Unions Suing DOL Over Parking Fees?

An eye-catching headline from yesterday’s Washington Examiner read, “Labor union suing Obama’s Labor Department,” prompting immediate hope that maybe the unions have finally seen the light and realized that the President they helped elect is sticking it to them at every turn. What could they be suing over? Construction jobs lost when Obama killed the Keystone XL pipeline? Coal country miners getting laid off thanks to the EPA’s war on coal?

No such luck: The union in D.C. operates like the rest of Washington D.C. bureaucrats - self centered and not doing a very good job representing their constituents. Are they concerned about lost jobs or a sinking economy with high gas prices, high gas prices, rising food prices in America? -- No. What this union is angry about is losing a $35 per month parking fee as the DOL turns management of its parking spaces over to a private contractor. Take a look for yourself:

by Joel Gehrke: Labor union suing Obama's Labor Department

Washington, D.C. -- Alex Bastani, president of the local 12 chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), told union members that they are filing a complaint against the Department of Labor that may develop into a class action lawsuit. AFGE is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, a mega-union that has endorsed President Obama, but parking rate increases at DOL have Local 12 up in arms against the Obama administration.

"Management has made it clear that it intends to move forward on July 1st with the parking increase without the involvement of the Union and despite any hardship expressed by the employees," Bastani wrote to union members . . . The union is angry about losing a $35 per month parking fee as the DOL turns management of its parking spaces over to a private contractor. "The eventual contractor will charge 'slightly below' the average Washington rate of '$220 to $260/month,'" . . . "We will be filing a complaint with the Federal Service Impasses Panel requesting an order that the United States Department of Labor be compelled to bargain with us over its decision to contract out the parking, [and the] increase in rates," Bastani told members.

Local 12 will also attempt to haul the Obama administration before the Federal Labor Relations Board, and may file a civil lawsuit against the Labor Department. "We will also explore whether a class action can be filed pursuant to the Rehabilitation Act for those employees who are disabled and park in the Frances Perkins Building Garage," Bastani wrote.

In the meantime, they will organize more public protests. [Full Story with supporting links]

So let’s get this straight. Union members get essentially free parking that would cost an average DC worker over $200 per month at the DOL? Well, that’s certainly a nice perk. Do energy companies get discounted parking at the EPA or DOE? What about mining employees at the Dept. of the Interior? I’m guessing the answer is no.

Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. When union workers realize that the real danger the Obama administration poses to them, not from lost parking discounts, but from the all-out assault on union jobs in the mining, utility, and construction industries, then they may begin to target their very real political power in the right direction.

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