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Activists find camera inside box on power pole near union organizer’s home

fox13memphis.com

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Re: Activists find camera inside box on power pole near union organizer’s home

#121

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

thunkpad wrote: post #95
SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what you mean. Many unions are explicitly partisan organizations, and indeed many see political activism as one of their core activities.

As far as I understand they are "partisan" not by design but as a result of representing their interests (which, in my opinion, should always represent the aggregate of the workers the union represents -- which is sadly not so) Please do correct me if I'm wrong! That's my favorite way to learn. I've grown a lot from being the least-informed gal in the room.

I'd agree with that understanding, but it only makes it so much better, since it still means a union can end up supporting candidates or legislation that I oppose even though they might be bad for my career interests.

Re: Activists find camera inside box on power pole near union organizer’s home

#122

Post by gorgoiler »

kevingadd wrote: post #24
moltar wrote: post #4

Can someone from the US please explain why would police surveil a union organizer? How is s/he a threat to the public?

In the earlier days of the US one of the police department's responsibilities was breaking strikes, often by injuring or murdering union members: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_union_busting_in_th...

At least as far back as 2009 Pinkertons still existed. They were in the business of being contracted by major US companies to perform background checks on staff who needed high security clearance.

Re: Activists find camera inside box on power pole near union organizer’s home

#123

Post by jacobush »

geofft wrote: post #64
barry-cotter wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But money got both of them to the stage. So what? They lost comprehensively. The point of politics isn’t to be heard. It’s to win so you can get what you want done done. If being heard led to political change US politics would be a great deal more libertarian. You don’t just need to be heard you need to persuade people to believe what you believe and to vote for you. Money doesn’t do that. It buys you a bigger mega…

I'm not sure Bloomberg failed. He stepped in because he was afraid that Sanders or Warren would win, which would be bad for him personally. He's fine with Biden. Seems like a pretty effective return on investment to me. The point of politics is to get what you want done done. You don't have to win to do that. In fact, if you can achieve your goals without spending four years of your life being president of the US, th…

Bill Gates agrees, he said as much in that famous interview.

The current president seems to crave attention, so that’s different. Many other wealthy men of power are happy to influence from behind.

Re: Activists find camera inside box on power pole near union organizer’s home

#124

Post by gorgoiler »

eternalban wrote: post #68
badRNG wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There has always seemed to be an antagonistic relationship between police unions and trade unions. Police unions are often disallowed membership in so-called "big tent" unions due to their perceived past and alleged ongoing role in union-busting. Since the early 20th century, there hasn't been a meaningful reconciliation between the movements (and often, the role of police in general is perceived to be inherently ant…

What a fantastic link! This era in America's history is so rich with amazing stories, yet hardly ever touched by Hollywood .. I followed Mother Jones to Industrial Workers of the World , which necessitated a visit to American Federation of Labor , which led to Knights of Labor and Terence Powderly and the Haymarket Riot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_Riot Btw, just from the logos and the titles of AFL and K…

Gangs of New York is another great movie, and the second floor of the FDNY museum in SoHo is a real eye opener to the 19th century crossover between fire crews and gang culture.

Re: Activists find camera inside box on power pole near union organizer’s home

#125

Post by briandear »

rbg246 wrote: post #101
briandear wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but it is never in a union's interest to impair the business to the point where the jobs no longer exist. Yet, that’s what they do. The Packard car company is one such victim. Unions bankrupted Twinkies. The work rules imposed in union contracts required the company that makes Twinkies, which also makes Wonder Bread, to deliver these two products to stores in separate trucks. Moreover, truck drivers were not allowe…

Unions bring far more good to society than bad to society. They have given the non-landed class of people a life that even a century ago was unheard of. Countries that have decent levels of union involvement have much better working conditions and standard of living than countries that don't. Blaming unions for failed companies is incredibly flimsy argument against unions as a whole. Sure there are unions that contri…

The OP said it was never in a union’s interest to harm a company. And I provided counter arguments where they did exactly that. Unions reward mediocrity and the self interest of the union leaders at the expense of society as a whole. You pay a union worker more, that means that everyone else pays for it through higher prices. They also diminish the agency of the individual. Everyone is average.

The US has a union membership of 13% and France is 9%. Does France have a higher quality of life? Many would say so. Does the US have a higher quality of life than Italy? By economic measures, definitely. Switzerland has a much lower union membership than Belgium and a much higher quality of life.

What country has the highest disposable income? The US, followed by Canada, then Switzerland.

And unemployment rate? Before corona skewed everything, the US unemployment rate was below 4%. In Sweden? Close to 7%.

We get mad at businesses for monopolies, yet a union is a monopoly on labor. How is that right? The irony is that many people reading this are Silicon Valley software people making piles more money with far more disposable income than anyone working in a unionized country. If Silicon Valley were unionized, pay and benefits would decline dramatically. And productivity and innovation would decline. What’s the motivation to work hard if your pay is determined by collective bargaining and not your own merits?

Unions are the sanctuary of the mediocre.

Re: Activists find camera inside box on power pole near union organizer’s home

#126

Post by aasasd »

kevingadd wrote: post #24
moltar wrote: post #4

Can someone from the US please explain why would police surveil a union organizer? How is s/he a threat to the public?

In the earlier days of the US one of the police department's responsibilities was breaking strikes, often by injuring or murdering union members: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_union_busting_in_th...

Afaik those days ended only about a hundred years ago, perhaps after the Great Depression. Some say that things changed because the USSR showed what happens when workers seriously organize, plus Europe and Central/South America were too curious about socialism.

Re: Activists find camera inside box on power pole near union organizer’s home

#127

Post by angry_octet »

kortilla wrote: post #116
angry_octet wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love that this is in Teen Vogue. It used to be that you'd only see this in Socialist Worker Daily or something.

Teenage targeted publications are actually pretty common ground for extremist viewpoints. It’s an audience pretty receptive to new ideas. Not having “adult responsibilities” nor having to really be a functioning member of society in general makes Marxism, Ayn Rand Capitalism, etc all pretty palatable and reasonable ideas (albeit normally to different cliques).

Fox and old white man media generally seems chock full of extremist propaganda and to have a throughly receptive audience. Frankly I think you're reguritating a Fox talking point.

Re: Activists find camera inside box on power pole near union organizer’s home

#128

Post by angry_octet »

riffic wrote: post #89
angry_octet wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love that this is in Teen Vogue. It used to be that you'd only see this in Socialist Worker Daily or something.

The fact that it's Teen Vogue is 100% why I chose to link this and not any other article I could Google about cop unions.

What I find most encouraging is that they wouldn't be printing it if there wasn't a receptive audience.

Re: Activists find camera inside box on power pole near union organizer’s home

#129

Post by kube-system »

jessedhillon wrote: post #70
herpderperator wrote: post #13

The camera in question is a Canon PTZ camera with 20x optical zoom, model VB-H41: https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/de...

They're also using Wago 222[0] style lever nuts, which are not common in the US. In my experience, US electricians use twist-style wire caps instead to create junctions. [0] https://www.wago.com/us/wire-splicing-connectors/splicing-co...

The wago style connectors without the levers are starting to become common in the US. Lowe’s and Home Depot carry them.

Re: Activists find camera inside box on power pole near union organizer’s home

#130

Post by duskwuff »

gorgoiler wrote: post #122
kevingadd wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the earlier days of the US one of the police department's responsibilities was breaking strikes, often by injuring or murdering union members: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_union_busting_in_th...

At least as far back as 2009 Pinkertons still existed. They were in the business of being contracted by major US companies to perform background checks on staff who needed high security clearance.

The Pinkerton Agency still exists now. Unlike Blackwater/Xe/Academi/whatever, they haven't even dropped the name. One gets the sense that they don't mind the associations the name's gathered.
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