Union Thugs From Keokuk Go Caroling

From WGEM:

It's Christmas caroling with a message.

Wednesday night, locked out workers from Roquette America in Keokuk staged a very unique protest.

They took a break from the picket lines to go caroling outside the homes of top Roquette executives who live in Quincy.

The union workers have been off the job for almost three months now.

Roquette locked them out on September 28th, and contract negotiations have pretty much stalled ever since.

Wednesday's event hoped to grab the attention of company leaders. The singers carried signs that read "bah humbug" and "Seasons Greed-ings". They sang "Let Us Work" to the tune of "Jingle Bells" and "God Rest Ye Locked Out Laborers"

It went like this, "God bless ye very wealthy men,we're here so you can see. The workers who helped make you rich are now out on the street. You locked the doors while profits soared, how greedy could you be? Oh tidings of capital gains, oh what a shame, all you care about it capital gains."

Vice-President of Local 48G in Keokuk, Tommy Buckert, says the reason for the caroling was "just to let the company know we're still alive and well and we're not satisfied with the treatment we're getting."

There was a little more than that, according to Dana Loesch at BigJournalism:

A caravan of 80 people to sing insults and, according to eyewitnesses, shouting “FUCK YOU” at various houses right before Christmas? This isn’t “caroling,” this is intimidation. On private property.

The only article about this in the Keokuk Daily Gate appeared before the "caroling" occurred. No mention of the trespassing or shouts of FUCK YOU.

No wonder, a look at articles in recent months in the Daily Gate about the Roquette lockout all seem to be written from the union's perspective.

Here's a story from the Burlington Hawk Eye in September that indicates the sticking point for the union concerning the 240 locked out employees they represent:

Wages and benefits were two of the largest sticking points for the union. The company proposed a four-year wage freeze. The only additional compensation would come in the form of lump-sum cash payouts, seniority bonuses and an annual team performance bonus.

The company regarded the options as a 5 percent increase in compensation, but Golan disagreed: None of those bonuses were guaranteed.

Roquette also sought to bring its health insurance benefits closer to the industry's standard. The new contract would require employees to substantially increase their contributions to health care plans.

Another union concern was a pension freeze and replacing it with a 401(k) contribution. Golan said workers hired in the last 15 years have 401(k)s, as only older workers started with a pension fund.

Cry me a river. Many big private employers have been doing this sort of thing for years now:  no raises, cash bonuses every now and then, increased medical contributions by employees, and having a 401K instead of a pension.  It sucks, but thanks to government meddling this is what we've got to deal with.  Roquette's requests are not unreasonable, especially considering how much money the union pumped into getting Obamacare passed.