By Adam Bitely — The ugly face of Big Labor has reared its head again—this time in Detroit with Obama.
This past weekend, at a Labor Day event in Detroit featuring an address from Obama, Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa threatened anyone opposed to Big Labor and their bought-and-paid-for Democratic political party with war. Hoffa stated, “We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They’ve got a war, they got a war with us and there’s only going to be one winner. It’s going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We’re going to win that war.”
And then came Hoffa’s infamous statement that the White House refuses to condemn: “President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let’s take these son of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong.”
This threat comes from the Teamsters union, an organization known for its violence and intimidation tactics. Strangely, Obama, who took the stage moments after Hoffa wrapped up his screed against anyone who opposes Labor Unions running the world, failed to condemn the remarks and even expressed how “proud” he was of Hoffa’s leadership. Such comments from Obama seem to fly in the face of the civility he called for around the time of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting earlier this year.
Famously in 2003, the Teamsters were forced to publish a promise to not use violence after the group reached a settlement with National Labor Relations Board after an unsuccessful attempt to stroke against Overnite Transportation Company. Below is some of the specific language contained in that promise (just imagine what was going on for this language to be included):
“WE WILL NOT use or threaten to use a weapon of any kind, including but not limited to guns, knives, slingshots, rocks, ball bearings, liquid-filled balloons or other projectiles, picket signs, sticks, sledge hammers, bricks, hot coffee, bottles, two by fours, lit cigarettes, eggs, or bags or balloons filled with excrement against any non-striking Overnite employee or security guard in the presence of any Overnite employee…
“WE WILL NOT endanger or impede the progress of or harass any non-striking employee or any employee of a neutral person doing business with Overnite, while he or she is operating a company vehicle or his or her own personal vehicle, by forcing or attempting to force him or her off the road, blocking, delaying or limiting his or her access to or passage on any road, swerving toward, driving recklessly near, tailgating or braking abruptly in front of him or her…
“WE WILL NOT batter, assault, spit on, blow whistles loudly near a person’s ear, throw any liquid or solid object at, or attempt to assault any non-striking employee of Overnite or any member of his or her family…
“WE WILL NOT threaten to kill or inflict bodily harm, make throat slashing motions, make gun pointing motions, challenge or threaten to fight or assault employees, threaten to sexually assault non-striking employees or their family members, threaten to follow non-striking employees to their homes, use racial epithets or obscene gestures at non-striking employees or otherwise threaten unspecified reprisals…”
Obama has been an ally of the Teamsters throughout his Presidency. In 2008, the Teamsters endorsed Obama after he supposedly “privately” promised the Teamsters that he would bring an end to the strict federal oversight that was part of their punishment for their connections and involvement with organized crime. The problem for the Teamsters is that no politician could ever deliver on such a promise because a judge is the only one that could lift the oversight. Even if Obama wanted to, he could not bring an end to the oversight of the Teamsters.
While Hoffa may have been offering his union to support Obama in his 2012 re-election campaign, one thing is for sure, Hoffa and his labor allies are in this fight until the very end. In the past year, they have watched the influence of their organizations falter as more and more Americans wake up to the scheme being perpetrated by labor union bosses. For far too long, labor bosses have been living off of government largesse while negotiating contracts that were unrealistic.
Now that the walls are falling around these bad contracts, Americans are standing up to the unions and saying enough is enough. In Wisconsin, labor unions went all in to strip Governor Walker of his majority in the Wisconsin State Senate in the aftermath of the budget that was passed that endangered union power. Big Labor spent tens of millions of dollars to fight for control of the Senate, but ultimately failed as voters declared that they would rather have a sound budget than unions receiving their checks.
The Teamsters have long led the way in union corruption. Threats made by this organization are serious—especially when you consider their long history of being connected to organized crime and other dubious ventures. But in the end, this appears to be a cry of desperation from a labor boss who can see the writing on the wall.
A majority of Americans oppose him and his agenda, and he will ultimately lose when the votes are counted at the ballot box.
Adam Bitely is the Editor-in-Chief of NetRightDaily.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @AdamBitely.
