Its not just about unions, its about employment laws.

[undeterred]

Employees in most states have very little power. I've never been in a union or had the opportunity to be in one. There need to be laws to strengthen the rights of working people in every situation, not just those who belong to unions. Belonging to a union is one way of protecting the interests of working people, but it shouldn't be the only way.

Nowadays employers can and do ask for a criminal background check, a drug test, and a credit check. They ask if you've ever collected unemployment insurance or filed for bankruptcy. They aren't supposed to discriminate against you for these reasons, but in many cases you can't be considered for the job unless you answer the questions.

I do contract work, and the number of rights I am asked to sign away on paper before I can get the job is staggering. The company always needs to be protected from being sued by me, the lowly contractor. I can't ever work for a competitor. Workers are inherently dangerous and untrustworthy.

In many states you can be fired for any reason- literally because they don't like the color of your hair. It's very difficult to prove discrimination, and I think it happens all the time. Human Resources is there to protect the company's interests and there is no protection anywhere, for the employee. An employer can challenge someone's right to collect unemployment compensation as well. Benefits granted - even healthcare benefits- can be withdrawn at any time. Absolutely nothing is guaranteed.

[liberal N proud]

1. They want to return this nation to sweat shops

No more 40hr work weeks and no vacations. They want to strip away all the things that unions fought so hard for over all those years.

WHY? So the rich bastards can get richer.

[SharonAnn]

2. No, the southern senators want to return it to slavery.

[Greyhound]

4. Nah, sweatshops are better. You have to take care of a slave. n/t

[SharonAnn]

9. You've got a point.

[Greyhound]

3. With the budget shortfalls, it appears that unemployment departments are happy

to deny as many claims as they can, now.

No money to hire a lawyer and no money coming in...

[undeterred]

5. If unemployment compensation is challenged

you can bet the company has a lawyer or someone trained by them to argue it, and the employee will be at a disadvantage.

Some of the contracts I have to sign might not hold up in court if it came to that. But if you don't have the money for a lawyer, its not going to come to that. For a permanent job I once had to sign a paper conceding my right to a juried trial if I had reason to file suit against the company. They were afraid a jury of real people would be sympathetic to the employee and not the corporation- because it had happened to them before.

[Odin2005]

8. This is why social and political equality is worthless without economic equality.

n/t.

[ColbertWatcher]

6. Kick. n/t

[Odin2005]

7. In Capitalism people are dehumanized into "Human resources"...

We are slaves to Capital when it should be, as Lincoln once famously said, the other way around.