Unions have become famous — or infamous — for fighting against layoffs for any reason. Teachers unions have made it next to impossible to fire bad teachers. The union movement went ballistic when D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee laid off teachers who performed poorly in the classroom. They spent freely to defeat the re-election bid of the Mayor who appointed her.
Unions believe that public school teachers should not fear losing their jobs, even if they fail at them. Nevermind that bad teachers hurt America’s children. The union movement believes they have a right to their job. There is almost nothing a worker can do that would lead his union to believe he should get fired.
Nothing, that is, except disagree with his union.
Duane Hammond, a member of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Union Local 33, had a job helping build a stage for an upcoming Obama rally in Los Angeles. His union fired him because he wore a sweatshirt with the name “Bush” on it.
Hammond’s son serves in the Navy aboard the aircraft carrier George H. W. Bush. A proud father, he wore a sweatshirt bearing the carrier’s image and name. That was too much for his union. They demanded he turn his sweatshirt inside-out. When he refused his union supervisor fired him from the job. If only unions were as passionate about quality education as they are about politics.