Them unions are sure helping the auto workers. Right into unemployment.
Your recent editorial on the Employee Free Choice Act is a gross mischaracterization of this new workers' rights legislation. In fact, this bill restores workers' choice to bargain with their employer for a better life.
America's middle class is shrinking fast. Wages remain stagnant, personal debt is skyrocketing and health care costs are out of control. Meanwhile, Georgia's unemployment rate rose to 7 percent last month, the highest level in 16 years.
That means as the holidays approach, nearly 350,000 Georgians are out of work and don't know how they're going to pay their mortgages, cover their heating bills or even put food on the table.
A union contract is the best economic uplift program for working people in our nation's history. Workers who belong to unions earn 30 percent more than those who don't and are much more likely to have employer-provided health coverage and pensions. It's no wonder more than half of U.S. workers - nearly 60 million - say they would join a union right now if they could.
Unfortunately, too few ever get that chance. Every day, corporations deny employees the freedom to decide for themselves whether to form unions. In fact, one out of five union activists are likely to be fired when they try to form unions, according to a new study by the Center for Economic Policy Research.
The Employee Free Choice Act wouldn't eliminate union elections. If workers want an election, they can still have one. It simply puts the choice on how to elect a union---by card or ballot---into workers' hands, not those of employers.
Approved by the House, the bipartisan Employee Free Choice Act would go a long way to protect workers trying to form unions. That's why it's the most important improvement in employment law in many decades.
Joe Ellis, President, Augusta Central Labor Council, Martinez
Comments
Them unions are sure helping the auto workers. Right into unemployment.
Unions should be abolished. Reagan did the right thing firing all the sir traffic controllers. My brother was one, and PATCO was lying to them about what it was doing.
This should have been a paid announcement - not a letter to the editor published for free. Thank you for the attribution, although it was obvious.
the FIRST right of an employee is either accept the work or leave to find other employment altho some, myself included, argue the secret ballot takes the lead spot,,, the oft talked-about autobuilder's bailout is, simply put, a union lifebuoy in exchange for political support,,, southern automakers have success & operate merit, not union, shops.
The unions are partially to blame for the cost of living. Sure union workers get paid more but if you look in those states you will see it costs more to live. I don't need to pay some mafia type organization to look out for me. I have Obama for that. Where's my check Mr. Prez-elect?
......"In fact, this bill restores workers' choice to bargain with their employer for a better life.".......... Joe Ellis..................Fundamental error Joe, workers don't "bargain" for a better life, they work for a better life. That means that they come to work every day, on time every day and give an honest day's work for the pay they have agreed upon. The first step to a better life for a worker is to be a valuable worker.
Thank God for "Right To Work States". What we need is a "Right To Work Nation", and send all the Union thugs to prison.
Thank God for "Right To Work States". What we need is a "Right To Work Nation", and send all the Union thugs to prison.
The writer left out an important - THE most important - aspect of this new law. Workers will no longer have a secret ballot. But then workers must occasionally give up individual rights for the good of the masses. Right, comrade?
Mr Ellis: Obviously, you are a union supporter; I am not. A major reason that I refuse to support a union is because an employer cannot fire an employee who is non-productive or endangers fellow employees for being intoxicated on the job. I say this because I know about an employee who died as a result of a co-worker's drunkness on the job. Prior to that sad incident, the employer fired the direlict employee, only to have the union step in and force the employer to reinstate the creep. Had the employer not done so, he would have suffered severe economic setbacks because of the threatened strike. Furthermore, what good is a union for one of the largest employers in the nation: the government (state and federal) says employees may not unionize, etc. What needs to occur is to enforce the laws we do have, not unionization, and to legislate how much of our jobs can be "out sourced" to foreign countries. Obviously, unions have not prevented outsourcing, but seem to have encouraged it. End results: high unemployment. Unions have outlived their usefulness; they do nothing to stablize our econonmy or maintain employment.
I would not mind unions if they did what intended. There are sometimes needs. Right to work states do swing things the other way sometimes. A productive worker can be fired for no reason without warning so a a middle manager can get a bigger bonus at christmas time. Being in the real world some of you might see this.
mabel8 you are the lowest sort of scum in a work place. You knew about a workers death and did nothing about it. Why not, was it because you were non-union and knew your position in this right-to-work state would be finished. Just tell us who the employer was! Or is this all a figment of your imagination?
Unions are the main reason that consumer goods in this country are so expensive. an auto worker making $70.00 per hour. give me a break. Many educated people with doctorates don't make that much money.
True enough that this law would make it easier to join a union, but does it guarantee a job? I work for a company that at one point had eight plants producing the same product. Five of them union and three non-union. Guess which three are still operating and the employees still have a job. The pay and benefits were comparable at all the plants, but the union rules restricted the output so badly that they couldn't compete with the other three in production and costs. This resulted in the five least cost efficient plants being closed and then combined with the three cost efficient ones.
That is not the description of a right to work state, that is an at will state, imdstuf. In a right to work state, they have to prove that you did something wrong to fire you or have to lay you off and you get unemployment. Georgia is an at will state and that is why most people do not get unemployment because the employer can let you go for any reason and they do not have to prove anything. It is up to the employee to prove they did nothing wrong to receive unemployment.
I refuse to pay for the right to work.. unions had a time but now we can stand up for ourselves. There are laws to protect us that were not in place at the time unions were needed. Merit and doing a good job will get you paid, and unions will get you unemployed in the long run. NO UNIONS
Actually, most workers do get unemployment and the burden is on the employer to prove that the worker was dismissed for cause. The thinking is that it's better to get unemployment- paid for by employers- than welfare, paid for by taxpayers.
Excuse me but isn't Augusta swarming with trailer homes with 4x4s out front? Oh yea you folks don't need a union to get ahead, all you need is a cheaper 6 pack! Actually corgimon and simp, neither of you are correct, The law allows unemployment if you were fired for a valid reason and the employer provides the reason. But in any event you can be fired after 20-30 years of service for the most trivial of things, and once you have met that magic age of around fifty you realise that you should have unionized long ago!!!
dissman: It appears you CANNOT READ. I said I knew of an employee's death; I never said I worked for the company or which state the event occurred. And yes, the incident did happen in a UNION SHOP. You cannot blame the employer in this case; they did what they were supposed to do, but unions are powerful entities and are able to circumvent the laws, which they do on a daily basis. You owe me an apology for your nasty reference towards me--or are you a union supporter who lacks common courtesy and decency towards others who happen to disagree with your views?
slmp - you are wrong about Georgia not being a right to work state. As a middle manager involved in firing someone and dealing with the Labor Dept. An employee starts collecting unemployment as soon as eligible after being fired. It is up to the employer to prove that they fired the employee for reasonable grounds. If the employer can't do that or does not file an appeal to the Labor Dept. when someone starts collecting. If it is found that the employer was correct then the person is required to pay the unemployment back. Oh and disssman - I am 53 and still going strong at my job. Don't need no union.
Thank God for the Right-to-Union States. At least the union states have a better work environment that the right-to-work states. Not to mention that anti-harassment laws are much tougher in right-to-union states than they are in right-to-work states. It is long past time we undo right-to-work laws.
Right-to-work states are just like at-will states. Because many right-to-work states are also at-will states. Imdstuf is correct.
willis, please help me out here. Sorry, but what is a Right to Union State. In what states do Unions have no rights?
Unions served their purpose of improving employee work condidtions and wages in the early 20th century. since then, they have become nothing more than a gang of thugs sucking those employers like the Big 3 dry. Close a plant and STILL pay their salaries. Unions have out lived their usefulness. No wrench turner is worth $74.00 and hour unless he's working on the space shuttle, and Detroit doesn't make space shuttles..
Willie, Diss, if unions are so great, why are the Big 3 begging for a bail out from Congress? Why is Detroit in the toilet (and other union locales). Why should a high school drop out wrench turner on a production line make more money than a University PhD educating our kids? Doesn't make sense to me.
justthefacts, unions have no rights whatsoever in Georgia, South Carolina and other right-to-work states. New York and Connecticut are two examples of right-to-union states.
And jack, this has nothing to do with Ford, Chrysler and General Motors. This has to do with employees in general.
hey disssman, you need to leave the state. I know you are a union worker and willis has now informed us that you have no rights here. Goodbye.
Hey willis, one more. How about Michigan? Do Unions have any rights there?
Never were so many uninformed. People need to do a little research before you lump all unions itno one group. Don't blame local workers for the ills of the union bosses. We have no more control than workers have over CEO's. I get paid a decent wage because I face a dangerous work environment everyday. I face this with knowledge that the union makes sure the company follows safety rules. DOn't cry about how OSHA will do that. HOw many times do we see coal miners killed only to find out that their union has complained about working conditions and OSHA does nothing until someone dies. To Mable I don't know where you worked but where I work we are required to submit to random drug testing and I have seen employees fired for drinking on the job. When it came before a vote in my union hall to fight their termination it was voted down. Some people that are not involved in the local workings of a union should shut up. All we see in the MSM is how it's all the unions fault. We don't give 50 million bonuses to CEO's that run companies that haven't made a profit. Also all these companies that say "we are moving overseas because of labor costs" have yet to lower their prices one penny. cont'
It's all about greed and it doesn't just involve the worker. There isn't a person here that if they could double their pay they wouldn't do it. I bet none of you walk into your bosses office and offer to give your pay back either. Bunch of hypocrites.
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