Uncommon Commentary #312: Labor Pains

One current labor-unionist protest uses a slogan that proclaims what is precisely the opposite of the truth. Demonstrators against right-to-work legislation in Michigan brandish signs which read “Fighting for Democracy!!!”[sic]; how did the “for” get in there?

The recalcitrants' counterparts in Philadelphia, by contrast, came up with a form of protest which is more appropriate than they realize. It seems that they took to the street simply because a non-union electrician won a contract (on which unionized electricians also had the opportunity to bid) to work on renovations to the Vista apartment building on the 2800 block of N. 47^th Street in Philadelphia; members of IBEW local 98 subsequently vexed the apartment-dwellers by blasting out a recording of an infant's bawling, from approximately 8 a.m. each day until the middle of the afternoon. I can't think of a truer analogy to their behavior than the crying of a baby.