Nearly Identical Anti-Labor Bills Appear In Maine, Missouri, New Hampshire, Other States

[1776Forever]

Think Progress Reports: Nearly Identical Anti-Labor Bills Appear In Maine, Missouri, New Hampshire, Other States

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/12/identical-rightwing-antiworker-bills/

Reporting for the progressive Maine blog Dirigo Blue, Gerald Weinand has discovered that a proposed “right to work” law in Maine mirrors similar proposals in several other states, like New Hampshire and Missouri. The legislation in Maine, LD788, sponsored by State Rep. Tom Winsor (R), would make Maine like other low-wage anti-labor states by weakening unions. Right to work laws typically allow workers to opt-out of union dues while benefiting from union contracts, a cycle that usually kills a labor union over time. But the assault on worker rights in Maine appears to be part of a larger attack coordinated by conservative front groups. Winsor’s bill contains phrases and language strikingly similar to other right to work proposals from Republicans across the country....

The conservative strategy for decimating the labor movement is being replicated with great speed — and little creativity. Each state, from Wisconsin, to Ohio, to Maine, and others across the country face a similar threat of phony Tea Party groups, business front organizations, and even nearly identical legislative proposals.

(more at link)

............

Keep vigilant!

:kick:

[LiberalEsto]

1. Gee, what a coincidence

:sarcasm:

It looks like this is something they have been planning for a while.

[1776Forever]

3. It all about privitization! You either work for the "man" or you don't work.

They tell you the price for your wages and you take it or leave it and don't work and loose everything you own or end up working 2 or 3 part-time jobs. :argh:

[barbiegeek]

19. When Reps say they don't believe in Public Sector & privatization THEY WEREN'T JOKING

They are serious. They do NOT want any Fed, State, or Local government ownership of ANYTHING. They want it all to be private industry: police, fire, schools, medical, waste water, sewer, trash, recycle, EVERYTHING.

[1776Forever]

27. Oh for sure! This article is one that states the facts on this and is why Repub's wanted W in 2000:

This article appears in the March 31, 2006 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

Rohatyn, Shultz, Cheney `Privatization' Scheme To Wreck U.S. National Security
by Jeffrey Steinberg

http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2006/3313rohatyn_privatiz.html

On Oct. 9, 2004...

...In his own remarks on the final panel at Middlebury, Rohatyn, in his usual glib style, let the cat out of the bag: "I will address this issue as privatization and what goes with it, not if it's good or bad, because I think it is here to stay and there's no point in arguing that issue. And also because I think it will grow. I don't think for a moment that privatization will stop with security services.... I believe it is inevitable that more and more ranking officers will leave the Pentagon and go with private companies, and then go back to the military as contractors, with businesses that have far greater market values. Because one actor that you haven't included here are the securities markets. And privatization, which is a dogma as well as a process, usually brings with it two other elements. One is deregulation and the other is a need for transparency."

Rohatyn argued that, for the privatization of national security to work on a grand scale, it must be run by large multinational corporations—i.e., cartels—which are "regulated" by the invisible hand of the stock market: "The big companies have because they are transparent, because they are listed on securities exchanges, because there is a sanction if they do something wrong. That doesn't exist with the smaller players," he said, making a pointed reference to the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, where private contractors, hired as translators and interrogators, took part in the abuses.

Rohatyn concluded: "The issue of what is it that only the government can do: It's probably to kill people. But I don't think there are that many issues where the government can act where the private sector can't play a role if it is properly overseen, and if the community of interests is protected."

(Much more at link)

............

This was the start of the real push that we have seen snowball in the last 10 years. This is what Eisenhower spoke about.

[Junkdrawer]

5. That's crazy Conspiracy Theory talk. Everyone KNOWS the wealthy...

are independent actors who never even talk to one another, much less act in concert.

Sheesh.

[The Doctor.]

12. Yep, here it comes.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x635610

We've seen this from a long way off, now it's happening.

[Tesha]

24. This is how *REAL POLITICS* is played.

It's only Democrats who have no policy, no
plans, no publicity, and no execution. The
other side has all of these by the shipload.

We could learn a thing or two from them and
if we ever did, the disastrous inaction of
2008-2010 would never occur again.

Tesha

[underpants]

2. I saw this on ThinkProgress earlier

was going to post it

Some of this is the formality of legislative language but it mostly a template (like tort reform bills) of a highly organized operation.

[Davis_X_Machina]

6. ALEC

Here...

[fascisthunter]

4. Republican Fascists attacking the average American just so the rich get tax cuts

any working class republican should be ashamed to have voted for these sick bastards.

[endless october]

7. will conservatives work those jobs for lousy pay?

no, they won't.

and they'll argue all day about how executive management deserves million dollar salaries even if those salaries are propped up by bailouts.

but try to pay a teacher fairly, and then it's communism.

[barbiegeek]

25. What else will there be when all the schools are gone

When all Public education is gone and it's only crappy jobs and they can't read; they will take what they can get without knowing any difference. Then the RW controlled media will change the message to benefit themselves.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. There is a definite conservative think-tank behind this.

[Davis_X_Machina]

10. This one...

...ALEC.

[tabatha]

11. Yes, the Koch conservative think tanks.

Here they are:

http://freemarketmonument.org/organizations.php

Adam Smith Institute
Americans for Prosperity
Americans for Tax Reform
Atlas Economic Research Foundation
Bionomics Institute
Capitalism.org
Cato Institute
Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation
Citizens Against Government Waste
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Federalist Society
Foundation for Economic Education
Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment
Free Market Foundation of South Africa
Free Market Medicine
FreedomWorks
Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation
Frontiers of Freedom Institute
Goldwater Institute
Heartland Institute
Heritage Foundation
The Independent Institute
Institute of Economic Affairs
Institute for Health Freedom
Institute for Humane Studies
Institute for Justice
Institute for Liberty
Institute for Policy Innovation
Locke Institute
Ludwig von Mises Institute
Mackinac Center for Public Policy
Manhattan Institute
Mont Pelerin Society
National Center for Policy Analysis
Pacific Research Institute
Pioneer Institute
Political Economy Research Center
Reason Foundation
Smithsonian Institute Museum of American Finance

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. As far as improving the quality of life for all Americans, these groups

are an epic fail. But, unfortunately, they must be working for their members who are in the prime place to siphon off America's resources once they get access to the coffers.

[1776Forever]

20. I think this is their "hobby" and Control of Public Policy is their goal! n/t

[livvy]

9. A.L.E.C. The unofficial tax exempt pre-written bill writer

I posted this as a separate post, actually accidentally...really meant to respond to your post only. I haven't posted much here in a while, and the old brain misfired and I ended up with my own post too...oh, well. It's an interesting piece.
Anyway.....
If you go to the link below, you will see the whole treatise researched and detailed by investigators. It is jaw-dropping information. It is long and there are many links included in the text. Worth a read.
Here is a snippet of what it includes:

"Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and the Snyder Team/Policy are about to become the first totally irrelevant 'Republican' Administration in Michigan history. Armed and on the march with prewritten policy and legislation from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and other think-tanks, the Michigan Republican Majorities in both the Michigan Senate and Michigan House of Representatives are steamrolling a right wing agenda -Michigan "Government in a Box"."
"Using imported 'model legislation' Michigan Legislators have already put up a long list of bills built by special interest led teams outside of Michigan. The goal: complete rewrite of Michigan's government and policies designed over decades by conservative, right wing / corporate interests to suit their agenda and profits, not the needs of Michigan citizens."...
"Years back a fledgling group of far right businessmen and ideologues began to comprehend the value of having direct and effective access to this process of state-by-state development, introduction, and passage of agendas into law. They formed A.L.E.C. - The American Legislative Exchange Council." ...
"Koch Foundations fund the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and unless you have been hiding under a rock, that is the Heritage Foundation’s Michigan subsidiary closely and directly tied to the Amway Clan, Dick DeVos, failed candidate for Governor in 2006 and a long list of former Michigan Governor John Engler cronies."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/08/953811/-Gov-Rick-Snyder-Sellout-Prefabricated-Corporate-Michigan-%28Government%29-Courtesy-of-KochALEC-Excl

[OHdem10]

13. Missouri had a big rally on Friday? 43,000 attended.

Spread the word. Keep the rallies going.

[liberal N proud]

14. It is going to take an uprising bigger than Madison to stop these things

[Sherman A1]

15. Thanks for Posting

Hardly a surprise...

[WinkyDink]

16. No conspiracy here, folks; run along and behave.

[seeviewonder]

18. I'd like to see someone in the Illinois

statehouse pull that shit. We'll prove just how much of a blue state we are!

[Forkboy]

21. Don't dare mention the term "Class War" though.

[Pacifist Patriot]

22. Can we have a go at them for plagiarism?

The Tea Party hard on for states' rights begins to look a little limp when states start lining up to pass identical legislation.

[1776Forever]

23. Too bad they are so dense that don't realize that! Good point! n/t

[eowyn_of_rohan]

26. The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy at work -nt