Corporate front group gives “Defense of the American Worker” awards to anti-worker legislators

[Earth Bound Misfit]

http://www.examiner.com/x-2071-DC-Special-Interests-Examiner~y2009m2d16-Corporate-front-group-awards-Defense-of-the-American-Worker-awards-to-antiworker-representatives?cid=examiner-email

February 16, 12:14 PM
by Ron Moore, DC Special Interests Examiner

In advance of Americans for Prosperity-North Carolina’s “Save My Ballot Tour” slated to honor Senator Richard Burr and U.S. Representative Howard Coble each with a “Defense of the American Worker” award this week, Americans United for Change asserts today that Sen. Burr and Rep. Coble have among the worst records in Congress on workers’ rights, and that The Employee Free Choice Act does in no way whatsoever abolish or strip workers’ rights to a secret ballot election in choosing whether or not to form a union

Brad Woodhouse, President of Americans United for Change and Raleigh native: “North Carolina’s working families would probably be surprised to hear that Senator Burr and Congressman Coble are being honored by a special interest group for defending the American worker when both have spent their career in Congress putting middle-class workers on the defensive. Whether it was their votes against raising the minimum wage for the first time in a decade, or their votes against protecting overtime pay, or their most recent votes against President Obama’s plan to create or save 3.5 million jobs even in the face of the worst recession since the Great Depression, Senator Burr and Congressman Coble are no friends to North Carolina’s struggling middle-class workers.”

“And who is “Americans for Prosperity?” Why would they try to muddy the water about Senator Burr’s and Congressman Coble’s anti-worker records in Congress and why would they spread misinformation about the Employee Free Choice Act,” continued Woodhouse. “It’s because they are nothing more than a front group for big Corporations that want to stop workers from having a better standard of living, for big businesses that don’t want to provide health care for employees, and for CEOs who demand platinum parachutes through a contract, but don’t want their employees to have one. Unfortunately, they’ve now resorted to making stuff up to protect the status quo.”

--snip--

“Amid the worst economic crisis in a generation, organized labor -- which built the middle-class in this country -- is needed and wanted more than ever because unions are the single best tool to create an economy that works for all. More than half of U.S. workers—nearly 60 million—say they would join a union right now if they could. Union members make 28 percent more and are 52 percent more likely to have job-provided health care and nearly three times more likely to have defined-benefit pensions than nonunion workers. If Senator Burr and Congressman Coble were true defenders of middle-class workers, they would support the Employee Free Choice Act and help restore North Carolina workers’ freedom to organize and their opportunity to lift up the entire community,” added Woodhouse.

Check out the comments @ the link, where I tore up some IDJIT "parroting" RW talking points.:evilgrin: