You're kidding right? I have no problem paying people well who represent my vital interests, and provide a check against the corporatocracy. Has ALPA always acted in my personal best interests? Obviously not. Is it better than going it alone? Hell yes.
This is who is behind this trash from the "Center for Union Facts":
(from sourcewatch.org)
Richard B. (Rick) Berman is a former labor management attorney and restaurant industry executive who currently works as a lobbyist for the food, alcoholic beverage and
tobacco industries. He is the sole owner of
Berman & Co., which sponsors many non-profit
front groups that defend his corporate clients' interests by attacking their critics, allowing his paying clients to remain out of public view.
He is the President, Executive Director and Director of the
Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF). CCF's 2005 IRS return states that Berman works 23 hours a week for the group for which he is paid $18,000.
[1] In spite of its name, CCF is more concerned about industry than the consumer. He is also the Executive Director and President of the
Employment Policies Institute Foundation the
American Beverage Institute and the
Center for Union Facts.
[2]
According to a July 31, 2006, profile of Berman in
USA Today, his company has 28 employees and takes in $10 million dollars a year, but "only Berman and his bookkeeper wife" know how much of the $10 million ends up in their own pockets.
[2]
Rick Berman has earned the nicknames "Dr. Evil," the "Conservatives' Weapon of Mass Destruction" and the "Astroturf Kingpin" for his repeated use of the strategy of forming non-profit front groups that advocate for the interests big business while shielding those same businesses from disclosing financial support for these efforts.
[3][4]