Unions: Helping the little guy

Strikes can be mighty effective. Witness the one-day strike in Janestown's GM plant and across the nation that ended the contract negotiation standoff.

But that's not the only local impact from The Workers' Revolt:

He, a member of United Auto Workers Local 95, said a southside [Janesville] pizza joint was clear in its position not to support the UAW in its recent strike at the General Motors assembly plant in Janesville.

She, an employee at the pizza place, said she was in no position to authorize the donation of pizzas to the picket lines when the UAW went on strike Sept. 24.

Pizza Hut and other local businesses were sending food and drinks, and a GM worker suggested while ordering his lunch at Prime Time that they should do the same. The manager wasn't on duty, so the person at the counter couldn't do anything yet. Later that day, the manager agreed to send some free pizzas, but by then word was on the street that Prime Time didn't support GM workers.

Before I go on, I'll just add that I've heard from many different people here that if GM closed down, Janesville would become a ghost town. Many peripheral businesses are employers here, whose only customer is GM.

So why does it matter that a pizza joint delayed a decision to send freebies for the one-day strike, especially when other national chains were already doing it? Because union people are like elephants. Vengeful ones, apparently:

A large slice of Prime Time's business is deliveries to the plant, and that's been eaten away as rumors circulated that the business at 1907 Center Ave. wouldn't support the striking members of UAW Local 95 with free food.

So, nice going, GM employees. Way to watch out for your own. Who needs one less pizza place, anyway?

SHOW THE MAN WHO'S BOSS!