Bush/Repugs will try to destroy Social Security-First, Break the Unions!!!

[GreenTea]

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/38823/

A series of decisions expected this summer from the Bush-appointed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) could destroy the existing union memberships of millions of people in the U.S., and prevent any future unionization attempts by tens of millions more.

Under 1947's notorious union-busting Taft-Hartley Act, supervisors in the U.S. workforce are considered "management" and therefore have no legal right to unionize. The anticipated NLRB rulings, of three disputes collectively known as the Kentucky River cases, would allow employers in a wide array of industries to reclassify as "supervisors" any employee who has any type of oversight, no matter how fleeting, over a lower-ranked or less senior co-worker. Workers who take on apprentices. Lead men in manufacturing crews. Nurses who direct nurse aides.

And, well, I order our dog around. A lot. She seems to like it.

It really is just about that ridiculous. A nurse, for example, has no power to hire or fire, doesn't set schedules, can't mete out discipline. Yet under these rulings, she or he would be considered "management."

Snip --

The Bush administration has done this sort of thing before: changing the interpretation of regulations so as to affect sweeping changes without the bother of getting a controversial policy through Congress. It's used such tactics extensively, for example, to eviscerate environmental policies. It's happened in labor law, too. "Whenever they redefine a word, working people get screwed," says David Groves of the Washington State Labor Council, which is also organizing to stop the Virginia Mason reclassification.

Given the NLRB record under Bush, labor leaders are not optimistic that Kentucky River will turn out well. They are particularly exercised that in Kentucky River, as in all its other cases since Bush took office, the NLRB refused to hear oral arguments - the practice in all previous administrations. "To be willing to consider a decision of this magnitude and not even be willing to consider the effect on working people is unconscionable," says Acuff. "This administration has been more antithetical to the rights of workers than any since Herbert Hoover."

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/38823/

[redqueen]

1. *sigh*

do most people really STILL not understand how important the labor movement was?

why do they pay so little attention... seem to care so little about labor laws?

[snappyturtle]

2. I guess it's just another one of those......

lessons we'll have to RE-learn! :sarcasm: I see so much history repeating itself in this administration's antics it has become quite clear that they are about as dumb as they come.

[redqueen]

5. not dumb at all... unless you mean the dozy, careless public

the administration is about as dumb as corporatists are altruistic... which is to say, not at all.

[snappyturtle]

8. OK...they're REALLY sick! nt

[redqueen]

9. Sick, demented, diseased, corrupt, foul, vile, selfish, evil, ...

the list of adjectives that accurately describe these bastards could go on for quite a while.

[GreenTea]

3. Your right, watch how few post-40 hour work, overtime pay that they enjoy

worker safety, medical benefits, (now dwindling under Bush/republicans) child labor laws, worker representation...ALL were fought for by unions and it's workers---And most don't really care, don't want to fight for the only thing standing between management and their jobs, they are ALL at managements mercy without a union---the unions, no one else looks out for and who represents the workers?

There's thousands of lobbyist groups looking out and representing management & corporate interest--who's there for the workers, only a weakened labor union that they republicans want to completely demolish.

[redqueen]

6. the american public has become lazy and careless

wasn't it nader who said until these people are personally hurt by the mess they've allowed to be created, that they won't bother rousing themselves from their slumber or prying themselves from their teevees or their video games?

latey i just really do sincerely want to give up...

[vickitulsa]

17. I can relate to that giving-up feeling you've been having...

In fact I was so awash with it a few days ago I made my first original post in quite a while just to express it and get some feedback that might jolt me out of it at least a bit.

It worked! I admit I do feel better now than I did then, and since I'd been a long while building to that point, this turnaround is kind of surprising. Even to me, and I'm accustomed to a relatively optimistic outlook that I've always had on life in spite of the many grave challenges I've had in mine.

And I agree that many if not most Americans have grown lazy and careless -- in large part for some of them because they are way too young to remember a time when a worker's rights were fairly reasonable and relatively secure. Perhaps that's why as a collective we DO have to RE-learn some important things that end up being taken for granted by those who follow behind us and didn't have to work for the change that gave us a leg up.

I'm not sure about all the factors, I'm not that much of a genius (haha). But I see the same phenomenon you do in American citizenry, and it frankly scares me way more than any terrorists do! In fact, I say "Bah!" to GWB and all his attempts to instill fear and trembling in me at the memory of 9/11 and the very idea of A-rab terra-ists!

I was shaken by 9/11, of course, but it didn't last for more than a few weeks before I was right back to carrying on with life, overcoming my fear of terra-ists a LOT faster than I can overcome my anxiety about Dubya's dismantling of our Constitution, his steady breaking down of our laws and previous rulings that protect the Little Guys-N-Gals, and his secretive "signing statements" and Executive Orders that most citizens never even know about.

I wanted to give up last week on trying to find a political solution to the huge problem we face with Dubya, his cronies, and the GOP in power, but I'm not ready to do that anymore. I wasn't giving up on fighting the Chimperor, mind you -- just feeling that perhaps a political solution wasn't possible with the way things have changed in the political realm in our country. (Just want to set that record straight in case any misunderstood that about me. :))

Still, even with my hope and determination renewed, I'm concerned about what you pointed out -- that it's probably going to be necessary for the pinching and the pain to reach into the personal lives of each individual before many of them wake up and get energized to fight back! That worries me a good bit, I must admit ... partly because it's so logical, and seems so inevitable -- and SLOW.

On another thread, one brilliant poster pointed out that any sort of sudden group enlightenment of the populace (which I keep hoping to see) is unlikely to occur in this country, since that sort of phenomenon could be found only when we had some effective, strong organizations -- unions, as well as various other groups where people with a common cause unite to be heard and exert some pressure on government. Perhaps, as some have suggested, things will have to get a lot worse for most people personally before they will dig in their heels and fight back.

My biggest concern about that possibility is that it might come too late to avoid catastrophic blows to our way of life. --And I'm not referring to the same "way of life" that Chimpy is talking about when he says that!

(I'll bet I'm not the only one who wants to puke every time I hear some time-honored expressions pass the lips of that greedy, power-mad criminal, too, btw. The way he despoils everything he touches, so does he sully any expression of noble or respectable ideas when he adopts a term we all know. BushSpeak is truly a vile thing, and I so look forward to the day when I must hear it no more!)

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. Because our side had a guy who lied under oath about having

sex with an intern and they have children to think about. That trumps everything else.

[redqueen]

10. if you have no critical thinking skills, or in other words...

believe everything the corporate media says... then, yeah.

makes perfect sense.

days like this i begin to somewhat see the neo-cons' points. if the vast majority of people are going to act like sheep... why not shear them, herd them, use them?

[windbreeze]

12. one problem with that....

the rest of us...those who see...those who care...those who keep trying to wake the rest of them up....(perhaps those newly contructed detention facilities are really for us?)
windbreeze

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. I would be happy just to use our brains to figure out how to get the

idiots at the front of the line, so that when the last one jumps over the cliff, we'll turn around and bolt and look for greener pastures.

[drm604]

4. Well, when that happens it's time for some kind of national walkout.

Unfortunately, that would probably lead to replacement with lower paid scabs. I'm not sure how to prevent that, but this HAS to be fought somehow.

[rucky]

16. enough workers have been screwed to organize a national strike.

The prospect of retraining the workforce of an entire nation will bring them to their knees.

[windbreeze]

11. Reagan started union busting....

Way back in the early 80's....with the air controller's union....I told my husband then...that if every union in the states did not go on strike in support of that union....that we just possibly live to see the end of unions in this country...recently I asked him...do you remember me saying the unions in this country ought to shut it down...nationwide, in support of the air controllers???? He thought I was nuts when I said it...he's changed his mind...

Norquist gave an interview on Sept 12,2004...in it he stated Democrats, unions, teachers, professors, and colleges...would be the R's target once they took control of all three branches of the gov't....sooooo then, are we surprised that they've done exactly that???
windbreeze

[Zhade]

14. And how many short-sighted Dems will support this?

"Unions 'r bad!"

Better work more than 40 hours a week with no overtime, then, and no weekends, and for 12 hours or more a day, with no safety rules, and no sick leave, and...

Dems who don't support unions are uninformed idiots. Yeah, I said it - IDIOTS. They help enable the destruction of workers' rights and the working class itself.

(#5, btw.)

[Popol Vuh]

15. Hi Green Tea

Thanks for the post :hi:


I have said before to many people but it falls onto deaf ears. That while we still have the internet as we currently know it, and for the survivability of our families, and being fairly compensated for our labor. I believe it is vitally necessary for all working class men and woman from all around the world to create and join a W.T.U.O. (World Trade Unionist Organization).

Yes I made up that name. And its concept is no different than what the multinational corps are doing against us.

It has been my argument to many people, who, some listen and agree, but most it seems goes in one ear and out the other that we HAVE to get together with each other from all around the world and organize the most massive general strike history has ever seen.

Is it such a hard thing to imagine? We have everything going for us at this moment in time to totally slap-down all this corporate robbery of OUR wealth OUR labor creates.

If you look at the scene playing out ALL around the world right now. What we see everywhere is the same thing. The economic disparity that these giant companies (in bed with the governments) have created. And more importantly, the working people getting fed-up with it.

I believe we have the ability RIGHT NOW to take back control of our governments and OUR wealth OUR labor creates. And do it not by violent revolt, but by just simply getting organized with whatever trade unions are left around the world by using the internet and by using independent media to campaign people to join and to organize a mass world wide general strike.

Power is predicated upon wealth. Wealth is predicated upon lots of money. Money value is predicated upon its exchange for goods and services. Goods and services are created by LABOR! Therefore lets exercise OUR power. Lets organize a mass global general strike.

In my opinion, its the only way for us to stop getting ripped off.


:rant:

[readmoreoften]

18. Let me explain how this played out for me.

My rank at the university is teaching assistant. They say that we are not workers because we also take courses at the university. But, they say, if we WERE workers we would not be eligible to unionize, because we'd be managers since we control our classrooms.

A lot of idiots think this is great, too. They say, WOW I'M A MANAGER. In two years, I guarantee 99% of resumes will have "management" experience as everyone is reclassified to take them out of their unions.

[guidod]

19. Do you realize

how hard it was to read that while that creep was sneering at me? WORK UNION!

[Omaha Steve]

20. Great find!

Thanks for the post!