Details Emerge on Big Biz Role in Trade Talks
In an eye-opening piece on how high-level politics play out behind the closed doors most of us never got to peek behind, National Journal reporter Chris Frates tracks the plays and the players who put together the just-passed, job-killing Korea, Colombia and Panama trade deals.
For those who don’t believe the power and influence of Big Business , Frates’ story will change their minds. It tells the story of how the business community secretly influenced the trade deals. He writes:
Far outside the public eye, the business community essentially acted as a shadow party to the bilateral talks. Industry lobbyists worked both governments for information, pushed to keep the talks alive, and offered solutions to clear roadblocks and find a middle ground. The industry groups didn’t all have the same agendas—some considered the Colombia pact a must-have priority, while others worried that fights over Colombia and Panama could jeopardize passage of the far bigger deal with Korea. But the business groups formed a united front in pushing for all three deals simultaneously…Almost all of the maneuvering took place in secret, and few of the details ever spilled into the public.
Click here for a longer excerpt from the story (subscription needed for the full article.)
Give Now to Expose the Chamber’s War on Workers
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Want to get in the ring and help battle the Chamber of Commerce? American Rights at Work is holding a fundraiser to help expose the Chamber’s war on workers. The $7,000 in seven days campaign doesn’t aim to compete with the mega-millions the Chamber collects from its Big Business patrons. But your donation can help the workers’ advocacy organization spread the truth about the Chamber. Donate here.
Last year, the Chamber spent more than any other lobbying organization in the country: $144,496,000. And it plans to spend $50,000,000 to influence the upcoming elections. Read the rest of this entry »
STEELING a Union’s ID
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has been called a lot of names. Here’s another one for him: cheater.
It’s not surprising Steele and the Republicans are embarrassed about their party. But Steele has hit a new low (insert Munch’s “Scream” here): He’s set up an RNC fundraising page on Facebook made to look like it’s the United Steelworkers union.
The “United STEELE Workers Union” page even features a hard hat with an American flag sticker front and center.
Just curious, Michael: Doesn’t a white hard hat clash with your designer suits?
Made in America: Corporate PR, Not Practice
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Big Business wants it both ways: It wants to wrap itself in the ol’ red, white and blue while feeding the decline of the U.S. economy through its actual practices.
Here’s the latest example of such corporate hypocrisy. Over the Memorial Day weekend, J.C. Penney advertised a silkscreen T-shirt bearing the slogan, “American Made.” Yet when Joe Allen, a retired apparel manufacturer in the Dallas area, bought the T-shirt, he found it actually was made in Mexico—”of USA fabric.”
Allen didn’t just shrug off such a blatant sleight of hand. He took action, contacting Steve Capozzola at the Alliance for American Manufacturing. Capozzola sent an e-mail to J.C. Penney, saying that the ad was deceptive and asking why the shirt “was emblazoned with an ‘American Made’ slogan when it was in fact made in Mexico.”
What Book Do You Want Obama to Read?
| 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.
