How bad an idea is the "card check" bill Democrats have introduced to force workers to vote yea or nay on unions right in front of their peers?
It's such a bad idea that, with the mere threat of the legislation, Citigroup downgraded the stock of Wal-Mart, the world's leading retailer.
The bill would be even more damaging to small business. And it would put a knife in the back of an economy already staggering from a housing and banking crisis.
Barack Obama says he wants to create jobs. This bill will be a job destroyer. An increasingly union-laden American business and industry sector will buckle under the weight of union wages, benefits and inflexibility. Companies will close or flock to the borders.
Consider: the areas where unions are strongest -- government, public education and the U.S. automobile industry -- are some of the costliest, worst-performing sectors in our economy.
The National Association of Manufacturers estimates the bill would cost the country 600,000 jobs in 2010.
This is what Big Labor and its friends in the Democratic Party want to spread around?
Again, just the threat of it is costing businesses, which are feeling it necessary to embark on a $200 million campaign to block the co-called "card check" bill that would strip workers of secret ballots and "allow" them to sign off on becoming unionized in front of union bosses.
It sounds like something out of the old Soviet Union. But it's actually being considered by the Democratic Congress in Washington.
Thankfully, big-name Democrats are joining Republicans in opposing this anti-American job-killer known, Orwellian enough, as the "Employee Free Choice Act."
The president and his friends in Congress need to make a decision. They can't claim to be pro-jobs while pushing a bill that is anti-business.
Or perhaps they don't know where jobs come from?
Comments
Big labor worked hard for Obama in the election way beyond their numbers in the workforce of about 12%. This is the payback they expect. Next thing you know they won't have to show up to actually vote. Just count all the members of local XXXX as voting the Democratic ticket automatically.
I would like to hear ONE compelling argument for doing away with a secret ballot.
i think raising the minimum wage killed more jobs than anything..
You can't bribe, reward or strongarm folks if you don't know how they vote!
Next the unions will improve eyesight by gouging out eyes and improve production by amputating hands. Dang, this is a stupid bill supported by stupid people.
I'm sure someone here will come up with a compelling reason (in their mind).
Unions exist for one purpose, and that is to give those who run the unions a cushy lifestyle at the expense of the worker.
What diffrence will it make, if the employees vote in the presence of union reps?
I guess you and unions are proof that some things aren't 100% bad 100% of the time, justus4. But in the case of the card check, the union and President O IS 100% wrong.
We had this discussion in a post last week. Having worked in Organized Labor for over 30 years I can say that at one time orgainized labor was a very good thing for the American Worker. Now they are a bunch of "money sucking big dogs" in Washington, DC, who are so out of touch with the working class within the rank and file of their unions. All they care about is dues, dues, and more dues. Obama has made a lot of promises to orgainize labor, but the truth of the matter is orgainized labor is like a dinosaur and has out-lived it's time. Diversity, the influx of women and minorities that are not held to the same standards that white male workers are have built a dividing gap between union members that will never be solved. It might not be stated in public, but every labor unions knows this for a fact and it has destroyed union labor. The only jobs that union labor can do now are large federal jobs were they are protected by the federal govt. A small contractor will go broke using the majority of the worthless members of most labor unions. If people would do a fair days work for a fair days pay, then there would be no need for a labor uniona.
Unions served their purpose in their day. Now they are too big and powerful. They hurt us by increasing the cost of the products their workers produce to that encourages us to buy less expensive imports. Allowing open ballots will just make it easier for both the employer and the union to intimidate the ones who are voting. And unions in the past are known to have intimidate workers by threatening to harm them or their family members.
Justus and americanveteran are right on point on this one. Two different perspectives, both on spot. I have a strong feeling this bill will die, enough democrats are opposing it to possibly kill it. Now I'm not going to follow the act the AC just put up, pretending this bill will cause the sky to fall, some areas and industries are union free, and some states do a good job keeping unions out...Will this bill create more unions? I don't think so...
I see where the UAW has agreed to reduce average wages to 55.00 and hour. Not bad for installing lug nuts! And unions are good for the country????
Something needs to be done though. I've been working retail for several years. I'm now doing 3 times the work I was a year ago, but getting paid the same. We have women going home with blisters so bad that their feet are bleeding. I'm grateful that I have a job. I just wish the working conditions and expectations were a bit more reasonable.
The issue here is not whether unions are good or bad. That can be argued. But, who can argue against a secret ballot?
Just be thankful your pay has not been cut, like so many I know.
Unions have out-lived their usefulness and it's time they went out of business for good. True to form, they are now using strongarm tactics to force unionism on everyone and who wants to be a part of that. I have always been anti-union because of the violence they create when workers go on strike. I lived in a city where this occurred and needless deaths of innocent people were the name of the game; the company that was under attack by the union continues to thrive and has NO union in the shop and it should stay that way. Furthermore, who wants to work with an organizaton that forces a company to maintain the employment of a person who shows up intoxicated on the job and creates an unsafe work place for other employees. If anything should be dismantled, it is the unions.
Card Check is the equivalent of saying a newpaper reporter can come into the voting booth with you and publish a full list of names and who they voted for. It is a blatant effort by the unions to be able to intimidate, chastise, and strong-arm people and cannot be tolerated. If people want to unionize they have the right to do so through a secret ballot. But if you do not want the union you should not have to suffer the insults and intimidation of the union and your co-workers who do support unionization because they know who you are and how you voted. Secret ballots, no matter what type of election, are the American way for a reason. The reason is that it prevents undue influence, harrassment, and intimidation. We all know secret ballots are the only free and fair elections and any other arguement to the contrary pales beside this single, fundamental right.
mimsy, come out of the vacuum and read any article or post relating to a secret ballot. Have someone look up "intimidation" for you and explain how the unions act toward those that don't support them.
justthefacts, on target with your 8:57
A union is the fastest way to overpayment for minimal work output! They need to go the way of the 8-track tape!
Unions have been corrupted, but there is a need for them in some places, just not the way the big ones are currently run. Big business does not play fair. Just the thought of competing with other companies for good employees does not make companies pay good labor and benefits, because many of these companies basically all keep the scale artificially low.
stuff, 85 bucks an hour for a lug nut turner, come on man!
The "card check" system is merely a device to foster employee discrimination. Let's say a plant's employees want to unionize, and they are given an opporunity to vote on it. If for some reason the union did not win, the powers that be in the plant would know who voted for the union and who did not vote for the union. And with no protection, those who voted for the union would soon find their working environments a lot less favorable. Pop quiz tomorrow at nine!
Justass4, only in the northern, union controlled states such as IL and NY can public servants like firemen, police and teachers strike. The Fraternal Orders of firemen, police and teachers unions in the South and most other states except the northern union controlled ones have NO political clout what so ever. As usual, you ain't got a clue about what you try and blabber.
What diffrence will it make, if the employees vote in the presence of union reps?
Posted by mimsy on Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:30 AM....How would you like to vote NO and have some union thug knock on your door to "talk" to you about it.?
Something needs to be done though. I've been working retail for several years. I'm now doing 3 times the work I was a year ago, but getting paid the same. We have women going home with blisters so bad that their feet are bleeding. I'm grateful that I have a job. I just wish the working conditions and expectations were a bit more reasonable.
Posted by cobweb on Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:53 AM....Get an education and you will get better jobs and pay. Adult education is alive an well.
The unions tried to organize Blue Bird Bus Company in Fort Valley, GA. The owners told the employees they could organize but they would close thier doors there and make all their buses in their plant in Africa. Next to Peaches, Blue Bird is THE employer in Ft Valley.
Two of my finest accomplishments during my business life was having two unions decertified within one year of starting to manage there. The business manager of an IBEW union at the second place had heard of my union busting tactics and virtually met me at the door to inform me that "it aint gonna happen here". Nine months later the union that had been there for 24 years was gone. After I left there, the new manager somehow allowed them to come back in. Corporate fired him two weeks later.
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