RTW is a power battle between corporations and workers. The corporations have too much political power now, influencing pretty much every aspect of society EXCEPT for the unions. Unions are the last organized defense against Corporatism, otherwise known as Fascism...control of the nation by corporations. IF RTW passes, it could spread to other states and federal RTW legislation. In a capitalist system, unions are the brakes on runaway greed, and it's that greed that got us into the economic mess we're in. RTW is the elimination of competition to set up a grand monopoly of power over everyone. This goes way beyond a battle between Democrat and Republican.
On a national level, it’s getting increasingly difficult to tell the difference between Democrat and Republican. What has President Obama done for working people? Not a whole lot. He did make needed appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and managed to change a few minor points in NLRB regulations, but that’s it. Obama has received more Wall Street campaign donations than the Republican candidates have. He happily gives the big banks anything they want. And let’s not forget Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act that sets the stage for military occupation of the United States. He also has a long, dark track record of caving into corporate desires such as handing the insurance industry 40 million new paying customers from his famous “Healthcare” act. The bad Obama has done far outweighs the good.
Neither can national Republicans be trusted to do the right thing for anyone but the corporations. They have fought tooth and nail to stop the rich from paying their fair share of taxes. They universally want an end to anything that helps the non-rich such as Social Security, Medicare, and other programs in the social safety net. They care nothing except to make themselves and their corporate handlers more money. That includes the complete subjugation of the work force.
Here in Indiana, our Democrats have stood in solidarity with the workforce. Since too many Hoosiers were fooled by the lies of the Tea Party, the Republicans have taken over to force the will of the National Republican Party in returning this country to the mid 1800’s in philosophy and public policy. At least the Indiana Democrats know to think independently from the national Party. Labor stands with whoever stands with us. The birth of the “Lunchpail” Republicans in Indiana, those who are more in tune with the original purposes of the Republican Party, is promising. They understand that business needs unions as much as unions need business.
And, what is wrong with two mutually dependent groups sitting down and striking a reasonable agreement to help each other? Business wouldn’t have profits without those who do the work or provide the service. And does it not make sense that workers who can have an enjoyable life from the fruits of their labor would not strive to keep that prosperous lifestyle? So the corporations don’t have more money than they know what to do with because they made an agreement to share the profits with those who make those profits possible. Where is it written that your boss has absolute control over your life and livelihood simply because you have an agreement to produce a good or service for them?
Under the so-called “Free market” concept, if a worker doesn’t like what an employer wants, they can work someplace else. But since also under that concept, American corporations are free to send any job overseas that they wish, that’s no longer an option. With the lack of regulations on business, we have companies routinely violating the rights of workers with complete impunity. We don’t have jobs because the corporatist rulers have eliminated the option of changing jobs, if you’re lucky enough to have one in the first place. Now they want to destroy the unions so that the work force is crippled from having any say in running their own lives.
The lie of Right to Work makes it nearly impossible for unions to maintain contracts. Union dues go to cover the costs of handling contractual disputes (grievances) such as providing representation, having lawyers retained, publishing contracts, administering benefits programs. There will be too many unthinking people who think they will get something for nothing under a union contract they do not have to pay for. Unions are non-profit corporations and do not have the nearly the money that business has. If we reduce the ability of the unions to enforce the contracts, it effectively destroys those contracts. Business can continue to do whatever damn well pleases. There is no one to oppose them.
Do we really want that in Indiana…or in any other state for that matter?
Monday, January 23, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
What Would King Do?
So, what are you doing on Martin Luther King Day? A lot of people have the day “Off” from work; government is shut down, schools closed. A lot of private business and industry shut down for the day. You have the decision to make: Are you going to lay up and enjoy a three day weekend or are you going to follow Dr. King’s example and work for a better society for all?
If you’re one of the lucky ones who have a job to get a holiday from, it’s a chance to advance the cause of freedom and social justice. It’s an opportunity to be free from your everyday work and do something for your community. It might be attending an event in the community that remembers King’s legacy and taking your kids or grandkids to it with you. It might be as little as doing some online research on a social issue to become better informed as how to fix this general mess America is in.
King worked long and hard to advance the cause of civil and economic rights. He stood tall in defending the rights of working people, regardless of race or economic status. He understood that when we stand together, we stand strong and no social force can oppose the people for long. He would be in the street, or at the lectern, trying to make it better.
King strongly supported the right of workers to organize and collectively bargain for their rights on the job. He spoke out often on the need for unions and the benefits to society of an organized labor force. He understood that organized labor is the best vestige of defense against encroaching corporatism. He knew the devastating effects of the weakening of the power of those who do.
Why do we have holidays, or time off work? To enjoy the fruits of our labor, to spend time with family and friends, and to rest from the hard work we do. As humans, we need time to relax and to enjoy the company of those we love. With a few exceptions for those who perform needed services regardless of day or time, we can thank unions for this time away from our jobs. It wasn’t always like that.
Less than a hundred years ago, people worked six days a week, often 12, 14 or 16 hours a day, often for little pay or benefits. It was the unions that fought for and won the 40 hour work week. It was the unions that got things like health benefits, vacations, sick or personal days through the collective bargaining process. That process itself was bought with the sweat and blood of workers who secured the right to negotiate in a legally-binding contract that set the mutually beneficial limits on a particular job.
To this day, far too many businesses care more for money than the rights of those who make them their money and spend huge amounts of it to roll back the rights of workers, the rights Dr. King gave his life for. The result of this runaway greed is a society in shambles and an economy in the toilet.
What would Martin Luther King do with this day?
If you’re one of the lucky ones who have a job to get a holiday from, it’s a chance to advance the cause of freedom and social justice. It’s an opportunity to be free from your everyday work and do something for your community. It might be attending an event in the community that remembers King’s legacy and taking your kids or grandkids to it with you. It might be as little as doing some online research on a social issue to become better informed as how to fix this general mess America is in.
King worked long and hard to advance the cause of civil and economic rights. He stood tall in defending the rights of working people, regardless of race or economic status. He understood that when we stand together, we stand strong and no social force can oppose the people for long. He would be in the street, or at the lectern, trying to make it better.
King strongly supported the right of workers to organize and collectively bargain for their rights on the job. He spoke out often on the need for unions and the benefits to society of an organized labor force. He understood that organized labor is the best vestige of defense against encroaching corporatism. He knew the devastating effects of the weakening of the power of those who do.
Why do we have holidays, or time off work? To enjoy the fruits of our labor, to spend time with family and friends, and to rest from the hard work we do. As humans, we need time to relax and to enjoy the company of those we love. With a few exceptions for those who perform needed services regardless of day or time, we can thank unions for this time away from our jobs. It wasn’t always like that.
Less than a hundred years ago, people worked six days a week, often 12, 14 or 16 hours a day, often for little pay or benefits. It was the unions that fought for and won the 40 hour work week. It was the unions that got things like health benefits, vacations, sick or personal days through the collective bargaining process. That process itself was bought with the sweat and blood of workers who secured the right to negotiate in a legally-binding contract that set the mutually beneficial limits on a particular job.
To this day, far too many businesses care more for money than the rights of those who make them their money and spend huge amounts of it to roll back the rights of workers, the rights Dr. King gave his life for. The result of this runaway greed is a society in shambles and an economy in the toilet.
What would Martin Luther King do with this day?
Monday, January 2, 2012
Anti Right To Work Commercial
This is airing across Indiana today http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlizWNcAmDw&feature=youtu.be
Fighting the Lie of Right To Work
Let's get up to date here in Indiana. There's a specter looming on the horizon that will decimate Hoosier workers, union or not.
The phrase "Right to work" is a lie. It's an effort to confuse what the corporatists see as their pawns. The only true right to work was stated in the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights that states that all humans have a right to employment for their own gain. But the right wing in America calls their union busting efforts "Right to work" to obfuscate the issue, much as they use "Patriot Act" to con all Americans into giving up our Constitutional rights against unlawful search and seizure against a largely imagined external enemy.
The corporatists can't stand the idea that those who actually make this country work would have a say in their own destiny. They can't fathom the thought that those who get their hands dirty would dare stand up against their moneyed interests. They suffer from the delusion of "Eminent domain:" that all they see is theirs and theirs alone because they've been handed a bunch of money and they think that gives them more rights than the rest of us. That's called Fascism. They hide behind the flag and accuse those who work of being un-American for challenging their assertions.
Unions are the brakes on greed. Have you noticed that when Unions were strong, America prospered? After the demagogue Reagan gutted the power of Unions, our economy started the long slide downward to the point we are now Trillions of dollars in debt and beholden to the Chinese for a large chunk of that debt. When corporations were forced by law to fairly negotiate, workers, whose purchases and taxes keep this nation solvent, did just that. Notice also that after Reagan's treason against workers, we started our decline.
22 states now have this stupidity of "Right to Work." Workers in those states are losing thousands of dollars per year off their paychecks over the 28 states wise enough to eschew this policy. Median family income is lower. Eight of the 12 states with the highest unemployment rates are RTW states.
"Right to work (for less)" is coming to Indiana, or so the right wing demagogues are hoping. The official position is that industry won't come to the state if Unions are strong. But the facts do not support that contention. The Higgins Report from Notre Dame University blows away the argument http://higginslabor.nd.edu/assets/38894/higgins_report_on_rtw_march_2011.pdf
A good resource for information can be found at: www.badforindiana.org.
So consumed are the corporatists about getting RTW in Indiana that Republican Governor Mitch Daniels has restricted the rights of Hoosiers to assemble in the Indiana Statehouse. A rule taking effect on the first day of the 2012 Legislature restricts occupancy of the Statehouse to 3,000 people, half of those work in the Statehouse. The right wing can't stomach the thought of thousands of Hoosiers standing against their plan as we have done as recently as a month ago. So rather than listening, The Governor wishes to stifle opposition under the guise of "Safety."
We will not tolerate restrictions on the right to assemble to challenge government idiocy. This untoward and unconstitutional move affects those who wish their voices to be heard on any issue. It's nothing more than Fascism.
Is this how we want to live our lives, with government-sponsored destruction of our rights to fairly negotiate with employers?
If RTW passes, Hoosier workers will lose those rights. Unions will go into contract negotiations weak and what contracts we will be able to negotiate will suffer from lack of enforcement. If union shops do not generate the money to maintain contracts through our representatives and the grievance process because some workers freeload, all will lose the negotiated benefits.
Picture this: The union negotiates a contract with your employer. Your dues pay for the maintenance of that contract, except a number of your co-workers think they'll get the insurance, job protection and grievance procedures for free. A worker files a grievance of violation of the contract. Because your union can't afford to pay enough reps to handle the grievances in a timely manner, months pass before they can get to it. Meanwhile, your boss freely commits contract violations knowing that the more grievances filed, the longer it will take to resolve them. They can do whatever they want and the contract be damned; there's not enough people to enforce the terms of the contract. Eventually, the freeloaders render the contract useless.
That, in fact, is the right wing's hope: That you, the worker, have no rights.
Do we really want that?
The phrase "Right to work" is a lie. It's an effort to confuse what the corporatists see as their pawns. The only true right to work was stated in the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights that states that all humans have a right to employment for their own gain. But the right wing in America calls their union busting efforts "Right to work" to obfuscate the issue, much as they use "Patriot Act" to con all Americans into giving up our Constitutional rights against unlawful search and seizure against a largely imagined external enemy.
The corporatists can't stand the idea that those who actually make this country work would have a say in their own destiny. They can't fathom the thought that those who get their hands dirty would dare stand up against their moneyed interests. They suffer from the delusion of "Eminent domain:" that all they see is theirs and theirs alone because they've been handed a bunch of money and they think that gives them more rights than the rest of us. That's called Fascism. They hide behind the flag and accuse those who work of being un-American for challenging their assertions.
Unions are the brakes on greed. Have you noticed that when Unions were strong, America prospered? After the demagogue Reagan gutted the power of Unions, our economy started the long slide downward to the point we are now Trillions of dollars in debt and beholden to the Chinese for a large chunk of that debt. When corporations were forced by law to fairly negotiate, workers, whose purchases and taxes keep this nation solvent, did just that. Notice also that after Reagan's treason against workers, we started our decline.
22 states now have this stupidity of "Right to Work." Workers in those states are losing thousands of dollars per year off their paychecks over the 28 states wise enough to eschew this policy. Median family income is lower. Eight of the 12 states with the highest unemployment rates are RTW states.
"Right to work (for less)" is coming to Indiana, or so the right wing demagogues are hoping. The official position is that industry won't come to the state if Unions are strong. But the facts do not support that contention. The Higgins Report from Notre Dame University blows away the argument http://higginslabor.nd.edu/assets/38894/higgins_report_on_rtw_march_2011.pdf
A good resource for information can be found at: www.badforindiana.org.
So consumed are the corporatists about getting RTW in Indiana that Republican Governor Mitch Daniels has restricted the rights of Hoosiers to assemble in the Indiana Statehouse. A rule taking effect on the first day of the 2012 Legislature restricts occupancy of the Statehouse to 3,000 people, half of those work in the Statehouse. The right wing can't stomach the thought of thousands of Hoosiers standing against their plan as we have done as recently as a month ago. So rather than listening, The Governor wishes to stifle opposition under the guise of "Safety."
We will not tolerate restrictions on the right to assemble to challenge government idiocy. This untoward and unconstitutional move affects those who wish their voices to be heard on any issue. It's nothing more than Fascism.
Is this how we want to live our lives, with government-sponsored destruction of our rights to fairly negotiate with employers?
If RTW passes, Hoosier workers will lose those rights. Unions will go into contract negotiations weak and what contracts we will be able to negotiate will suffer from lack of enforcement. If union shops do not generate the money to maintain contracts through our representatives and the grievance process because some workers freeload, all will lose the negotiated benefits.
Picture this: The union negotiates a contract with your employer. Your dues pay for the maintenance of that contract, except a number of your co-workers think they'll get the insurance, job protection and grievance procedures for free. A worker files a grievance of violation of the contract. Because your union can't afford to pay enough reps to handle the grievances in a timely manner, months pass before they can get to it. Meanwhile, your boss freely commits contract violations knowing that the more grievances filed, the longer it will take to resolve them. They can do whatever they want and the contract be damned; there's not enough people to enforce the terms of the contract. Eventually, the freeloaders render the contract useless.
That, in fact, is the right wing's hope: That you, the worker, have no rights.
Do we really want that?
The Union Thug
I've had this blog parked for several months while I work on several political issues, but it's time to get this puppy up and running!
Why call it the "Union thug?" The phrase "Union thug" is the name right wing corporatists have given those who stand for the rights of workers in America. They see us as "Thugs" because we stand up against their efforts to strip workers of every right we have or should have. They can't stand the thought that because we're the ones who make this country work that we should have a say in our own futures rather than letting them rob us at every turn. So they demonize those who would dare question their power and authority.
Are we thugs? By and large no, especially not when compared to the tactics of such organizations like the Chambers of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and members of both mainstream political Parties, the Republicans being in the lead in this regard. In every organization regardless of issue, there will always be those who don't understand violence accomplishes little. In the past year, I have come in contact with a large number of Union members and everyone of them are good, upstanding Americans who want only the best for their children and the nation as a whole. Will we rally and raise our voices in opposition to the political crap being dished out in states like Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana? Yes we will. Will we put our message in the faces of those who couldn't care less whether we live or die? Damn right we will. Will we be angry at the efforts to enslave us? You'd better believe it. Will we stand for what's good and right in America and in opposition to that which is not? Expect it.
If that makes us thugs, I will wear the title proudly.
Why call it the "Union thug?" The phrase "Union thug" is the name right wing corporatists have given those who stand for the rights of workers in America. They see us as "Thugs" because we stand up against their efforts to strip workers of every right we have or should have. They can't stand the thought that because we're the ones who make this country work that we should have a say in our own futures rather than letting them rob us at every turn. So they demonize those who would dare question their power and authority.
Are we thugs? By and large no, especially not when compared to the tactics of such organizations like the Chambers of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and members of both mainstream political Parties, the Republicans being in the lead in this regard. In every organization regardless of issue, there will always be those who don't understand violence accomplishes little. In the past year, I have come in contact with a large number of Union members and everyone of them are good, upstanding Americans who want only the best for their children and the nation as a whole. Will we rally and raise our voices in opposition to the political crap being dished out in states like Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana? Yes we will. Will we put our message in the faces of those who couldn't care less whether we live or die? Damn right we will. Will we be angry at the efforts to enslave us? You'd better believe it. Will we stand for what's good and right in America and in opposition to that which is not? Expect it.
If that makes us thugs, I will wear the title proudly.
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