Skip to content

Obamacare: 40,000 Longshoremen quit the AFL-CIO

September 2, 2013

Due in part to Obamacare and to immigration reform 40,000 Longshoreman have announced they are splitting with the AFL-CIO:

In an August 29 letter to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, ILWU President Robert McEllrath cited quite a list of grievances as reasons for the disillusion of their affiliation, but prominent among them was the AFL-CIO’s support of Obamare.

“We feel the Federation has done a great disservice to the labor movement and all working people by going along to get along,” McEllrath wrote in the letter to Trumka.

  Of course the union was “going along to get along” with the Democrats’ Obamacare plan, unions have been in bed with the Democrats for years–it is what they do. However, it is hard to feel bad for these 40,000 members because, whether they care to admit it or not, they were also willingly “going along to get along” when they thought their healthcare plans were going to be exempted from Obamacare.

    By their votes in 2008 and 2012 they approved of Obamacare, and they did so because they believed there was a separate set of rules for them to live by, they have blindly been voting for Democrats because their union leadership told them to and now it has finally come back to bite them.

The Longshoreman leader said, “President Obama ran on a platform that he would not tax medical plans and at the 2009 AFL-CIO Convention, you stated that labor would not stand for a tax on our benefits.” But, regardless of that promise, the President has pushed for just such a tax and Trumka and the AFL-CIO bowed to political pressure lining up behind Obama’s tax on those plans

    These 40,000 Longshoremen were willing to thrust Obamacare upon us when they thought they were exempt from it, but now that they realize they are going to have to live under  the same rules as their non-union brethren they are not happy, but to them I say: Welcome to the club suckers! You deserve this!

26 Comments leave one →
  1. Laura Bernard Mielcarek's avatar
    September 2, 2013 12:39 pm

    Spot on, Steve! Everyone who supported obamacare did so thinking they would be EXEMPT from it. The epitome of hypocrisy. Now that THEY are going to have to use it too, all of a sudden it’s UNFAIR, wah, wah, wah. Nothing but a bunch of hypocrites.

    One of my three favorite quotes:

    “He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.” Thomas Paine

    These people who were interested in ONLY protecting their OWN from obamacare, are now finding out that everyone will have to be a part of it.

    Like

    • Steve Dennis's avatar
      September 2, 2013 3:15 pm

      Thanks Laura, the hypocrisy abounds! Too late now to do anything about it. That is a great quote from Thomas Paine and now we have the perfect example of what he was talking about.

      Like

  2. Petermc3's avatar
    Petermc3 permalink
    September 2, 2013 12:39 pm

    Will the MSM minimize its significance or ignore this altogether? Will the 40,000 retain their charter membership in the Obama-Hillary lovefest? Will the house defund Obamacare? My guess is yes-yes-no.

    Like

    • Steve Dennis's avatar
      September 2, 2013 3:16 pm

      I agree; the unions will still support the Democrats and the MSM will continue to cover for them. As for the House, they are a lost cause.

      Like

  3. lou222's avatar
    lou222 permalink
    September 2, 2013 1:01 pm

    I really don’t have any pity for them, sorry. They probably still do not know what is in the bill, bet it is being rewritten as I type this. Remember the blank pages that were going to be filled in “later”, guess later is now. We are all going to suffer, some more than others, but now they are seeing they have been lied to by Obama and by their unions. Like I said, no pity, oh well. All I can say, is “deal with it”! Some people are so gullible, aren’t they?

    Like

    • Steve Dennis's avatar
      September 2, 2013 3:18 pm

      Yeah, they were gullible enough to take Obama at his word in light of all the lies he has spoken so they are getting what they deserve. I just wish they weren’t taking us down with them. The law is still being written years after passage and that should frighten every single American.

      Like

  4. Charles Mabry's avatar
    September 2, 2013 1:22 pm

    Unions have been socialistic for many years. Government has been socialistic for many years. Now that government has gone Communistic, the unions are finally waking up. They are starting to realize their mistake, but I think it is too late. May GOD have mercy on America and help us regain our REPUBLIC.

    Like

    • Steve Dennis's avatar
      September 2, 2013 3:19 pm

      That is a great point! perhaps the left has finally moved too far left for the unions, we sill have to wait to see.

      Like

  5. Conservatives on Fire's avatar
    September 2, 2013 1:46 pm

    What a nice way for a labor union to celebrate Labor Day. heh…heh…heh!

    Like

  6. lou222's avatar
    lou222 permalink
    September 2, 2013 3:11 pm

    Well, I tried posting this and guess it did not go thru. Here is an article from Angry White Dude that sums up the President, thought you might enjoy it….also play the little tune that goes with it.

    http://angrywhitedude.com/2013/09/the-nothing-man-has-accomplished-surprise-nothing-for-america/

    Like

    • Steve Dennis's avatar
      September 2, 2013 3:22 pm

      Great stuff Lou, thanks for sharing it. For some reason you first attempt was caught in my spam filter.

      Like

      • lou222's avatar
        lou222 permalink
        September 2, 2013 4:18 pm

        Guess I have that effect on filters, huh? Anyway, it is a good read and the song is good, The Nothing Man, ha!

        Like

      • Steve Dennis's avatar
        September 2, 2013 6:58 pm

        I think the NSA must be on to you! 🙂

        Like

      • lou222's avatar
        lou222 permalink
        September 3, 2013 7:25 am

        If they are, I will be joining the rank of many that are plain fed up with this Administration. We still have the ability to say that, I trust????

        Like

  7. Petermc3's avatar
    Petermc3 permalink
    September 2, 2013 4:42 pm

    The point that may be conceded is that the infamous Red Line was a wink and a nod to the rebels and Al Quada. The initial chink in the garden hose was the sanity that prevailed in the British Parliament. But this merely served as a primer for Obama’s handlers to figure out how to snatch victory from the mouth of defeat. The American people and the congress are no match for Valerie Jarret as we will soon see.

    Like

    • Steve Dennis's avatar
      September 2, 2013 7:01 pm

      And that is why it is quite possible it was the rebels who used the chemical weapons, and if they did there is no doubt in my mind Obama knows this.

      Like

  8. Laura Bernard Mielcarek's avatar
    September 2, 2013 7:16 pm

    Did anyone read this story? http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/30/government-assessment-syrian-government-s-use-chemical-weapons-august-21

    The administration saying they had clear indications of a planned chemical weapons attack 3 days before they were used.

    However, they didn’t warn anyone of a possible attack?

    Like

    • Steve Dennis's avatar
      September 2, 2013 7:42 pm

      I did hear this but didn’t have a chance to write about it. It makes you wonder if Obama let this attack happen so that he could use it to push his radical agenda. I wouldn’t put it passed him at this point.

      Like

      • Laura Bernard Mielcarek's avatar
        September 2, 2013 7:50 pm

        Someone who could do that has no soul.

        Like

      • Steve Dennis's avatar
        September 2, 2013 8:03 pm

        I am not one of those who believed that Obama was a closet Muslim, but more and more I am coming to believe that Obama’s heart and soul lies with the Muslims.

        Like

  9. Rodeo Girl's avatar
    Rodeo Girl permalink
    September 16, 2013 5:48 pm

    As much as I love seeing the Unions getting a spoon full of their Obamacare medicine I think we could look at them as useful idiots. Never let a good crisis go to waste. Have them join our voices to delay or defund Obamacare. United we stand a better chance of having a booming voice…My 2 cents.

    Like

Trackbacks

  1. Obamacare: Richard Trumka admits the law is causing employers to cut hours, calls for changes | America's Watchtower
  2. Obamacare: Another union boss speaks out against the healthcare law | America's Watchtower

Leave a reply to Charles Mabry Cancel reply