Republicans Sticking it to the working man again

[Spider]

http://rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chron.com% 2Fdisp%2Fstory.mpl%2Fap%2Fpolitics%2F4921105.html
Political news

June 26, 2007, 1:48PM
Senate Republicans block union bill

By JESSE J. HOLLAND AP Labor Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press
TOOLS
Email

Get section feed
Print

Subscribe NOW
Comments

Recommend

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked a bill that would allow labor unions to organize workplaces without a secret ballot election.

Democrats were unable to get the 60 votes needed to force consideration of the Employee Free Choice Act, ending organized labor's chance to win its top legislative priority from Congress.

The final vote was 51-48.

The outcome was not a surprise, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., saying for months that he would stop the legislation in the Senate. The White House also made clear that if the bill passed Congress it would be vetoed.

The House passed the bill in March. Democrats and labor unions pressed for a vote in the Senate in hopes of rallying their voters in the 2008 elections, where they hope to win the White House and increase their majorities in the House and Senate.

"We will keep coming back year after year after year," said Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

The GOP also plans to use the vote for election-year campaigning, with corporations and businesses being the top opponents to the legislation. The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent out a fundraising video last week asking people to contribute in order to help stop the Employee Free Choice Act.

"Republicans will remind our constituents about the fact that Democrats proposed to strip workers of their voting rights," McConnell said.

The legislation was a litmus test vote for organized labor and businesses, strong supporters of Democrats and Republicans respectively. "Today's vote shows us who is standing with workers and which politicians are in collusion with corporate America to destroy the middle class," Teamsters President Jim Hoffa said.

Business associations, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, also plan to grade lawmakers based on their vote. "The Chamber will include votes on, or in relation to, this issue in our annual 'How They Voted' scorecard," warned R. Bruce Josten, the top U.S. Chamber of Commerce lobbyist, in a letter to Congress.

The bill would require employers to recognize unions after being presented union cards signed by a majority of eligible workers on their payrolls. Under current labor law, a company can demand a secret ballot election supervised by the federal government after being presented the union cards.

The bill's proponents say years of Republican control of the White House and Congress have given corporations and businesses the upper hand when it comes to union elections. Obstacles to organizing are a major reason union membership has dropped from 20 percent of wage and salary workers in 1983 to 12 percent in 2006, they say.

Unions complain that employers have greater access to workers during secret ballot campaigns and claim that corporate threats, intimidation and eventual firings have become common for union activists. By dragging out the election process, companies often succeed in wearing down union enthusiasm, they add.

Employers contend that union recognition elections prevent just the reverse from happening. Using only a card check system, they argue, would enable union organizers to use their knowledge of who did and didn't sign cards to intimidate reluctant workers.

In the 2004 elections, organized labor gave $53.6 million to Democratic candidates and party committees in a losing effort to capture both the White House and Congress, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That number rose to $57.5 million in 2006, when Democrats successfully took the House and Senate from the GOP.

But businesses, which oppose the Employee Free Choice Act, donate largely to the Republican Party. Business concerns gave $122 million to the Republican Party in 2004 and another $81 million in 2006 for national elections, the Center for Responsive Politics said.

___

[W*GS]

If a secret ballot is good enough for voting in an election, how come unions don't like secret ballots any more?

[defenseman]

Sticking it to the working man? That is strictly a matter of opinion. Never liked unions myself. They've become dinosaurs....dman

[Rascal]

Meanwhile Obama stick it's to EVERY ****ING AMERICAN in his amendment to make it easy for companies to hire illegals.

When I can I vote for that ****ing asshole?

[Smiling Assassin27]

If the Repubs really wanted to help the American worker, they'd outlaw unions. Hyperbole? Maybe....Maybe not.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

If the Repubs really wanted to help the American worker, they'd outlaw unions. Hyperbole? Maybe....Maybe not.Ignorant tripe? No doubt about it.

[Rascal]

If a secret ballot is good enough for voting in an election, how come unions don't like secret ballots any more?

Spot on. :thumbsup:

[Bronco_Beerslug]

If a secret ballot is good enough for voting in an election, how come unions don't like secret ballots any more?If the majority of workers have already signed union cards why should they have to vote on it?

[W*GS]

If the majority of workers have already signed union cards why should they have to vote on it?

How would an employer know if the majority had signed union cards?

Secret ballots are good enough for many kinds of votes; why are unions afraid of them now?

[Bronco_Beerslug]

How would an employer know if the majority had signed union cards?
Uh, because they are turned into the employer after they are signed?

[orangeatheist]

I tell ya what's going to "stick it to" this working man. When my tax cut is taken away.

I've never seen what a Union does --in my experience-- other than allow lazy slobs to get by while taking the best, higher paying shifts from the younger, harder working guys and then go out on benefits or paid FMLA because they have "stress headaches" or back problems.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

I tell ya what's going to "stick it to" this working man. When my tax cut is taken away. When and why is that happening?

I've never seen what a Union does --in my experience-- other than allow lazy slobs to get by while taking the best, higher paying shifts from the younger, harder working guys and then go out on benefits or paid FMLA because they have "stress headaches" or back problems.I hear that crap a lot from people mostly who don't have any experience working union.

[Spider]

Dumbasses probably never been a part of the union , yet flapping their gums as if they had a clue .....ROFL! ........ and we wonder why Bush is in office ......

[Rascal]

You don't have to be a dung beetle to identify ****.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

You don't have to be a dung beetle to identify ****.Yo don't have to be one to eat it up either.

[Spider]

You don't have to be a dung beetle to identify ****.
I wasnt commenting on your dinner

[Rascal]

Yo don't have to be one to eat it up either.

Now that is a good comeback.

[Rascal]

I wasnt commenting on your dinner

I'll have to relay that to your wife.

[Spider]

I'll have to relay that to your wife.

LOL too much...... last times wives were talked about you got pissed wanted to fight , I agreed to meet you , you threatened to call the cops , now here you are ........Think long and hard fat boy before before you go down this road

[W*GS]

It's just interesting that there's opposition to a secret ballot. Why?

[Stormontheplains]

Since I read that the unions are against the immigration bill, I am now pro-union. This is a huge policy shift for me.

[Spider]

It's just interesting that there's opposition to a secret ballot. Why?

um have you see a national election ? ...... Just saying making the workers jump through more hoops is just idiotic

[Spider]

Since I read that the unions are against the immigration bill, I am now pro-union. This is a huge policy shift for me.

welcome to the good side ;D

[Hotrod]

Onions we need no stinking onions

[Bronco_Beerslug]

It's just interesting that there's opposition to a secret ballot. Why?Because companies threaten, coerce and manipulate employees (http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/upload/EFCA_Lafer_20070208.pdf) leading up to these "elections" in some cases. The only thing in common with these elections with regular democratic elections is they are secret.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="568"><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" background="/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/images/title_back.gif" height="39" valign="top">10 KEY FACTS
</td></tr><tr><td background="/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/images/vertical_dot.gif" valign="top">http://www.aflcio.org/images/misc_transparent.gif</td><td>What is the Employee Free Choice Act? (http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/whatis.cfm) >> 10 Key Facts

<table id="10key" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="6" width="100%"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td width="10%">http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/images/template3b_r_num_1.gif</td><td id="10key" width="90%">America’s workers want to form unions. Research shows nearly 60 million would form a union tomorrow if given the chance (http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/57million.cfm).
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td>http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/images/template3b_r_num_2.gif</td><td>Too few ever get that chance because employers routinely block their efforts to form unions (http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/brokensystem.cfm)—and our current legal system is too broken to stop them. As many as one-quarter of employers illegally fire workers who try to form unions.
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td>http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/images/template3b_r_num_3.gif</td><td>The Employee Free Choice Act would give workers a fair chance to form unions to improve their lives by:

Allowing them to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation.
Providing mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes.
Establishing stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiations.</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td>http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/images/template3b_r_num_4.gif</td><td>In the 110th Congress, the Employee Free Choice Act has widespread support (http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/cosponsors_110.cfm).
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td>http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/images/template3b_r_num_5.gif</td><td>More than three-quarters of Americans (javascript:HandleLink('cpe_79601_0','CPNEWWIN:chi ld^toolbar=1,location=1,directories=0,status=1,men ubar=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1@/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/upload/EFCA_Polling_Summary.pdf');)—77 percent—support strong laws that give employees the freedom to make their own choice about whether to have a union in their workplace without interference from management (PDF).
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td>http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/images/template3b_r_num_6.gif</td><td>Allowing working people to choose for themselves whether to have a union is the key step toward rebuilding America’s middle class. Union membership brings better wages and benefits and a real voice on the job (javascript:HandleLink('cpe_79601_0','CPNEWWIN:chi ld^toolbar=1,location=1,directories=0,status=1,men ubar=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1@/joinaunion/why/uniondifference/upload/advantage.pdf');) (PDF). It’s no accident that the 25-year decline in workers’ wages in our country has paralleled a 25-year slide in the size of the America’s unions.
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td>http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/images/template3b_r_num_7.gif</td><td>The Employee Free Choice Act would put democracy back into the workplace. Majority sign-up would ensure the decision whether to form a union was made by majority choice, not by the employer unilaterally.
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td>http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/images/template3b_r_num_8.gif</td><td>Workers can still vote under the Employee Free Choice Act. At any time, if 30 percent of the workers want an election, they can have one. And once they have a union, workers also vote to elect their union representatives.
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td>http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/images/template3b_r_num_9.gif</td><td>The Employee Free Choice Act has the support of hundreds of respected organizations and individuals (http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/whosupport.cfm)—major religious denominations, academics and civil and human rights groups and others.
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td>10.
</td><td>The AFL-CIO union movement is working in many ways to restore good jobs, health care and retirement security—but passing the Employee Free Choice Act is our top priority because we cannot create balance for working people or rebuild the middle class unless workers genuinely have the freedom to form unions for a better life.
</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>

[orangeatheist]

I hear that crap a lot from people mostly who don't have any experience working union.

Well, that wouldn't be true in my case. My Union does a nice job protecting the slug who sits across from me, takes off about 6 months during the year for various "illnesses", works the premium late shifts and weekends for the extra dough (which she's paid even when she doesn't show up for work), and sticks those of us low on the seniority list and who actually don't use up their sick days or vacation (and have NEVER gone out on benefits, FMLA or disability) with the crap non-differential shifts during the heaviest work hours of the day.


Yep. "Union and Proud".

[orangeatheist]

Dumbasses probably never been a part of the union , yet flapping their gums as if they had a clue ......

Gee, Spide. Been in a Union with two different companies. I've first hand experience and what I just relayed I've seen happen time and time again.

Is that saying all Unions are bad? No. Everything they do is crap? No.

But I really resent you idiots implying that I don't know what I'm talking about when I've seen the dark side of Unions. I know for a FACT that a good number of lazy, good-for-nothing slobs get protected by the Union and these morons are the LOUDEST and PROUDEST Union members in the places I've worked. While the rest of us are slaving at our jobs, these idiots are the first ones to leave the work to us while they have doughnut-filled meetings to discuss Union "business." They're the ones leaving their desks and their lower seniority "bretheren" to pick up their slack while they run out in front of the building to stage "mock picket lines". They are typically the oldest and fattest employees of the business. These folks have a TON of vacation and holidays saved up, blow it all in the first few months of the year and then find mysterious illnesses to skip out of work the rest of the year on benefits, FMLA or disability.

So don't come off dismissing someone else's take as uninformed when I have PLENTY of experience with Unions (over ten years worth) to speak from.

Does that mean YOUR Union sucks? No. I don't know about your experiences. But, by the same token, you don't know about mine. That's why I prefaced my comments with the notation, "in my experience." Now, you and Beer put away your broad brushes, cuz I never did take out mine.

[Spider]

Gee, Spide. Been in a Union with two different companies. I've first hand experience and what I just relayed I've seen happen time and time again.

Is that saying all Unions are bad? No. Everything they do is crap? No.

But I really resent you idiots implying that I don't know what I'm talking about when I've seen the dark side of Unions. I know for a FACT that a good number of lazy, good-for-nothing slobs get protected by the Union and these morons are the LOUDEST and PROUDEST Union members in the places I've worked. While the rest of us are slaving at our jobs, these idiots are the first ones to leave the work to us while they have doughnut-filled meetings to discuss Union "business." They're the ones leaving their desks and their lower seniority "bretheren" to pick up their slack while they run out in front of the building to stage "mock picket lines". They are typically the oldest and fattest employees of the business. These folks have a TON of vacation and holidays saved up, blow it all in the first few months of the year and then find mysterious illnesses to skip out of work the rest of the year on benefits, FMLA or disability.

So don't come off dismissing someone else's take as uninformed when I have PLENTY of experience with Unions (over ten years worth) to speak from.

Does that mean YOUR Union sucks? No. I don't know about your experiences. But, by the same token, you don't know about mine. That's why I prefaced my comments with the notation, "in my experience." Now, you and Beer put away your broad brushes, cuz I never did take out mine.

oooooooooo seen the dark side have we ? or star wars ?
Who in the **** said I was even talking to you ?
and finally do I give a rats`ass about you or your experiences ?

[Spider]

Hey dumbass look up the word Probably ......get back to me when you find out what it means .......

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Well, that wouldn't be true in my case. My Union does a nice job protecting the slug who sits across from me, takes off about 6 months during the year for various "illnesses", works the premium late shifts and weekends for the extra dough (which she's paid even when she doesn't show up for work), and sticks those of us low on the seniority list and who actually don't use up their sick days or vacation (and have NEVER gone out on benefits, FMLA or disability) with the crap non-differential shifts during the heaviest work hours of the day.
Yep. "Union and Proud".Well, that crap ain't right. I don't condone that stuff at all.

I've been in an industrial trades union for most of my life and worked harder than hell most every day as did most everyone else (there's always a few slackers in any large group). We don't have sick days or holiday pay or any of that stuff but make good pay and benefits for hours worked. Not possible to slack off in our trades as the work wouldn't get done and the company wouldn't make money which would mean they wouldn't get future work. Now if a guy got hurt but still could make it on the job, we would cover for him until he was back up to snuff and most all companies had no problem with that.

I just get tired of people painting all unions with the same brush and most the time it's someone that hasn't even done union work. I'm sorry that you've been exposed to the type of working atmosphere you're describing, it does nothing to help unions move forward.

EDIT: I forgot to add that I'm pretty sure you don't have to worry about losing your tax cut unless you're making over $250,000 a year.

[Spider]

Well, that crap ain't right. I don't condone that stuff at all.

I've been in an industrial trades union for most of my life and worked harder than hell most every day as did most everyone else (there's always a few slackers in any large group). We don't have sick days or holiday pay or any of that stuff but make good pay and benefits for hours worked. Not possible to slack off in our trades as the work wouldn't get done and the company wouldn't make money which would mean they wouldn't get future work. Now if a guy got hurt but still could make it on the job, we would cover for him until he was back up to snuff and most all companies had no problem with that.

I just get tired of people painting all unions with the same brush and most the time it's someone that hasn't even done union work. I'm sorry that you've been exposed to the type of working atmosphere you're describing, it does nothing to help unions move forward.

;D I left the union to become a real estate mogul bought a bunch of homes in the middle of nowhere wyoming , figuring with the energy boom i will make it rich , didnt work out that way , so I sold them got another truck and decided to work for myself , That didnt work , so now I work for my Brother , he scoffs at the Idea of a union seein how it is just me and him , but I get 50.00 per day perdium I am out here + my pay ..so I cant bitch too much ;D

[Bronco_Beerslug]

;D I left the union to become a real estate mogul bought a bunch of homes in the middle of nowhere wyoming , figuring with the energy boom i will make it rich , didnt work out that way , so I sold them got another truck and decided to work for myself , That didnt work , so now I work for my Brother , he scoffs at the Idea of a union seein how it is just me and him , but I get 50.00 per day perdium I am out here + my pay ..so I cant b**** too much ;DGet it while you can. :) I worry for my kids that sometime in the near future ( in the next decade or so) we might be heading for some type of major economic turndown in this country because of our oil addiction.

[W*GS]

Because companies threaten, coerce and manipulate employees leading up to these "elections" in some cases. The only thing in common with these elections with regular democratic elections is they are secret.

Whereas a union would never engage in any underhanded tactics, would they?

Why do unions fear secret ballots?

And spare me the AFL-CIO spin.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Whereas a union would never engage in any underhanded tactics, would they?Some may but why do Republicans and companies want them after the employees have already said they want to unionize after turning in their cards?

Why do unions fear secret ballots?
They don't fear elections, they know that companies stringing out the process have time to intimidate and threaten employees with their jobs before the election ever happens.

[W*GS]

Some may but why do Republicans and companies want them after the employees have already said they want to unionize after turning in their cards?

As if a group of union members standing around a guy debating whether or not to get his card doesn't count as intimidation.

They don't fear elections, they know that companies stringing out the process have time to intimidate and threaten employees with their jobs before the election ever happens.

The key is the secrecy of the ballot process. Why are unions opposed to that? Why not simply set a time limit on the election that employers must follow rather than eliminating the secret ballot?

[Garcia Bronco]

As if a group of union members standing around a guy debating whether or not to get his card doesn't count as intimidation.



The key is the secrecy of the ballot process. Why are unions opposed to that? Why not simply set a time limit on the election that employers must follow rather than eliminating the secret ballot?

Perhaps they aren't getting the "results" they would like?

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Perhaps they aren't getting the "results" they would like?Once the cards are signed, if it's a majority, and turned in, then they have achieved the results they wanted. But it's NOT the results the company wanted so they convinced a Republican Congress to add to the process (requiring a vote). Now knowing who signed the cards the company can go to work on those individuals and others, harassing, threatening, even terminating them before a vote happens.

[cutthemdown]

For Congress to screw anyone right now they need Democrats to do it. Even if every republican voted agianst this bill it would still need a few democrats to thwart it.

[defenseman]

Since I read that the unions are against the immigration bill, I am now pro-union. This is a huge policy shift for me.

I can't knuckle. I'm still against unions and the immigration bill....dman

[Bronco_Beerslug]

For Congress to screw anyone right now they need Democrats to do it. Even if every republican voted agianst this bill it would still need a few democrats to thwart it.
It was 51-48. 60 needed to pass so no that isn't true.

The outcome was not a surprise, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., saying for months that he would stop the legislation in the Senate.

[Spider]

I can't knuckle. I'm still against unions and the immigration bill....dman

Iron man ........ But the military is one big union .....

[Cito Pelon]

Sticking it to the working man? That is strictly a matter of opinion. Never liked unions myself. They've become dinosaurs....dman

I disagree. Unions serve an important purpose in any free labor market. The big purpose is they keep overall wages higher in any industry - the non-union shops have to keep their wages/bennies up higher to compete for skilled workers.

It's all about balance. As for this particular bill, it had some flaws. The point is to keep unions in the mix.

I've worked union and non-union. The people that bitch and moan about the Union, ya know what? There's other lower paying jobs they could get in the same dang industry. Do they? No, they stick with the union shop. These are generally asshats that will be malcontents no matter where they work.

I'm not the biggest fan in the world of unions, I've seen their flaws, and I know there are some Locals that have played their cards very stupidly. But overall, labor unions are a good thing for a nation's economy.

[Cito Pelon]

If the Repubs really wanted to help the American worker, they'd outlaw unions. Hyperbole? Maybe....Maybe not.

Show me a nation with weak/nonexistent labor unions, and I'll show you a Third World nation.

[Cito Pelon]

Well, that wouldn't be true in my case. My Union does a nice job protecting the slug who sits across from me, takes off about 6 months during the year for various "illnesses", works the premium late shifts and weekends for the extra dough (which she's paid even when she doesn't show up for work), and sticks those of us low on the seniority list and who actually don't use up their sick days or vacation (and have NEVER gone out on benefits, FMLA or disability) with the crap non-differential shifts during the heaviest work hours of the day.


Yep. "Union and Proud".

There has to be a non-union shop you could work for in the same industry. Maybe you'd be happier there?

[Spider]

There has to be a non-union shop you could work for in the same industry. Maybe you'd be happier there?

OA may bitch and whine about his union but he wont leave .... he needs that cross to bare ;D
some people are not happy unless they have some thing to bitch about