Boehner Dismisses Employee Intimidation, Claims Unionization Elections Already Are ‘Almost…Automatic’
Boehner Dismisses Employee Intimidation, Claims Unionization Elections Already Are ‘Almost…Automatic’
Today on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace echoed right-wing talking points to ask Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) loaded question about the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA): “Why is a secret ballot okay and desirable for Congress, “but you want to take it away for workers?” Wallace was referring to Democratic caucus’s vote on Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and was lifted almost exactly from conservatives like Ed Morrissey, the Club for Growth, the Free Republic, and the Corner.
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) dismissed Hoyer’s explanation that EFCA is needed to help workers who face employer intimidation form unions, claiming that “there’s almost an automatic election” if enough employees support unionization:
BOEHNER: If you get more than half of your employees to sign a card, there’s almost an automatic election.
WALLACE: It does sometimes get delayed though, sir.
BOEHNER: It may get delayed but it’s pretty hard to stop an election.
Boehner called the EFCA “an affront to the American people” and pledged to do “everything we can” to block the bill. Watch it:
Despite conservative fearmongering, the EFCA preserves the secret ballot election process, while also giving workers the option to unionize if a majority signs a petition to do so. Boehner is simply wrong when he says elections are automatic: Employers routinely set up hurdles to delay or prevent elections. “One out of four employers actually fire workers for trying to form a union,” the California Labor Federation explains. “Many employers hire expensive lawyers and anti-union consultants to delay any union election, sometimes for years.” Boehner is apparently blind to employers’ obstructionist tactics to prevent unionization:
– 92% of employers whose workers try to organize force workers to attend anti-union meetings and workers are disciplined or fired for leaving.
– 78% of employers force employees to meet with their supervisor to be interrogated about whether they want a union and asked to reveal which co-workers are union supporters.
– 75% of employers hire union-busting consultants to advise them on how to run an effective anti-union campaign.
– 51% of employers threaten to close the plant if workers vote for the union.
– 25% of employers actually FIRE at least one worker for supporting the union, even though it is against the law.
Such widespread anti-union intimidation efforts “takes the ’secret’ out of the ’secret ballot’ — the most common conservative mischaracterization of current union organizing rules,” writes the Center for American Progress Action Fund’s David Madland.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
I am sure glad that Boehner retained his leadership position. This is good news for the majority because he is so ineffective. I hope he becomes a regular guest on the Sunday talk shows because he always puts his foot in his mouth and reminds viewers of why his party (under his leadership) has lost more than 50 seats in the House over the past four years.
November 23rd, 2008 at 5:29 pmHe is so incredibly stupid!
November 23rd, 2008 at 5:31 pmAs usual, the repub argues for one position by arguing a totally different position.
If you get enough people to sign up, there can be an election. That doesn’t mean the folks signing up are immune to retribution.
But the question was about the election being secret ballot. And the possibility of retribution and/or intimidation. Boehner didn’t even address that.
November 23rd, 2008 at 5:39 pmHe’s not being “stupid.” He knows exactly what he’s saying. This is all a deliberate propaganda campaign by the GOP and their corporate masters to continue their attacks on unions and the working people who support them.
He KNOWS he’s lying, and as usual, it does not matter.
November 23rd, 2008 at 5:47 pmI’m sure he knows all of this, but it is neoliberal, free market doctrine to impose ‘flexibility’ on labor. Period.
Workers at a hospital in my community have been trying to unionize for several years. They have met with most, if not all, of the employer tactics outlined above, and it’s still ongoing.
November 23rd, 2008 at 5:49 pm“Can’t have that,” they say, “why next these people will be wanting fair wages, paid time off to care for sick loved ones, vacation pay, forty hour work weeks, OSHA, and, gosh darn it!, time off on federal holidays belong to the banks and post office! Just who do these people think they are?”
These are the people you tax to death to pay YOUR friggin salaries. Buchtel, Ohio, 1884. Learn a lesson creeps!!
November 23rd, 2008 at 5:50 pmThis is why they want to ship jobs overseas–no unions
November 23rd, 2008 at 5:56 pmWant to know the real reason why the wingers are freaking out about the Employee Free Choice Act? It has nothing to do with the secret ballot, but more so to do with the HUGE FINES THE EMPLOYER WILL FACE IF THEY TRY TO INTERFERE WITH A UNION BEING FORMED BY THEIR EMPLOYEES. This is the real reason why the wingers are pissed. It’s no different than the wingers saying they hate Barack….not because he’s black (which we know is the real reason), but hate him because….”he’s a Muslim terrorist”. Yep, they just make stuff up so people won’t see the real reason!
The wingers are always on the side of the employer and never the employee, so it makes sense that they would not like the idea of the company being highly fined. If you think about it, why would the wingers WANT a secret ballot anyways when they clearly despise a worker having a livable wage, a stable job, and good working environment? You’d think they wouldn’t care how an employee signed up….as long as they didn’t sign up!
November 23rd, 2008 at 5:57 pmRePugniScums hate working people. Period. They always have and always will. If you are not in the 1% rich then voting RePugniScum is like screwing yourself in the a$$ with a Redwood tree.
Hating working people is the well-spring of their anti-American views.
They ship jobs overseas.
Hell, they’ll ship their entire company overseas to avoid participating in (paying even a small tribute in the form of a minimum tax to) the GREATEST DEMOCRACY EVER!!!
The richest amoung us act like Vietnam war dodgers when it comes to helping the country (pay a couple taxes in) that helped them become obscenly and now unacceptably rich!
When we are all starving we will eat the rich first!
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:04 pm.
Why do Republicans hate unions?
.
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:07 pmWhenever there is a disaster in our area who are the first ones to put on their shoes and go down to the scene to help? Is it:
A) The uber wealthy
B) The middle class
C) The poor
D) The poor & middle class
If you guessed ‘the uber wealthy’ then shame on you for being so freaking brainwashed!!!
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:14 pm#10 Max-1,
Unions have secured many advances in civilization the RePugniScums and big business never embraced. Like these:
No child labor. (Many US corp.s use foriegn child labor today, no problem, no union.)
Collective health care. Something all Americans are begging for now.
Safe working conditions. Refusing to die on the job for the company!
A reasonable work week. Now set at 40 hours.
Overtime. More than 40 hours away from family and friends and having a life will cost the employer more. Why not if you support family values?
I could go on…
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:20 pmdixie blood Says:
The richest amoung us act like Vietnam war dodgers when it comes to helping the country (pay a couple taxes in) that helped them become obscenly and now unacceptably rich!
When we are all starving we will eat the rich first!
Da, Komrad, da!!!
The top 10% pay 70% of tax revenue, but hey, let’s fire up the Revolution, baby.
http://www.ntu.org/main/page.php?PageID=6
Cripes.
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:21 pmKeltoi at Night Says:
dixie blood Says:
…. and now unacceptably rich!
Unacceptably rich? That is, well, rich….
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:23 pmKeltoi at Night,
You are looking extra tasty!!!!
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:26 pmActually, I’ve gotta side with Boner on this one, which is rare. As an attorney who practices law under the National Labor Relations Act, what he said is very true. The NLRB will promptly schedule a secret ballot election if an employer does not recognize a union based on signed authorization cards. The Union simply uses those same cards to support its petition for an election with the Board. In my experience, it is most often the Unions that file unfair labor practive charges with the Board (”blocking charges”) to delay a secret ballot election when they see that their support is dwindling and they need more time. Of course, sometimes employers do engage in deleterious behavior designed to drag things out, but that is really an exception. There are already laws and procedures in place to force an employer to recognize and bargain with a union if the emplouer’s conduct makes a fair and free election impossible.
The information from the California Federation of Labor is hyperbole. All of the conduct it describes has been illegal for decades, and the Board has little tolerance for employers who engage in such nonsense.
The real issue is that the right to unionize belongs to the EMPLOYEES, not to the Union or to the employer. From its inception, the NLRA provided for both voluntary recognition (based on objective facts that the Union is supported by a majority of the affected employees) or a Board-conducted secret ballot election. According to the National Labor Relations Board itself, as well as legal scholars, Board-conduced secret ballot elections are the most reliable method of assessing employee intent on whether to be represented by the petitioning Union. Keeping the exercise of that federally-protected right free, fair, and informed is critical to us all.
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:26 pmKeltoi at Night,
Would you like to be basted in your own dropping dollars brine first before I roast you on the Rich’Am’Minority grill out back.
Smackin’ my lips…
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:30 pmIf the top 10% of wage earners in this country paid 70% of all tax revenue, then we would be fine today. The economy would be a lot more stable than it is now.
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:46 pmdixie blood Says:
Keltoi at Night,
Would you like to be basted in your own dropping dollars brine first before I roast you on the Rich’Am’Minority grill out back.
Smackin’ my lips…
I am a public school teacher in Idaho, you dolt. If you think I am rich then you must really be spending a lot of couch time.
I just don’t happen to think it is the governments business to take from one group to give to another. You obviously disagree.
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:47 pmBoner Boy knows he’s lying and really could careless about the people in his State that will lose their job. As long as he keeps getting his kick back money and the voters put him in he is fine. As for the voters their own their own as far as Boner Boy is concerned.
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:48 pmCatsPJs,
Is there anyone working on the NLRB since George Bush took office 8 years ago? I read somewhere that it’s down to almost zero which is also holding up employees from forming unions in this country.
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:48 pmI have only one comment about the whole process having lost a summer’s work in 1954 because of a Teamster Union strike, never belonging to a Union, and having spent most of my adult life as a member of management or the owner of my own businesses: How many Union Leaders would there be advocating all this grief if they were not allowed to collect Union dues from their members. The Union management personnel are as corrupt as the Corporate management they supposedly are at odds with. Case in point: the UAW management negotiates a pay raise of 10% for the Union Members; the Auto Companies raise the cost of their automobiles 10% to cover the cost of the labor increase (Auto cost is 100% labor?) and the Union management raises the dues 10% (For what?). The poor auto worker can’t buy a new car but the high Muckety-Mucks of the Auto Companies and Unions can fly in their private jets to a circle jerk in a Mexican Resort. Do the math and hope Obama lives to be President!
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:54 pmNice catch – so the lying liars are “catapulting the propaganda” again.
Gee, that sounds like news…
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:10 pmI just don’t happen to think it is the governments business to take from one group to give to another.
I agree, at least when it comes to giving dumb @asses like you money to “catapult the propaganda” in public schools.
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:13 pmCatsPJs Says:
That is a bunch of BUNK. Sure it is illegal since the Wagner Act to fire employees for trying to start a union but it happens anyway because its TOOTHLESS. Antitrust laws call for treble damaged when unions are found in violation but if you fire an employee for trying to start a union then YEARS later IF he wins all he gets is the difference between what he MADE at his new job and what he would have made. There is no QUESTION that many employers threaten to move their industry if a union comes and intimidates those who try to form unions.
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:19 pmKeltoi at Night Says:
I just don’t happen to think it is the governments business to take from one group to give to another. You obviously disagree.
Like giving Alaska our tax dollars, more than the people of Alaska take pay every year?
Or is it ok to give more tax money to all the red states that take less taxes?
Maybe it is just helping people who are poor or disabled out, by making the rich pay their taxes that you have a problem with?
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:26 pmAnother Joe Says:
I just don’t happen to think it is the governments business to take from one group to give to another.
I agree, at least when it comes to giving dumb @asses like you money to “catapult the propaganda” in public schools.
Clueless as always, AJ. Public schools are funded by State and local government. Idaho is one of the most frugal of all public school systems.
You caling me dumb is truly amusing.
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:26 pmAnother Joe Says:
I agree, at least when it comes to giving dumb @asses like you money to “catapult the propaganda” in public schools.
Most money that pay for schools come from state and local taxes…..
“catapult the propaganda”?
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:32 pmDo you have a problem with school teachers in general or did your first grade teacher hit you with a ruler once to often? heh
Wayne Says:
Maybe it is just helping people who are poor or disabled out, by making the rich pay their taxes that you have a problem with?
Wayne, read the tripe by dixie dolt about eating the rich, look at the chart I linked, realize I barely fit in the top 50% bracket that pays 97% of tax revenue but dixie thinks I am rich and just have a cold one, willya? The rich pay their taxes. Half the people in this country pay no income tax at all, but dixie wants to eat the rich. When he is done with his little Vlad Lenin impression, who will pay taxes then?
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:34 pmKeltoi speaks: “The top 10% pay 70% of tax revenue, but hey, let’s fire up the Revolution, baby.”
I do believe I could be safe to assume it is not economics, social sciences, or math that you teach
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:35 pmWayne Says:
——————————————————————————–
Another Joe Says:
I agree, at least when it comes to giving dumb @asses like you money to “catapult the propaganda” in public schools.
Most money that pay for schools come from state and local taxes…..
“catapult the propaganda”?
Do you have a problem with school teachers in general or did your first grade teacher hit you with a ruler once to often?
I am a public school teacher…are you talking to me or AJ?
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:35 pmKeltoi at Night Says:
By the way, the state of Idaho is one of those that takes more money from the fed than it pays in for taxes. =)
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:38 pmJohn Boehner is a both pathological liar and a favored tool of big business. Without big business, Boehner would never have escaped his So. Ohio base (where the motto not coincidentally is “Where families grow…and businesses prosper”).
Give him credit. Boehner delivered his lines right on cue with a perfect ratio of feigned outrage to outright contempt.
Today’s performance has not gone unnoticed. This starring role has earned John Boehner rave reviews:
National Association of Manufacturers‘ John Engler & Emily DeRocco give Boehner
Thomas J. Donohue (US Chamber of Commerce) calls John Boehner
and
Captivating indeed. Yes, the monsters of the marketplace loves them some Boehner.
-AF
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:40 pmAndrew Sullivan Is A Fraud
Keltoi at Night Says:
I am a public school teacher…are you talking to me or AJ?
I was talking to AJ there, I thought his comment was over the line.
Dixie, though had me LMAO with the Aerosmith “Eat the Rich” mem. LOL
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:42 pmCrusty Old Bastard Says:
This is OLD propaganda. The poor union shlubs are at the mercy of the greedy union bosses. Its bunk. Not that it never happens but it isnt the norm. I make more money than the General Chairman of our union and he is the head of our locals from San Fransisco to New Mexico. The PRESIDENT of our union makes a little more than twice what I do while CEOS make HUNDREDS of times what their workers make. Its a bogus argument. Perhaps when the cost of of labor goes up prices go up though it isnt that simple when they moved production to Mexico and labor costs plumetted they didnt drop the price of the cars. Business charges what they can GET not what it costs them to make but even if true does that mean those who work for a living have some obligation to just forego raises and work for less so that YOU can pay less for your car even though THEIR prices are going up? Doesnt make sense. I have a good life largely because I have a union job. The sorts of benfits I have good wages, job security, it would be nice if they were available to all.
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:45 pmWayne Says:
By the way, the state of Idaho is one of those that takes more money from the fed than it pays in for taxes. =)
Yeah, we are just swimming in dough up here, all 1 million of us. ‘Sides, 68% of Idaho has been set aside as public land under BLM or FS – the Feds own more of the State than the State does.
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:46 pmKeltoi, I’ve been poking my head in here only occasionally today, so i didn’t catch the disagreement you mention here.
What I would like to note is your characterization of taxation as “tak(ing) from one group to give to another” I find this a favorite perspective of the anti-tax forces, but it’s incredibly simplistic and even unfair.
For one thing, any kind of public works project, or even any kind of government business at all, can be seen as “taking from one group to give to another”. Any easy description of this process is “redistributing wealth”, something that elicits gasps of horror from that crowd due to its marxist implications. The realization that unfettered capitalism does the same thing, only in the other direction and arguably much more efficiently and more destructively, this realization never seems to dawn on them.
For another thing, it’s pretty well accepted that a vibrant economy depends on a strong middle class. The kind of economy that is the product of freemarket fundamentalism clearly leads to a widening gap between rich and poor, and a contraction of the middle class. Government taxation, spending and social programs is a clear brake on that otherwise runaway freight train. I contend we’re seeing right now the results of that brake being lifted for too long. The middle class HAS shrunk over the past decade. Real wages have declined. The share of national wealth controlled by the wealthiest among us has increased (and thus, so has their share of taxes — but that doesn’t mean they are paying “more than their share”).
The meager growth we’ve seen during the Bush years has been almost entirely driven by increased debt — both “taking out equity” during the housing bubble and expanded credit card debt on the consumer side, and massive government deficit spending in the public sector.
It’s pretty clear, therefore, that the Bush tax cuts failed to deliver the prosperity that was promised, and while freemarket fundamentalism is not the sole factor for our current economic condition, it certainly has been key.
Therefore, I put to you, Keltoi, that government “taking from one group to give to another” is a necessary function of that government in maintaining a sound economy.
So please, in the future, don’t assume that your argument is a given when you describe it that way.
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:53 pmCurious, Keltoi–is it phys ed or elementary level?
I have no problem with Idaho getting some tax dollars from the fed, that is why I pay taxes. To fund public interests for the benefit of the public. I DO NOT want the rich to have all kinds of tax loopholes that you could swim a blue whale through, because top-down economics is bull crud.
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:54 pm“Despite conservative fearmongering, the EFCA preserves the secret ballot election process, while also giving workers the option to unionize if a majority signs a petition to do so. Boehner is simply wrong when he says elections are automatic”.
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:57 pmAs a union member I am currently battling Delta Northwest for my future and my union brothers and sisters,without a contract Delta Management will rape and pillage as they have done when the current Delta CEO ran Northwest Airlines before bankruptcy.The EFCA will allow a vote to have union representation and then we have a secret ballot vote for the union we want to represent us.As far as the NLRB is concerned they have not backed labor since the Carter administration, just remember when Reagan fired all of the unionized air traffic controllers.We need unions more than ever because the of rampant greed running this country into the ground and 26 plus years of Reaganomics.Under Bushco nothing is secret or sacred.
Keltoi at Night Says:
Yeah, we are just swimming in dough up here, all 1 million of us.
What, not governor like Alaska’s Palin to make sure each Idaho citizen gets their yearly check?
( I jest )
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:00 pmSo if the majority of the workers want a union, why is it a bad thing to have an election?
Geez, these Boners are thick.
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:02 pmralph the wonder llama Says:
Therefore, I put to you, Keltoi, that government “taking from one group to give to another” is a necessary function of that government in maintaining a sound economy.
I have suffered through enough episodes of Hardball to recognize the truth of this, that a Progressive Tax Code is indeed a redistribution of wealth for the benefit of the larger collective, and that it is valid.
And if dixie blood was just being facaetious in his “eat the rich” comments, well, so be it. I missed the Aerosmith reference, I am more of a Pink Floyd guy.
But here is the thing – I want something for my tax dollars. Infrastructure – great, awesome, not only is it a public benefit it puts money in peoples pockets. Sending stimulus checks to people who don’t pay taxes? Not so much.
I am a public employee. Government paying people to work, to build things, to educate children, to defend and serve the country – that is fine. The idea that some people are “unacceptably rich” is just class warfare garbage and if it was offered in seriousness than it deserves to get slammed.
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:04 pmWayne Says:
What, not governor like Alaska’s Palin to make sure each Idaho citizen gets their yearly check?
Nope. No oil here. EPA and NAFTA have killed the Timber industry, silver is so flat there is no profit incentive to take it out of the mountain…that leaves tourism. Come to the Panhandle in the summer, it is truly beautiful.
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:07 pmKeltoi,
You might not be rich but you certainly much taste very rich given your ability to suck up to the rich…
You love the rich, selfish, hateful a$$holes more than yourself…sad…very sad…
very pitiful…!!!
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:08 pmRUcerious,the Reich thinks nothing of spinning the truth.The efca will not take away the secret ballot, the signing cards are to show whether people are very interested in union representation not a vote for the union ,yet.If the Reich is so concerned about a secret ballot, then why is our voter registration public knowledge so we can be inundated with phone calls and literature based on your political affiliation.
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:17 pmdixie blood Says:
——————————————————————————–
Keltoi,
You might not be rich but you certainly much taste very rich given your ability to suck up to the rich…
You love the rich, selfish, hateful a$$holes more than yourself…sad…very sad…
very pitiful…!!!
A comment impressive in its total lack of substance combined with baseless, non-sequiter ad hominem gibberish. Well done! I give you an “A”.
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:21 pmEugeneDebs Says: “This is OLD propaganda. I have a good life largely because I have a union job.”
It may be old but it is not propaganda, it is fact!
I have a better life because I was man enough to earn to my own capabilities, not settle for the tit sucking wages of the most inept umion member and pay dues to thieves.
Keep drinking the Coolaid, Baby, while your Union bosses drink the Rot Gut Bathtub Gin from years ago. Everything may change but it all stays the same. Fool!
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:26 pmCrusty Old Bastard, Unions gave us the 40 hr work week, vacations, children back into school not in the shop,pensions, sick time and other amenities we would otherwise most likely not get without a union.You are speaking of the past and we need unions now more than ever.Unions have gotten me and others our middle class living.We earn our wages day in and day out loading and unloading planes, building cars,erecting buildings,building and maintaining our countries infrastructure and teaching our children and many other jobs that without us their would be no America today except for a buch of Lazy fatcats with slaves as labor.
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:49 pmIn solidarity,
Chris W
KELTOI_ 2 words for ya
TEACHERS UNION
November 23rd, 2008 at 9:00 pmCrusty Old Bastard Says:
You are a liar and a fool.
EugeneDebs Says: “This is OLD propaganda. I have a good life largely because I have a union job.”
It may be old but it is not propaganda, it is fact!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
It isnt a fact because YOU are ignorant and braiwashed enough to believe it. It IS propaganda and you are a moron
I have a better life because I was man enough to earn to my own capabilities, not settle for the tit sucking wages of the most inept umion member and pay dues to thieves.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I WORK, I EARN my money. You THINK you have a better life becuase you are IGNORANT? Being STUPID is having a better life? Because I and my fellow workers were TOUGH enough to demand better treatment we got it. My union dues pay for the better working conditions I have. YOU are stupid so you think its theivery. Not your fault too ignorant to understand the concept. I get it. So people are inept just because we are part of a union and you are stupid enough to say that ISNT propaganda. Not only is it propaganda its propaganda so weak only the most ignorant people imaginable, that is those like YOU, could possibly take it seriously.
Keep drinking the Coolaid, Baby, while your Union bosses drink the Rot Gut Bathtub Gin from years ago. Everything may change but it all stays the same. Fool!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
HA, You are ignorant beyond belief and call ME a fool. Because I make good money, have five weeks vacation a year, Great health care benifits. Yeah that makes ME a fool. No it makes you STUPID. My union officers dont get rich from the union. Keep sucking up to wealth and privelege like the punk you are. Keep begging for your crumbs instead of demanding better for yourself and those like you. I am sure any day out of the goodness of their hearts industry will just give workers what they deserve. No only morons like YOU would believe that. You are an ignorant brainwashed punk without the slightest idea what you are talking about. You mindless moron.
November 23rd, 2008 at 9:00 pmBoner is a dick.
November 23rd, 2008 at 9:05 pmBoner`s remark like alot of others from the Reich is so misleading and untrue,he truly is a DICK(boner).He acts as if he is truley concerned, which we all know he isn`t concerned about labor only his buddies in big business and keeping unions out and labor down.Can you say slave wages? without a union……..
November 23rd, 2008 at 9:08 pmIN A NUTSHELL:
current law states if a substantial number (30%) request union membership, an election will be held (secret ballot).
The proposed amendment would allow that if a majority request union membership, there would be no election.
It makes sense. Why have an election if a majority already approve?
Why? So that employers may fire those who wish to unionize before the election, thus defeating the unionization of their workforce.
November 23rd, 2008 at 9:14 pmIn the not-wanting-to-step-into-this-argument-but-just-can’t-help-myself dept:
You cannot arrive at a larger truth through watching Hardball.
-AF
November 23rd, 2008 at 10:08 pmAndrew Sullivan Is A Fraud
Anacher Forester Says:
In the not-wanting-to-step-into-this-argument-but-just-can’t-help-myself dept:
You cannot arrive at a larger truth through watching Hardball.
Amen to that!
But time and again, Tweetie would bait a Republican guest into decrying wealth redistribution and then say “well, does that mean you are against a progressive income tax?”
Pure sophistry, and funny the first time, but somehow he kept trying that trick and seemed to bat almost .500 with it.
The R’s sooo deserved the resounding thrashing they got if they couldn’t explain the fallaciousness of that point.
November 23rd, 2008 at 10:13 pmThe EFCA doesn’t take away the right to a secret ballot.
That is a lie.
People must stop being allowed to say it.
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:17 pmElBruce Says:
The EFCA doesn’t take away the right to a secret ballot.
That is a lie.
People must stop being allowed to say it.
Indeed!
Clap-clap! Thought Police! The First Amendment is abrogated! Arrest those who disagree with ElBruce’s views immediately!
Sheesh.
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:30 pmKeltoi at Night Says:
Oh PLEASE tell me that was just a stupid joke. After being so reasonable. Did he say anything about arresting anyone? Are you saying that challenging people and stuffing their lie down their throat is somehow being thought police or has ANYTHING to do with the first amendment? Why do wingnuts jump right to their VAST misunderstanding of what the first amendment is everytime wingnut talking points are criticized? Why do rightwingers think they have some first amendment RIGHT to spew their propaganda and lies with no challenge? Did you really think the first amendment meant the rightwing gets a podium to spew their propaganda and if anyone criticizes them or exposes their lies it is somehow, in a bizarre way discernable only to the congenitally brainwashed, a violation of the first amendment?
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:41 pmI love how the concern trolls like Boehner are so worried about democracy that they ignore intimidation by employers. Isn’t this a form of voter suppression? Perhaps if employers were actually fair about the whole issue instead of threatening to fire employees, this would not be an issue. But to suggest that they are suddenly concerned about the integrity of union elections is laughable.
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:49 pmEugene,
Statements like this:
People must stop being allowed to say it.
Should send a shiver down every American’s spine, be they left or right.
You have the right to say whatever the hell you want – always, whether someone else calls it a lie or propaganda or whatever. Barring yelling “Fire!” in a movie house (and BTW, can you yell “Movie!” in a fire house?) or similar such things inciting mayhem and violence, you can say what you like.
If ElBruce thinks its a lie, too bad.
How exactly do we stop people from saying things we think are lies, hmmmmm?
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:57 pmWell I suppose we could start by torturing them…
November 24th, 2008 at 12:01 amdbadass Says:
Well I suppose we could start by torturing them…
Very funny.
I am pretty sure torture forces people to spew lies, not the opposite.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:12 am62. I wish some of the Republicans in power today were as reasonable as you on that issue…
November 24th, 2008 at 12:15 amucsbclassics53 Says:
62. I wish some of the Republicans in power today were as reasonable as you on that issue…
They won’t be in power much longer, McFriend.
Besides, McCain would have banned water boarding too.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:18 amMr. Boehner should be embarrassed that the biggest fools in the presidential election proved to be his fellow Ohioans supporting John McCain. I thought people only acted like that at KKK rallies. That is, brain dead.
That begins to explain why John Boehner is in office. He gets the votes of clowns like that.
What happened to the Ohio educational system?
November 24th, 2008 at 12:22 amKeltoi at Night Says:
Indeed!
Clap-clap! Thought Police! The First Amendment is abrogated! Arrest those who disagree with ElBruce’s views immediately!
Sheesh.
Except that according to the text of the legislation in question, it does not take away the right to secret ballot. This is a question of fact, not opinion. It’s not my view, it’s the text of the legislation itself.
I’m not saying prevent them from saying it, I’m saying call them on it every time. If you say someting contrary to fact, I will call you on it. This comment is a case in point.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:33 amKeltoi at Night Says:
Eugene,
Statements like this:
People must stop being allowed to say it.
Should send a shiver down every American’s spine, be they left or right.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
No they must stop being allowed to say it unchallenged what kind of fascist are you that you read that and your mind jumped right to thought police and arrests? I read it and immediatly said YEAH, shove those lies right back in their faces.
You have the right to say whatever the hell you want – always, whether someone else calls it a lie or propaganda or whatever. Barring yelling “Fire!” in a movie house (and BTW, can you yell “Movie!” in a fire house?) or similar such things inciting mayhem and violence, you can say what you like.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It IS a lie at the very least a misrepresentation.
How exactly do we stop people from saying things we think are lies, hmmmmm?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
You challenge them and expose them as lying propagandistic boobs. How simple is that HMMMMMMMMM? NOTHING in what he said included arrest or thought police. Only a fascist would read that and immediatly think the only thing he could be talking about is trashing the first amendment.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:46 amKeltoi at Night Says:
ucsbclassics53 Says:
62. I wish some of the Republicans in power today were as reasonable as you on that issue…
They won’t be in power much longer, McFriend.
Besides, McCain would have banned water boarding too.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
That is true, no matter what happened in this election the torture thing was going away. The stain on our national reputation will take much longer to repair.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:50 amThe biggest GOP mouthpiece of them all “Bawlin John” Boehner.
November 24th, 2008 at 8:01 amHere’s the deal on EFCA:
It would be, for the Pukes, a huge waste of this amazing opportunity to have this Big 3 auto crisis, which is designed, if for nothing else, to wipe out the UAW, and then to have enacted a law which made it easier for folks to organize their workplace. No brainer. EFCA is DOA…
November 24th, 2008 at 8:17 amThe stain on our national reputation will take much longer to repair.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Where did you get that idea?
It may not be attributable directly to USers, but torture is too useful to the military to be abandoned.
You NEVER recapture your lost virginity…
November 24th, 2008 at 8:20 amDon’t bother AbleCluster…
November 24th, 2008 at 11:21 amWhat do you expect? Boner has never held a real job. He was always frightened to. It’s just one of those emotional things for him.
November 24th, 2008 at 11:23 am