The War Against Workers

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

http://www.aflcio.org/aboutunions/voiceatwork/employerwar.cfm

When workers seek to form a union—whether at a construction site or in an office, hospital or manufacturing plant—their bosses almost always will obstruct their efforts through threats and harassment. Some employers even fire workers for trying to form unions, which is against the law.

Cornell University scholar Kate Bronfenbrenner studied hundreds of organizing campaigns. In her report Uneasy Terrain: The Impact of Capital Mobility on Workers, Wages and Union Organizing, she found:

* Ninety-two percent of private employers, when faced with employees who want to join together in a union, force employees to attend closed-door meetings to hear anti-union propaganda; 80 percent require supervisors to attend training sessions on attacking unions; and 78 percent require that supervisors deliver anti-union messages to workers they oversee.
* Seventy-five percent hire outside consultants to run anti-union campaigns, often based on mass psychology and distorting the law.
* Half of employers threaten to shut down if employees join together in a union.
* In 25 percent of organizing campaigns, employers illegally fire workers because they want to form a union.
* Even after workers successfully form a union, in one-third of the instances, employers never negotiate a contract.

[lastliberalintexas]

1. I applaud your efforts

on behalf on unions and American workers, WCTV. You and I might disagree on candidates, but you keep your eye on the ball- helping workers. But I think your posts will be lost today in all the handwringing about how Hussein's capture means Shrub wins in 2004 or how it at least kills Dean's campaign.

These are the real issues for our voters, though. I only wish that we could continue to focus on ways to help the middle/working class and poor. Instead, we're too focused on Corporate America's War for Oil and the Catch of the Really, Really Bad Man- just like businesses want us to be.

No wonder we keep losing elections.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

2. thanks

I'll be at home working today, so I'm just going to keep kicking this every once in a while when I need a break. I'm wondering what the job picture will be like in the next few months. If there's an uptick in employment, the "growth" we've had will maybe help, so far it hasn't. A bunch of scary layoff/outsourcing stories in the next few months could bring us back to talking about the economy.

[JanMichael]

3. Bad day for substantive comments on real economic issues.

Didn't you get the memo? That Uni-Bomber guy was caught in Iraq.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

4. doesn't matter

As you said in another thread, the Walmartization of America is continuing.

[QC]

5. Kick!

:kick:

[dawn]

6. I disagree with some of the others....this is a great time to bring it up

While everyone else is talking about catching a guy who did horrible things halfway around the world, the workers in this country are being exploited. I think the Dems should focus on this more, instead of always trying to play catch up with Bush on foreign policy.

[JanMichael]

7. I was just being sarcastic. Frankly there's little else more important....

...to me.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=894808&mesg_id=894808

[dawn]

8. :) Ok, I'm slow today.

[lastliberalintexas]

9. Welcome to DU

A belated welcome anyway!

I was being rather facetious in my comments- sorry. I've been saying for months exactly what you just posted. No Dem, no matter what their resume or military experience is, can beat Shrub on national security/war on terra issues. He is perceived to be too strong on those issues by most Americans. We can only tie him by pointing out the problems which still remain.

However, we could absolutely crush him on domestic/economic issues, but instead, we continue to choose to play by the repubs' script. I just don't understand it.

[Ksec]

10. Unions are in decline right now but if

bush would win another term Id bet my asscheeks that they will come back with a vengeance. You only have to kick someone once to make them understand what the agenda is.

[Redleg]

11. Who cares? We caught Saddam!

Just some tongue-in-cheek stuff. I appreciate the info you provided. This is a trend I have noticed as well. Union avoidance activities by employers, including unfair labor practices, have been on the rise, especially with the return of a republican to the WHite House. Those employers know damn well they are violating the NLRA (and amendments) but they persist in their behaviors and get rewarded for it when the union fails to get certified.