Siding With Big Business, Cheney Announces Bush Will Veto Workers’ Rights Bill
Siding With Big Business, Cheney Announces Bush Will Veto Workers’ Rights Bill
Today, the House Education and Labor Committee begins markup on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which has strong bipartisan backing in Congress. The EFCA would make it easier for workers to form a union. Under the current law, “even when a majority of workers ask for union representation, their employers can force them to undergo an election process” administered by the Bush administration’s “anti-worker” National Labor Relations Board.
Roll Call reports today, “Deep-pocketed corporate lobbying groups have joined together to defeat” the EFCA. Speaking before a business lobby group this morning, Vice President Cheney announced that Bush will veto the EFCA legislation. Watch it:
The current union organization system is tilted against America’s workers. Each year, over 20,000 U.S. workers are illegally fired, demoted, laid off, suspended without pay, or denied work by their employers as a result of union activity. Under the Bush administration, American workers have seen union levels — and their wages — steadily drop:
– In Oct. 2006, Bush’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) — “easily the most anti-worker labor board in history” — issued a decision that will deny the right to organize to as many as 8 million workers in 200 occupations.
– In 2000, 13.5 percent of all wage and salary workers were unionized. In 2006, just 12 percent of workers were in unions.
– The portion of private sector workers covered by union protections has fallen steadily from 23.2 percent in 1979 to 8.5 percent in 2005.
– In 2004, 92 percent of employers forced workers to attend “mandatory captive audience meetings” where workers often had to “listen to hours of anti-union presentations by corporate representatives.”
– “The median hourly wage for American workers has declined 2 percent since 2003″ — after factoring in inflation — even though average worker productivity “has risen steadily over the same period.”
Unions ensure a better standard of living for working Americans. Workers represented by unions earn 28 percent more than nonunion workers and are 62 percent more likely to have medical insurance through their jobs. Contact your lawmakers and tell them to support the Employee Free Choice Act.
Transcript:
America is also a country that takes very seriously the right of men and women to work and to organize under the law. The American labor movement has a proud history and has long reflected a basic principle of our democracy: fair elections, as decided by secret ballots. This principle will be put to a test in Congress this year. It’s important for everyone in the debate to remember that secret ballots protect workers from intimidation and ensure the integrity of the process.
Beyond that, if workers do decide to form a union, they and their employers should be able to negotiate without having terms forced on them. Our Administration rejects any attempt to short-circuit the rights of workers. We will defend their right to vote yes or no by secret ballot and their right to fair bargaining. H.R. 800 violates these principles, and if it is sent to the President, he will veto the bill.
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Get this hate-mongering hyena outta here! Bulldog Darth has seen better days and it's time for him to go on another hunting trip. The american people are sick and tired of seeing his ugly mug!
February 14th, 2007 at 2:33 pmTHAT'S RIGHT - DARTH - FASCISM - FASCISM - FASCISM! You've now completed all of it's ugly hallmarks!
February 14th, 2007 at 2:33 pmFASCIST CHENEY OUTS HIMSELF AGAIN.....AND AGAIN.....AND AGAIN! I can see him lockstepping his way off that platform!
February 14th, 2007 at 2:35 pmYeah, nothing better could be expected from this bunch of fascists...
February 14th, 2007 at 2:37 pmGO, Darth, GO!!! The rich at the top, the poor at the bottom, as usual...
Whatever happened to the idea they paid lipservice to, that people can decide what's best for them themselves? I suppose that only apply to tax cuts?
Shame on them.
February 14th, 2007 at 2:37 pmI would like to see his head replaced with "pink mist" in celebration of Valentine's day.
February 14th, 2007 at 2:43 pm"Union Made" has been replaced with "Corporate Sponsored" in our country as a driving force.
February 14th, 2007 at 2:44 pmThe rethuglicans yearn for the simpler times of the 80s - 1880s.
February 14th, 2007 at 2:45 pmGot child labor?
Just like the terrorists and othe evil doers, this Administration HATES FREEDOM. Its official they hate America, more than that they hate American workers.
February 14th, 2007 at 2:46 pmWhy do conservatives hate America?
February 14th, 2007 at 2:55 pmCorporate Citizenship supercedes American Citizenship.
It's time to have the Big Dick do to himself what he told Sen. Leahy.
Flock U, Dick, Flock U.
Go back to Wyoming & herd sheep. Or Goats. Or WasteMoreLand.
February 14th, 2007 at 3:01 pmJust go.
Bush & Cheney need to be stoned next Labor day-by union members
February 14th, 2007 at 3:01 pmThis is gonna hurt the Republicans in 2008...
February 14th, 2007 at 3:04 pmBiggus Dickus, worst VP ever.
-GSD
February 14th, 2007 at 3:07 pmHave you ever known ANYONE named Richard who prefered to be called DICK that wasn't a complete prick?
February 14th, 2007 at 3:08 pmIt's time for a revolution.. of the French variety.
February 14th, 2007 at 3:11 pmBy the time the voting rolls around, we'll be talking over-ride of anything Dubious is told he must veto............
February 14th, 2007 at 3:11 pmlabor bills, education, foreign policy, you name it...... over-ride.
Congress is getting a spine.
Please take note everyone:
The layers which have kept from view the true masters of Chainee and Boosch are peeling away faster now.
It's going to take courage and strength to resist corporations, and their control over goods and services..................
Conrad would be proud: meet the new Kurtz.
February 14th, 2007 at 3:14 pmCheney, who donned a pink tie for the Valentine’s Day address, also said economic growth would grow from private sector efforts, not the government.
“Nobody can sit in an office in Washington, D.C. and decide to create prosperity,†he said.
The vice president defended the Bush tax cuts as fueling the economy’s recovery over the past five years.
I am still trying to process this one.
February 14th, 2007 at 3:17 pmi can't watch this...
February 14th, 2007 at 3:17 pmbut i'm guessing there was a HUGE applause from his audience...
for shame...
.
Bushland, Bushland Uber Allies!
February 14th, 2007 at 3:21 pmUber Allies, Ve Are Strong!
Reichsfuhrer Cheney and Fuhrer CHIMPya,
Stand together to VETO Unions!
Because they are a threat to
Our Unfettered Power
To control the masses
Of the Vorking Class!
Big corportations, parasites of society
Give us money to VETO! VETO! VETO!
Dirty Dick announced the Veto today, he will be telling Bush abiout the veto this evening.
February 14th, 2007 at 3:27 pmWhy does Bush hate most Americans? The only ones he doesn't hate are the rich and powerful.
February 14th, 2007 at 3:29 pmcan't wait for it's eulogy. if "it" is described as a human, you will know the press is right on the job they were doing for it all along. pretending.
February 14th, 2007 at 3:31 pmAnd probably have to explain the legislation as well...........
February 14th, 2007 at 3:31 pm"OK, I know this is a big word, georgie, and it's spelled funny.... can you say union?
Off topic:
Scalia's daughter arrested for drunk driving with three kids in the car.
I guess if you were brought up by him the bottle is needed to dull a lot of pain.
February 14th, 2007 at 3:32 pmWhen Republicans talk about the free market, this is what they mean. Big Businesss should be free to do whatever they want and labor should be strictly regulated by Republicans to do whatever Big Business wants them to do.
February 14th, 2007 at 3:32 pmOutspoken comedian and liberal radio host Al Franken announced Wednesday that he intends to run for the U.S. Senate from his home state of Minnesota.
February 14th, 2007 at 3:32 pmThis country needs MORE unions, not less of 'em...
February 14th, 2007 at 3:32 pmWhy would Uncle Dick ever understand why workers would want to stand together and demand to be treated fairly? He's never fought for anything in his charmed life
February 14th, 2007 at 3:34 pmThank goodness for Al Franken going to Congress!
February 14th, 2007 at 3:39 pm(After the pathetic displays of theatrical talent during the House Iraq debate these past couple of days..........)
What Helenahandbasket said. I keep telling you boys and girls; the Republicans won't be truly happy until you're all working for Wal-Mart wages and benies.
February 14th, 2007 at 3:40 pmAre there grounds for impeaching Cheney for exceeding the Constitutional responsibilities of his office?
February 14th, 2007 at 3:47 pmGlobalization... There are a ton of folks on this planet who are just as productive as US workers and willing to work for much less. Unionizing US workers against globalization would lead to a higher cost of US goods and services. Thus, less expensive foreign goods and services would be chosen over higher priced US goods and services. Thus, causing a slowdown in the US economy and massive domestic layoffs.
February 14th, 2007 at 3:47 pmOff topic:
Scalia’s daughter arrested for drunk driving with three kids in the car.
I guess if you were brought up by him the bottle is needed to dull a lot of pain.
Comment by dlet
My ADD loves off-topic.
In my state if you get a DUI with minors in the car, it's an aggravated DUI, a felony. I imagine most states are similar. Scalia has nine children. Heh.
February 14th, 2007 at 3:49 pmAs it is turning out....the real threat to our "freedom" is the "enemy within" who sits in the Big House on the Hill! They're the ones who've handily stripped us of our democracy and all of the freedoms we once enjoyed. It's over - democracy is now dead, thanks to these fascist thugs.
February 14th, 2007 at 3:49 pmOff topic but interesting: On your tabloid shelves today - Laura Bush is lawyering up for divorce while Hubby begs "please stay"..... they're a daytime soap opera.
February 14th, 2007 at 3:50 pmUncle Dickie hasn't worked a full day in his life - he was too busy getting draft deferments! What would he know?
February 14th, 2007 at 3:52 pmSad to see Team Terror continues to sell our country to the ultra rich.
They even have ex Soviets lecturing us on democracy.
Worst administration EVER! IMPEACH!
February 14th, 2007 at 3:57 pmAverage working people with bargaining power and rights??? What the hell country do they think this is!!?
February 14th, 2007 at 4:04 pm[...] in Uncategorized at 1:28 pm by LeisureGuy Bush Administration = government by Big Business. Here: Today, the House Education and Labor Committee begins markup on the “Employee Free Choice Act [...]
February 14th, 2007 at 4:20 pmThis is nothing but a continuation of St. Ronnie and the Market Fundamentalist's "War on Labor".
"Money trumps peace"
February 14th, 2007 at 4:23 pmGeorge W Bush
How ever did this giant up-right, walking, talking TURD get elected to the office? I wish it would just have it's inevitable heart attack and get it over with, once and for all. Preferably, live on tv would be cool as hell.
February 14th, 2007 at 4:25 pmthe Republicans won’t be truly happy until you’re all working for Wal-Mart wages and benies.
Comment by Hedley Lamarr — February 14, 2007 @ 3:40 pm
We get benefits? From Wal-Mart? Really? Sign me up!!
February 14th, 2007 at 5:41 pmSURPRISE! SURPRISE! SURPRISE!
GOLLLLLLEEE!
February 14th, 2007 at 6:40 pmThere's no need for the "French solution," Kelso. All we have to do is publically fund all federal elections, re-institute regulations which create a "firewall" between network news operations and their corporate boards, vote for any of the Dems currently up for Pres., and give the Dems a filibuster-proof majority in both houses. Do that, and we get more workers' rights, universal health care, out of Iraq and a start at getting out of debt.
February 14th, 2007 at 6:48 pmI love it when they do that - another of the most decidedly unpopular, elective actions that dubbie could take!!
sure, he didn't have the inclination to veto a single one of the republican'ts' pork-bomb bills for 6 years, then finds the pen just in time to knock down harmless, non-controversial legislation that would have widespread benefits throughout the country.
Hey, Dick, strangle a puppy next, wouldja?
Let's get Alberto Gonzalez to do a ride-along with some LA ambulance drivers to dump Mexican grandmas with cancer at the side of the road, too.
February 14th, 2007 at 6:57 pmAll that kind of veto means is that more repub candidates will be hysterically running for cover when the administration threatens to show up in their districts. It just gets Bush's approval ratings from the low 30's to the mid 20's.
February 14th, 2007 at 7:05 pmIt just gets Bush’s approval ratings from the low 30’s to the mid 20’s.
Comment by Bluedog49 #47
Sh****t...
February 14th, 2007 at 7:09 pmDo we really need ANY more reason to overthrow these bastards?
February 14th, 2007 at 7:34 pm[...] Watch Video [...]
February 14th, 2007 at 7:47 pm*
somewhat related... look what i found today... have you heard?
U.S., Britain rank last in child welfare
February 14th, 2007 at 8:23 pmPosted on : Wed, 14 Feb 2007 16:33:01 GMT | Author : World News
NEW YORK, Feb. 14 A U.N. examination of industrialized nations has ranked the United States and Britain dead last in child welfare.
[...]
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/30595.html
...
I am shocked!!! Bush and Cheney, anti-person??
February 14th, 2007 at 8:39 pmPeople should have medical insurance through unions, not through their employers. It's more portable that way.
February 14th, 2007 at 9:24 pmThat is kind of ridiculous Ron Paul since the majority of people are not in unions. They ARE, however, employed. Think before you speak.
February 14th, 2007 at 9:52 pm[...] Siding With Big Business, Cheney Announces Bush Will Veto Workers’ Rights Bill (tags: union) [...]
February 15th, 2007 at 12:24 am[...] Siding With Big Business, Cheney Announces Bush Will Veto Workers’ Rights Bill [...]
February 15th, 2007 at 12:42 amHealth insurance should not be based on employment.
Health care should not be a for-profit industry.
February 15th, 2007 at 1:08 amWhy are we so afraid of making workers vote to decide to form a union? I don't want union representation forced on me, if the union want to represent me let me vote for them. I find it funny that elections are so scary to freethinkers and liberals...
Yes I am a union member.
February 15th, 2007 at 1:52 amUnions, at times, seem more oppressive at times then do the companies themselves. For instance, if I want to work at a unionized supermarket, I MUST join the union. Then they proceed to take money out of my paycheck, even though they claim higher wages. This may be true for the heads of the unions, but not for me who already gets money taken out for benefits, such as dental, and taxs. Therefore, does it make sense to force something upon a person, then to give them choice?
No, this is just as equally, if not more, wrong then the company firing me without reason, which is against the law already: before the union, its called discrimination. Instead, what happens is that I get fired from the chance of even joining the company if I choose NOT to join the union, which I would be forced in to. Way to give "free" choice.
February 15th, 2007 at 2:57 amwhy hasn't some american patriot shot this a$$hat in the head?
February 15th, 2007 at 3:33 amwe the people of the united states, in order to form a more perfect UNION..........from the second most sacre document on the face of the earth......in japan , joining a uniopn is a constitutional right........that constitution written by - doug macarthur.........
February 15th, 2007 at 7:07 amwicked
February 15th, 2007 at 7:13 amCome on folks get real here. Do you think that we need Unions everywhere still? Do you know what a Union does? Give me a break! Back in the early 1900's Unions where great but now they just suck a company dry. After union dues and crap do you think that your voice matters in a union election? It doesn't mean crap. The only thing that matters is that the union leader gets his money-and lots of it. You scream communists and fascism because Bush doesn't support the law-but that is far from the fact Unions are communist! You wanna scream workers rights then grow some freakin balls and take charge of you life. I have never seen so many cry-baby people in my life who expect everyone else to solve their problems. This is the one time when I can actually agree with Bush on this one. First time in the past 7 years that I could say that.
February 15th, 2007 at 8:08 am[...] Check it out.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. [...]
February 15th, 2007 at 8:31 amUnions DO NOT "ensure a better standard of living for working Americans." They temporarily relieve problems brought on by greedy employers. Instead of having unions...why not do a better job of enforcing the law and keep skumbags from breaking it?
February 15th, 2007 at 9:02 amDid any of you Bush haters actually listen to what Cheney had to say in this speech? The White House is actually trying to protect the rights of the individual. Unions are famous for using intimidation and peer pressure to convince workers to sign the petitions to Unionize. Only in the secret vote can the individual express his true opinion. Thats how Unions get voted down, and it's got the Union leaders scared out of their minds because more and more workers are choosing NOT to Unionize. Maybe, instead of echoing back the same old "Bush lied, I hate Bush" nonsense, you should take the time to actually see what's going on and recognize that this article is just Union propaganda trying to scare you into supporting HR800.
February 15th, 2007 at 9:48 am"It’s time for a revolution.. of the French variety."
Sadly, I don't think we are interested enough.
February 15th, 2007 at 11:18 amhow much longer are these douchebags in office for? i still don't think he's the worst president ever (andrew jackson committed genocide on american soil, look it up) but damn if he isn't second in my book.
now if we do go into iran and he stretches the military even thinner, well, that will be a new debate entirely...
February 15th, 2007 at 11:30 amUnfortunately Unions ensure absolutely nothing. Many unions have become as corrupt as the big companies. The Union dues are just another "tax" to rip-off the workers.
Too many Unions in bed with the company. You pay the dues and when you need the Union then they aren't there. Unions have become BIG BUSINESS. Unions are BIG BUSINESS.
February 15th, 2007 at 12:07 pmCheney & Co are a bunch of black-hearted greedy bastages that would like nothing less than to see American's treated as slave labor to fulfill their wildest wallstreet wet dreams!
February 15th, 2007 at 12:55 pmThe Bush/Cheney need to get thrown out of office before they totally ruin our whole Country. They fired so many State Supreme Court Judges who were doing their job and put in their cronies, what is America coming to with those outlaws in office. Lets get them out of the White House for good.
February 15th, 2007 at 2:04 pmCheney Says Bush Will Veto Workers’ Rights Bill...
It's simple: if a majority of workers want a union, they should have one. Right now, the law is sketchy. BushCheney don't want this law, workers do....
February 15th, 2007 at 2:54 pmSomehow I think a lot of the people here want Union representation for things that aren't quite in the spirit of free enterprise. Kinda like $20/hr auto workers who are now out of work because the drove the companies out of business demanding more and more.
Maybe you should read the bill first and see what it really contains...
February 15th, 2007 at 4:00 pmComment by Disinterested Person #75
Disingenuous Pest,
...yet sh*t-fer-brains inbred idiots like yourself...
...see nothing at all wrong with one person earning $400 million a year...
...go lie down...
...and let something grow over your dumb a*s...
...and for your edification...
...insurance costs (imposed by the rogue middle men)...
...are a major factor in why businesses are going out of the country and renegging on pensions and such...
...get rid of the insurance robber barons (for starters), and you'll solve a lot of the problems between business and labor...
February 15th, 2007 at 6:07 pmSo there is no question about expertise on this, I worked as a paid Union Representative for 25 years. Been through social & economic changes for decades. And, have heard this bull about we do not need Unions, from those who have not had to struggle for a decent remuneration for their life's energy, because the Union had held the line. Making the non-union companies pay comparable wages.
February 15th, 2007 at 6:10 pmPersonally, I had to refinance my home four times to be able to afford to stay in the fight. Only got a 5% increase over 6 years. Those I represented made 2 to 10 times what I did/do. Nevertheless, someone had to make it work; nothing men do ever is perfect & always needs fixing. We have become a nation of self-interest & greed, even when it destroys ourselves.
My niece & her husband argued it was not fair that fair they paid $600 a month for minimal Health Insurance, while their friends paid $100 in a unionized job. They feel that everyone should be paying $400+. If they live in poverty then everyone else should too.
WOW, they didn't see that the problem isn't their friends, but that they & their non unionized peers haven't forced their employer to pick up a fair share, from the very "growing' profits they were earning for the Boss, by the expenditure of their life energy.
Profits are growing from the blood & sweat of the workers, yet Employers are making larger profits every year, eliminating retirement plans or eliminating them.
Paris Hilton is a role model for our daughters?
As for the evil autoworkers, they never were the ones to decide what models were produced or sold for or dropped, the quality of the cars they made, or what technologies were held back, what & how mileage was set, etc. No! The Bosses do that. Oh yeah, the shareholders & investment community always demanded higher profits, but who owns the majority of stock? If you look it up, it is a very small number of the population, like 5 - 10%, who holds controlling interest in Health Care Corps, that set the $$$ for services, or the Insurance Companies, who set coverage & premiums, the same 5-10%. Who really owns the energy Companies, the Investment Firms, that are moving American jobs off shore, etc., same guys. Who is the real major contributor to Republican Party, Democratic Party & Presidential Campaigns, lobbyists, and support for the war on terror?
Unions are the only real form of Democracy left, with the 'dues' comes the franchise, but seems everyone's to busy to get involved, but can complain when the boat rocks. Just like America is doing now about Iraq, Global Warming, etc.
As for the laws, well, the Congress & Presidency has since Regan, allowed the Labor Dept to shrink not only in budget, but in staff, allowed the appointment of Corporate puppets, & judges, bought & paid for by, oops, here they are again, those 5-10%.
If American produced goods & services, cost more then raise wages & the standard of living, if foreign produced goods are cheaper, why? Guess you want to work for a $1.00 a day, 7 days a week, and if you get hurt on the job, burned alive or blown up, because the boss did not want to fix the safety problem, ala BP Texas, so we can compete in the global economy. Wake up this is all a sham that 5-10% feeds America. Moreover, America has been gobbling it up.
We are a great nation that can have our cake & eat it too, everyone can share in the prosperity, in freedom, in democracy but we all need to do it together, with an internalized sense of community & the sweat and creativity we have shown in the past.
By the way, universal free Public education up to & including Universities, social security, OSHA, etc. were Union dreams & were fought for in actual blood & lives lost. Laws were violated, protests were bloody, people starved, but you knew that, huh.
This particular Act that our VP has condemned is only to allow card signing by a majority of the workers in a place, whether a Union remains is still the real decision of the workers, not the Union or the employer. The disadvantaged now are the American workers, not the advantaged Employers, who are you guessed it that 5-10%, hum?
"We the people in order to form a more perfect Union...."
Are we any less now, yes, we can be more!
#65 - Please name a union leader that gets paid 400 times more than the workers he/she represents.
February 15th, 2007 at 6:52 pmI only hope people can do something about these fascists before they steel the rest from us. I can see very easily, as I hope many can, that these guys and our lobby representatives are not for us. I would hate to see as I did in Argentina military on every street corner and people disappearing. With the laws they have changed and the lack of a TRUE response to the last election? And thier plans to use all volunteer enlistments hear at home, as with so many other changing govermant actions, it gives me great pause. If they are not working for us than who are they representing. Iran may help us find this out. Yes, money trumps lives, oil trumps countries and foriegn lives. Maybe the largest genoc... in history. Paid and worked for by the people, so they can continue to work for the companies that needed it so. Until then- more tax breaks! Unions have not been to innocent, some reinvention is needed. Workers paying the union to rep for the Co. ? The list goes on and on. The people pay every time. Until history repeats itself and the gap becomes to great.
February 15th, 2007 at 8:14 pmFunny thing about the"Bush NLRB"...I worked in the building that office is in and came out one day to find many of the staffers picketing about their working conditions!
February 15th, 2007 at 11:08 pmNot funny, really. There are all manner of very serious and wide spread problems with working in this country that go way back. Unions helped a lot for a long time but they reached a point where it became more important to the top leaders to be a part of the "powers that be" than to continue to do things that made working in America better. In my memory, that point was reached in negotiations between the UAW and the automakers (late 70's?) when the leaders "bought" the corporate plea that they were in such bad straits ("foreign" "competition") they simply couldn't afford much of a wage increase but they could offer health insurance instead. That started a series of concessions and bumped up benefits in lieu of cash across all unions leading to an "entrepeunural" rush to the gold mine of selling benefits.
Unions, if health insurance were that important to them, could have set that up themselves with the dues instead of spending it on luxuries. That would have been a real advance for the whole country.
But they didn't.
Since then, they've been losing members, money and prestige. At the same time, our economy has changed from heavily manufacturing to heavily "white" collar, "professional", college education needed on the one hand with, on the other, so-called menial labor, seasonal and otherwise which it is said, Americans aren't willing to do anymore so we have to have immigrants instead! Even the term "worker" is disappearing or morphing. And a lot of the good things unions did in influencing pro-worker legislation have been severely restricted in practice without people really noticing. All the while, corporations figuring out one way or another to relieve themselves of America's laws, such as they are, and going to where "labor" is cheapest, etc., etc.
It's a good thing Congress has decided to give the matter of unionizing some attention but what they've done is just a drop in the bucket compared to the size of the problem. And there is a lot of "I Want to be President" politicking going on behind it.
As for Bush vetoing it--that's just politicking too!
When I was in college I worked summers in a union shop at a foundry. At the time, being stupid and young, I was upset that I had dues taken out of my paycheck. Now looking back at what I was making at the foundry compared to what I made working at McDonald's on weekends, I appreciate what the union did for me. I could have been making minimum wage at both places, but, thanks to the union, I made over twice minimum there, but only the minimum at McDonald's. Since I worked the graveyard shift, we made up for our miserable pay by making enough extra leftover burgers and shakes so that we each went home at midnight with a big bag of food. Those people who are complaining about how unions are a ripoff and that we should entrust our well-being to the tender mercies of the CEO and his henchmen would never pass a urinalysis or else are CEO's and henchmen.
February 15th, 2007 at 11:22 pmbush, bush, bush,,,,big deal. As someone above mentioned, Reagan kicked off open and state supported class war in America when, in 1981, he summarily fired more than 11,000 striking air traffic controllers.
Govt. response to that PATCO strike - - certainly helped (further) embolden employers, the same group being simultaneously subsidized via provisions of the 1981 Tax Act which, for a period of years, provided some of this nation's largest firms with negative effective tax rates.
NPR reported last year that: "Prior to PATCO, it was not acceptable for employers to replace workers on strike, even though the law gave employers the right to do so...
The PATCO strike eased those inhibitions. Major strikes plummeted from an average of 300 each year in the decades before to fewer than 30 today."
There can be no surprise that inflation adjusted median hourly wages have - other than a short period in later 1990s - stagnated and been pressured down, with dependence on multiple jobs, multiple wage earners, credit, seeing upwards pressures.
Actual International Working Class Solidarity is more required than ever before.
February 16th, 2007 at 4:41 amThose who manage this system that always and everywhere puts the needs of business and private property ahead of the people, that always find money to fund wars that benefit the rich of this country rather than meeting people’s needs should be held responsible and accountable. The real problem however, is not with the managers of the system, but with the system itself. They call it the "free market". It is the economic and social system of plutocracy, the system of deregulated modern capitalism, of, by, and for the rich that in words declares itself to be of, by and for the people.
February 16th, 2007 at 8:39 am[...] the House Education and Labor Committee begins markup on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which has strong bipartisan backing in Congress. The EFCA would make it easier for workers to form [...]
February 16th, 2007 at 2:02 pmWe stole this post, using it almost verbatim. Usually, we just provide links to matters of interest like this one, but most people don't click the link and then miss the story, which we want to get out. Your were credited in a hat tip. Let us know if you want the post on our blog removed.
February 16th, 2007 at 4:22 pmSo Whaddya want?
Cheney is a criminal, his wife is a liar, and his daughter (no, not the gay one) lives by dint of nepotism and graft.
February 19th, 2007 at 4:44 pm[...] Think Progress for the story. Posted by <ADMINNICENAME> [...]
February 20th, 2007 at 12:53 pm[...] has on wages, benefits, human rights, and other indicators. These observations have already been well documented [...]
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:22 am[...] little chance of becoming law. It will either be filibustered in the Senate or vetoed by President Cheney [...]
March 2nd, 2007 at 12:18 am[...] A good start BUT Cheney says Bush woll veto; see 2nd story below --------- Last ditch efforts by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in the final days before yesterday's vote on the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800) failed to stop the U.S. House of Reps from passing the labor law reform legislation. Some 241 members, including 13 Republicans, supported the bill. "Hard-line business groups were tripping over each other and sparing no expense to bully lawmakers, misinform the public, and oppose free choice for workers," says American Rights at Work Executive Director Mary Beth Maxwell. In a relentless effort to defeat the bill, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce purchased radio ads in 51 districts to target lawmakers. In an article earlier this week about the expensive ad buy, Congress Daily quoted a U.S. Chamber spokesperson who said, "We're making people feel pain." In the weeks preceding the House floor vote, a well-financed and coordinated message machine that included industry associations and right-wing think tanks flooded the public debate with misinformation about the bill’s provisions. Conservative pundit George Will was a late recruit to help obscure the existence of employer coercion during union organizing campaigns. "House members got a taste of the relentless attacks workers endure every day when they stand up for themselves and support unions," says Maxwell. "Can you imagine how a nurse with kids to feed feels when faced with this kind of intimidation? This is exactly why workers need the EFCA." American Rights at Work: Press Center ------- Siding With Big Business, Cheney Announces Bush Will Veto Workers’ Rights Bill Roll Call reports today, “Deep-pocketed corporate lobbying groups have joined together to defeat” the EFCA. Speaking before a business lobby group this morning, VP Cheney announced that Bush will veto the EFCA legislation. Think Progress » Siding With Big Business, Cheney Announces Bush Will Veto Workers’ Rights Bil... [...]
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