Hello, hypocrisy: Railing against unions while benefiting from being in one

Rich Yaeger protests outside of the capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty ImagesOver the weekend, fresh off of Friday's 11th-hour Wisconsin House vote to strip certain public service unions of their right to negotiate and after days of debate and vitriol, the internet was abuzz with the news that some of the conservative talk-show hosts who have been most vocal about their anti-union sentiments are actually union members themselves.

According to the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), which is part of the AFL-CIO, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh are all card-carrying members of that union.

O'Reilly viewers may have already known this, given that the Fox News personality mentioned his membership during his Feb. 18 show. "On a personal note, I'm a member of a union, AFTRA, and when I was working at 'Inside Edition' some years ago, the King World company tried to renege on pension benefits," he said. "AFTRA took them to court and the case was settled. If the shop had been non-union, we might have been stiffed."

During the same broadcast, he also said that "union wages and benefits have now reached the point where governments can't afford to operate and some private concerns can't make a profit." Here's the video:

Kudos to O'Reilly for the full disclosure. Others, like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, haven't been so forthright. Calling the protesters in Wisconsin "the unionistas, the rabble rousers, the freeloaders," Limbaugh told his listeners: "We are either on the side of the Wisconsin protesters or we are on the side of our country." On his radio show on Feb. 21, Hannity compared being in a union to embracing socialism.
"I'm mad at unions, too. They're going to lecture us on how much they care about rank and file but take their money and spend it on political causes? I think it's outrageous."

"The union spends rank and file money to get Democrats elected," Hannity concludes. "They get sweetheart deals that are going to be paid for down the road. And, unfortunately, when the price comes through and the bill comes in, we can't afford it."

Shine reader Meg, who lives in Wisconsin, weighed in on a Shine post about women and unions in Wisconsin and says "This is not about the budget." She wrote: "My husband is a union working public employee, he doesn't make a ton of money, this budget would cost us $500 a month, and we've said "OK, we have to do this." But the reason Wisconsin employees' healthcare and pensions are so great is that they have passed up $100 million in pay raises over the years to keep them."

Early reports that Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and Ann Coulter were also members of AFTRA proved incorrect, though AFTRA did confirm Hannity, Limbaugh, and O'Reilly's memberships. According to a statement, "AFTRA does not have a national collective bargaining agreement with Fox News" but does "maintain collective bargaining agreements with a number of local Fox News affiliate stations around the country and members who work at those stations would be covered by an AFTRA contract." The union recently issued a statement supporting union workers in Wisconsin.

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Also on Shine:

• I love my kids, but opting out of the workforce wasn't an option
• Union vs. non-union labor: What's your take?
• Does union-busting affect women more than men?