Boo-Hooing Central Florida Unions Want Workers to Withdraw Money From Banks

Question for Central Florida union members:

Where are you going to keep your money now, folks, under the bed?

I'm sorry, but I don't get the latest Florida union protest. Apparently "Central Florida union organizations" are unhappy with the state Chamber of Commerce's lobbying methods. They've whipped up their members -- some of them, anyway -- to go to the area's largest banks affiliated with the Chamber and withdraw their money this coming Thursday. The unions claim it amounts to something like a $10 million withdrawal.

Apparently, earlier this month the Florida Chamber of Commerce launched an "aggressive attack campaign" on public employees and their unions. The unions say the Chamber "used fake images of firefighters and teachers to lobby for legislation that would silence the workers' voice both on the job and in the political process."

Despite repeated calls for the Chamber of Commerce to cease and and desist, they say, the attacks continued.

Oh, boo-hoo.

Come on, unions, you call this a dirty trick? I remember dirty tricks. I remember when Florida unions dumped sugar in gas tanks in the 1980s, when they keyed school administrators' cars in the 1990s, when they brought lawyers in to committee meetings at the state Capitol to coach teachers not to talk to the press in 2010. You mean those unions are complaining about the mean old state Chamber of Commerce?

Scandalous.

Says the union press release, "The Chamber is funded in part by donations from the banking industry. Workers throughout Central Florida will be withdrawing their organizational and personal finances from the banking institutions that support the Florida Chamber of Commerce. Regions Bank, Bank of America, SunTrust, PNC and Wachovia stand to lose more than $10 million during the first wave of withdrawals."

The unions conjured up a name for this silliness: Floridians Outraged at the Chamber of Commerces Attack on Workers. Want to join up? It all happens at 1 p.m. Thursday at 75 S. Ivanhoe Blvd. in Orlando.

Personally, workers, I'd stay home and hide my bank books. The unions are trying to tell you what to do with your personal finances. Not cool. Not cool at all.
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