Thanksgiving protests at Walmart, LAX backfire on unions

After suffering humiliating defeats for union ‘rights’ in both Michigan and Wisconsin this year, as well as set backs in Chicago, several of America’s leading unions, notably the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), attempted to make a national statement this Thanksgiving holiday by supporting protests at hotspots like Walmart and the Los Angeles airport (LAX).

In both instances, the holiday protests backfired on organizers.

At Walmart, only 50 Walmart employees walked out in protest nationwide at Walmart’s 4,000 stores on Black Friday. Even, more, Walmart reported record Black Friday sales, despite the protests.

At LAX, although a large crowd of union members came out to protester, CBS LA notes that ”the majority of them [the protesters] were not airport workers.” They were other members of the SEIU.

So troubled were the airport workers by the Thanksgiving Day protest, the Associated Press reports that according to a press release from former union members, “a majority had signed petitions to leave the union and called upon the SEIU to cancel the demonstration.” One former union member Fred McNeill admitted to CBS LA that it had gotten “personal” for the leadership of the SEIU, “And that’s just not right.”

Another woman, who CBS LA interviewed through her car window at the airport, said she she was a union member (she did not specify which union she belonged to), but even she didn’t agree with the way the union was blocking traffic on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

Not only did the selfishness of unions encourage consumers to shop at Walmart, rather than avoid the store, they also managed to turn off fellow union members and supporters to their cause by making their lives unnecessarily difficult.

National unions certainly made a statement on Thanksgiving, but it probably wasn’t the one they were aiming for.

(h/t MRC TV)

 

By /// November 27, 2012
Francesca Chambers About Francesca Chambers

Francesca is the Editor of Red Alert Politics - an online publication written by and for young conservatives. Red Alert Politics is a product of Clarity Media Group, the parent company of The Washington Examiner and The Weekly Standard. She is also a contributor to The Washington Examiner.

Francesca is a veteran of several political campaigns and political organizations. She has also worked in new media and communications at The Leadership Institute, at the Republican National Committee and on Capitol Hill. She has been featured as a speaker at Leadership Institute, Cato Institute, Americans for Prosperity's "Defending the American Dream Summit," the State Policy Network's annual conference and CPAC, in addition to appearing as a regular guest on the "Big Picture" with Thom Hartmann on Russia Today.

She has also appeared on ABC's "Nightline", PBS' 'NewsHour', PBS' "To the Contrary", MSNBC, CNN, on TheBlazeTV (aka Glenn Beck TV) and had radio segments on Take Action News with David Shuster, NPR and "The Michael Koolidge Show."

In 2012 she was named to the DC GOP's first ever "35 under 35" list.

Francesca graduated from the University of Kansas with BAs in Political Science and Journalism. At KU she was an editor of the University Daily Kansan and an active member of Student Senate.

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