As I previously noted, the head of the AFL-CIO says labor is in crisis, and told folks over Labor Day weekend that unions are too small to accomplish anything anymore. Back here in Montana, the Montana AFL-CIO was attacking a longtime labor union member after he pointed out that fringe environmentalists are out to destroy jobs.
Meanwhile, Jason Hart with Watchdog.org has a must-read piece out highlighting “Big Labor’s Top 100.”
Here’s an excerpt:
While unions call for tax and minimum-wage increases to fix “income inequality,” reports to the U.S. Department of Labor reveal 472 union officers and employees were paid more than $250,000 in 2013.
In all, America’s 100 highest-paid union officers and employees received $54.8 million taken from workers last year.
Union officials lived even higher on the hog in fiscal 2013 than the year before, when 428 union officers and employees were paid more than $250,000 and the top 100 received compensation totaling $52.1 million.
Labor is in a crisis indeed…
I spoke with Jason on Thursday’s Voices of Montana. Check out my podcast page later today for the audio.
Jason Hart also told me about an updated post that he has out today at Watchdog.org: Teacher union boss pay refutes “solidarity” rhetoric
Teachers union presidents Randi Weingarten and Lily Eskelsen Garcia claim to speak for American workers, but collect huge salaries from the very educators they accuse taxpayers of shortchanging.
“This #laborday, the struggle continues,” attested Weingarten — whose 2013 salary plus reimbursements of $543,150 was less than the $556,981 she received the year before — in a Sept. 1 tweet linking to a story at The Nation.