In an attempt to soften their image, labor unions are running a “Hug-a-Union-Thug” event in Charlotte, NC as the Democratic National Convention goes on. Union bosses think they’re being terribly clever:

This year, rather than sponsoring convention events, the North Carolina State AFL-CIO said it would have a “Hug-a-Union-Thug” booth at a concert affiliated with the convention. The organization says in a statement it hopes union members offering free hugs will help erase stereotypes.

Needless to say, unions have a long way to go before that “stereotype” is eliminated in the public’s mind. One doesn’t even need to look back to the racketeering or Mob ties of the past to get that impression. Here are the greatest hits of union thuggery since Labor Day 2011:

1. The employees and families of a non-union construction site in Philadelphia had to deal with stalking, nail “bombs” that punctured tires, and assaults. Union thugs have been caught on camera while they poured oil near the loading dock and got into an altercation with a security guard.
2. South Carolina’s AFL-CIO President Donna DeWitt was videotaped taking a baseball bat to a piñata with Gov. Nikki Haley’s face on it. (We hope Ms. DeWitt will be able to make the short trip to Charlotte so that huggers get a more authentic experience.)
3. David Ferrara, a high school teacher in Neshaminy, PA, wrote an open letter to other members of the teachers union explaining that he was concerned that union members were being told to “confront or shun” anyone who would not toe the union line. A day later, his car tires were slashed in the high school parking lot.
4. In Washington state, members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) attacked the port of Longview and took security guards hostage while they dumped grain and pushed a security vehicle into a ditch. Other members of the ILWU decided to strike in solidarity with their brothers. When reporters went to ask them about it—let’s just say it didn’t go so well.
5. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka already told us his own membership was racist, but an actual example of racism might help explain it. AFL-CIO members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers’ International Union who were locked out of American Crystal Sugar in North Dakota have hurled racist slurs at the replacement workers, many of whom are black. A “monkey-like figure hanging from a noose” was also a featured symbol of the union’s picket lines.