Don’t fear the Hoffa

September 5, 2011 by Don Surber


Jimmy Hoffa got his job as Teamster president the old-fashioned way: He inherited from his father who had the misfortune of being offed by mobsters. On Labor Day, the AFL-CIO and the Teamsters decided for irony’s sake to rally in Detroit, a town ruined by the UAW, and the SEIU loaned them President Obama to serve as their main speaker. Hoffa huffed and puffed and actually threatened violence against members of the Tea Party. But while conservatives should be concerned, this is not the pants-wetter it might have been 30 years ago.

This is what Jimmy Hoffa said: “We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They’ve got a war, they got a war with us and there’s only going to be one winner. It’s going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We’re going to win that war… President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let’s take these son of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong.”

President Obama took the stage next and noted he is proud of Jimmy Hoffa. Dick Nixon said the same thing in 1973.

I am curious as to whom they plan to take America back from. Themselves? The unions and the Democratic Party won it all in 2008 and afterward they confiscated GM and divvied up much of $500 billion (the spending part of the stimulus) among themselves in the cynical pursuit of the almighty buck.

But fear not this army that President Obama now has. First there is the business of shop rules. Everyone will work an 8-hour day with a 15-minute break in the morning, a 15-minute break in the afternoon and a half-hour lunch. People will work to the rule. The president will have to pay prevailing wages which means $50 an hour for a minimum-wage “volunteer.”

On the phone bank, no robocalling because that puts three people out of work. Each call will be placed by a dialer, who will hand the phone over to the greeter, who will give a brief greeting, and finally the phone will be given to the messenger who will deliver the message of the day.