Searching Google News can be fun, especially if you’re focused on a limited set of keywords — like “hypocrite,” “phony,” “devious,” and “two-faced.” That last one just netted me this, from yesterday’s London Times:
One of the most powerful trade unions in the United States has vowed to damage the reputation of “two-faced” Tesco around the world in an unprecedented attack on Britain’s biggest retailer.
The United Food and Commercial Workers’ Union (UFCW) condemned the supermarket yesterday for the way in which it treats staff in the US and said that there were stark differences with the rights and benefits enjoyed by workers in Britain. Union officials unveiling the “Two Faces of Tesco” campaign in London pledged to name and shame the retailer until its directors came to the negotiating table.
If you really want to read the UFCW’s report, here it is. But considering that Tesco is Britain’s version of Wal-Mart, I’m not all that impressed with what the union calls “two-faced.” They’re basically complaining about the lack of things like universal health care, paid sick-leave, and “living wages” which are required in the UK but not in the United States. Why on earth would a British company voluntarily extend those benefits to Americans when it opens up some stores on this side of the Atlantic? Doesn’t really sound “two-faced” to me. More like “When in Rome…”
That complaining union, on the other hand … well, here’s what union-watchdog group the Center for Union Facts has found in public records. It ain’t pretty.
While it’s been complaining about the “unfair” treatment of workers at the hands of big, bad supermarket chains that won’t match their 401(k) contributions, the UFCW has itself been the subject of over 2,000 federal-government “Unfair Labor Practice” investigations. Just since the year 2000.
Here’s a taste of what Tesco probably has to look forward to, from UnionFacts.com:
In late 2005, the former assistant to the president of UFCW International, Joseph DiFlumera, was sentenced for mail fraud, racketeering, and extorting more than $1.5 million from a grocery chain. DiFlumera told prosecutors that he would offer an “insurance policy” that allowed a company to “come under the umbrella” of protection from union organizing. DiFlumera “repeatedly advised these individuals that the monies paid to him were handed over to the president of Local 1445 and the UFCW. The defendant insisted that if these monies were not paid by the company the company would suffer extreme economic harm.”
And the union’s president made over $345,000 last year. Nice “living wage” if you can get it. Workers of the world, unite!
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My dad was a life-long union guy, so I got a warped sense of what it all meant. But I think things might be turning around. Maybe this sort of aggressive (and nasty, and mud-slinging) campaign from a big union is a sign that they’re gasping for breath?
Look. No union is perfect. The UFCW certainly isn’t. But you ought to know what you’re talking about before you post it. The Center for Union Facts certainly won’t say how many of those 2,000 claims that were filed were actually found to have merit. Companies file them all the time to harass unions, and unhappy union members who lose grievances do the same thing. The one example they cite is certainly bad, and I won’t defend it, but it’s hard to look at that and extrapolate anything definite about the UFCW.
Additionally, the Center for Union Facts was started by a guy who has himself been investigated for misappropriating non-profit funds for personal profit. He’s also lobbied to lower standards for the blood alcohol limits in many states, and for tobacco companies. He’s as dirty as the day is long.
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As far as Tesco goes, they have no reason (other than that they can) to treat American workers more poorly than they do British workers. By the logic you lay out, if they go to China, they’d be perfectly right to treat those workers by that country’s abysmal labor laws.
WHISKEY:
Look at the website. There’s more:
Looking at this from the outside, it sounds more like a mob racket that would rather see a shop go up in flames if it’s not paying protection money. But that’s just my opinion. And it’s the UFCW, remember, that started this by calling a supermarket “two-faced.”
I was a union member once upon a time. I quickly learned they weren’t there for me. They did nothing but protect the lazy, and incompetent. The 25 year employee that had a flask of whiskey hidden in the bathroom, the guys who showed up late, hungover, or drunk. Sometimes both. It was a joke. Unions have long out lived their usefulness.
“It sounds more like a mob racket that would rather see a shop go up in flames if it’s not paying protection money.” It’s absolutely true. Just look at the big three auto makers. Unionized to the hilt. They continue to lose money hand over fist and the unions try to maintain whatever control they have. You can argue all you want about the cars they build etc., but it’s a moot point if they go under. Would you rather have a union gig with kick-ass benefits and pay, or no job at all? Because that’s where unions are headed. Unions suck. If you disagree with me you’re wrong.
Another reason to shop at Sainsbury’s.
Unions are fantastic – if you appreciate having your job priced out of the market to the point they have to close your plant. Unions are death, especially for manufacturing concerns. You can pay some moron that dropped out of high school 30 bucks an hour to screw a bolt onto a frame in America, or you can move the job to China or Mexico and save millions. Unions have priced our manufacturing base out of competition with the developing world, and put hundreds of thousands of the people they were supposed to be helping out of the job.
When people were working 90 hour weeks, losing limbs in equipment because management didn’t want to buy a 5 cent safety bar, making 2 dollars a day with no benefits – we needed unions. Now, it just protects the incompetent and their own interests, while costing Americans their jobs.
I have worked for a big labor union, in its national office, for 18 years. Some of the stuff I see in my own office makes me very sad. Some of it makes me proud. But most of it makes me wonder why we really (really!) need labor unions any more.
Is it just because we’ve always had them, and they once served a crucial purpose? Well, we could say the same thing about typewriters and Instamatic cameras. I’m just being honest.
Most of the people I work with will tell you, if you buy them a drink or a joint, that they’re hoping to retire comfortably — just like a person in any other profession (or in the federal government, which pretty much runs the city where I work). But there’s no sense of purpose any more. (again, like in the federal government…)
This is probably the sort of thing I should be scribbling on a postcard and sending to Post Secret, but I think I would trust most of my union’s “adversaries” more than I trust the people I work for. Then again, maybe that’s just because I know them better, and I understand what makes them tick. They’re all just glorified politicians. It’s not “power to the people.” It’s all about POWER, people …
Unions erode a Capitalistic Society’s global competitiveness.
it’s funny you bring up tesco! a supermarket in my neighborhood called ralph’s launched an insane hypocritical smear campaign against tesco’s new fresh and easy markets, sending mailings stating that they sell expired food.
i once bought some expired mac & cheese from ralph’s by mistake. i went back the next day to return it, only to find that ALL of the mac & cheese on their shelf (about 16 boxes) was expired. i brought it to the front for them to trash. i asked when they’d have more, and they said they’d have more stocked up the following day. i came back then, and they had PUT IT ALL BACK. talk about unethical and profiteering!
when i got those mailings talking smack about fresh and easy, i headed right over to give them my business.
My brother the union organizer once told me that they would rather see a business and everyone lose their jobs go under if they did not turn to a union shop. Am I crazy or that just SICK?
Unions forcing companies out of business is a career here in KY. Just look at the closings of all the auto plants, we have two Ford Plants here, one is going under. The Unions helped my brother in law to get paid $80k a year, which in KY is like $200k every where else, to put three bolts in the bed of a truck once every 15 minutes. When they tried to negotiate with the unions last year to lower the wages and retire some people the unions went nuts and threatened a walk out. Now the plant is closing for low profits. Go figure.
They have a great track record here, International Harvestor, Brown and Foreman, Coca-cola, all shut down due to Unions trying to force them to over pay workers.
As the lone Union Holdout in my office, I can tell you all about the pressures that Unions put on Management, non-union members, and the business in General. Our Stock was around $70 less than a year ago, they we “re-negotiated” our contracts. My job is in danger of being cut, AND our stock is worth less than $5. Unions are the worst thing to happen to business since Sexual Harrassment became ‘uncool’.
I’m a member of UFCW local 1262. They do nothing for me. Benefits are a joke, raises are 40 cents a year, and my store is full of horrible old useless bitches who don’t even feel like working but are never fired.