Last week workers at a Nissan plant in Mississippi overwhelmingly rejected efforts by the United Auto Workers to unionize. 

The UAW desperately tried to convince the Nissan workers, over 80% of whom are black, that they need the protection of the UAW to prevent them from being exploited by Nissan.  The UAW was so desperate that it resorted to race-baiting, telling workers that unionizing was an extension of the civil rights movement:

“This is a historic struggle about overcoming the effects of slavery in Mississippi.”

Yep, you read that right.  Signing over a portion of each paycheck to the UAW would help overcome the effects of slavery.

Despite bringing in heavy hitters like Senator Bernie Sanders, the President of the NAACP, and actor Danny Glover to play up the race card, over 60% of Nissan workers decided they are not exploited and do not need any help from UAW.  The fact Nissan workers earn $26 per hour, even with only a high-school education, is testament to this.

Not helping the UAW’s case was the recent expose revealing that some UAW executives stole millions from a fund that was supposed to help union auto workers get job training.  In fact, since 2001, dozens of UAW officials have pled guilty to corruption and embezzlement charges.

Of course, even when not breaking the law and stealing from members, UAW officials live a lifestyle most of the hard working, blue-collar union workers they represent can only dream about.   In addition to the six figure salaries they enjoy, the UAW owns a $34 million lakeside retreat and golf course in Michigan that one retired UAW official says is “designed for the upper echelon of the UAW.”

Living high on the hog off dues siphoned from hard-working union members is hardly a great marketing tool.  In this, unions are their own worst enemy.

Last month the head of Washington’s Labor Education and Research Center (LERC) complained that “…when many Americans hear the word union, they immediately think of corrupt organizations that stifle workers' freedom of choice and protect bad workers.”

Yep, sounds about right.