Unions, hypocrisy and the "Paper of Record"

Hypocrisy and liberalism go hand in hand and here is a classic example of it. The NY Times, which excoriated Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker during the state's union battles last year seems to have issues with unionized labor of its own.

MEDIA OUTLOOK NYT Guild Walks Out Of Negotiations

Yesterday morning the New York Times and the New York Newspaper Guild convened to work on ongoing contract negotiations.

It didn’t go so well.

According to the Guild’s blog, the Times had “changed not a detail of its insulting wage proposal, offered not a dime more toward our pension and raised by just a few hairs its offer on health care.”

So the Guild representatives walked out.

The offer included an increase of $100,000 to the health care fund that the company contributes to, which the Guild called “some slight, stumbling progress, but…far behind that of most private employers its size.”

In exchange, the attorney who represents the Times in the negotiations told the Guild that the offer was “proportional to the disappointing” proposal the Guild put forth at the last negotiation session.

The drama is scheduled to resume next Wednesday when the next negotiation session takes place.

Is this the same NY Times that supported the Wisconsin teacher unions last year? Why yes it is:

Benefits for Wisconsin’s state workers are currently quite generous, but they weren’t stolen. They were negotiated by elected officials and can be re-negotiated at the bargaining table if necessary.

Most pay only 6 percent of their health care premium costs and Governor Walker wants to double that. The average employee contribution to premiums around the country, public and private, is 29 percent. Most state workers contribute almost nothing to their pensions; he wants them to pay 5.8 percent, which is a little less than average for government workers around the country.

Meanwhile, the governor is refusing to accept his own share of responsibility for the state’s projected $137 million shortfall. Just last month, he and the Legislature gave away $117 million in tax breaks, mostly for businesses that expand and for private health savings accounts. That was a choice lawmakers made, and had it not been for those decisions and a few others, according to the state’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the state would have had a surplus.

Wisconsin is certainly not as bad off as California, Illinois, and several northeastern states that are making tough budgetary decisions without trying to eliminate union rights. Nonetheless, the union-busting movement is picking up steam, with lawmakers in Ohio, Indiana, and several other states. On Thursday in Washington, John Boehner, the speaker of the House, weighed in on Mr. Walker’s side.

Keeping schools closed and blocking certain public services is not a strategy we support and could alienate public opinion and play into the governor’s hand. Short of that, the unions should make their voices heard and push back hard against this misguided plan.

Hey Pinch, you gonna support the workers against management now? I mean the little guys are getting screwed by the man, right?