The SEIU gets smacked down in Texas yet again

[Valin]

Hot Air:

Jazz Shaw

Nov. 14 2016

 

You may recall that back in September we looked at the case of Professional Janitorial Services of Houston (PJS) and a lawsuit they prevailed in against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The union had engaged in a public smear campaign attempting to shut PJS down because the company refused to allow them to force a secret ballot seeking to unionize the shop. A jury sided with PJS and the SEIU was smacked with a judgment in excess of seven million dollars.

 

Such things are never settled in one go and the union immediately appealed on two fronts. First, they wanted a new trial. Failing that, they wanted a fresh look at the amount of the judgment because they claimed (to the amazement of all) that they couldn’t afford to pay the damages. That case hit a brick wall last week when a judge ruled that not only would there be no new trial, but that the union had to turn over a decade’s worth of financial records to PJS to prove that they somehow couldn’t pay the bill. The company’s CEO, Brent Southwell, issued the following statement on the outcome.

 

(Snip)

 

As to the first of the union’s requests, that one seemed ill fated from the beginning. The union offered no cogent argument as to why the results of the trial should be in question. As to the question of being able to afford to pay the plaintiff… c’mon, man. We’re talking bout the SEIU. They were the 22nd largest contributor to elections in 2016 with well over $13M in contributions. They are leaching off the paychecks of more than 1.5 million workers each and every day. And doesn’t an organization of that size carry insurance to cover themselves in the event of a judgment going against them?

 

Far more likely is the idea that they simply don’t want any outsiders poking around in their financial records. Every time the members of these unions find out how much of their dues is being handed out to politicians and lobbyists rather than going to their own benefit the SEIU takes a hit in popularity. In this case they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar trying to bust out a private company like some sort of mafia crackdown. Now they need to pay up and I doubt anyone will be crying for them overly much.

 

(Snip)

 

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