U. S. Chamber of Commerce up to no good.....Again.

[Dr.Phool]

Not only do they have too much money, they're lazy too. They're organizing a "virtual march" on Washington D.C. to protest against H.R. 800, which would eliminate one of their legal roadblocks to unionization.

I ran across this ad over at TPM, so I clicked on it. It takes you here.

http://www.chambergrassroots.com/mysignup.php

They have the bill framed as a worker privacy issue, when all it does is make it easier to unionize by check card balloting, instead of a formal NLB representation election.

Call your representatives and tell them to support H.R. 800.



Here's the Chambers pitch.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce co-chairs the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, an organization that represents employers, workers, and activists who want to safeguard the protections of the secret ballot in workplaces throughout America.

We strenuously oppose H.R. 800, the “Employee Free Choice Act” and the unions who want Congress to legislate the end of secret ballot union elections and the safeguards they afford to working families.

Congress has begun working on this legislation and may vote on it as soon as the week of February 26.

Join a crowd of thousands without leaving your computer by writing a letter to your members of Congress and designing a “virtual you” to place on the Mall. Fill out the form above to get started

[dkofos]

1. I believe they are working on it this week.

[formercia]

2. Another 'Astroturf' campaign.

The Chamber of Commerce is a front for the Knights of Malta. The boys playing their games again.

[Dr.Phool]

4. They're more of a front for every pro-business-anti worker

Piece of legislation or candidate that comes down the pike.

[formercia]

8. On Oct. 26 of each year

Thw DC chapter of the Knights of Malta installs its new members in the hall of flags of the Chamber of Commerce building in DC. It has done so for many years.

Your comment is correct as well.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Bunch of George Babbitts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babbitt_(novel)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. They are seriously pissing me off.

Somehow I got on their e-mailing list and I can't make them go away. They send me this anti-union tripe, and I respond, demanding they take me off their list because I support unions and I don't want to see any more of their crap, but it keeps coming...

It's such B.S. Typical Republican-type framing. Call it something it totally isn't, like the Clean Skies Act allowing pollution. They don't want to "safeguard working families" and "protect workers' privacy." They just want to keep busting unions.

[LiberalFighter]

6. Naturally it is beneath them to actually be in the Mall with other people

Too bad we couldn't create a virtual mall with these business people and our version of these people

[Czolgosz]

7. The Chamber of Commerce has become the piggy bank/manure spreader for the neocon/corporatist Repubs

The Chamber of Commerce is not the nonpartisan small-business group it used to be.

The Nation reports that after a 92-year history of nonpartisanship, the Republicans took over toe Chamber of Commerce before the 2004 elections, and "the US Chamber of Commerce...put the 3 million businesses of the theoretically nonpartisan chamber squarely in Bush's corner."

The Chamber of Commerce: GOP Piggybank

Media Matters reports "the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a strong supporter of Republican policies and conservative causes. During the 2004 presidential election, for example, the U.S. Chamber publicly opposed the 2004 Democratic presidential ticket....The U.S. Chamber has also headed campaigns in support of Republican health care policies. In 2000, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) funneled an estimated $20 million through the U.S. Chamber to pay for ads "defending Republicans on a range of health-care issues," according to an October 6, 2000, Wall Street Journal article. The Journal reported: "Some industry officials feel that because it has a strong local presence through local chapters around the country, the Chamber has more credibility with voters and greater freedom to run hard-hitting ads."...In recent years, the U.S. Chamber has also supported President Bush's tax cuts and Republican efforts to ease enforcement of workplace laws ....With regard to campaign contributions, the U.S. Chamber predominantly backs Republican candidates."

The Chamber of Commerce: GOP Attack Dog

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reports that it was revealed at "a recent Chamber of Commerce national strategy meeting...the anti-union campaign is a direct response to the efforts of AFL-CIO unions and others to help workers win the right to health care benefits."

The Washington Post reports "the U.S. Chamber of Commerce...is at the forefront of a quiet revolution in business lobbying. Corporate groups now raise big money to advance broad issues, largely to help the Republican president enact his fiscal agenda. That's a long step away from what trade associations traditionally did: concentrate on narrow concerns while shunning partisan spats....In the first half of last year (the latest figures available), the chamber ranked first among all organizations in lobbying expenditures, at $30 million. The chamber also contributed more than $4 million to the November Fund, a group that attacked Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry...."

Sources:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20041025/zegart
http://www.citizensforethics.org/press/pressclip.php?view=1833
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64725-2005Feb4.html

[Elwood P Dowd]

9. Is the lying piece of shit Tom Donohue still president?

Can't stand that crook.