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Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics
 
 
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Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics [Hardcover]

Linda Chavez (Author), Daniel Gray (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)


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Book Description

June 8, 2004
“Simply put, the leftist labor unions have the Democrats in their pockets. And we’re all paying the price.”

Linda Chavez, President George W. Bush’s original choice for Secretary of Labor and a former union official, is one of the foremost authorities on America’s labor unions. Now, in the explosive new book Betrayal, she and fellow union expert Daniel Gray expose the corrupt bargain between the labor movement and the Democratic Party.

Committed to a far-left political agenda—and to enhancing their own power—union bosses funnel at least half a billion dollars into Democratic coffers every year. And they do it, illegally, by using dues money that workers are forced to pay as a condition of their employment—dues money that each year brings the unions $17 billion, all of it tax-free.

What do labor bosses get in return? The power to call the shots in Democratic campaigns and on party policy, extraordinary influence at all levels of government, billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded federal grants, and special legal privileges that leave them free to act as they please, no matter the consequences for the American people. The cycle of corruption is seemingly endless.

Chavez and Gray name names, exposing the many politicians who are in Big Labor’s pocket—including the leading lights of the Democratic Party. Betrayal also reveals:

• Big Labor’s all-out efforts in the 2004 election, including how just one local union has launched a $35-million campaign to unseat President Bush

• How corrupt union officials use members’ hard-earned money to fund lavish lifestyles—and how their Democratic supporters let them get away with it

• How unions flout the law by failing to report any of their political spending to the IRS

• How a government report uncovered the Democrats’ sellout to Big Labor—but how the unions and the Democrats sued to keep the report from going public

• How the U.S. government lets unions practice legalized terrorism against American citizens

• How public-employee unions extort concessions from the government and put Americans at risk by refusing to provide vital services like policing and firefighting

• How Americans now live under a system of legal apartheid—one set of rules for labor bosses, another for the rest of us

All of us foot the bill for this corrupt system. Now it’s up to us to do something about it.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

America's labor unions pour money into the Democratic Party in pursuit of a "socialist," big government political agenda and have abandoned their mission of collective bargaining, contend Fox pundit Chavez (An Unlikely Conservative) and Gray, a consultant for Stop Union Political Abuse. What makes this worse than corporate bosses funding Republicans, they note, is that labor's pelf comes from the "forced dues" of workers who don't individually consent to union political donations. Chavez, a former union official and Bush labor secretary nominee, and Gray, a former National Right to Work Committee official, make some charges stick. They show that unions do give a lot of money to, and wield a lot of clout with, Democrats, with the usual problems of corruption and favoritism that big money special-interest politics entails. But by the authors' own accounting, unions spend less than 5% of their money on politics—a percentage that, they concede, workers can get refunded from their dues, albeit with some difficulty. And when Chavez and Gray show unions sticking to winning better pay, better benefits and lighter workloads for their members, they damn them for bankrupting companies and driving jobs abroad. At that point, the book's critique of unions' excesses shades into a one-sided attack on their very existence.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Chavez, conservative political analyst and former union professional, and coauthor Gray describe what they consider the betrayal of American workers by union leaders. Rather than representing the needs of their members, union leaders are focused on politics and self-serving government policy. This is a strongly worded tome with such chapter titles as "Putting the Public at Risk," "An Affair to Remember: Bill Clinton and the Unions," "Teachers' Unions: Deep-Pocketed Protectors of Mediocrity," and "Money, Mansions, and Mobsters: Union Corruption." The authors' reform proposals include stopping labor from spending members' dues on politics without their permission, giving workers flexibility and options outside of unions, and opening up union books. They tell us, "Union bosses have been successful to date largely because most Americans are oblivious to the corruption, influence-peddling, and power-brokering that goes on in labor unions today." While academics and think tanks will be the audience to ponder the authors' claims the most, it is certain that their views will resonate with a defined segment of the voting public this election year. Mary Whaley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Crown Forum; First Edition first Printing edition (June 8, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1400052599
  • ISBN-13: 978-1400052592
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #915,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

38 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (38 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Must read - union agenda is frightening, July 24, 2004
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This review is from: Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics (Hardcover)
I found this book to be very informative.

Everyone should read this book especially if you are a union member. The extent to which union bosses are using members's dues to corrupt the political system are very disturbing.

Contrary to what one reviewer posted, Linda Chavez cites a variety of sources including union publications.

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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Unions: The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, August 18, 2004
By 
MJN76 "mjn76" (Chicago, IL, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics (Hardcover)
Linda Chavez and Daniel Gray tell a shocking account of how unions in the U.S. have ironically gotten more powerful despite their membership numbers falling. The root of union power and political influence comes from the very people they claim to defend and protect: workers. In most states, union dues are forced out of workers' checks without consent. Only a small percentage of those dues are used on bargaining or other worker related activities. The bulk of dues go directly to political activity, almost exclusively to Democratic candidates for office. Forced use of dues wouldn't be so bad except that many workers (roughly %40) do not support the union's political activities (i.e., they vote Republican), and of course, some are bound to be apolitical.

Apart from their political use of dues, Chavez and Gray discuss at length the terrible abuses of union funds. In effect, the average worker is subsidizing the lavish lifestyle of union executives. Travel expenses, luxury goods, even silverware and shoes, are all bought by union excutives because worker dues pay the bill.

Unions boldly act without fear of repercussions. They often intimidate replacement workers, commit acts of terror and lethal violence, continue to forcibly extract the hard earned money of the common worker, and push a far left agenda that very often has very little to do with contract bargaining.

The final section of "Betrayal" outlines various proposals for correcting the rampant abuse of unions. One hopes the Republicans in Congress will atleast begin some efforts at reform, such as forcing unions to disclose their expenses, offer workers a choice in where their money goes, and focus on protecting workers, rather than using them as human chips for a brazenly liberal political agenda.

Highly recommended.

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44 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning Revelations, June 29, 2004
By 
Gordon Cucullu (St. Augustine, Florida, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics (Hardcover)
Linda Chavez came up professionally through labor union channels and knows unions from a unique insider's point of view. Added to this are years of experience working with unions and watching the results of their actions. Chavez captures the unfortunate manner in which organizations that were originally designed to protect and advance workers have been irreparably corrupted. Now unions have become little more than political/economic machines themselves that abuse and steal from the very people who support them.
This is an extremely well-written and documented book, presented in the smooth, readable style that characterizes Linda Chavez's works. It is a must read for all who are concerned with the underhanded political abuse that is corrupting the selection process for our elected officials. Buy it today, you will enjoy it.
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