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What Book Do You Want Obama to Read? |
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| It’s time the economy worked for everyone again. That’s the message of this new TV ad in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. |
Over at Washington Monthly, the editors asked a few Famous Names to describe the book they think President Obama should read. But they did not ask the rest of us.
So I’d like to submit a suggestion. In fact, I’ll go easy on the new president and offer up a report rather than an entire book.
Consultants, Lawyers and the “Union Free” Movement in the USA since the 1970s, by British economist John Logan, analyzes the emergence of professional “union-busters,” providing case studies of each of the main groups comprising the industry: law firms, consultants, industry psychologists and strike management firms.
At 18 pages, it’s an easy read for a president who holds his books right-side-up. But the information is crucial for an understanding of why the nation needs passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Big Business lobbyists are all over the new administration and Congress trying to convince lawmakers that corporations are even-handed and open-minded—and therefore no change is needed to current labor laws because the laws are so fair now. NOT.
As Logan makes clear, corporations in this country have declared war on workers and their efforts to join unions:
During the past three decades, militant employer opposition to unionization in the U.S. has effectively turned organizing campaigns into “war,” a war in which unions have frequently been on the losing side and one in which anti-union consultants and law firms have often played a central role.
The report details the extent to which anti-unionism is institutionally entrenched in this country—philosophically and structurally—making it clear the situation will not change unless labor laws are updated. That is, the corporate war on workers will continue unless the Employee Free Choice Act is passed. As the worker advocacy group American Rights at Work points out, some 82 percent of employers hire high-priced union-busting consultants.
Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act isn’t just about unions: It would give workers the power to bargain for better pay, better benefits and job security—all crucial to restoring a fair economy that works for everyone and rebuilding our middle class.
Let’s face it: Opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act aren’t spending $200 million to defeat the bill because it’s not needed.
So, what’s your suggestion for Obama’s reading list?
(This is a cross-post from the Firedoglake blog.)
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http://www.spfpa.org/UnionBusterPagemakerBrochure.pdf
http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/dmdocuments/ARAWReports/UROCUEDcompressedfullreport.pdf
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1132/is_n2_v46/ai_15515998/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1
Employee Free Choice Now . Org
Educating The World on The EFCA.
Myth vs. Reality: The REALITY is the Employee Free Choice Act Helps American Workers and their Families.
Despite the need for reform, critics of EFCA continue to misinform the public about the bill and hide the serious shortcomings of current labor law. Democrats are committed to setting the record straight and passing this important legislation on behalf of American workers and their families.
MYTH: EFCA will prevent the use of secret-ballot elections.
REALITY: EFCA does not strip workers of their right to choose a secret-ballot election to decide whether to select — or not to select — a union representative. EFCA simply gives workers the additional option of selecting a union representative by majority sign-up.
For More Information on EFCA please visit our website and blog
http://www.employeefreechoiceactnow.org
http://efcanow.blogspot.com/
http://www.LaborUnionResources.Org
Obama is not a “free thinker”. What he reads and thinks today is very much controlled by his “handlers” from the Bush and Clinton regimes. Everything that Obama reads today is premised by the needs of the banks, Wall Street, millionaires and billionaires greed, and the corporate controlled Democratic Party.
What does Obama think about working people? Read this critical examination of Obama’s perspective from the inaugural speech:
Obama’s libel against the American people
23 January 2009
The phrases in Barack Obama’s inauguration speech that have evoked the greatest enthusiasm across the political spectrum of the US establishment, from the Republican right to liberal Democrats, were those suggesting that the American people are responsible for the present economic catastrophe. “Our economy is badly weakened,” he declared, “a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.”
…
The working class bears no responsibility for the collapse of the financial system and the resulting recession that is developing into a full-scale depression. Working people have no control over the policies and actions of the multimillionaires and billionaires who bestride Wall Street. They had no say in concocting the Ponzi schemes that generated multimillion-dollar compensation packages and colossal personal fortunes for the financial aristocracy until they collapsed, as they were bound to.”
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jan2009/pers-j23.shtml
How about “The Golden Thirteen: Recollections of the First Black Naval Officers”:
http://militaryprofessionalreadinglists.com/search?keywords=golden+thirteen
It’s on the official 2009 Navy reading list; seems like a good one.
Obama (and others) should read:
The War on Labor and the Left, by Patricia Cayo Sexton (Westview Press, 1991)