That mug shot of Diana Frey represents to me the problems of public sector unions. It’s not the individual members themselves who are the problem, but collectively they pave the way to corruption. As a general rule, the larger the organization, the more opportunities for corruption, and that corruption usually comes from the leadership. Diana Frey had access to vast sums of money from a union she started, and she abused that trust for her own gain. There are people like her in the leadership of most unions to varying degrees. They may not be embezzling money on the scale of Diana Frey, but the power they wield does corrupt their intentions for the so-called “greater good.”
Doc Thompson did a wonderfully balanced segment on 700 WLW on Issue 2, the collective bargaining reform bill in Ohio. This portion of the conversation begins with an interview from a rep from Freedom Works, but consists of many phone calls from people on both sides of the Issue 2 argument. Doc also breaks down the specifics of Issue 1 and 3 in Ohio as well, so if you aren’t sure what those issues are, you’ll want to spend time with this broadcast. Click the video link to listen.
Doc is a lot more neutral about the public unions than I am. I have come to a place where I believe they should all be illegal. I see absolutely no good that comes from them. Not only has the collective bargaining contracts negotiated by unions allowed very average employees to make Grade A income, but they create a culture of complacency that I find devastating to our social fabric. Our society has become too safe, regimented, and overly regulated. Too many people have jobs that are unproductive and simply serve to maintain those complacent conditions and it is the unions who perpetuate that culture.
A hard look at the Stacy Schuler case in Mason and the sexual promiscuity going on at that school not just among that one teacher, but the several who are also involved, and the situation I recently learned about at Lakota where a teacher thought nothing of using a child to seduce the mother of a family is that all these participants are functioning within a bubble of protection which the union gives them. Because unions destroy competition, there are no real rivals in the work place that must be out-performed, and this allows the mind to wander to sexual promiscuity on the light end of corruption and on the heavy end, Diana Frey and her embezzlement of three-quarters of a million dollars in union dues. See the sad sex story of the Lakota parents here:
Wherever I’ve had to work with unions either in the private sector, which I do often, or the public sector which I have since I became involved in school levies, I see massive inefficiencies in their work ethic that disgust me. Unions exist to protect the employee, but that is not always a good thing, because competition helps drive the best out of people, and when that is taken away, complacency fills the void.
I am one of those who believe that every member of society should have a right to belong to a union, or not to belong to a union. I believe that freedom from a union should be an option for every Ohio employee. And I am one who thought that Issue 2 never went far enough. Those who claim it went too far are those who assume that the static patterns maintained for the last 40 years deserve to be maintained, and I think it should be completely erased. There is no merit in the union activity that I can see, except for those who live under its protection. The cost of that protection is not something I’m willing to support. The strangle hold they have on the public must be released.
As I was riding to work this morning in the crisp cool autumn air I thought of a friend of mine and frequent reader here who announced to me last night, “I’m the one of the first to sign the petition for Ohio to become a Right to Work State!” I had to smile at that, and not just because the mask I wear in the cold attracts a lot of attention, but because it has been talked about for a long time. Many of us who have wanted education reform have been waiting to see the results of Issue 2, but after seeing how much money the unions from outside Ohio have spent attempting to defeat that very fair bill, it has been decided to proceed with our plan to put Ohio Right-to-Work on the state ballot. This is something that needs to be implemented as fast as possible. The ugliness, the fear tactics, the misleading information that has come out of the unions during this campaign against Issue 2 has sealed the deal and convinced many people who there just isn’t a happy co-existence with labor unions. Employees need to have the option to belong to them or not, and in the future I will judge the value of employees based first on whether or not they are in a union. If they are in a union I will assume that they are a weak employee who is relying on collective-bargaining to receive a level of pay they do not deserve. Those not in a union will naturally earn my respect because they obviously are proud of their work and don’t wish to hide it in a collective mass.
Unions, you brought it on yourself. We tried to play nice, but you chose the radical route. So you are doing yourselves in. Personally, I am done with all of you. I want a cop, a firefighter and a teacher, but I don’t want a union between them and me. All one has to do to see the ugliness of the union ethic is to pull up the rug, because there has been a lot shoved under there that has accumulated over time and has pulled our society down to a level that I find reprehensible.
For those who wish to point at Diana Frey and say, “She’s not an accurate representation of public unions, or unions in general.” I would say that you are lying to yourself out of convenience. You don’t want to believe simply due to that fact that you benefit from unions and don’t want to believe you are participating in treachery to the nation. Diana attempted to shove her mess under the rug, but it was just so big that we could see the lump in the carpet. So we lifted it up and saw what she had done. However, for every Diana Frey, there are many little Diana’s out there doing much smaller offenses that add up to a lot of dirt collectively, and it all doesn’t fit under the rug.
I want to pull the rug away all together. I want to polish the hardwood floors of our nation, so I’m ready to toss the carpet out to the trash so we can show off the foundation that has always been there. But without the carpet, there isn’t anywhere to stuff the corruption, which is a key to putting our country on the correct tract which will endure for the future. That is the primary reason I am a huge supporter of making Ohio a Right-to-Work state, so look for the petition coming to a neighborhood near you. And when you see it, SIGN IT!
For the answer to everything click the link below!
Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com
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