Sunday, June 29, 2008

EU Parliament Featherbedding

In the US, featherbedding is when a union creates jobs that are nonproductive, and typically guarantees those jobs through the union contract with the employer.

Featherbedding is illegal, but is also tacitly accepted, mostly to keep the union on the job and the workplace free from strikes or work slowdowns.

Seems the EU has a little featherbedding of its own going on. Here's a great video making its way around the blogosphere.

EU Parliament members are paid a crazy-high salary, plus a daily wage for showing up at the Parliament building. It seems like Friday morning is a busy time there. See, the EU Parliamentarians have to physically sign into a log in order to be paid the daily rate. So Friday morning at 7am, a bunch of them show up, sign the ledger, and head out of town, typically for home.

This is clearly theft -- and we'd shame these bozos out of office if they were in the US. But no -- this is the European Union. When reporters confront some of them, the EU reps run, hide, or call the reporters "impertinent".

I love Europe, but only to visit. Living (and paying taxes) in Socialism ain't my thing.

H/T CDR Salamander

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