Labor Unions

Focus On Bullying: Schools, State Governors, Tea Party Congressional Republicans, And A Supreme Court Justice!

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It is very sad that this nation is witnessing so many examples of bullying as a method of taking advantage of others.

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama held a White House Conference on Bullying Prevention today to draw attention and concern to the growing bullying problem faced by young children, teenagers and early 20s youths in schools and colleges, either because of social pressures, or their sexuality, physical characteristics, or ethnic or religious heritage, often leading tragically to suicides. President Obama even said he had been bullied as a child because of his big ears. A lot of this bullying also occurs on the internet.

But it is not just an issue of young people being bullied. It manifests itself in so many other ways in our political system today, with bad manners and rudeness becoming endemic!

We have Governors such as Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Rick Scott of Florida, Chris Christie of New Jersey, and John Kasich of Ohio, among others, who are bullying public servants who have dedicated their lives to working for their communities as teachers, nurses, firefighters, police officers, prison guards, social workers, librarians and other fields of public service, and now are facing the loss of basic labor rights to collective bargaining that have been long held.

Workers having basic rights of organizing is a human rights issue for anyone in a democracy, and for Wisconsin to bypass the Democrats in their State Senate and strip workers of their basic rights in an unethical and slimy way is despicable beyond belief! Scott Walker is clearly a bully and a political thug, and the other Governors are no better, as they all proclaim, as do Republicans nationally, that we all have to “share the pain”, with the wealthy and corporations however not part of that equation, just the middle class and the poor. There is no sense of morality or decency in these men and their party as they take us back to the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, when labor was first trying to organize to protect the rights of workers.

One hundred fifty years of progress is being wiped out by these right wing fanatics who will stop at nothing to give tax breaks to the rich and the corporations and harm the masses of the nation, who are facing attacks both on their homes and their employment, and being expected to pay more and get less, squeezing the middle class down into poverty!

But the same tactics of confrontation, arrogance and belligerence are also demonstrating themselves in Congress, as the Tea Party freshmen in the House and a small band of Tea Party supporters in the Senate are showing their disdain for civility and rational thought!

And even the Supreme Court is witnessing bullying, primarily by Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, becoming more contemptuous of his fellow Justices when they go against his views. As he nears the 25th anniversary of his elevation to the Court, he is becoming more obnoxious and insufferable than ever!

When will civility and decency return to America in its schools, its government leaders, and even the Supreme Court? Unfortunately, it seems not anytime soon!

Support In Poll For Public Sector Workers As Republican Governors Work To Destroy Unions

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As Scott Walker, John Kasich, Chris Christie and Rick Scott, among other Republican Governors, make clear their campaign to undermine labor unions and strip public service workers of their benefits, a New York Times-CBS News Poll shows the American people oppose efforts to weaken the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions, and are against the cutting of pay and benefits of public workers to reduce state budget deficits.

By 60-33, Americans oppose taking away the bargaining rights of workers, and by 56-37 they are against cutting of pay or benefits to reduce deficits, with larger majorities of Democrats and Independents, and slight plurality favoritism among Republicans of what these governors are attempting to do.
By a slight margin, the poll also supports ability to retire early for police officers and firefighters, and even teachers.

A plurality of 40 percent supported raising taxes to deal with the deficit, and 71 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of Independents opposed weakening collective bargaining rights of public employees.

The only group that had a substantial support for cutting pay and benefits, but even then not a majority (45 percent), were those earning more than $100,000 per year.

A Wisconsin poll also shows nearly 60 percent oppose what Governor Scott Walker is trying to do to destroy collective bargaining, and a recall movement is developing against him and many leaders of the GOP in the legislature. And a poll shows if Walker was running now for Governor, four months after he was elected, he would easily lose!

So with strong Independent support for labor rights, and polls showing great anger against GOP Governors, the Democrats may be able to utilize the anti labor fight in a productive way in 2012!

Organized Labor: The Promoter And Protector Of The Middle Class!

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In the midst of the attack on organized labor going on in Republican governed state governments, many fail to understand how significant a role labor unions have played historically in promoting and protecting the middle class.

When unions flourished in the years after 1945 to 1980, the middle class grew dramatically in size and in prosperity. Labor supported civil rights, social security, medicare, and promotion of organizing rights for workers. They became the counterweight to corporations and Wall Street in the political battles that made America a nation in which gaps in income and wealth narrowed.

Since Ronald Reagan’s Presidency, union membership has declined from one third to about 7 percent, and with it, the working conditions of non union workers has worsened dramatically. What many people did not and do not understand is that when unions prosper, non union workers benefit as well, and when unions decline, all middle class workers lose out.

So we are seeing the middle class slipping in poverty, and with the decline of organized labor, the American Dream of a middle class life is fast disappearing!

This is why the labor battles in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, New Jersey and elsewhere are not just over state public service workers in those states. It is also the future of American workers who never have and never will be members of labor unions, but do not appreciate how much labor power did for them as they moved up the economic ladder, and now do not fully realize yet the growing power of the elite rich and corporations which care not a whit about their workers’ long term future decline, in their mad dash for maximum profits, minimal regulation, and insane passion for never ending concentration of wealth in their own hands!

The Ultimate Hypocrisy: Union Busters Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, And Sean Hannity Are AFL CIO Union Affiliated Members!

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For the past two and a half weeks, since the beginning of mass protests in Wisconsin against Governor Scott Walker’s plan to eliminate collective bargaining for most public employees, the biggest critics of labor rights have been talk show hosts on radio and Fox News Channel, including Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, and Sean Hannity.

All three have made the average listener or watcher think that the public service workers in Wisconsin and nationally–teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses, librarians, sanitation workers, prison guards and others–are radicals, free loaders, extremists, etc. who are being grossly overpaid and gaining unjust pension and health care plans. They have been supporting the right wing attempt led by the Koch Brothers and other corporate interests to destroy the labor movement, which brought about the growth of the middle class.

But it has been proved that all three talk show hosts are, themselves, members of an AFL CIO Union affiliate, AFTRA, which is the acronym for the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists!

These demagogues make millions upon millions of dollars annually, and spew forth lies and propaganda! They have no shame, and are cocky and arrogant!

They find it easy to condemn teachers, who speak and communicate more hours per week than they do, but actually are having a real effect on young people, preparing them for all kinds of occupations, and also for being better human beings. Where would we be without our teachers, who are often unsung, but have a greater impact on more people than any other profession or field of work?

They find it easy to condemn police officers and firefighters who risk their lives every day! They find it easy to attack nurses who save lives every day. They take for granted the efforts of sanitation workers, prison guards, librarians and others who do important public service every day!

They show lack of respect for those on the government payroll who make our lives better every single day, and are NOT adequately recompensed!

What do these talk show hosts contribute? They promote hate, division, lies, propaganda, deception and confrontation, while enriching themselves with their spewing of “hot air”! They contribute NOTHING positive to the future of America, and they have the gall and hypocrisy to gain benefits from a labor union, and yet condemn labor unions and support corporate attempts to destroy the middle class, in their mad dash to avoid paying their fair share of taxes, and displaying lack of social responsibility to anyone other than their own greed and selfishness!

The Collapse Of The American Dream: Back To The Gilded Age

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We are witnessing, in the present economic downturn, a reversal unmatched since the Great Depression.

And all of the cushions and safety net put into place since then, via the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson, is rapidly being lost.

Even the labor reforms that showed up in Wisconsin under Robert LaFollette, Sr. in the Progressive Era are now facing extinction in, of all places, Wisconsin, and the movement against labor unions is spreading to Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, Florida and elsewhere.

We are seeing the return of “slave labor” in the sense that wages are stagnant, and more than ever, part time workers without benefits are becoming the norm in many areas of the economy.

And if one is unfortunate enough to be unemployed, many corporations and businesses are refusing to hire them, as if they are damaged goods.

The attack has begun on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, pension plans, health benefits, and other programs that made life better in America.

Powerful corporations, and wealthy people such as the Koch brothers, are managing to influence the Supreme Court, and are in league with the Republican Party, to set back a century of progress and reform.

This is a battle for survival for millions upon millions of middle class people who are rapidly falling into deprivation and poverty and despair.

The feeling is that there is no future, as life becomes more difficult for working families, but also for young people who have a gloomy view of the future, without an education, or even with a college education.

The Social Darwinist ethic of the late 19th century Gilded Age is returning, that of survival of the fittest, and it is creating an ugly atmosphere in America, as the middle class turns on itself and opposes what other middle class people have, and all this to the benefit of the wealthy and the corporations, who are sitting by and licking their chops as America turns on itself.

This is a very dangerous situation which could lead to a breakdown of law and order, a horrifying thought, as we face a daunting future where economic opportunity seems evasive and scattered.

The political divide in this country MUST be breached, or doom is ahead in more ways than one can imagine!

The Destruction Of Public Employees Labor Unions: An Assault On The Middle Class And 80 Years Of American History! :(

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As the nation faces the toughest economic times since the Great Depression, we are witnessing an assault on public employees and their labor unions, wiping out eighty years of hard gained rights since the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and in so doing, further eroding the middle class!

It was labor unions, which came to full development and success beginning in the 1930s, which helped to create decent working conditions for millions of Americans, both in the public and private sector.

Now Republican Governors, and backed by the Republican leadership in Congress, are salivating over the loss of pension and medical benefits, the end of collective bargaining, and the return of employers, including state governments, dictating conditions of work to employees, as if this was the Gilded Age or the 1920s revived! 🙁

In the process, the middle class is being wiped out, being added to the growing number of Americans who are falling into poverty, and yet the suggestion that raising taxes on the wealthy and business might lessen the assault on hard won labor rights is automatically dismissed.

If the states and the national government continue the Republican assault on the middle class, there is the real danger that people will not just sit by and take punch after punch, and allow their dignity and rights gained long ago to be taken away without a counter reaction.

We are entering very dangerous territory and conditions, and yet the Republican Party seems to be tone deaf and immune to the reality of human suffering, only concerning themselves with the comfort of the elite wealthy and corporations.

It may remind many of the arrogance of the elite in other societies, and how their short sightedness led to unfortunate tragedy!

Democrats and progressives must continue to speak up and oppose with all of their energy this great tragedy of the middle class being destroyed, without any concern as to the long range effect!

The Age Of Right Wing Republicans Begins! State, National, And Supreme Court Evidence Of The Changed Reality! :(

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A number of pieces of news today makes us aware of just how far right wing this country is to be taken by the Republican Party, once the new 112th Congress begins tomorrow! 🙁

News comes that the GOP Governors of many states are declaring “war” on public employee unions, making them the scapegoat of the economic crisis the nation faces! 🙁

The myth is that public service employees are overpaid, have too many benefits, and don’t work very hard. The facts are that people who work for state and local governments are NOT overpaid, and never have been, and while benefits might be better than average in a country where only 15 percent of private employers provide a traditional pension, the reason for their existence is exactly because pay in these jobs is below what many privately employed workers receive.

This is a case of turning the people of the states against their own teachers, police officers, firefighters, prison guards, nurses, social workers, librarians, and agency workers as a move of revenge, as if it is the fault of these workers that economic conditions are terrible.

Rather than blame corporations and the refusal of government to regulate their practices in the public interest, instead the goal is to destroy labor unions of all kinds, even though only NINE percent of all workers are union members! 🙁

Also, we learn that Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Antonin Scalia have no problem being partisan, when they are supposed to be objective and neutral on public matters.

Roberts has sworn in top aides of Speaker John Boehner, a highly unusual action, and Scalia, promoting his concept of “originalism”, now states that women are not protected constitutionally by the “equal protection” clause of the Constitution! 🙁

How outrageous such a statement is, and if that were to be utilized in the future by the Supreme Court majority, it could set us back to the 19th century, and include African Americans, Latinos, Jews, Catholics, and others as not being protected by the Constitution! Is this a move to repeal the 20th century by a reactionary Supreme Court, which would be overruling past Supreme Court cases upholding “equal protection”? 🙁

And finally, Darrell Issa is now asking corporations what laws they want considered for repeal as interfering with their economic activities, as he begins his term as head of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee in the House of Representatives! What could be more corrupt than that, and yet, Issa has the gall to say that the Obama Administration is the most corrupt in a long time! 🙁

It is hard to imagine that by 2012, there will not be “buyer’s remorse” about the Republican Party control of the House and growing influence in the Senate.

And realize that all that the Democrats need to regain control of the House of Representatives is a gain of 25 seats, certainly a manageable possibility!