Wisconsin Governor Signs Bill to Require Teaching of Union History in Schools

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-wi-teachinglabor,0,3594315.story

Recently Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle signed a bill that will make the teaching of the history of organized labor compulsory state-wide in Wisconsin schools. Of course, Doyle got big union bucks-especially from the Wisconsin Teamsters- in his last campaign for governor.

But before I go any further, I'd better check one detail because I know you are all wondering what party he belongs to, and I honestly don't know.

I'll be right back. Here are some pictures to keep you entertained while I do my homework. You might want to consider them for visual aids for the kids in Wisconsin.






I'm back. Yes, he's a Democrat. Just wanted to be 100% sure before I mentioned that.

So now that the kiddies are all going to be taught about the virtues and greatness of the labor unions, I thought since I am a teacher, I would submit some suggested lesson plans.

We could start with the Teamsters Union since they seem to be Doyle's biggest supporters. I won't bore you with real ancient history, but let's go back say, half a century and review the bios of a few past Teamsters presidents.

Dave Beck was president of the Teamsters from 1952-1957.



He was later indicted and went to prison for his corrupt practices.

The next president was Jimmy Hoffa from 1957 to 1967 when he went to prison.



President Nixon commuted his sentence on condition he would not re-enter labor. He reneged on that and tried to get the presidency back from strongman Frank Fitzsimmons. In 1975 Hoffa disappeared and has never been seen since.

His successor, Fitzsimmons, was president of the Teamsters from 1967 to 1981.



During his tenure, he was under numerous investigations for his mob connections.

The next crook was Roy Williams, who served as president from 1981-1983. In 1982, he was convicted for conspiring to bribe a Nevada senator.

That's Williams above. (Or maybe it's Governor Doyle.)


Off he went to prison for three years.

He was followed by Jackie Presser (1983-1988) who was under constant scrutiny for his mob links (the Cleveland crime family).


He was called to testify before the Presidential Commission on Organized Crime in 1985 and took the 5th 15 times. In 1984 and again in 1986, he was indicted on corruption charges. Somewhere along the line, it came out that he was an informant for the FBI. At any rate, his prosecution was delayed due to ill health until he died in 1988.

Then there is the UAW or the United Mine Workers union. This may not be fit material for younger age school children, but we might want to teach them about former president Joseph Yablonski. In 1969, he and his wife and daughter were murdered in their home by gunmen who broke in in the middle of the night. Turned out they were acting on behalf of one W.A Boyle who was a successor to Yablonski and wanted him out of the way. Boyle was subsequently convicted and sent to prison.

And it goes on and on. One would think that this course would fall under the Criminal Justice department of some university or that the teachers would be retired FBI agents.

But rest assured the kids will never hear about this stuff. They will hear about the early days of the union movement, you know, Samuel Gompers and all that stuff. Of course, there was a time when the unions were needed in America, but we never needed the likes of Jimmy Hoffa. We never needed unions that were in bed with organized crime. We never needed the corruption.

I suppose the kids will also get a healthy dose of the new big union on the block, the SEIU, under the "progressive" leadership of Andy Stern, a regular visitor to the White House in the past year. But they won't hear about the "Purple People Beaters", who have showed up to lend their muscle to Democrat rallies and town hall meetings, and who have on a couple of occasions beat up those "who don't go along with the program".

So teach them well all you Wisconsin teachers. After all, these are the union thugs of the future.