Foul-Mouthed Teachers & Unions

(From a round-up by the Center for Union Facts):

Teachers Union Threatens To "Smash Your F***ing Head In"

As part of our campaign to publicize the damage done by the Newark Teachers Union (NTU) we stopped by their headquarters recently to pick up copies of their most recent tax returns -- which the IRS requires labor unions (and all other non-profits) to turn over for "public inspection" upon request.

Unsurprisingly, the response we've gotten from the NTU bosses has been a tad less than civil (and probably illegal). On our first visit, they called the cops on us. And after telling us he didn't care what the law said and to "get the f*** out," one union exec told us:

If I smash your f***ing head in with this toolbox, nothing would happen to me. I'd have a blanket and a cup of coffee, and be out [of jail] in half an hour.

The second time around didn't go much better. Even after repeatedly informing NTU big-wigs Joseph Del Grosso and John Abeigon that the NTU has a legal obligation to provide us with their tax returns and physically showing them the text of the relevant federal law, they still threw us out. Do these guys have something to hide?

We told the July 4 New York Times that we're continuing the fight against "this entrenched bureaucracy protecting teachers who ought to be doing something else with their lives other than turning out kids who can't read their own diploma.

And I missed the story during 4th of July week on the Wilmette store. Hadn't seen those pickets for some time as I shopped there. And I can confirm the sentiment of the employees. They were very clear union outsiders were picketing their workplace without their support.) Labor Pains:

By a 2-1 margin, employees of the Chicago-based Treasure Island grocery chain voted in a secret ballot election to kick out the United Food and Commercial Workers. This morning’s Chicago Tribune has the money quote:

Dan Schalin, a grocery manager at the firm’s Wilmette store, said the drive to quit the union took off after it barred workers from voting on a company contract offer in 2004 and then urged shoppers to boycott the stores as a bargaining tactic.” …

People felt that the union wasn’t looking out for them. They weren’t earning our union dues,” explained Schalin. “There were more hard feelings against the union for boycotting than a fear that the company would not take care of us.”

Yes, it must be union busting that is driving union membership down!