Judge tells union to stop threatening people

Good day all. We have a story coming out of Kansas regarding a judge who had to issue a ruling telling a union to stop threatening harm to people they don’t like.

What makes this interesting is that this was a judge attached to the National Labor Relation Board, (NLRB), not an agency noted for coming down on unions of late. Here are some of the details from The Washington Free Beacon:

A federal labor arbiter ordered a Kansas union to stop threatening bodily harm against union dissidents it was supposed to represent in a grievance case. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) sanctioned the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 70, Local 839, an AFL-CIO affiliate, (IAM), for using intimidation tactics against dissidents. The board’s regional director concluded the union had used threats of physical abuse and had attempted to get non-members fired from Spirit Aerosystems.

And people wonder why I despise unions? In any case, here is what the judge said in his order the the union thugs:

Cease and desist from: Attempting to cause or causing Spirit Aerosystems to discharge employee-members because of their dissident union and and/or other protected concerted activities.Threatening employee-members with bodily harm or impeding their grievances because of their protected concerted activities. Discriminatorily and/or arbitrarily processing employee-members’ grievances because of their protected concerted activities.

The abuse by the Union most have been pretty blatant for the NLRB to actually come down on the other side. Of course, the union has their own opinion of the matter.

The union dismissed the charges in a statement following the April decision. “We are aware of the decision and believe it was wrongly decided on the facts and the law,” District 70 Directing Business Representative Frank Molina said in a statement.

Translation: We got caught and we will stall until our friends in the White House can get rid of this judge and replace him with one who will bow to our will. Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to work. The plaintiffs do look like they were the victims of unionist thuggery.

Jarrod Lehman and Ryan Hastens were employees at the Wichita plane manufacturer and previously held leadership posts with the union. They filed unfair labor practice complaints against the IAM in July 2014 alleging that the union pushed for their firings against company policy.

Ahh, we have a case of the Union eating it’s own. Pass the popcorn please.

Lehman ran an unsuccessful campaign to lead the union in 2013 and soon found himself threatened by former election opponents, who referred to him in colorful terms.

Colorful terms? Such as?

“Lehman’s credible explanation of his rocky relationship with Johnson was not disputed. (Tr. 233– 240.) Moreover, the General Counsel’s unopposed motion to correct the transcript to reflect that [union head Howard] Johnson called Lehman a cocky little shit instead of a ‘coffee’ little ‘shift,’ is granted,” the ruling says.

Kasten was also a harsh critic of IAM leadership. The former shop steward supported challengers to Johnson’s in the 2013 election and soon found himself in the crosshairs of union officials, according to the NLRB ruling.

And what was it that ticked off the union masters?

“Kasten’s relationship with District 70 leadership began to sour, however, in November 2013 when he accompanied Karen Ascension, a vice presidential candidate in the upcoming IAM International election, to a union meeting to speak on behalf of the reform candidates,” the ruling states. “Ascension was running on the national reform slate in the upcoming election, along with Jay Cronk, who was challenging incumbent International President Thomas Buffenbarger. Ascension encountered hostility, however, from Howard Johnson, who harassed her in an attempt to curtail her presentation.”

Lehman and Kastens left themselves vulnerable to discipline in January 2014 when they disseminated a video of a safety violation at the plant to personal email addresses belonging to Spirit colleagues.

I won’t comment on the violation. It might have been major or it might have been a minor thing. Unions do have a tendency to blow everything out of proportion.

Company policy prohibited the spread of company information to personal emails even if they did belong to active employees. One of the recipients was a Johnson ally, who forwarded it to Johnson; the union leader then sent it to management to get both men fired, according to the ruling.

Well, I see two things here. As I mentioned, I have no idea what this violation was. However, the very fact that the union leadership sent it to management with the purpose of getting someone fired begs the question, “What good are unions then? Aren’t they supposed to protect the workers?” In any case, the NLRB laughed in the faces of the Union.

The NLRB official dismissed Johnson’s denial of the charges as “utterly incredible.” “Johnson’s testimony, that he did not review the e-mail and video attachment to ascertain that it originated with Lehman and was forwarded by Kastens, was utterly incredible,” the ruling says. “Johnson forwarded it solely because of the Union’s animus for Kastens and Lehman due to their union activity.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbp_JQ7RxqM’]

Oh, it’s going to get better.

The relationship grew so acrimonious that Kastens took out a restraining order against Johnson, even as Johnson and his allies were handling his grievance process. “Howard Johnson’s remarks … conveyed the message that the incident would have repercussions regarding Kastens’ pending grievance. Such a statement was clearly unlawful,” the ruling says.

Needless to say, the Union isn’t going to give up. Dissent must be crushed utterly whenever and wherever it is found after all.

Molina said that the union would continue to fight the decision. “We intend to appeal it to the NLRB and we are confident that the NLRB will reverse it,” Molina said in a statement.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_8YTa_-hZw’]

Yep, they have a call in to Obama. Of course, it won’t help since this is Obama and the union’s can’t do anything for him now. I think the plaintiffs will carry the day. My hope is the rank and file will see just how worthless their union is and vote to get rid of it. Yeah, I know. The NLRB is now making it impossible to resist forced unionization.

Thatisall

~The Angry Webmaster~

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