McConnell: Zero Republicans Support EFCA ‘Because We Have Very Enlightened Management In This Country’
McConnell: Zero Republicans Support EFCA ‘Because We Have Very Enlightened Management In This Country’
Yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) promised that no Republicans will vote for the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), should it come to the Senate floor. In order for the bill to pass “the Democratic members will have to do it,” he said.
In a speech before the business organization Commerce Lexington, McConnell explained that the reason for such uncompromising opposition is that workers don’t actually want to join unions due to the “very enlightened management in this country now”:
McConnell said the AFL-CIO wants the measure approved because “private sector union membership has declined from a high of 35 percent in the 1950s to 7.5 percent now.” That has happened “because we have very enlightened management in this country now, treating employees better and employees have decided they don’t want to pay the dues.”
McConnell has already made his personal opinion that EFCA will “Europeanize America” well known, and with this rhetoric, he has officially aligned the entire Republican position on EFCA with that of the Chamber of Commerce (which has said that EFCA is a “no-compromise” piece of legislation). But if McConnell truly thinks that the reason more workers aren’t joining unions is because of “enlightened management,” he hasn’t been paying any attention to the reality of working and organizing in America.
For starters, an AFL-CIO survey found that there are 60 million American workers who say that they would join a union if they could. The reason that they can’t is because employers threaten to close plants in 57 percent of union organizing drives and threaten to cut wages and benefits in 47 percent, while ultimately firing pro-union workers 34 percent of the time.
As Kate Bronfenbrenner, Director of Labor Education Research at the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations pointed out, over the last 20 years “employer opposition [to unionization] has intensified…and the nature of campaigns has changed so that the focus is on more coercive and punitive tactics designed to intensely monitor and punish union activity.”
And in addition to anti-union campaigns, management in this country is engaged in a whole host of other labor violations. Yesterday, a new survey came out in which 68 percent of low-income workers reported being subject to a pay violation in the previous work week alone. This isn’t meant to paint the entire business community with a broad stroke — as there are surely plenty of companies that don’t engage in this sort of behavior — but the problem is far more widespread than McConnell and the rest of the Republican party are evidently willing to concede. And just like with health care reform, the GOP has already decided that it’s not interested in discussing a solution.
Cross-posted on The Wonk Room.
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Is this guy insane. Very good management? Is he serious? Yeah, I guess if you are the CEO or owner of a company that cheats workers out of Health Care and then, if that isn’t enough, you outsource American jobs so you and your band of White Collar thieves can make an extra million dollars a year. What a scum!
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:46 amCaption: McConnell raises the BS alert to Orange…
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:47 amYeah, I got your ‘very enlightened management’ right here…
Corporations insist on open-shop, right to work rules where they can terminate employees on a whim, with no severance, no re-hire obligation, and no reasons given when terminating. Might as well just build company towns, have everyone shop at the company store, and keep the slaves under the lash while managers get paid more than any employee will see in a lifetime.
I wish that everyone subscribed to the ideas of the IWW–One Big Union! Wobblies unite!
How’s that for socialism?
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:48 amThis couldn’t be further from the truth. As the enlightened Dr. W. Edwards Deming said, “Will they ever learn?”
Politicians, not in the least. Ignorance abounds.
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:48 ama statement straight out of the authoritarian’s playbook
thanks for displaying your contempt and allegiance against the american people….. Mitchy
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:51 amOh he must mean enlightened managment like WalMart, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Pfizer(who just got hit with a 2.5 BILLION dollar penalty). The “enlightened managment that has kept American wages flat for 20 years while shifting the burden of retirement and increasing health costs onto the American worker. McConnell is bought and paid for by US corporations and consequently his words have ZERO credibility. Additionally this old fool doesn’t even work in the private sector where he claims everything is light and joy. I’d love to see him work under Wal Marts “enlightened management” and live on thier wages for a year or so and then observe if he’d say the same thing.
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:52 amWhat’s wrong with free choice, Senator McConnell? Are you and your fellow Rethuglicans so afraid of what might happen if workers were allowed it?
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:53 amYeah, the folks managing Enron… they were real enlightened, weren’t they?
But at least our banking and insurance sectors are chock full of “enlightened” execs, right?
That must be why executive pay has gone from 85 times what workers earned in 1990 to more than 300 times workers pay in 2003. They’re so enlightened that they’re worth it.
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:57 amI guess for Republics “enlightenment” equals record income disparity between management and labor. It tells you something when my right wing local paper runs a large story on the increase of wage theft by those enlightened employers.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:01 pmIt is mind-boggling that anyone who isn’t filthy rich can vote for these a$$hole republics. Thump a bible, decry the gays and abortion, and mix in a healthy dose of guns and fear, and you have a recipe that defies the logic of a healthy mind.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:01 pmhahahahahahaha
Really.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:02 pmI wonder how long it has been since Mitch the Snitch has had a real JOB where he is at the mercy of his bosses?
Rich bastard…
One can only hope that quotes like this will result in an “elightened electorate”.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:02 pmAnd I’ll bet if he has any electrical or plumbing work done on
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:03 pmhis house, he’d insist on using a union contractor.
enlightened management?
BUFFALO CHIPS!
If we really did have “enlightened management” there would be no need for EFCA at all.
Many workers are the victim of wage theft as reported earlier this week. Many workers have NO, repeat NO benefits such as employer-paid health insurance coverage, paid sick days, etc.
McConnell should be held up as an example one of the best politicians that Corporate America can buy.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:04 pmYou tell them, Crossing Guard Mitch.
Seriously. It’s reactionaries like him that oppose child labour laws, minimum wage, and (as we’ve seen for several months) affordable healthcare.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:05 pmHow many workers who are not managers will not scoff? I hope this makes it to MSM. A huge round of “enlightened management” jokes could be very productive.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:06 pmMcConnell’s claim of “enlightened management” is laughable, as Pat Garofalo and several posters have already pointed out.
But the ones who do treat their employees halfway decently and pay them a living wage? Chances are the reason they do that is because the threat of unionization keeps them in line. Remove unions and you remove that kind of benevolence.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:07 pmCompanies are violating labor laws because Bush turned a blind eye. McConnell is just shoveling more BS. The unions are going to make themselves prominent in the debate by pressuring Blue Dogs who are not going to support the bill just like they are doing with health care.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:12 pmI always thought this, but never asked this: Is McConnell a eunuch?
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:12 pmMr. McConnell is a typical Repuglican fool. Unions made this country strong, brought about the safe work places we have today (although not all are really safe), and made the government change how it regulated safety. There is no reason to stop doing this because it looks safer. The Bushies and the Repuglians have tried for years to deregulate and undermine the safety of American workers. Is it time for another worker revolution? Perhaps. I for one think that if you are a hard working American, you need to speak up NOW. Don’t let the Repuglicans take away one of your rights. This legislation ensures that you can vote, with out it you can’t!
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:14 pmAnother caption:
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:15 pmAlmost an orange jumpsuit
Hopes for hung jury
Hes practicing for his lobberer job after he leaves office.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:16 pmMcConnell is A MORON…!!!!!
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:18 pmHe’s got the chin for it.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:20 pm“Yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) promised that no Republicans will vote for the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), should it come to the Senate floor.”
Can the Dem leaders defund the republic Party allready? I mean what exactly have the Reps done since January??!! They haven’t written one scrap of meaningful legislation, have voted “no” to every Bill that hit the floor and spend their time either obstructing the People’s work on the Hill or pushing lies on teh teevee. They have not earned one cent of their salaries through any actual “work” nor have they done anything to earn their taxpayer funded, gov’r run healthcare. I say de-fund the grumpy old fcuks and send them home until they learn to play with others (as though they possessed the capacity to be civilized). They can just stay home and collect their corporate welfare checks and book appearences on Fox and Friends.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:20 pmMcConnell, peoples unelected pimp, sorry ‘manager’, knows who to give your premiums to.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:20 pmHe’s got the chin for it.
The doubleteabagger model..quite the thing in DC to sport about.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:22 pmYes, Mitch, management is real good in the enlightenment department. They relearned all the tricks that were once banned or regulated once your buddies got them cleared out. They are very good at enlightening their obligations to workers while enheavying their profits.
Where is Bob LaFollette when you really need him?
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:26 pmA Patriotic Anopheles Acting says:
The Repiggies would disagree with you about their not working since January. They will claim that saying no to everything and obstructing everything really is hard work.
One thing is true; they do work VERY HARD at saying no to everything.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:26 pmThe Republicans are going to continue to say no with the expectation that they will pick up seats in the next election. If they fail to gain seats or lose more, then we will see a big change in the Republicans. They are betting on winning more seats and if they don’t, there will be a big purge of the leaders.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:27 pmUncle Ho, they could just buy a cardboard cutout of themselves and a tape recorder with a loop and save everyone money and headaches.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:28 pmI give, what is this moron wearing? My eyes are not as good as they used to be, but I don’t have a clue.
Maybe his wife wife just dresses him funny!
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:30 pmFunny how the republicans don’t want the govt. to provide a public option for healthcare but have no problem thinking for the american public and deciding we don’t need EFCA.
The party that says they want govt. to stay out of the individual’s life is too damn obtrusive to stand by their hollow words.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:32 pmLooks like they got a shot of McConnell taking a break from his court-ordered community service job of picking up trash from the side of the road.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:32 pmHoodathunk says:
You are probably right, but don’t give them any ideas.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:32 pmDefinition: McConnell: A statement so stupid that it defies an adequate response.
There are McConnells in my family tree. How I hope and pray that we aren’t related.
I suppose the folks working at Walmart and told by HR to apply for food stamps quite agree. I suppose the folks Walmart locked in the store at night with forced, unpaid overtime agree. I suppose the workers who are sick because of weakened OSHA regs quite agree.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:33 pmUncle Ho, that is one idea I wish they would take. Providing we can cut all the funding for their staffers. They can go work for Faux.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:34 pmApparntly this boob chooses to completely ignore the report that came out the other day showing that, not only are many low-wage earners treated miserably by their employers, I think the statistic was that about 68% reported having had wage or employment problems with their managers or employers during the previous week, such as being paid less than minimum wage, not getting overtime pay, being threatened with firing for speaking out about not getting paid, etc.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:36 pmChessmaster says:
I always thought this, but never asked this: Is McConnell a eunuch?
Ask his wife, former Sec/Labor, Elaine Chao.
It was under HER watch that corporations were allowed to use any undocumented immigrant workers they chose…while Mitch and the boys screamed about illegal immigrants.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:37 pmListen, Mitch, you might be correct that workers are not interested in unionizing. But, you know, I think I’d rather hear that from the workers themselves, rather than through you, the Chamber of Commerce, and CEOs. EFCA would give the workers another option for choosing or not choosing a union. If a particular set of workers think they have “enlightened management” and they don’t need a union, then EFCA is no threat, is it? But, if the management is not so enlightened…
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:38 pmCorporate interests have trumped workers interests since the 1970’s. EFCA is a feeble attempt by unions to regain some bargaining power, but it does’nt stand a chance in today’s political climate. Back to “the good old days”.
“You load sixteen tons, and what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
St. Peter dont call, ’cause I can’t go,
I owe my soul to the ccompany store.”
(lyrics by Merle Travis)
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:44 pm“McConnell: Zero Republicans Support EFCA ‘Because We Have Very Enlightened Management In This Country’”
Nothing from Mitch the b*tch. This is all part of the Party of No’s agenda: Say no to the agendas by Obama, Democrats, and the American people.
And what’s up with the orange outfit? He’s blinding my eyes. Is he being used for the terror alert or for an upcoming Sunkist ad?
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:45 pmGood to know that we have a national political party looking out for those poor oppressed big companies.
Gee, who does that leave looking out for the people?
Great, we get the Dems … Ugh.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:55 pmUnions have had their bad moments insofar as greed has permeated the upper ranks of the ‘rank and file’. Having been a union member (3 unions in fact and all AFL-CIO), I can tell you that a great number of employees would join a union if given the chance, and not harassed by management.
Many employees, such as those at Wal-(F)art, are regularly reminded of the consequences of organizing for employee rights and benefits. This is only true in the US though–in China and Canada Wal-Mart was forced to allow employees to join a union.
Organizing is the only way that the worker(s) have to control the abuses of management.
Yeah, more socialism!
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:57 pmThrough efforts to direct all of the profit up to the shareholders and not down to the employees, the “Free Market” basically forces corporations to go overseas or to Mexico.
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:08 pmAnd…
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:10 pmA Union is really a corporation, with labor being the “good” produced. I don’t hear McConnell saying that other corporations shouldn’t be allowed to form.
Over the years, both union and management have been guilty of abuses. I have been on both sides of the table and the only time it really works is when there is a balance of power. When both sides are looking out for the overall benefit to the entire operation.
Whenever one side has an advantage, they tend to take it. Right now, the balance is severely skewed to management.
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:10 pmThe reality that counters McConnell’s statements:
Unless my corner of Northeastern Kentucky is just radically different from the rest of the state, everyone knows that if you want a job that has good pay and great benefits, you either work for the government or join a union. Our area is highly dependent on an oil refinery (gross, I know) that employs around 3,000 people, of which I know quite a few, all of which are union. I am aware of at least three other major plants in this area, all of them use union labor. Hell my husband works for AT&T and all of their workers are in a union. Most all teachers are members of a union.
Come to think of it, I don’t know a whole lot of people who AREN’T in a union. And I don’t know anyone who was forced into it.
So unless my poor little area is vastly different from everywhere else (and based on my admittedly limited travels, it doesn’t seem that way), unions are incredibly popular for those that are in them and highly desirable to those that are not.
All of this brings up the question – where do you get your information, Mitch? Because it sure as shit isn’t here on Earth.
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:13 pmWhat’s with the orange vest? This guy is no more qualified to be a crossing guard than a member of Congress.
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:16 pmHey big corps get together and decide wages for all categories, but oh can’t call that unionization. But to be fair Unions need to do some housekeeping and stop defending the bad workers hiding behind their union due. All in all people have to have a Union to fight for their rights.
Best of all work for small companies they appreciate the people who earn their pay.
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:17 pmDoesn’t McConnell have the prettiest a set of “Tea-Baggin Lips” in Congress?
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:18 pmTar and feathers would complete McConnell’s Foghorn Leghorn impersonation perfectly.
What an ignoble waste of a man.
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:28 pmI worked for IBM right out of college. They hated unions and practiced that enlightened management stuff the guy in the crossing guard vest is talking about. It really was a good place to work until Lou Gerstner (sp?) became CEO. In order to be lean and mean he began the process of eroding the safety net the company provided their workers. While I left IBM in the 90’s when they sold me, ask any IBM’er today if their work environment and security is much better than that at Walmart. And that is why I think we need collective bargaining. It’s too uncertain to depend on the benevolence of those in charge, that can turn on a dime. The worker plays and plans by the rules, and has no control when the rules are changed.
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:34 pmGoddamnit.
I hate fcuking stupid, old, white people, and the World will be a much better place when they’ve all gone to meet their maker.
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:54 pmWhat’s with the orange clothing? Is he going hunting or preparing for a new career as a crossing guard?
September 3rd, 2009 at 2:00 pmHey Mitch – I’ve got a few stories for you about enlightened management – try sex, race, age discrimination to start. Then we get to the nasty stuff.
September 3rd, 2009 at 2:04 pm“enlightened”, as in:
we lightened our payroll by another 15,000 people this year,
so we are “enlightened”
but those tent cities sure are a-growin’.
Join us in October for “Grapes of Wrath Days”!!
September 3rd, 2009 at 2:29 pmI can’t hear you, McConnell, your sweater vest is too loud!
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:00 pmHalf of these enlightened types are only “enlightened” because laws forced them to be. Get rid of those and I can’t imagine anything good coming of it.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:23 pmTurtle, Turtle, Turtle.
Boy, I sure miss The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:30 pmWTF? Enlightened Management? Under what rock?
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:12 pmWHAT! This BS is just getting worse and worse everyday. When you think that the STUPIDEST statement ever made in the history of all mankind comes out, it quickly is topped by another. The Repukes have always had the air of talking down to us MORTAL middle class folk (apparently they didn’t get the memo that we are educated now) but the ridiculousness of it is unfathomable. I guess the only way to shut them up is at the voting booth. No matter how bad the Dem’s ever screw things up I will NEVER EVER vote for another one in my ENTIRE LIFE! I guess they have a sense of management though. They will F*** you while convincing you they are doing you a favor!
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:39 pmZero republicans support EFCA because they never cared a fig about working people and ONLY care about the money that flows to the rich and to corporations. It is enlightened only if you consider Ebenezer Scrooge to be your guru
September 3rd, 2009 at 5:13 pm15. EnnuiDivine sayeth:…
Good catch, EnnuiD, I thought the same thing. Well, maybe the same thing. What I thought was, “They’re letting that old perv play crossing guard?” Who the hell was minding the store when that decision was made?
I still want to know where the hell he found an enlightened management. Certainly not in Congress. There are enlightened managers out there – I’ve known several – but it’s usually just an accident. The more predatory of the species assures that the enlightened ones get pitched over the side or trampled by a passing herd of greedheads, that sort of thing.
September 3rd, 2009 at 6:47 pmSenator McConnel rests in the arms of his corporate enablers. My decades working for large corporations was a real eye opener. American management is very exploitative. Unfortunately americans are no different to them now than any other office worker anywhere on the planet. Perehaps even less since we seem to require so much more in order to continue living here. The wheel goes round. But don’t worry. We’re battling dinosaurs with lazer beams. Like Zappa said: discorporate.
September 3rd, 2009 at 7:55 pmMcConnel’s picture looks like he’s waiting for the county truck to take him and the rest of the work crew out to pick up trash for community service.
Caught littering, maybe?
September 3rd, 2009 at 8:03 pm@#39 – Zimzone says: Ask his wife, former Sec/Labor, Elaine Chao. It was under HER watch that corporations were allowed to use any undocumented immigrant workers they chose…while Mitch and the boys screamed about illegal immigrants.
Right on the money on that one! Tobacco is a major industry here in KY – almost all of the laborers are Mexicans. How many are legal vs illegal is anyone’s guess, and with the benefits to the state, no one is going to do any checking.
The farm owners pay such low wages that there are hardly ever locals working the fields as they’d likely draw more on unemployment or welfare. But whatever the Mexicans do make, it is a great deal more than they’d make back south of the border.
The owners are pulling in massive subsidies from the Federal government, all thanks to Mitch *bringing home the bacon*. In return, the agricultural sector is a heavy on campaign donations for Mitch. He’s not going to do anything to upset the apple cart for himself.
I had signed an on-line petition in support of the EFCA and received a snail mail response from him. Although he appreciated my interest, blah/blah/blah…he didn’t agree………and the letter went on and on with all the reasons he is against it – pretty much what is posted.
GAWD, I wish he’d retire or get beat out of his position!
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:29 pmIt seems than any meaningful legislation comes from the Dems, not the Reps. This is probably slightly O/T, but fits in with the topic enough that maybe it will pass for posting. We can thank Ted Kennedy who sponsored or lead the fight for these legislative acts relating to employment in one way or another. I tried to find out what McConnell’s voting record was on these, but I’d still be looking next week, so we can probably assume that he was against most of them.
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:44 pm* Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act of 2009 (Americorps)
* The Civil Rights Act of 1964
* Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
* Americans with Disability Act of 1990
* Civil Rights Act of 1991
* National & Community Service Trust Act of 1993 (Americorps)
* The WARN Act of 1988 (60 days notice prior to plant closings)
* Employment Opportunities for Disabled Americans Act of 1986
* Job Training Partnership Act of 1980
* Older American Community Service Employment Act of 1970
* Occupational Safety & Health Administration Act of 1970
* The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 (War on Poverty: Head Start, Job Corps)
It’s OK for a white collar to negotiate a billion dollar contract and bankrupt a corporation, but it’s not OK for a Union to negotiate fair and equitable treatment for its members? WTF is wrong with these people.
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:45 pmEnlightened you say. Doubt that. You guys are still living in the past, so enlightenment does not even come into play.
September 4th, 2009 at 10:30 amYou are just a bunch of DUMB OLD WHITE GUYS with NO clue what is right for America because you are tooooooo busy lining your pockets from big business.
I predict a mass expulsion of the Republican Party from both the House and the Senate in ‘10 if they keep this up!.
September 4th, 2009 at 7:09 pmyou for your sharing.!
September 7th, 2009 at 10:23 am