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Has pouring money down the “re-elect a Democrat Congress” sewer finally bled private unions out?
coachisright.com ^ | May 4, 2012 | Kevin "Coach" Collins

Posted on 05/04/2012 11:35:05 AM PDT by jmaroneps37

The Department of Labor classifies almost half of America’s private union pension funds as either “endangered” or “critical” because they are so grossly underfunded.

Among the unions on this list are the Democrats’ favorite piggy banks; “the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the International Brothers of Electrical Workers, the Laborers International Union of Northern America, the International Association of Machinists, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, the International Union of Operating Engineers and the National Plumbers Union.”

On average all private union pensions are almost 40% underfunded. In real life terms this means less than 1 of every 160 private union workers has a pension plan that can actually meet its contractually required monthly payouts.

Drunk with self delusion about the chance to create of a “Socialist Worker’s Paradise” since Barack Obama beat a rather weak Republican candidate in 2008 unions, both private and public, have been shoveling money into Democrat campaigns around the country.

Immediately after the 2008 election they donated heavily to try to unseat Georgia Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss in a runoff election and lost. Then in 2009 they poured millions into the campaigns of Democrat’s in Virginia and New Jersey trying to win governor’s races and lost.

By 2010 panic and desperation set in and private unions raided every available source of money in their control – most likely including pension funds – to hold the House and Senate.

They held the Senate but only because they redirected their contributions from dying Congressional Democrat campaigns and lost the House in record numbers. The SEIU put up $44 million and the National Education Association gave the Democrats $40 million of their members’ money.

No one in the media asked where this money came from, but we can guess……

(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; Politics; Society
KEYWORDS: unionpensions
If the unions turn away from the Democrats that will deliver a seriuous punch to the donks.But the unions might not have a choice.
1 posted on 05/04/2012 11:35:16 AM PDT by jmaroneps37
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To: jmaroneps37

I was looking at this just last night.

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php?order=A

That’s a list of the big spenders.


2 posted on 05/04/2012 11:44:04 AM PDT by MurrietaMadman
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To: jmaroneps37

This is the most welcome news I’ve seen in some time.

Unions are a scourge on the body politic, and the economy. There was a time perhaps when they were necessary, but that time has passed. Unions in the end harm their members more than they help, not to mention that all good that accrues to them harms consumers.

When unions no longer have the ability to buy political favor, they’re toast.


3 posted on 05/04/2012 11:45:25 AM PDT by wayoverontheright
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To: jmaroneps37

Strategically speaking, if the GOP takes control of both houses, they should add a rider to one of their fiscal bills that requires the unions to true up their pension accounts over the next four years.

Further, include a provision that any union that is unable to true up it’s accounts by that time must file for bankruptcy in federal court with all assets being sold, all debts paid, all contracts vacated and then any remaining balance if there is any goes to the pension fund. The pension will then be distributed to the members and the union closed.


4 posted on 05/04/2012 11:57:17 AM PDT by taxcontrol
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To: jmaroneps37

Coach is Right’s website is down and even with a temp site the link to the rest of the story is bad. Looks like someone didn’t like what the Coach wrote so the Coach had to be silenced


5 posted on 05/04/2012 12:05:20 PM PDT by airedale
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To: jmaroneps37
"International Association of Machinists" LOL!

I was a member 45 yrs ago. I was employed by Boeing. When I was laid off in '69 they were no help whatsoever.

6 posted on 05/04/2012 12:25:10 PM PDT by ol' hoghead (He is not here; for he is risen.)
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To: jmaroneps37

Don’t forget the many many millions that the unions have spent (unsuccessfully) in Wisconsin recall efforts.


7 posted on 05/04/2012 12:33:15 PM PDT by kidd
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To: jmaroneps37

Sorry but this write-up’s assumption seems to be way off base factually. He is hinting that the money has come from diverting pension plan contributions. There is NO proof of that given. The money spent came from the enforced dues withdrawn from paychecks. If the unions tried to raid the pension plans they would be annihilated in the press and facing serious jail time no matter who is in power.

It’s the union dues that have been spent so badly, now it is time for the members to start to rebel against that practice.

Pensions are mostly financed by the employer, or the government entity in the public sector. Those funds are not commingled with the union dues. Now that the members are being required to put up some money themselves that money is also segregated in the pension plan, not the union.


8 posted on 05/04/2012 12:45:40 PM PDT by LRoggy (Peter's Son's Business)
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To: jmaroneps37

Any guess when a “Trial Lawyer” will get a client or two and put in a class action suit on their and the other union members behalf?

The best I can hope to see is that these unions get De-certified nationwide and all funds previously under their control be put into a blind trust or some similar type of arrangement.


9 posted on 05/04/2012 12:48:33 PM PDT by The Working Man
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To: taxcontrol

What a good idea - but which RINO would lead the charge?


10 posted on 05/04/2012 1:13:37 PM PDT by I am Richard Brandon
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To: jmaroneps37

I hope this is true, but don’t Soros’ (and whoever works with him) bottomless resources fund the SEIU and other Union efforts?


11 posted on 05/04/2012 1:16:11 PM PDT by TEXOKIE
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To: jmaroneps37

Emptied the treasuries and you couldn’t even secure Card Check. SUCKERS!!!


12 posted on 05/04/2012 1:17:53 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: wayoverontheright
You are missing the point of the article.

The article is NOT about the unions' ability to impact politics. The article is about the unions' pensions becoming increasingly underfunded.

Underfunded union pensions are bad for everyone - left or right.

Do you know who is repsonsible by law or contract for paying monies into the union pensions? Their management employers.

For public employee unions, their employers are government bodies - TAXPAYERS. Labor laws require employers - and NOT the unions - to pay extra money beyond their regular contractual obligation into a union pension fund that becomes underfunded.

For example, your local government body negotiates with the SEIU to employ one custodial worker under a SEIU labor contract for a $25/hr wage/fringe package. That $25 is broken out into multiple payments - a wage of $18/hr to the employee, a health insurance payment of $3/hr to the SEIU health fund, a pension payment of $2/hr to the SEIU pension fund, $1/hr to the SEIU vacation fund and $1/hr to SEIU for union dues. All FICA & state taxes are taken from the employee's $18.

The amount of union dues paid to SEIU is set by the union. The amounts paid into the SEIU health, pension and vacation funds are determined by each fund's joint labor-management board. These boards determine how much money is needed to keep each individual fund viable.

If healthcare costs go up (or fund reserves decline), the health fund board can shop for a cheaper policy, increase employee deductibles, out-of-pockets or co-pays OR increase the hourly health contribution within the wage package. In other words, if the health contrbution increases to $4/hr from the previous $3, the employee take-home wage will decline from $18/hr to $17/hr.

All of the other union benefit funds function similarly. All fund assets are tied to stocks, bonds and banking investments.

In a bad economy, many union employees choose to retire early which places an increased burden on the union pension fund. Seeing this, the joint labor-managment pension fund board raises the hourly contribution rate by $1/hr. Now the employee's wage is down to $16/hr (before taxes).

Similarly, unemployed, underemployed and retired union members who still have medical benefits will seek increased levels of medical treatement. With increased demand and costs and a declining investment portfolio, these funds are in danger.

If any of the benefit funds become underfunded (obligations to employees exceeding assets on hand) below a level set by federal law, the employer is required by law to make additional lump payments into the respective underfunded benefit funds. The potential current liability to local and state government bodies (i.e. taxpayers) for underfunding benefit funds is likely hundreds of billions of dollars. The only way for government bodies to permanently escape this liability is to decalre bankruptcy.

Or they need to privatize their labor. This is difficult to do. The unions are poised to strike and sue. In which case, the taxpayer is hit with reduced or eliminated services and legal costs.

It's not any better for private employers who use union labor. Most unionized construction firms are owned and managed by Republicans. In years past, these employers entered into these multi-employer labor contracts with construction trade unions to guarantee a steady flow of quality, trained labor. Their union contracts are difficult to escape - even through bankruptcy.

Worse still, any industry benefit fund that becomes underfunded beneath the level set by the federal law must be paid by proportionally by each employer underneath the multi-employer labor agreement. If any one employer goes under, the underfunded beneift fund liablity increases for each of the surviving employers. If more than a few employers go under, they could drag down and kill the entire group of employers bound by the contract.

But what is contant under these scenarios - public and private labor benefit funds? The union dues!!

The union is not obligated to reduce their required hourly dues payment. It is out of these dues funds that the union makes political contributions to Democrats.

Like a cockroach that will survive any nuclear blast that wipes out humanity, the unions are set up to survive underfunded pension and benefit funds. It's almost impossible for unions to go bankrupt. They're playing with other people's money.

The only way to reduce their political influence is to radically reduce the number of union employees. Starve the unions of dues payments and they will wither and die. The trick is for employers to escape their union obligations while maintaining the industry and keeping employees happy enough with their wages and benefits that it prevents the unions from effectivly organizing and re-starting the entire Ponzi scheme.

Bottom line: Don't cheer the underfunded union benefit funds. Yes, it could burst the union employment bubble. But it will kill working families, the local economy and the investment marketplace even more than any of the current/recent real estate or banking bubbles.

13 posted on 05/04/2012 1:25:55 PM PDT by Sideshow Bob
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To: LRoggy
Sorry but this write-up’s assumption seems to be way off base factually. He is hinting that the money has come from diverting pension plan contributions. There is NO proof of that given. The money spent came from the enforced dues withdrawn from paychecks. If the unions tried to raid the pension plans they would be annihilated in the press and facing serious jail time no matter who is in power.

It’s the union dues that have been spent so badly, now it is time for the members to start to rebel against that practice.

Pensions are mostly financed by the employer, or the government entity in the public sector. Those funds are not commingled with the union dues. Now that the members are being required to put up some money themselves that money is also segregated in the pension plan, not the union.

***

LRoggy is 100% right. (and far more concise in his comments)

14 posted on 05/04/2012 1:36:42 PM PDT by Sideshow Bob
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To: jmaroneps37

Democrat support of the Occupy protests and their abuse of police and property, with the help of sympathic Dem Mayors, can’t be doing much for getting the support of police and fire unions.


15 posted on 05/04/2012 1:38:07 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: SaraJohnson
Democrat support of the Occupy protests and their abuse of police and property, with the help of sympathic Dem Mayors, can’t be doing much for getting the support of police and fire unions.

***

No, the fire/police unions and their leadership are fine with the Occupy movement. The rank and file are not to happy with the Occupy movement, but not so upset that they would lift a finger to remove their corrupt leadership.

16 posted on 05/04/2012 2:23:54 PM PDT by Sideshow Bob
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To: Sideshow Bob

As happened before, the rank and file will ignore the Union bosses’ political orders.


17 posted on 05/04/2012 2:37:15 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: SaraJohnson
As happened before, the rank and file will ignore the Union bosses’ political orders.

***

Yes. Very true. But the rank and file will do nothing to stop their union leadership from making hefty political contributions to Democrats.

18 posted on 05/04/2012 3:19:22 PM PDT by Sideshow Bob
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