‘Fair And Balanced’ Fox News Wages Assault On Unions, Distorts Facts Of Employee Free Choice Act
‘Fair And Balanced’ Fox News Wages Assault On Unions, Distorts Facts Of Employee Free Choice Act
Yesterday, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) — a bill that makes it easier for workers to form unions and prevent employer harassment and intimidation — was introduced in both the House and Senate. The bill allows workers to unionize if a majority agrees, rather than forcing them to go through the months-long and often fruitless process of negotiating with powerful employers for the right to organize.
With a multi-million dollar campaign to defeat the bill under way, Fox News has enthusiastically taken up the anti-union, Big Business talking points. Even putting aside the network’s frequent right-wing guests, Fox News hosts describe EFCA using anti-union rhetoric while constantly distorting the truth about the legislation:
– BILL HEMMER: “Soon Americans who want to say no to unions might not be able to vote in private.”
– BILL O’REILLY: “Union officials have an open invitation to appear here on The Factor. They won’t, because their arguments for socialism won’t stand up.”
– MARTHA MACCULLUM: “This is going to make it very tough for small businesses to function. … They might have to lay people off!”
Watch some of the worst examples from the last 72 hours:
No matter how many times it’s been debunked, the Fox hosts keep repeating the falsehood that workers will no longer have access to a secret ballot under EFCA. The legislation does not eliminate the secret ballot. The bill would simply allow workers to choose whether to have a majority sign-up or a normal election process. And as American Rights At Work points out, a secret ballot is no guarantee to a fair election. Under current rules, union organizers do not have equal access to voters, the right to free speech, funding and resources equal to employers, or the ability to bring about elections in a timely manner.
More than concern for the secret ballot, the Fox hosts make it clear they are simply against unions. When they insist that union bosses — not employers — are intimidating workers, or when they declare that unions that drive up wages and benefits are harmful for Big Business, it’s clear whose side they’re on — and it’s not the American worker’s.
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Figures. Fox, just like the rest of the news media, is run by elitists.
March 11th, 2009 at 6:29 pmbe dammed funny if faux went darl because all the union workers that ran there studios the camerappl techs grips and so on said well your non union we cant work for you anymore wouldnt that be a hoot ney a hoot and a half it would be like flushing a turd down the broadcasting toilet
March 11th, 2009 at 6:34 pmFaux news, you have to be a RepubliCon stooge to watch it.
March 11th, 2009 at 6:35 pmWhat’s new a major TV network mis-informing ordinary Americans so that the big monied interest in this country can continue their rape & pillage of ordinary Americans.
March 11th, 2009 at 6:35 pmWhat we need is a nice asteroid possibly impinging on Earth orbit so the Fox News people can report on a real problem.
March 11th, 2009 at 6:38 pmA question…does fair and balanced preclude psychotic delusion?
March 11th, 2009 at 6:39 pmIt’s getting really bad out there, punditry at its worst. Incumbent status, regardless of substantive performance, merits piling on by the networks. Bush was criticized because he was a horrific president; the media is pounding President Obama because they want to cave to critics who see his president as too good to be true. They can’t imagine a president who plans, works beyond shifts & sticks to his word.
March 11th, 2009 at 6:41 pmBut I’d rather the onslaught come sooner or later. Maybe, just maybe, someday controversy won’t create so much cash.
March 11th, 2009 at 6:43 pmRupert Mudoch is an enemy of Ameria. He should be stripped of his citizenship and his properties should be seized and put up for auction to non-MSM companies.
March 11th, 2009 at 6:43 pmAnyone who thinks that Fox network will be fighting for the average American workers rights vs the wealty elite is a fool.
March 11th, 2009 at 6:45 pm#8 — who see his presidency as too good to be true
#9 — come sooner than later
March 11th, 2009 at 6:45 pmWhat else can these poor misguided individuals say? They have to lie – it’s all they’ve got left.
GOP – Party of “NO” – NO IDEAS, NO INTELLIGENCE, NO GOOD FOR THIS COUNTRY.
March 11th, 2009 at 6:47 pmThis seems so counterintuitive for Fox News. If their viewers joined a union and earned more money, they could purchase things Fox’s advertisers show on TeeVee. So Fox wants its viewers to earn the least amount of money possible? How does that help Fox’s business model?
Why is it a bad thing that Americans can earn more money? What can possibly be wrong with that?
March 11th, 2009 at 6:48 pmdixie blood: There’s a move afoot to strip dear old Rupert Murdoch of his “waiver” to have a monopoly on the media….it’s coming soon and he’s crapping in his Depends over it right now.
Murdoch’s empire is about to come tumbling down and it isn’t going to be pretty.
March 11th, 2009 at 6:48 pmNews Corp is going down. Rupert has a HUGE problem right now with his waiver being revoked.
Here’s some background…
March 11th, 2009 at 6:52 pmhttp://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE2D9153EF936A35752C0A96E948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
The same companies willing to put up millions to lobby against workers are the same companies cutting jobs and hours and benefits as a “cost-cutting measure.”
They want to do business on our soil, yet they are the problem with stagnant wages, jobs going overseas, reduced job security, yanked retirements, and tax-dodging.
March 11th, 2009 at 6:52 pm#15 rimhotep,
I love this news. Got a link I can enjoy?
March 11th, 2009 at 6:56 pmrimhotep,
I spoke too soon, thanks for #16…
March 11th, 2009 at 6:57 pmIt is easy for the conservative drones to make the case against the card check program:
1. There is great appeal of using fair and free elections. Unfortunately, most people who have never been through the process of forming a union believe that it is the same as the elections that we have in our elections.
2. Most people dislike unions. Face it, in the past unions have been noted for some very unsavory actions on their part.
3. The MSM does not report fairly. Murdoch, NBC and other corporate media outlets are not going to report on the unethical and often illegal activities of the employers.
I used to be a senior counsel with a large aerospace and defense firm. You better believe that the gloves came off whenever a union was mentioned in one of our facilities. We all know about the consultants, the forced propaganda sessions and retaliation doled out against the organizers.
However, there seems to be a class worship in our society. Too many believe that being in management or having wealth are the equivalent to being superior morally and ethically. Hopefully, the scandals and actions of the wealthy class are being exposed and changing this belief.
March 11th, 2009 at 6:57 pmCertain employers always attempt to portray themselves as victims despite their history. They have the powers right now that they don’t want employees to have under EFCA.
The current laws defeat the purpose, making employers part of the union de/certification process.
March 11th, 2009 at 6:59 pmJust like back during the Revolution, there are those who feel insecure without an entrenched Aristocracy overseeing their lives.
Righties are today’s Royalists, sabotaging America and supporting The Crown.
March 11th, 2009 at 7:04 pmJMOHR does a good job listing the underlying problems/misconceptions that haunt the much-needed return of union power in America.
March 11th, 2009 at 7:05 pm#15 rimhotep,
I did NOT enjoy your link at #16. The story is about 2 Senators no longer in office. In fact, one of them is dead.
What kind of BS are you putting up around here?
March 11th, 2009 at 7:08 pmhere’s what they don’t want people to figure out;
industry has to bargain for every asset they use in production, they don’t get to tell the steel industry what they are going to pay per ton, the steel industry tells them what they are going to charge
the industry can then show numbers if they can’t continue to produce that product at that price, the steel industry will then bargain for an equitable price for both
THAT’S THE WAY BUSINESS WORKS
for some reason (I wonder what that is), industry doesn’t want laborers having the ability to bargain as a business, they want to set the price even though they are the buyer not the seller
this is the same thing as a buyer going to the individual miner to buy steel at a price that minor will accept
UNACCEPTABLE
they need to broker the best deal they can with the provider, THE UNION
I believe in a real progressive government, unions should be the default and workers need to vote OUT the union, not the other way around
March 11th, 2009 at 7:08 pmThe link at #16 is old sh|t. The byline is:
By ALEX S. JONES
Published: January 5, 1988
21 YEARS AGO!!
March 11th, 2009 at 7:10 pmBILL HEMMER: “Soon Americans who want to say no to unions might not be able to vote in private.”
Isn’t that soooooo rightwing? All we’ve ever heard from them is tough guy, manly man, anti-union rhetoric.
And now they’re too f***ing scared to actually stand behind their macho anti-union rhetoric in front of others, and need to hide with their ballots like the little pansy *ssed chickenhawks they are.
What’s up with that, wingnuts? Little weasels who lack the courage of their convictions. Guess it’s because they have neither.
March 11th, 2009 at 7:36 pmbe dammed funny if faux went darl because all the union workers that ran there studios the camerappl techs grips and so on said well your non union we cant work for you anymore wouldnt that be a hoot ney a hoot and a half it would be like flushing a turd down the broadcasting toilet
March 11th, 2009 at 7:37 pmNewsflash: The economy is laying off 20k people daily who arent unionized
March 11th, 2009 at 7:44 pmNon-union no less
March 11th, 2009 at 7:47 pmUnions are the problem!!
March 11th, 2009 at 7:48 pm/snark
JMOHR says:
You better believe that the gloves came off whenever a union was mentioned…
Oh, I believe because I, too, have seen it firsthand.
I worked at a major health insurance carrier years ago when the Teamsters tried to unionize the workers there (1988?) – I’ve never seen a company so freaked out, from our office to the home office in Hartford.
Suffice it to say, the company did virtually everything the unions say they will do in such an event (character assassination of union personnel, threatening to close/move the office, e.g.) including firing the employees behind the unionizing once the secret election was over and the union lost.
This country needs EFCA badly, and woe be upon any Democrat that tries to prevent it’s passage.
March 11th, 2009 at 7:50 pmProfits before humanity
March 11th, 2009 at 7:51 pmI think the faux news audience is made up of alcoholics and the children of alcoholics.
March 11th, 2009 at 7:54 pmAnything that comes from Fox News (and let’s call them what they are) is just a joke. I’m glad they keep feeding material to John Stewart and Steven Colbert.
March 11th, 2009 at 8:00 pmBut will it benefit Bank CEOs? That’s the real question Bill O is concerned with.
FTR
March 11th, 2009 at 8:10 pmSounds like Proud wants to work for third world wages and conditions…
…Proud to be an idiot.
March 11th, 2009 at 8:19 pmThe irony here is that Faux News broadcasters all belong to a union. These twits put the IIIIRRRRR in Irony and SSSSSSTTTTTUUUUU in Stupid.
Remember, watching the Faux Newsies can cause severe and permanent brain damage.
March 11th, 2009 at 8:31 pmIN THIS CASE, Faux is fully fair and balanced.
Unions are bad.
Therefore any criticism of Unions is fair and balanced.
Right ?
Doesn’t it help when you make up your mind before investigating ?
March 11th, 2009 at 8:36 pmA conundrum…if “current labor laws afford all the rights they need” why does corporate crap their collective drawers every time unions get mentioned?
March 11th, 2009 at 9:00 pmand a codicil…how come the guy who runs the company gets to make 400 times what the people who actually make whatever product it is that the company makes? Who is zooming who here?
March 11th, 2009 at 9:04 pmEver notice that every time the working man wants more wages it is bad for the company and the economy but when some scumbag CEO gives himself a multi million dollar raise it is good for the company.
March 11th, 2009 at 9:09 pm“Fair and Balanced” is such a crazy slogan for that outfit. Only in bushZarro/faux world could this have happened.
How about custom “Filtered and Distorted” just for bushie and neo-con palates”. They would never recognize that unions help provide fair and balanced workplaces for workers – ie. peole who work for a living.
March 11th, 2009 at 9:17 pmDo they even realize that a lot of people behind the camera in the TV industry, in their very own studio, are UNION? And you really want to get on the bad side of Teamsters..
March 11th, 2009 at 9:51 pmI’m not sure they can legitimately still call themselves “Fair and Balanced™”
After all, Alan Colmes was the “Fair” part (I think Juan Williams represented “Balanced™”) and Alan is gone. So I think they have to call themselves “Balanced™” from now on. At least until they sign another faux-liberal.
March 11th, 2009 at 9:52 pmAs it stands now our unionized labor ranks 17th out of 20 with our top 20 trading partners, we are at number 2 in productivity,we are at or near the bottom in union wages and we are at or near the bottom in union members at 13 percent while other country`s are at an average of 40 percent of their workforce is unionized.According to the dept. of labor bureau od statistics health care and supervisory and managerial wahes are what is hurting our manufacturings competativeness around the globe.Phuck the republiscum Anti American Taliban.Unions built our middle class and will continue to do so for generations to come.
March 12th, 2009 at 12:07 amProud Says:
You are a liar and a fool. Your post was one of the stupidest I have ever read. I am in a union. My last contract I got better than a 17% wage increase over five years. Do you think the company gave us that without the union asking, out of the goodness of their heart? You are an ignorant brainwashed moron. Too stupid to be believed. I still have a pension while corporate America is doing everthing they can to get rid of them. You are a fool. You carry water for wealth shamelssly because you are stupid and flat out dont know what you are talking about.
March 12th, 2009 at 12:12 amWhere is the talk of all the expensive Union Busters and anti union thugs that threaten employees when considering voting in a union. Where is that reporting.?
Why does Corporations have all the protections of Gov’t?
They seem to be able to form Chamber of Commerce, Business Associations, Association of manufacturers, etc etc.
It is all structured to wiegh down on employees. And heavily.
Should business have the right to form their “Associations”?
And as far as the Republican smear machine claiming “Small Business will suffer.
It is the Republicans who favor the corporations stomping on small business by their unfettered acceptance of corporate money. Small business can’t compete with corporate lobbyists….
March 12th, 2009 at 3:46 amIn their staunch opposition to labor unions, the Right continues to sing in harmony with their colleagues–Saddam Hussein, the Communist Party, fascists, Nazis, and tin-hat dictators everywhere. Go, wingers!
March 12th, 2009 at 5:40 amRalph
Juan Williams? Balanced? Have you actually ever listened to him?
(BTW, My sister was once bitten by a moose.)
March 12th, 2009 at 7:28 amInfinite Pie!!
March 12th, 2009 at 1:31 pmYou have to be eating off of Limbaugh’s bib to believe any thing that fox news publishes.
March 12th, 2009 at 2:07 pm#38 Proud Says:
Hey pal, tell that to Lily Ledbetter. Tell that to ALL the women who suffered from gender based pay inequality by Wal-Mart.
For any other examples I suggest you spend more time educating yourself rather than posting drivel on message boards.
Pack it and ship it to another address—stupid doesn’t live here.
March 12th, 2009 at 2:09 pmAnd another thing; CEO’s are not playing fair–they already have a union–it’s called Congress.
March 12th, 2009 at 2:54 pmFaux News commentators belong to the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. AFTRA is affiliated with the AFL-CIO and the International Federation of Journalists. AFTRA negotiates wages and working conditions including dollar figures for standard contracts, residual payments for re-use of performances, unemployment, health and pension benefits for its members.
Talk about hypocricy. They get the benefits from a union, Fox still makes plenty of money and they dont want anyone else to make a fair wage.
March 12th, 2009 at 11:46 pm