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<DIV><FONT face=Arial><STRONG>The thing to remember about the
national Union bureaucratic leadership ( with the exception of the
U.E. Union ...Republic Window and Door occupation and victory in Chicago in
2008, a Union so democratic that it was expelled by the AFL-CIO in the
1950's and whose national Preseident who is directly elected by the rank and
file is payed no more than the highest rank and file member of the Union,
approx. $70,000 per year, compared to the president of the national
building trades whose annual salary is $ 340,000 per year and is NOT elected by
rank and file members ) is that for decades now they have served their
corporate masters well.</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Like with the revolving door of the Pentagon and
the war industry, there is a revolving door of Union " leaders " going from
their positions in the Union officialdom with their 6 figure pensions to the
democratic party and many large non-profit organizations.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>For decades they have practiced the " team concept
" with corporate management and in the process selling out their member's ;
wages, benefits, retirement, health and safety issues, and working
conditions.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Whenever they have been challenged from the rank
and file with members stepping forward to criticize or run against them in
elections ( that is, those few Unions that still have elections ) they are
crushed and destroyed by the union officialdom in colusion with corporate
management which often means a loss of their job or other
sanction.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Why does the Union officialdom do this
?</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Because they would rather switch than fight, they
don't want to piss off the national democratic party leaders and they just want
to go along to get along so that they can continue collecting their 6-figure
salaries and lavish benefits and have the possibility of another lucrative job
after retirement.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Equally bad, most U.S. union leaders, think
corporate, act corporate, and want to be corporate.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>The irony to all of this is that they have done
such a good job of protecting corporate america from their angry members, the
capitalists realize that with U.S. Labor as weak as it has become in
the last 30-years, that they no longer need these junior partners of the
1%.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>So now, the Union offficaldom wants to save
it's ass and have it's cake and eat it too by supporting the Occupy movement as
their shock troops to put pressure on the capitalists, and at the same time
deliver the vote for their other masters, the national democratic
party.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>I advocate that the Occupy movement should take
the Union officialdom's support and money, but realize who you are dealing with
and not let them control or co-opt you. One recent tactic the officialdom
has been using in Oakland Ca. is identifying key Occupy leaders
and promising them the possibility of a future $ 40,000 + staff
position with the union.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>The question I would love to see Occupy people ask
the union officialdom is this ; </FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>" Where are your members " ?
</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>" Why don't you mobilize them "
?</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>"Do you have rank and file member elected
committees to coordinate with us " ?</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>" Why don't you criticize Obama and most of the
national democrats when after all they have broken every promise they made
to you starting with the failed enactment of the employee free choice act,
the push by Obama and the dems to privatize public education and destroy the
Teacher's Unions, the failure to repeal NAFTA and instead enacted a new free
trade agreement with COLUMBIA that has the highest murder rate of Union
activists in the world, not just per capita but in actual numbers as
well.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>And the list of lies and betrayls go on and on and
on and on.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>The Occupy Movement should make every attempt to
make contact with and encourage the participation of rank and file Union
members. Their fight is your fight and your fight is theirs against this rotten
corporate system in ALL of it's clever manifistations.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>David Johnson</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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