Update: UNION WINS -- EXTORTS COMPANY TO ALLOW UNION CARD CHECK

Union Exploits Environmental Law to Secure Organizing Advantage

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) used the California Environmental Quality Act(CEQA) to out maneuver Japanese light rail manufacturer Kinkisharyo to secure a card-check provision to organize employees.

Gary Toebben, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, wrote in Fox&Hounds that there are some real losers in the deal. He says that although Kinkisharyo will bring 250 jobs to L.A. County, “the company will not be building the new $60 million facility that would have added to Palmdale’s tax base and provided employment for many construction workers. The IBEW was successful in securing a card check provision for its members, but hundreds of construction workers lost the opportunity to build the new 400,000-square-foot building.”

Moreover, according to Toebben, labor and other special interest groups take advantage for themselves, not the environment, by filing CEQA lawsuits. He is hoping that in 2016 Governor Jerry Brown and lawmakers make it illegal to use CEQA for non-environmental reasons. <Source>

Stripped of all the rhetoric, unions have been taken over by socialists and communists for the sole purpose of gaining control of labor, supporting their own politicians in office, and wreaking more havoc on the American economy than any other branch of organized crime.

If you are wondering why executives of major corporations continue to donate significant funds to the democrat party for the benefit of progressive socialist democrats, you need look no further than the disruption, coercion, and extortion that accompanies governmental labor and environmental actions – often with the covert or overt assistance of partisan politicians who owe their very cushy jobs to union campaign funding and voter support.

We have all seen so-called “community activists” rally against big box stores like Wal-Mart – companies that provide goods and services at affordable prices to both the disadvantaged and the middle class. Their sole grievance is that these stores are no unionized and therefore their employees do not pay tribute to the unions in the form of membership dues – and the corporations do not make large payments into health, welfare, and pension funds.

Now, we have a clear example of how the unions attempt to extort manufacturers and cost their municipalities jobs and tax revenues …

It appears that a Japanese company, Kinkisharyo International, planned to manufacture railcars in the Antelope Valley, Palmdale, California to be specific. They were currently using leased hangar space from the “Los Angeles World Airport” – the dream of a major world class airport gone awry – to build-out rail cars for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit District. The proposed 427,507 square-foot facility would have been built from the ground up at an estimated cost of $60 million. Providing 150 – 200 permanent high-paying jobs.

In addition to this build-out, the company wanted to move their headquarters from Massachsetts to El Segundo, California.

The sticking point was union politics – essentially the company did not want to rely on the union’s proposed card-check scheme whereby 50% of the workers at the new plant could simply be coerced by union thuggery to check-off a box on a form -- and the company would be compelled to begin the collective bargaining process with the union. Adding to the grief were community activists who claimed that environmental concerns needed to be addressed before any plant could be built on the 60-acre site.

Not to be dissuaded, the one union leader claims that the company’s actions might violate their contract with the MTA if jobs were taken out of state. Consider the strident tone of the union’s leadership in this Los Angeles Times article …

Maria Elena Durazo, who heads the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the region's largest union voice, said in an interview that Kinkisharyo will violate its contract with Metro if it takes any jobs out of state. She added that the firm has "done nothing but treat [labor] as if we were outsiders."

"They're behind schedule, and now they're going to use this as an excuse to not deliver on what they were supposed to do," Durazo said. "Anything else they mention is a distraction of the fundamental issue."

In a statement, Madeline Janis, director of a coalition of labor and community groups, said public officials "ought to hold Kinkisharyo to its obligations to taxpayers, rather than blaming labor unions."

Metro's deputy executive officer for procurement, Victor Ramirez, said the first car, a test model, was delivered a week ahead of schedule and that "Kinkisharyo is in full compliance with their contract." <Source: Los Angeles Times>

Kinkisharyo, the El Segundo-based U.S. arm of Kinki Sharyo Co. Ltd. of Osaka, said NO – and the deal was off. They are now looking at sites outside of California (Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Texas.) where union and environmental regulations are favorable to business.

In a letter to the City of Palmdale’s Economic Development Manager, the company wrote …

The purpose of this letter is to inform you and your office that Kinkisharyo is formally withdrawing our Permit Application to construct a 427,507 sq.’ manufacturing and assembly facility to build rail cars in the City of Palmdale. Unfortunately, despite weeks of discussion and negotiation, the Antelope Valley Residents for Responsible Development’s (“AVRRD”) and IBEW has refused to withdraw the various appeals they have filed, and have given no assurances that they would not file a court action to object to any final action by your city council. This has made moving forward with the construction of the facility too risky.

We appreciate the efforts made by the City to address AVRRD’s concerns, but as everyone agrees, their CEQA-based “environmental” objections were simply a pretext to gain leverage in their attempt to force us to agree to a card check agreement regarding the unionizing of our workforce. After careful evaluation we have determined that the delays caused by AVRRD’s appeal prevents us from being able to meet our LRV delivery schedule commitments to Metro on the P3010 LRV and increases our cost to complete by several million dollars. Hence we have no choice but to identify another location to perform this work. <Source>

Good-paying industrial jobs, interim construction jobs, a boost to the local economy – all down the drain because of corrupt unions. In this case, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The same union that refused to open its joint venture books and show the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power how a $40 million slush fund was spent.

Bottom line …

Manufacturing jobs are being outsourced at a record rate. Where outsourcing is problematical, industrial robots and expert systems are assuming much of the manufacturing work. Simply put, the unions have killed the golden goose in almost every industry they touch – automotive, aircraft, railroads, white goods (appliances), electronics, clothing, motion pictures, television, and others. And, now these parasites are infecting the broader economy as they take over government using public employee unions. If you want to see the logical extension of union corruption and perfidy, one need only look to Europe – Italy and France in particular – to see what havoc they can evoke.

Don’t get me wrong, it is not the rank-and-file that I have a problem with – it’s their corrupt leadership that demands ever higher wages and benefits with no increase in productivity, promoting seniority over merit, demanding the status quo over innovation, and devising contractual work rules that see a single job split among three crafts at quadruple the price. Like the breads and cakes baked in the same factory, but requiring different trucks to deliver to the same group of customers. Ask any union member if he has a say in the union’s overwhelming support of the progressive socialist democrat party? As them about the thuggery that keeps members in line? Ask them about the leadership that lives like multi-millionaire corporate executives when they are out on strike?

It is time to tell the truth – unions are anti-American and keep America from competing in the world markets. No other force has so corrupted our government – almost to the point of a total collapse of our manufacturing economy. Unions must be reformed and forced to provide value in return for their services. Otherwise, they should be abandoned.

Organized crime no longer refers to the Mafia, it refers to government and their special interest unions.

-- steve