A little while back, Newark Teachers Union President Joe Del Grosso told the Rutgers Observer what he intends to do to Richard Berman, our Executive Director: “we will swat him down.” So we mailed Del Grosso a flyswatter in case he needed any help.

To our gratitude, he responded with a gift of his own: his office mailed us our very own NTU umbrella (as an apology from Del Grosso for “raining on our parade”). But that wasn’t the only gift they gave us.

Take a look at the inset — this union umbrella was made in China. We know that the People’s Republic is the paradise of the proletariat and all, but what are the odds that this thing was union-made?

Del Grosso should be miffed that his staff screwed up by having union goods made in China. But we imagine the odds of a union employee getting fired are about the same as one of Newark’s bad teachers getting fired under their ridiculous tenure rules — rules Del Grosso himself admits to protecting.