David Sirota: The war on workers

[bigtree]

Monday, September 4, 2006

On America Working

by, David Sirota



U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige labeled one "a terrorist organization." Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, called them "a clear and present danger to the security of the United States." And U.S. Rep. Charles Norwood, R-Ga., claimed they employ "tyranny that Americans are fighting and dying to defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan" and are thus "enemies of freedom and democracy," who show "why we still need the Second Amendment" to defend ourselves with firearms.

Who are these supposed threats to America? No, not Osama bin Laden followers, but labor unions made up of millions of workers -- janitors, teachers, firefighters, police officers, you name it.

Bashing organized labor is a Republican pathology, to the point where unions are referenced with terms reserved for military targets. In his 1996 article, headlined "GOP Readies for War With Big Labor," conservative columnist Robert Novak cheered the creation of a "GOP committee task force on the labor movement" that would pursue a "major assault" on unions. As one Republican lawmaker told Novak, GOP leaders champion an "anti-union attitude that appeals to the mentality of hillbillies at revival meetings."

The hostility, while disgusting, is unsurprising. Unions wield power for workers, meaning they present an obstacle to Republican corporate donors, who want to put profit-making over other societal priorities.

article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/09/04/EDG3BKSCQI1.DTL

[bigtree]

1. kick

:kick:

[me b zola]

2. Most people don't know the history of worker's rights

People paid dearly, sometimes with their lives for a decent wage and safe working conditions. That struggle took almost a hundred years. The gop has destroyed all of those gains in 25 years.

So when GOP lawmakers pledge their commitment to workers at Labor Day celebrations today, remember -- Republicans are waging a war on the very workers they purport to care about.

I woke this morning to hear Labor Secretary Elaine Chao on cnn making comments for Labor Day that were truly insulting to workers. It was distgusting. Even Soledad O'Brien refuted her talking points, but Chao did what every rethug does---LIE, LIE, LIE.

[bigtree]

4. what the hell does Chao know about working

or working people?

she was disgusting. she wasn't the worst, though:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060904.html

[me b zola]

5. There is sooo much (sickenly) wrong with his remarks/speech

...almost every single word is a lie, untruth, or some kind of distortion. But because it is Labor Day, I will just yell about this one thing:

And finally, one of the ways to make sure that we're a competitive nation is to continue opening up markets for U.S. products. If I was somebody who was driving a ship, or an engineer on a ship, I'd want to hear a President say, we want you to be selling U.S. products -- transporting U.S. products around the world. See, we got 5 percent of the world's people here in the United States, which means 95 percent are potential customers. And therefore, it's important for us to be aggressive about opening up markets.

US Products?! US manufacturing is almost non-existant. What the hell do we make here any more except for weapons?! That's the only thing left to trade is weapons. :argh:



Oh, and I guess I fibbed, I've got one more thing to point out:

And my message to the world is this: Just treat us the way we treat you. That's all we expect

:wtf: Can you imagine if other nations treated us the same way that we treated them?! Unbelievable! When I heard him say this this AM I thought, oh shit, is he inviting other people to bomb us & destroy our infrastructure? Geezus, that statement will go down in my book of most absurd statements of all time.

[bigtree]

6. the sickening thing is that he actually belives he's making good points

It's that 'stupid people' barrier of his. Hard to argue with a stupid person. They just keep repeating the same idiotic crap over and over till you get tired of standing there, then . . . mission accomplished.

thanks for the counterpoints!

[elehhhhna]

9. When did he say this??????

"And my message to the world is this: Just treat us the way we treat you. That's all we expect"

Link, please?

I read that as a twist on BRING IT ON.

[me b zola]

10. It was in bush*s Labor Day speech made today

I was responding to Bigtree's post #4, that's where I got the link from. I heard part of the speech on tv, but as usual I began yelling and turned the tv off. :D

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060904.html


Quite sick, isn't it?

[CanSocDem]

3. None-the-less, a bunch of younger blue...

...collar workers, I know from other BBS's, are neo-con, through and through.

SOLIDARITY!!

[bigtree]

7. the younger workers often have less benefits and less wages

than the folks with more seniority they work beside in the multi-tier system that represents the decline of the influence of unions since Reagan's dismantling and packing of the Labor Relations Board in the '80's. I often hear these younger workers express distain for the union and wish it away, buying into the easy language of the right about 'free' markets and such. I do believe that if it could be shown, legislatively, that the issues our unions are advocating will actually get enacted and implemented, there would be more public support and more pressure against the Bushies assaults. But, the obstruction has been long and hard, coopted and furthered by 'moderates' in our own party, undermined by trade pacts and fumbling support for republican's corporate slush fund health legislation.

[earth mom]

8. K & R! eom

[TahitiNut]

11. Who cares?? After all, Steve Irwin died!

:puke: