[Hoot Gibson]

My union never uses violence, never has. If any union person doesn't want to pay dues, has every opportunity to go to work in a non union shop, they have 89% of the jobs to our 11%. They will have no trouble finding a non union shop to work in if they have the skills. No violence is not a tool anymore, maybe decades ago, but not now, you don't know better. I support the same punishment for anybody doing violence to anybody, gay or straight.

So, Jimmy Hoffa's threat against the Tea Party was just empty rhetoric? And stories such as the one chronicled below - are they just the products of active imaginations? You know that union violence and threats of violence are still a key part of organizing in this country. If you want, we can start a separate thread where members can post recent examples of union-related violence and you can try to explain them all away. The SEIU operates as Obama's personal goon squad on the campaign trail. It's how they earn those oversized taxpayer funded pensions.

[INDENT]

Limitations on violence under law tested anew
Case of Local 17 reignites national issue for labor

Updated: September 20, 2011, 2:22 PM

They're charged with pouring sand into the engines of construction vehicles and stabbing a company executive in the neck.


They're also accused of tossing hot coffee at non-union workers and threatening to sexually assault the wife of a company representative.


But in the eyes of organized labor -- and maybe the U.S. Supreme Court, as well -- the alleged violence, threats and intimidation by leaders of Local 17, Operating Engineers, in Buffalo may be permissible under federal law.


And that's why the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor organization, sought to intervene in the federal court case against the local.


"We're not condoning the allegations or arguing that union officials are completely immune from prosecution," said Jonathan D. Newman, a lawyer for the AFL-CIO. "Instead, we simply want to make sure that the [federal law] is not interpreted in a way that could have a chilling effect on legitimate union activity."


A federal judge Monday denied the AFL-CIO's request to file a friend-of-the-court brief in the case.


To hear labor leaders and defense lawyers talk, the nation's highest court long ago gave union members certain rights to use violence and vandalism in the pursuit of "legitimate union goals."

[/INDENT] [Image: http://csc.beap.ad.yieldmanager.net/i?bv...25,at$0%29]