leave behind a plethora of speculation and opinion to feast upon.  While the saga now known as GasPedalGate flailed around quietly for several years, it’s suddenly taken center stage and today plays out like a bad made-for-TV-movie, complete with its villain, its victims, and most telling, a very long list of opportunists.

To see the full picture, the story begins in California with the history of General Motors and the United Auto Workers in the 1980’s, and GM’s rescue by Toyota through a little venture called NUMMI.  Today, in 2010, the NUMMI chapter nears its close.  But before it does, the Fremont, California plant and its rank and file workers will serve as unwilling pawns in what could turn out to be an orchestrated blueprint for incapacitating the strongest competitor to Government Motors and one of the most significant threats to labor unions here and around the globe.

Today’s rendition has been so manipulated and so propagandized, the facts have all but been removed from the storyline.  The bread crumb trail of truth has been trampled upon and so broadly scattered about, the trail is almost beyond the point of recognition.

The story that emerges is the collusion of forces in Big Labor, Big Government, Big Journalism, Big Litigators and Big Progressive Philanthropy.  And no, I’m not talking Breitbart sites.

The History of NUMMI

When a bankrupt and bailed out General Motors officially announced in June 2009 that it would be pulling out of its joint venture with Toyota, it marked the end of another era.

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SEIU’s Shameless Abuse of Olympic Games Tragedy

by Liberty Chick on BigGovernment.com

In the wake of yesterday’s terrible tragedy outside of Vancouver at the Whistler Sliding Center, where Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili sadly lost his life, safety is on the minds of many.  Only hours before the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, the 21-year old lost control of his sled at 88mph and was catapulted over the track wall into a steel support column.  All throughout the week, coaches, commentators, and even other Olympians have questioned the safety of the track, as nearly a dozen other athletes have also crashed during practice runs, including a Romanian women’s slider who was knocked unconscious and defending Olympic luge champion Armin Zoeggeler of Italy.

The President of the World Luge Federation said the track is too fast and thinks it is a planning mistake, while Australian luger Hannah Campbell-Pegg questioned whether athletes were being treated as “crash test dummies“.  The shocking footage of the accident was replayed all throughout the day and evening yesterday, leaving horrified viewers focused on discussion about the safety of the track.

But in all of this shock, horror and sadness over the tragic death of an athlete in his prime and the dangers of the track on which he lost his young life, what has the SEIU focused on?

Food safety. (Translated =  unionizing)

Reports of the horrible accident in Vancouver began surfacing in the press as early as 12:30 pm EST  Friday.  Yet, the SEIU still felt their unionization Food Safety concerns were so paramount that they went ahead and issued a press release anyway, after 5:00 pm EST:

“PRESS RELEASE:  Healthcare Union Raises Concerns Over Safety Of Food to be Served to Olympic Athletes at Vancouver Olympics“

“Sodexo is providing catering services for athletes during this key moment in their sporting careers, and we’re concerned about the food they will be providing,” charged the SEIU in Friday’s press release.

It’s not as though the SEIU could not have known about the tragedy  – the story had been broadcast all over the news for at least five hours before SEIU pushed out its attack.  If they didn’t know, then they’re even more disconnected from reality than we thought they were.

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SEIU’s Secret Weapon: If Obama’s Plan Fails, Brandish the Shareholder Resolution

on BigGovernment.com – by Liberty Chick

We saw their fury throughout 2009:  “Capitalism is Dead”, “Kill the Corporation”, “Bust Up Big Banks”, “Greed Kills”, “Bank of America, Bad for America”.  The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) led an all-out assault on Wall Street – and on capitalism and corporations – coining words and phrases that have since become common staples in the vocabulary of the bank-bashing craze.  That fury hit a fever pitch last March when word of the AIG bonuses went public.  It was the SEIU out in front of the protests, at AIG offices, and bussing protestors to the homes of AIG executives.

The months that followed saw more of the same.  In April, SEIU hailed the ousting of General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner.  That same week, it stepped up its battleplan with the Mother of all Corporate Campaigns against Ken Lewis, Bank of America CEO and Chairman – complete with videos, rolling billboards, smear sites, petition drives, letter campaigns, media blitzes and more, while it placed equal attention on Bank of America, forcing the company to respond with a $40 million image boosting campaign of television and print ads.

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Want to Stop Sweetheart Deals for Corrupt Union Bosses? Stop Supporting Their Employers.

Are you outraged that corrupt union bosses just got a  sweetheart deal and will now be the only ones (aside from the Amish) to be exempt from this “Cadillac” health plan tax?  I am.

I’m also sick and tired of corrupt union bosses cutting special deals with this President, and using Congress to pass new laws that will control every facet of our lives just to serve their own selfish desires and increase their union memberships.  Even their own rank and file union members can’t stand it anymore.

We’ve called, we’ve written, we’ve faxed, we’ve marched on Washington. We’ve done it all and to no avail.  The labor union corruption and abuse only gets worse – in fact, it’s the worst this country has ever seen.  The money they’ve sucked from the taxpayers and from their own union members and spent on lobbying even rivals that of the banks and insurance companies they are so fond of attacking.  What’s left to do?

Well, I took a step today.  I decided that I want nothing to do with any company that actually negotiates collective bargaining agreements with these corrupt union bosses.  If it’s a company that employs workers from any of these notoriously corrupt unions, they won’t get my business.  And if it’s one that I am forced to keep due to local monopolies (i.e. utility or gas company) or the fact that they’re a public entity (i.e. a hospital), then I will make sure those institutions hear from their many displeased taxpaying residents and consumers.

Just as corrupt union bosses will shakedown companies that are not union shops, why can’t consumers do the same to put pressure on those companies that ARE corrupt union shops?  If we don’t want these criminals taking over whatever remains of our shambles of an economy, we’re going to need to do it ourselves.   Congress and the White House have prostituted themselves out to these pimp union bosses and it’s all gone too far for them to turn back now.

So go ahead. Take charge of it yourself.  Check out this partial list of the companies (including government and other public sector employers) with labor union collective bargaining agreements registered with the Department of Labor.  Look for those that employ the biggest union offenders, like SEIU, and the others in Andy Stern and Anna Burger’s Change to Win labor coalition.  Then tell them you don’t appreciate their support for the same corrupt unions bosses who are taking our hard earned dollars from us and redistributing it to others, while they also get off tax-free with their Cadillac health care plans.

I started by not renewing my Verizon account (sorry to my brother in law…).  And instead of food shopping at my local Change to Win supported A&P, I shopped at a different supermarket. One whose workers’ union doesn’t abuse its members’ union dues to purchase Congressional votes.  One that doesn’t swindle the American people and make a mockery of our political system.   Wherever I can, I’ll make that conscious choice now.  And I feel better already.  Perhaps we should all combine forces and do it – including you union members who yourselves are tired of the abuse and corruption. That might be the only thing strong enough to actually change anything.

Download the complete list of collective bargaining agreements in PDF

View the list online at the Department of Labor website