"He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left."
Matthew 25:33

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Support the Teamsters

The truck drivers at Johnson Brothers Liquor have been on strike since March 17th, 2008. A friend of mine works there and tells me that their contract with the company ended and they are asked to accept a contract of lesser value. Less pay and less vacation. They are picketing around the clock, seven days a week. My wife and I drove by about midnight last night and they were out in force.

I used to be a Teamster about thirty years ago. I drove a taxi. It was a short stint that lasted one summer but it was a great experience.

One great thing I admire about the Teamster's of today is that they are the only union to object to 100 Mexican trucks being driven on our national highways today. These trucks are on our roads without the safety inspections we require of American truckers and they are not compensated as well for their labor. Thus undermining the wages of the middle class.

The union truckers of Johnson Brothers Liquor ask us to not purchase the following products.

LIQUOR

All Phillips brand products, Karkov Vodka and Gin


WINE

Bella Sera, Peter Vella, Twin Valley

Rancho Sera, Sonoma Gallo, Cooks

Dancing Bull, Livingston Cellar, Copper Ridge

Carlo Rossi, Redwood Creek, Black Swan

Ecco Domani, Trinity Oaks, Boones Farm

Bartles and Jaymes, Fairbanks, Andre

Ballatore, Barefoot, Sutter Home

Arbor Mist, Black Box, Alice White

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Bill, for your support! I am the unnamed friend in your post. As of today, we have been out for six weeks, and Johnson Brothers continues to stonewall us. They have told the federal mediator assigned to our dispute that they are "too busy" to negotiate with us. They have used their captive audience of sales reps to spread lies and propoganda about our demands. Most importantly, they have used time and money as means to their ends... breaking a LEGAL collective bargaining unit which only seeks to negotiate in good faith.
Bill, you know that I have been a fairly staunch conservative throughout my life, and even railed against unions in my time, but what Johnson Brothers, and many other companies, are trying to do is not only aggregious, it is immoral and wrong! My only hope is that their loss of profit will wake them up before our loss of income splinters our strength. Thanks for the support!
P.S. I had to endure a half hour of the gas-bag known as Al Franken today, haven't I suffered enough?

Bill Jungbauer said...

You have suffered greatly my friend! Franken is a clown! Was he down thier blowing hot air for votes? I mentioned to my father today that Franken is incapable of taking care of money matters. There was improper handling of money for that awful radio station Air America and a Boys and Girls Club. Lately it is his "forgetting" to pay workers comp on employees wages in New York and now we find out that he owes corporate taxes on Al Franken Inc in California.

Mary and I went to eat in Minneapolis last night and the place is infested with Franken bumper stickers. Oh well, they are the same croud that elected Ellison. How many unpaid traffic tickets did he have? In some parts of the country, all you need is a "D" after your name to get elected!

Anonymous said...

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