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Blue Collar, My Ass
WhenWeAreQueen ^ | January 2, 2009 | pharmamom

Posted on 01/02/2009 7:12:16 AM PST by pharmamom

Michelle Malkin,on the ball as ever, has done her homework. From her latest column (H/T: NRO) come these revelations about those hard-working UAW guys:

"…the UAW owns and operates Black Lake Golf Course — a “championship caliber” course opened in 2000 that’s part of a larger “family education center” and retreat nestled in 1,000 acres of property in Onaway, Mich. ...While membership in the union has plummeted, the UAW retains assets worth $1.2 billion...

And while the UAW and carmakers cry poor, they’ve operated massive joint funds for years that have paid for lavish items such as multi-million-dollar NASCAR racer sponsorships and Las Vegas junkets. The dire economic downturn hasn’t changed the behavior of profligate union bigs at the front office or the shop floor. Local Detroit TV station WDIV recently caught local UAW bosses Ron Seroka and Jim Modzelewski — both of whom make six-figure salaries — on tape squandering thousands of hours of overtime on such important labor security matters as on-the-clock beer runs and bowling tournaments."

Big Labor always comes to this: well-padded sinecures for the bosses and unmotivated, time-wasting dalliances by the “laborers.” We have a prime example of this right here with our school district. After having been off for two weeks of Christmas break, the kids still don’t return to school on Monday—the teachers “need” that day to prepare for the second semester. So parents are inconvenienced yet one more day (having to take a day off or pay for childcare) because teachers couldn’t spend a couple of hours over the past two weeks readying themselves for the start of school. Don’t feel sorry for them—a teacher with a couple decades of tenure here makes $68,000. Not bad for 188 days of school and ten days or so of “teacher training” and “prep” work.

(Excerpt) Read more at whenwearequeen.com ...


TOPICS: Education; Politics; Society
KEYWORDS: labor; michellemalking; uaw; unions
Michelle's column can be found over at National Review Online (http://www.nationalreview.com) Her picture of UAW profligacy is amazing. We all know that the government employees' unions are ruining states such as California and New Jersey (almost all of the "job growth" in Jersey over the past few years has come from government "jobs").
1 posted on 01/02/2009 7:12:16 AM PST by pharmamom
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To: pharmamom

Here in Detroit I’ve met lots of guys who took early retirements from the Big 3. They make high 5 and 6 figure salaries, full bennies, and are free to take on other jobs. Most are in their 50’s.


2 posted on 01/02/2009 7:24:02 AM PST by LiberConservative ("I, you know, can see, you know, upstate, you know, from my house, you know.")
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To: pharmamom

The amazing thing is the comprehensive media silence about public employee union influence on elections.

In many cities these unions dominate the election process.

IOW, they essentially elect the officials who then “negotiate” new contracts with the people who put them into office. Puts corporate influence on elections totally into the shade.


3 posted on 01/02/2009 7:24:33 AM PST by Sherman Logan (Everyone has a right to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.)
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To: pharmamom

The unions are a bane to the American economy and have become just another politcal taxpayers expense.
It now takes 5 full months of fulltime taxed work to pay off the politicians and the unions and the wall street sharks of AmericA AND ALL OF THE EXPENSE IS CHARGED TO BLUE COLLAR WORKERS SUPPORTING THESE WORTHLESS BUMS AND THIEVES.
Stupid is as stupid does and America is largely stupid, as this election cycle has proved. Women and children now run America and therefore the economy will definitely collapse.


4 posted on 01/02/2009 7:27:09 AM PST by kindred (Conservatives have 4 years to start a new conservative party or lose more elections.)
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To: kindred

We’ve gone beyond stupid, they’ve become the majority.


5 posted on 01/02/2009 7:30:49 AM PST by MaxMax (I'll welcome death when God calls me. Until then, the fight is on)
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To: kindred

Unions are parasites. They bleed the workers and the companies that employ them. They are not the solution, they are the problem.

I do not know of a single union that works for the betterment of the company their members work for. They squeeze and bleed them until the companies are no longer viable. Textiles anyone?


6 posted on 01/02/2009 7:48:10 AM PST by Dutch Boy
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To: pharmamom
When ever the UAW starts to whine, somethings come to mind:
1. When GM built the Saturn plant in Spring Hill, all the workers were UAW members from out of state when a union member was asked about locals being hired his comment was:”... these are our jobs, you have to wait your turn...”

2. Doing sound for a union conference, the UAW camera crew spent most of their time bragging about how many strip bars they had been thrown out of while one of the main complaints being discussed was the fact that the office workers were “allowed” to park closer to the building that the union workers.

7 posted on 01/02/2009 7:57:46 AM PST by sticker
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To: pharmamom

Hope the taxpayers enjoy that golf course because they’re
going to pay for it again and again and never own it.


8 posted on 01/02/2009 9:38:48 AM PST by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
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To: pharmamom

Hope the taxpayers enjoy that golf course because they’re
going to pay for it again and again and never own it.


9 posted on 01/02/2009 9:40:30 AM PST by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
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To: count-your-change

Where's Al Czervik when you need him?

10 posted on 01/02/2009 9:46:43 AM PST by dfwgator (I hate Illinois Marxists)
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To: count-your-change
Didn't intend double post but I guess since we'll pay twice (or more) for the golf course maybe its appropriate.
11 posted on 01/02/2009 9:53:34 AM PST by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
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To: dfwgator

I think he’s on the run from the F.B.I., Fashion Busters
Inc.


12 posted on 01/02/2009 10:06:53 AM PST by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
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To: pharmamom
So parents are inconvenienced yet one more day (having to take a day off or pay for childcare)

Am I the only one bothered by this statement?

13 posted on 01/02/2009 10:11:12 AM PST by the_devils_advocate_666
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To: the_devils_advocate_666

No, you’re not alone. I thought it was odd too.


14 posted on 01/02/2009 10:15:15 AM PST by mojitojoe
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To: the_devils_advocate_666

well, devil’s, since we are in a financial situation where both parents have to work in order to keep from filing bankruptcy, I don’t see anything wrong with my statement. The fact is many, if not most, working households are two-income households. Parents may work hard to arrange their work schedules to be there to put the kids on the bus and again when they get off the bus, which we do. But every time the teachers schedule one of their little “work days,” we have to scramble to find childcare. I find it, actually, more than inconvenient that I have to use my little vacation time at the teachers’ union’s whims. I’d like to be able to save it up to spend with my kids over the long breaks—Christmas, spring break, fall break (oh yeah, that’s a little gem) and maybe go somewhere over summer break.


15 posted on 01/02/2009 11:28:20 AM PST by pharmamom (Queen. Visit the Queendom: www.whenwearequeen.com)
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