Marathon Pundit: Irony and hypocrisy thick with Obama and union picket lines

"If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain, when I'm in the White House, I'll put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself. I'll walk on that picket line with you as president of the United States of America, because workers deserve to know that somebody is standing in their corner." Barack Obama, November 3, 2007.

There have been several high-profile strikes since President Obama was sworn-in almost two years ago. And he has not walked in any picket lines. Verizon workers picketed just two blocks from the White House in August, "I know the president is a very busy man, but he should be here," said a Washington Communications Workers of America leader at the time. "This is a fight about saving the middle class and saving our union."

Congress Hotel picketers in October

But in Chicago, then-state Sen. Obama walked the picket line in front of the Congress Hotel in 2003. Disclosure: I worked there for nearly ten years. The management there is consistent, they treat employees, workers, and guests the same: poorly.

Eight years later the strike continues. Last month there were two picketers out front while a member of their union, UNITE Here, criticized Obama crony Penny Pritzker, a board member of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, during an Occupy Chicago rally just a block away.

Occupy Chicago,
10/22/11

Hyatt UNITE Here employees have struck twice this year--and guess who was not walking the pickets with them--President Obama.

Pritzker was the national campaign finance chairwoman for Obama's first presidential run and a co-chair for his presidential inaugural committee. She serves on the President's Council for Jobs and Competitiveness.

But go to the Congress Hotel Strike web site--look who is prominently featured: Obama. And enjoy this nugget from that site's home page: "The Congress Hotel disgraces Chicago. The home of the longest hotel strike in the history of America. Barack Obama walked our picket line as our senator. He will walk it again as our president." If he does, then Obama better join the picketers if there is another strike against Pritzker's Hyatt. He's already a hypocrite in regards to strikes, only most Americans don't know it yet.

Related posts:

CWA union activist call report: Verizon "a**holes," Occupy Wall Street, meeting with Obama on union "fight"
Video: Obama crony Penny Pritzker called out at OccupyChicago by union speaker
Week long strike at Obama crony's Hyatt Hotels; union calls them "the worst employer in the hotel industry"
Union film spanks Obama pal Penny Pritzker
Obama crony alert: No media at Hyatt Hotels Corp. annual meeting
Another subprime headache for Obama

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