Union rhetoric about being “for the children” has once again been exposed as a lie by a Seattle school union that persuaded its cronies in Seattle city government to prevent a small business from selling food during lunch time (which took away lunch options from the children).
In 2005, union pressure motivated the Seattle City Council to ban mobile food vendors – think food trucks – from operating near its schools. In 2016, the Freedom Foundation pointed out that the same union threatened to picket a nearby church for giving away food at lunch time.
This year, a small food service business was required to stop serving during lunch hour by the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department. Now, Artez Ford, who operated the business, has closed down and will likely need to find another livelihood.
Unions are financial enterprises that exist solely for dues collection, and when small businesses or any other interest jeopardizes their cash flow, they demand government force to shield their monopoly.
They fight dirty by calling in favors from elected officials to whose campaign the union was no doubt a generous donor. Their concern for the unionized cafeteria worker extends only so far as his or her monthly dues deduction. They care even less about the quality of service provided by that worker – and not at all about the rights of private citizens like Mr. Ford to earn an honest living.
Charter schools provide another example
This tiny example of the union business model is a perfect example of how the Washington Education Association (WEA) has addressed the idea of charter schools.
Rather than constructively improving school services to meet the challenge of additional education options for families, the teachers’ union has waged a multimillion dollar marketing, lobbying, ballot and legal war to shut down the creative education entrepreneurs who want to offer families an alternative.