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Frank on GritTV: Laws Tilted Against Forming a Union on the Job |
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In a recent edition of GRITtv, host Laura Flanders brings together three panelists for a talk about the economy, the labor movement and political organizing.
In one of the highlights of this episode, Thomas Frank, author of The Wrecking Crew, does a great job of explaining our broken labor laws and how they’re preventing millions of workers from exercising their basic freedom to form a union:
You’ve got to remember that one of the reasons it’s so hard to organize in the workplace is that there’s a whole industry out there that has developed to stop people from organizing. There are polls all the time asking, “Would you like to join a union,” “Would you be interested in bargaining with your boss,” that sort of thing, and mostly, people think that’s a good idea—but that doesn’t mean you get to have a union just because you want one. There’s a whole bunch of structural impediments in your way.
For one thing, it’s very easy for management to bring consultants in to try and figure out how to keep it from happening. They have compulsory meetings with staff, they do one-on-one meetings with employees, they do all these things leading up to a union election to make sure a union doesn’t win.
All very true, and it’s why we need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act—to reform our broken labor laws and give everyone the chance to bargain for a better life.
You can watch the whole conversation here.
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I have been saying the same thing for years. Here in Pittsburgh we faced one of the countries toughest opponents to EFCA. After organizing was the 5.5 year fight to get our first contract. It’s like health care reform, companies and the Chamber of Commerce spends Billions fighting the middle class from forming any type of organization like unions to gain ground and build an economy that works for everyone, by which would take from the top 1% of the richest in this country. We all know they control the economy, to many people listen to talk show hosts in hopes they will become one of them.
Wake up and see life like it really is “It’s a struggle to be poor in the richest country in the world.” Even with two incomes it always seems to be out of reach for the majority of Americans. If you think there is a way out and you’re a citizen of the United States of America then you must think our founding fathers had rocks in their head when they gave their life’s to form this great union the USA.
It’s not socialism when we earn the money that makes the top 1% rich. It’s called earning a fare wage and benefits for making them RICH.
Unions themselves must recognize that they are the most effective way to fight the rampant greed which has corrupted our Democracy and turned OUR government into an ATM for those who buy influence in order to stuff their own bulging, mink lined pockets (at our expense of course). The corporate and financial elite have always known this and fund their lobbyists and front groups with staggering amounts of money. Why? To enact NAFTA, to de-regulate Wall Street, to de-regulate Banks, to roll back labor laws, to neuter any real healthcare reform, to keep Main Street from realizing exactly who robbed them and their children of their standard of living and, to keep things just the way they are.
As both Democratic and Republican citizens of this great country become increasingly aware of the aforementioned, the lobbyists are now ordered to make sure that the citizens do not have the ability to effectively organize against the greed which continues to wreck our economy. Have you seen the full page ads filled with twisted half truths against Unions and the Employee Free Choice Act? Ever wonder who is paying for those and why? Are they really doing this for your benefit? If you think they are, you were probably one of the freshmen in high school who bought the elevator passes from an unscrupulous senior….
The result of not participating in politics is that you end up being governed by those who are only interested in conducting public affairs for private advantage.
Joseph M. Pijanowski
http://www.iam126.org
Unions themselves must recognize that they are the most effective way to fight the rampant greed which has corrupted our Democracy and turned OUR government treasury into an ATM for those who buy influence in order to stuff their own already bulging, mink lined pockets (at our expense of course). The corporate and financial elite have always known how this works and fund their lobbyists and front groups with staggering amounts of money. Why? To enact NAFTA, to de-regulate Wall Street, to de-regulate Banks, to roll back labor laws, to neuter any real healthcare reform, to keep Main Street from realizing exactly who robbed them and their children of their standard of living and, to keep things just the way they are.
As both Democratic and Republican citizens of this great country become increasingly aware of the aforementioned, the lobbyists are now ordered to make sure that the citizens do not have the ability to effectively organize against the greed which continues to wreck our economy. Have you seen the full page ads filled with twisted half truths against Unions and the Employee Free Choice Act? Ever wonder who is paying for those and why they would spend so much on them?
Joseph M. Pijanowski
http://www.iam126.org