Sunday Funnies 2010-08-15 FDIC Help

United Federation of Teachers Fires Employee for Starting a Union

The United Federation of Teachers wants to have nothing to do with unions, at least for its own workers. Please consider This oughta teach him!

In a move of stunning hypocrisy, the United Federation of Teachers axed one of its longtime employees -- for trying to unionize the powerful labor organization's own workers, it was charged yesterday.

Jim Callaghan, a veteran writer for the teachers union, told The Post he was booted from his $100,000-a-year job just two months after he informed UFT President Michael Mulgrew that he was trying to unionize some of his co-workers.

"I was fired for trying to start a union at the UFT," said a dumbfounded Callaghan, who worked for the union's newsletter and as a speechwriter for union leaders for the past 13 years.

Callaghan said he personally told Mulgrew on June 9 about his intention to try to organize nonunionized workers at UFT headquarters.

"I told him I want to have the same rights that teachers have," said Callaghan, 63, of Staten Island. "He told me he didn't want that, that he wanted to be able to fire whoever he wanted to."

The UFT has long strenuously resisted city efforts to make it easier for school administrators to fire teachers.

"This is the exact antithesis of what they preach, and Michael Mulgrew is the biggest hypocrite out there," Callaghan fumed.

Callaghan said the union-busting bullying continued after he was told he was fired, when UFT leaders called in a detail of six uniformed cops to remove him from his office because he wasn't leaving fast enough.

Callaghan said he decided to unionize the 12 UFT writers after a colleague was fired last year without cause.

"We have no protections and no disciplinary process," he said.

Clearly the United Federation of Teachers knows full well the economic damage unions cause. So who can blame them for only wanting to profit by organizing unions as opposed to having their own employees be in unions? As for Callaghan - Anyone making $100K wanting to organize a union is missing quite a few marbles and deserves to be fired.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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