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Updated at 4:16 a.m. ET: LOS ANGELES -- An agreement was reached Tuesday night to end the crippling strike at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
The announcement came just hours after federal mediators arrived at the port of Los Angeles, called on by Villaraigosa to help resolve a strike that has idled most of the docks at the ports for more than a week.
The eight-day labor clash cost Southern California an estimated $8 billion, including lost wages and the value of cargo rerouted to other ports over the past week, according to Reuters.
Los Angeles and Long Beach together account for nearly 40 percent of all U.S. container imports.
George Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, and Scot Beckencaugh, deputy director for mediation services, arrived Tuesday night to begin talks between shipping and union officials, the mayor's office announced.
It was unclear whether a vote had been planned prior to their arrival or what role they played in the developments late Tuesday.
The mayor flew back from a trip abroad to help bring an end to the work stoppage, staged by clerical workers who use computers to help track the progress of shipments into and out of the nation's busiest port complex.
Villaraigosa, a onetime labor activist who had been in Latin America pitching Southern California's port operations to manufacturers, shippers and retailers there, arrived at the harbor at about 11 p.m. Monday, joining the negotiations in the hope of brokering a deal.
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Tuesday morning, he said, he called to request help from a federal mediator. The mayor said he also discussed the matter with California's two Senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and that he has placed a call to the White House.
Despite claims by both sides that they had made significant concessions in the talks so far, Villaraigosa said at a news conference that neither had moved on issues of top concern to the other.
In particular, he said, the union, which is worried about outsourcing jobs, might need to compromise on other issues to get movement on its top priority.
As the talks dragged on, the clerical workers continued to walk picket lines.
Each side blamed the other for the slow pace of negotiations.
Both sides have agreed to accept federal mediation to try to end the labor action at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
John Fageaux, spokesman for Local 63 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said his organization had backed down on a demand that the companies re-hire 51 positions that the union said had been outsourced, but received no productive response from the employers.
But Stephen Berry, an attorney representing the shipping companies, said those jobs had never been outsourced in the first place. Instead, he said, they represented positions that had been held by clerical workers who were not replaced after they retired.
For his part, Berry said that the shipping companies had agreed to one of the union’s key demands, saying that they would hire certain temporary workers from the union’s hiring hall, rather than going to outside contractors.
But he said that the union was not satisfied with that offer. He said the union failed to recognize that the economy had still not recovered from the boom years.
The stoppage at 10 of the port's 14 terminals will not affect holiday shipments, experts said, because the toys, books, electronics and clothes aimed at the gift market arrived months ago.
But Villaraigosa said it affects about 20,000 truck drivers, retailers and others who are awaiting shipments for upcoming seasons.
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach together handled more than $400 billion in goods arriving or leaving the West Coast by ship last year, according to Reuters. Experts say the ports directly or indirectly support 1.2 million Southern California jobs - workers involved in moving freight to or from the shipping complex.
NBCLosAngeles.com's Sharon Bernstein and Annette Arreola and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Oh I see the standard paperwork admin makes 100K plus in this union...
and then federal negotiators had to come in...
oh and no hiring people who will work harder and smarter for less...that is not fair...
Unions = America out of business and companies leaving...thanks allot unions
Labor unions are corporate business that sell labor while the shipping corporations are their buyers. Caught in between the two powerful corporations are the naive workers who are exploited by both sides. While they both extract a pound of flesh from the worker, at least the corporations do not claim to "protect" worker's right or promote their economic interest.
LA Mayor Wetbacks does the job that Americans won't do.
To Shosyn,
Sorry in this industry CLERICAL doesn't mean a paperwork admin....So before you talk know your facts...And maybe if all the ignorant people like yourself who made such nasty comments about MY line of work came down and actually spoke with the workers and saw what we do and how MUCH WE REALLY MAKE you might have better insight....But instead you listen to the news because you know the news is all facts and you base it on the way things were in the 1920's. To make 100k a year you need to work about 105 hours a week!!! And yes some people do it but they sacrifice watching there kids grow up and lose out on there social life because there hours start on a Monday and they work 4 hours on and two hours off until the ships are finished, they sleep in there cars when they can for one of those 2 hour breaks and eat off a coffee truck when the truck shows up if the truck shows up and 95% of that time the weather is nasty and the machines are unsafe....We have a death atleast once a month and an injury almost once a week....So please know your FACTS....Just once I would like reporters to come down and interview the real people in the union and watch how just one ship is worked, and then publish that!
Sir,you said it all !
young-3118818
quit your complaining. %15 unemployment and you cry because you have to eat from a truck, cry me a river bud. I am sure I can go three blocks and find 3-4 people who eat from a trash can.
Let's see how you handle it when the Chinese finish deepening the Panama Canal and a great deal of those ships go to the East Coast.
Well, YOUNG, perhaps you should have done better in school...
@young-3118818....really a death once a month? Out of 800 clerical workers at the ports. Sound kind of high and suspect to me. Other businesses would have been shut down by OSHA unless you are a minority owned business who regulators look the other way for.
All those workers could be replaced by anyone picked off the street and given a couple of days of training. These are the type of jobs our parents told us we'd end up if we didn't study and go to college, now they get paid high salaries because of the cancerous union.
Yes, these people make a good money, but what they were striking for is to keep jobs here, instead of outsourcing them to other countries. What do you people want? Jobs kept in America or shipped overseas? I am neither for or against unions, as I see that some do a lot of good, but others seem to pay their administrators huge amounts for nothing. But in this case, the union is trying to protect American jobs. We can't have it both ways - either we keep as many jobs here as possible and thrive or continue to ship jobs overseas and watch our country die.
So they went on strike to force the companies to hire from the union hall and pay inflated union wages and deal with idiotic union work rules. This instead of contacting the work out to someone who can get it done faster, better, cheaper than the union workers doing the jobs now - and we wonder why American businesses are going under. Unions are killing companies with their absurd demands. If a company can find someone else that can do things for less they should be able to hire them the same way they would change from one contractor to another if they found a better deal. The unions should not have the power to force companies to do business with them. Of course this will continue so long as the present administration is in power since they are all bought and paid for with union campaign donations.
young-3118818
hey preacher man... I live 20 minutes from LA... check my bio... I know whats going on down there...I LIVE THERE.
Unions are running America OUT OF BUSINESS.
LOOK AT THE PICTURES OF PICKETERS CARRYING 600 dollar cell phones and wearing nice cloths and tell me how broke they are. Oh and look how over weight they are...
Unions have become the new BULLIES on the block. They did a great job years ago but the power has gone to their head (or wallet). You can now thank the unions for all of the higher costs you will soon be paying to buy your kids toys, clothing and electronics.
Labor costs are always just passed along to consumers. When will people learn that rallying behind higher wages for overpaid union workers will only mean higher prices for you.
BTW: the clerical's who were striking will be getting a salary and benefit package of close to $200,000.00 per year. Do you get that much?
Amen to that - the unions and their 'black hand' tactics are causing our cities to go bankrupt. The number here in So Cal continues to increase - As for the port issue - those clerks and typists held up business and cost us billions of dollars in lost work - work that this struggling state could not afford to loose - I hope they choke on their platinum bennies
For all of you naysayers it is evident that you have never went down to these ports.It is hard manual labor.The salaries that the news reported is due to overtime and most dock workers and clerical do not make that amount of money.Everyone of you receive goods from ports,are paying taxes for the unemployed and yet you want to see more jobs shipped overseas.with unsympathetic comments about fellow Americans jobs people wonder why corporate America is getting away with outsourcing jobs and busting unions.Remember if your fellow Americans are out of work and you have a job or retirement,you will see your taxes go higher.
Here's a story. PMA, the entity that administers the labor contracts for the west coast longshoreman unions, outsourced its own administrative support functions in 2010--I was hired by the company that got the contract and was creating a new department to carry out this contract. We new hires spent 3 weeks in training, while PMA bosses were collecting info from their workers about how they did their jobs--the workers having no knowledge that this was being done to eliminate their jobs. They got pink-slipped the Friday of the week prior to our assuming their duties from a land-locked upper midwest location in an anti-union town. The survivors of the purge--with whom we had direct contact to get our assignments--were not happy about what had happened. It was also very clear that a good deal of collective knowledge and experience went out the door with PMAs former workers, and our department was operating in absolute chaos.
Our jobs included processing all former complaints by the shippers and the unions. The shippers were as quick to jump on any issue just as much as the unions were.
The existing contract--which the shippers and the union are bound by--addressed some concerns about job security related to technology. This becomes a tricky area. In the days of paper bills of lading the union clerk handled the paperwork. With technology, it becomes trickier to tell whether the company guy is actually handling functions the union clerk is supposed to be doing.
A lot of the labor is mechanized, and most of the shipping (except for a couple of ports that handle bulk commodities) is containerized. BUT it is very dangerous work. And in order to work, you have to show up at the union hall to be available for work assignments. You can spend all day at the hall and not get work--and therefore not get paid.
The difference between the union as an organization and the shipping companies as organizations is that the union members can vote for or against union decisions. When's the last time you got to do that where your employer was concerned?
Deport-Obama! banned, rereg of multiple accounter Am. Vets.
Are you serious? You blame the unions, and not the greedy corporations, CEOs and boards that have been shipping US jobs overseas for the past 30 years? OMG, you're laughable.
FloridaMaggie - so you never ever buy anything made overseas - yeah, didn't think so... you criticize CEO's and boards for shipping jobs overseas, but it's ok for you to support those overseas jobs by purchasing something made overseas.. what a hypocrite...
Unions are partly responsible for driving them overseas.
Ever wonder why almost every job "shipped overseas" was a union job?
Let me get this right, The union is worried that there job is getting outsourced, while they are unloading products from companys that outsourced American jobs, What the. It makes me sick.
Unions ARE COMPANIES. They have now turned into the greedy monsters they were formed to protect the average worker from. The Union bosses could care less about you and your fellow workers, just look how they killed Hostess. Unions have been killing American jobs for decades, they are perfectly willing to sell out 1/3 of their fellow workers so that the remaining 2/3's can live high on the hog safe and secure.
Ship them all overseas! You have no one to blame but the greedy unions demanding ridiculous salaries and benefits for menial labor jobs.
I'm not sure what this has to do the present conversation. It's a bit difficult to unload a ship in LA Harbor with people living in China..... But, If they can figure out how to do it then I say more power to them. That' would be a great trick.
What they union means by out sourcing in this case is non-union help. Frankly that's something I think they should have to compete against like everyone else does.
I sincerely have a lot of respect for what the unions have done 50 or more years ago, but that is not who they are today. The unions count on the fact that misguided Americans will remember the many good things the founding members of unions did and think that is still the case. They are now just using their size and power to bully businesses of all sizes into giving them more money and power.
If you don't give into the union demands, they will shut you down.
Gee is this the 4th union strike since election. Looks like the Fat slop that runs that union has not missed a meal ever. But how many union members have? Screw the Unions. They want new hires to get more dues because they gave so much to get Obama elected, they need new members. Ca is a joke , whose next to strike, because Obama got all your votes and does not give a crap if your are out of work. Merry Christmas @!$%#s.
No Vicki, This is more about Unions realizing that many of their principles are shared by a large portion of the working class who are fed up with being kicked around. What you are seeing is a working class revolution by the few who have the power to speak up. But don't worry, the non-Union folks will benefit from it too.
vivki
And how much did these low lives ceo's donate to that looser mitt? The ceo of the sands $150 million plus? How much has the ceo's pay and bonus increase over they last 10 years compared to a workers pay?
Vicki Brown it is sad that you allowed yourself to believe that unions are the problem. Unions are the reason why most (no all) workers today are not working in sweatshops, or not forced to work 12 hr days, or saved children from being forced to work, or benefits such as pensions, retirement.
History and Google are your best friend, especially if you are a fox viewer.
The average worker has no voice. You are disposable to your employer.
Obama is a card carrying AFL-CIO member.Court Jester Biden is a card carrying Hamster ah ah I mean teamster member.
Ur still crying about the Presidential Election I liked Romney to ( NRA backed him) but your going to have to except the fact Vic we're LOSERS. Quit blaming the President for your failures
why shouldn't vicki blame the teamsters obumba is still blaming bush and will keep blaming him the next 4 yrs.
If you think that ALL THE UNIONS VOTED FOR OBAMA your crazy! People vote for who they trust....No one president can just walk in and take away Unions.
So what you are saying is that only Union workers are valuable to their employers?
So Unions ONCE served a purpose I will not argue that fact, many safety laws were in acted because of them. My Grandfather once rode horse to town BIG DEAL.
Now they have become nothing more that tools of extortion, and are nothing more than an undeclared political party.
Unions had their place years ago. but now we have laws protecting the workers and the unions have become nothing but corrupt parasites run by organized crime that hold companies hostage.
Sam-750544 what I'm saying is that we owe a lot to unions. We are all benefiting from laws that have been enacted because of unions. All workers are disposable in today's economy. Union contracts force employers to treat their employees with respect or face a strike.
Let me remind everyone, corporate profits are at record levels - yet there is no hiring. Why? Because many companies do not have union contracts, so they can work their staff into the ground - there is not union to complain to and people are afraid of losing their jobs. So they work way past what their pay grade requires.
See the where I'm going? If more shops become unionized. Employers would be forced to hire more people instead of abusing the workers they do have - or face penalties. Unions can help to get more people employed and contractually prevent more jobs being shipped out.
Without unions? Everyone's wages will continue to decrease and benefits cut because there is no incentive to keep an employee, simply get the next person in line desperate for a job.
Interesting is this doesn't seem to be about wages but more about protecting jobs in the long run from outsourcing. That's a fight worth the effort. Outsourcing, subcontracting and temp worker agencies are destroying the jobs in this country. This is just about paying employees less and stripping benefits. It just opens the door for abuses like WalMart has pulled with its subcontracted warehouses who again subcontract employees to temp agenices. Sure it's all perfectly legal, but it is immoral because it's all about screwing employees. It just puts one or two more companies in the loop to extract profit off the employees labor. If you can't ship the jobs off to some foreign country, make the employees so far removed from who they are actually working for that they have no power at all. When daily routine work loads are being handled by temporary workers, the system is screwed up.
Ruight on 1 new day. working people have been crapped on for too long! It's time to flex our muscles, and our pocketbooks to have a say in how the country is run. Remember 70% of America's economy is consumer driven! We need to all get on the same page and right things that are hurting us!
Flex your muscle. Quit your job. Start your own business and hire people at what ever wage you wish to pay
Yes this sounds great until someone else opens the same company as you and pays there employees more then yours or treats them better.....You'll either be out of employees or you to will have a strike or some sort of agency called on you to complain....The world is round you cant just do whatever you please...People are not machines they need respect, as employees should respect management as well...Its a two way street. Unless you are referring to hiring illegal ppl for almost nothing....Which that is just wrong in so many ways.
When Mexico builds it's own port south of Tijuana, all of the Port of Long Beach union jobs will be outsourced. No word on whether they will hire temporary employees from the local union hall...
Hiring form the "union hall" is just their way of saying the good jobs have to be offered to our friends and family first whether they are qualified or not. The unions don't want to let qualified people have a shot at the high paying good jobs.
So to get their way, the unions grind work to a halt and cost these companies billions, then demand more out of them? Fire them all and hire non union people who will do the work without complaining. There are a lot of hard working people without jobs who would kill to make half of what these dopes make. I know about a dozen people that work at this port, and you wouldn't believe the nonsense that goes on down there. Working half days and getting paid for the whole day. Flipping a coin to see who gets to go home early and get paid the rest of their shift. These idiots don't know how good they already have it. No wonder these jobs are getting shipped over seas. I don't blame these companies one bit.
Hey Jimmdog, and what do CEO's do for their outrageous pay. Set on their asses all day, flirt with the staff, and on and on. Go unions go. One day the non-union people will realize they are being used by these greedy companies just for the lower wages. Way to go Unions....Forward
jimmdog
Don't you mean, work for minimum wage and no benefits?
Spot, Don't complain if you see an increase in your taxes or municiple fees! Unions are actually the problem in this country. I had an increase of 27% last year on my school taxes because of(NYCSEA) teachers benefits had increased. They pay less than $20 a week for health care compared to my $90! Want to talk about retirements? Municiple Union employees are stacking the deck too! Working astronomical amounts of overtime and vacation buy back to beef up their annual salary so they can retire comfy at three to five times of what they were actually making! Who the #%@* do you think pays for that? If you don't believe me, Google- San Bernardino, California is broke! They're a prime example of corrupt unions! Do the math, then do your cheerleading!
They cost these companies billions and then the Unions have to reimburse the companies....Again people know your facts...Since when did the news report facts?
The companies are greedy, not stupid. Why do you think they would hire the McD rejects, those that can't read, those who will steal from them to try to get more money, those who will break things and slow the line down almost as much as the strikes do? The companies are not going to hire just anyone breathing, no matter what the union haters think.
Productivity means money to the corporations. They want a skilled workforce, not a bunch of know nothing or do nothing "bodies". The corporations want and need a skilled workforce. They just don't want to pay for it. Those who keep repeating the meme of blaming and firing workers, because there are millions of people willing to take those jobs, live in the same alternate reality bubble that fox promotes, that greed is good and greed is its own reward. Massive fail in both thinking and reality.
Unions may have a lot of problems but they wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the lack of ethics and morals that companies show. The failed meme of the corporation is all powerful and all correct 100% of the time, is believed only by those with less than honest or critical thinking capacity. How many critics of the union would stand by and not say a word if their pay was cut by 20%, benefits cut, work conditions changed for the worse, etc.? Only the cowards, the less intelligent crowd, or the flat out liars and haters would not question the need for their pay being cut due to "losses", while seeing the top people getting huge increases in their pay at your expense. Your hypocrisy fools no one except yourself.
LiveToride,Using San Bernardino,Ca. is a poor example.The mortgage meltdown and lack of jobs in San Bernardino county is the reason why that city is bankrupt.No taxes coming in not much money to run a city.Add on the mishandling of monies due to their fuzzy math bookkeeping.Also the lawsuits against their police department due to heavy handed police officers because San Bernardino is notorious for scrapping the bottom of the barrel when hiring these folks.
Mexico should build ports close to the California border & make it financially viable for ships to be directed there for unloading. Canada could get a lot of the business also. If you've been around those California ports you will notice most everyone is obese and moves in slow motion.
zheng
Those are the ceo's and upper management.
I've been around those ports and you are mistaken about the obesity.
Clerical workers at the LA Port Authority are the highest paid clerks in the US. They make well over $100,000/yr and then have their benefits package on top of that. The employers have guaranteed the clerks their jobs for life. Do any of you know one other employer in this country who has guaranteed their employees a job until they quit/retire or die? Pretty sweet deal to me. On top of that, the average clerical job in the country pays 35,000/yr. Another sweet deal at the LA Port for those clerks at a mere $100,000+/yr. The entire issue in this strike was the clerical positions that were not filled when employees had retired (and the number was far less then the 51 mentioned in this article). They were not filled because there was not enough work to justify them being refilled at this time. But the Union was demanding that they be refilled regardless of the lack of clerical work. If you ran a company, and did not have enough work to hire more people, would you hire 'just because' someone had left?
How about this? Since your so upset your hired! Now lets see you talk trash about all of your unknown facts...Just because you read something online doesn't make it a FACT.
city, county, state, employees and of course chicago teachers, and might as well throw in politicians, they don't work, but they get paid for life w/ benefits.....
flnobody even if you split up the ceo's and upper management's salaries to help raise wages, you would be talking about one cent per person in the union. Which the union would take to pay off their union leaders, whom are a bigger joke than the ceos. So remain silent, maybe you should pray that the world does end on the 21st or that our government pulls it's head out of it's a$$. People have it all wrong. They don't understand how business works. You will always need people on top to hate that make a ton of money. Why else would we strive for success. If you don't like how it works go move to a communist country or sleep for a few more years because we might be there soon anyway.
California, is like a big ugly mole at the end of your nose. Please remove it!
Remember -- the clerical workers were only 600 employees. But dock workers refused to cross the Clerical worker picket lines leading to a $8 Billion in losses to the US economy. Hey thanks unions, just what we needed ... damage the economy by $8 Billion, probabaly costing thousands of jobs across the US eventually to make this up, all so you could demand life time guarenteed employeement for 600 Clerical workers. Totally ignore how technology is replacing these workers whose skills compare equally with your average freshman in high school (which is why 50 of them have not been replaced over the years as people quit .. the work is not there anymore). Forget about the 20,000 truck drivers who don't get paid while you are on strike, and the other 1.2 Million jobs indirectly related to shipping. Go ahead, strike seeking something no one should ever have. Jerks.
Couldn't have said it better Ken - It's somewhat incomprehensible that 800 minimimally skilled clerk typists held up $8 billion in trade and jobs - work that this struggling state could not afford - it's apparent that these minimally skilled clerk typists have not conscience. I hope they choke on their platinum bennies.
Let them eat Twinkies!!!
Another big pay off to the Unions. Way to go California. Don't worry, Obama has got your back.
When two or more companies get together to artificially regulate the price of their product, they're hit with anti-trust violations.
When two or more workers get together to artificially regulate the price of their product we call it a union.
union= lazy ass overpaid , can't fire there sorry ass ,pathedic been around unions all my life and they all want more money less work . Just what Obama stands for
Pigs at the trough.
Another example of the few negatively impacting the many. Hopefully, Mayor Villaraigosa, an ex-labor lobbyist, Sen. Feinstein, Sen. Boxer, and President Obama will be able to help the tens of thousands who were just doing their jobs.
The unions killed my Twinkie.
I think all unions should be banned from being able to collectively bargain and forced membership.
I miss my Twinkie.
It is good that the Strike has ended. Otherwise it would have cost billions of Dollars in lost revenue, lost taxes and loss to the employees. This would have affected the American Economy. GOD Bless the Americans. GOD BLESS THE USA.
Kevin Valentine Moraes
Mira Road (Thane)
The unions did good for hostess.LOL.the union thugs just cost us more money at the stores.
Common stupid liberal people. The unions havetoo much control. They will and are the downfall of america. Bring in scabs to do the job and you will see how fast these u8nion @!$%#s come back to work. They stopped millions of dollars per day. Now fine them the loss in revenue. Unions put tasty out of business. Its not the greedy corporations but the greedy uniuon reps. The more they get the more they want.....Enough is enough.
Forty plus an hour for clerical workers! OMYGOSH!!!
Dear Fred. Why don't you talk about Wall Street executives making millions and some billions running the economy in to the ground? Doesn't that factor in to the equation? You have to be either ignorant or rich to believe that unions are the problem. Give me a break: $40,000 a year, especially in California, is not a large salary.
Unions in the public sector are worthless. No competition. Unions in private, well, at least there is competition.
I agree with you. I don't blame private sector unions one bit for using their influence to garner better pay and benefits - after all, we do live in America and I am a member of my own union. I am the only member and I do all that I can to increase my pay and benefits also. I also pay union dues, my wife collects them and then spends them according to her wishes.
When banks or Wall Street hold the country hostage they are called "too big to fail" and cries erupt calling for their dissolution. When a single union inflicts a billion dollars a day in economic damage we get drivel about the working class and their revolt against the Matrix. Really? And the difference between Wall Street and the Longshoremen is what when it comes to this type of arrogance that essentially says that everybody else can go pound sand? Please, no more pablum about what unions did fifty or a hundred years ago - their goals are nothing like that now, and to continually bring up this type of "I did this 50 years ago" stuff is indicative of just how lame their position is in today's reality. It wasn't too long ago that you couldn't electronically transmit ASN info to the ports - the union contract required the clerks to manually enter the ladings in a time-consuming process that took days in some instances.
I cannot understand why Americans are so anti-union. Let's look at the facts. Fat Cat Wall Street CEOs run the economy into the ground, and for that they get millions in pay and bonuses and Americans don't flinch. But a regular American simply wants a decent wage and some benefits and they are the bad guys. This is exactly why this country is in the mess it's in. The Conservatives have convinced the middle and lower classes that unions are the problem. Think about that. Put simply: They've convinced the middle class "Trickle Down" economics is good for the rest of it. Look at the facts. The reality is the best economic times historically in the U.S. have been when the middle class has been the strongest, and the unions had something to do with that. I was in a teacher's union for decades. No, we didn't get rich. In the last 10 years we have 3 pay freezes, 2 pay cuts and continuous reductions in benefits. We actually voted to take a pay cut instead of losing more teachers. My school lost 25% of the teaching staff in a short period. Our administration lost nothing and even continued to get bonuses. Don't give me this BS that union member care nothing about anything but themselves. People in this country need to look at facts, and quit listening to Fox News for their information. All they care about is the rich and they don't care what happens to the rest of us. Wake up, America.
If people listened to facts and truth and knew anything about history , obama would not have been elected the first time!!
Public Employees and Unions are a DUMB idea. Let private unions destroy a company like Hostess, then the idiots will find out how great the Obama economy really is doing.
More Union Blackmail!