Last Friday, the Daily Caller, founded by a failed MSNBC analyst, launched an attack on the Sheet Metal Workers' International Association by misrepresenting the actions of an SMWIA local union that provided unemployed members, and only unemployed members, with a stipend for when they invested their time in assisting their local union in its advocacy efforts.
The reporter, who failed to contact the SMWIA for comment on her story, seemed to insinuate that the Sheet Metal Workers (of which I am a member) was offering to compensate bystanders who would protest a conservative conference held last week in Washington, DC.
According to a statement issued by the SMWIA,
The SMWIA believes in leaving none of its members behind – especially those experiencing the economic hardship caused by the malfeasance of the bankers and Wall Street profiteers who crashed the American economy in 2008 and whose interests were being represented at the conference members were protesting.
The 140,000 dues paying members of the SMWIA membership are the backbone of this long standing organization. This Union takes seriously the principle of standing by our own, not only on the jobsite, but when they and workers across America are unemployed due to no fault of their own. We will not apologize for this and will continue to do so in the future.
It's ironic that a "reporter,"
whose claim to fame was for being shut down by Matt Damon, would focus on attacking a labor union that was trying to help unemployed members by offering them a stipend while at the same time ignoring the millions of dollars of political donations showered on GOP candidates at the convention by the same billionaires and bankers who crashed the American economy.
While the member in the video was clearly frustrated at the local union as well as everyone else for his employment situation, you have to wonder what avenue a conservative activist would have had to criticize their organization. If anything, it shows that free speech is alive and well in the labor movement.
You also have to wonder if CPAC or any other conservative organization would have stood by their members and activists even when they are unemployed. If anything, the attack video (which you can google by searching for sheet metal workers and cpac) shows once again the power of belonging to the only organization that stands by its own membership through thick and thin. That of cource being a labor union.