Boston's New Labor Blog filled with economic royalists and serfs. A guide to complete sub-minimum wage employment in the new economy.
Please support the blog by shopping for products on the right hand column.
The Morning Joe crew was on an anti-union tear this morning, claiming the union label on a company means "sell." Mika Brzezinski went so far as to say of unions: "They cripple the system that makes a company work." Collectively, the journalists on Morning Joe couldn't name a single "successful" unionized company.
This says more about their qualifications to discuss public policy and labor relations than it says about unions. To pick just one obvious example, UPS is unionized -- and the company made more than $3 billion last year. That's "billion" with a "b," and those are profits, not revenues.
Oh, what the heck, let's take one more example. GE is one of the world's largest companies; in 2006, its revenues were greater than the gross domestic products of 80 percent of UN nations. The company made more than $18 billion in 2008 -- again, billion with a b, and again, those are profits, not revenue. All that despite (or, perhaps, because of) the fact that 13 different unions represent GE workers.
Oh, and GE owns NBC-Universal, which owns MSNBC, which pays Joe Scarborough a handsome salary (and the unionized workers who help get his show on the air considerably less.)
Does Joe Scarborough think NBC and GE are not "successful" companies? Does Mika Brzezinski think the unionized workers she no doubt interacts with every day are crippling her ability to do her job, or her employer's ability to be successful?
Detroit— While several thousand protesters made noise Wednesday in the city's downtown over feelings General Electric isn't paying enough in taxes, three dozen protestors stood up at the beginning of GE's annual shareholder meeting chanting "pay your fair share"
The group was escorted from the meeting room at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center by police and security without incident. They continued their demonstration outside in the lobby. A phalanx of security guards formed outside the ballroom to prevent them from re-entering.
The protesters with ties to the "99 percent" movement — made popular last year in light of corporate bank bailouts — made their frustrations known over GE's tax payments outside the building, stretching into nearby Hart Plaza.
Inside the Renaissance Center, security was tight. Shareholders were required to pass through metal detectors, and endure bag searches and wand scans in order to enter the lobby outside the meeting room. Only registered shareholders were allowed in, but it was clear by the union pins some wore that they would bring the protest inside.
A small group of union activists from the Service Employees International Union tried to enter the meeting with proxies from shareholders, but they were turned away by security and police.
GE CEO Jeff Immelt had planned to come out and mingle with investors but that was canceled out of security concerns.
From The
Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120425/METRO/204250367#ixzz1tBeiekOX
VIDEO: Flash Mob Shuts Down GE Lobby, Performs ‘General Electric Slide’
GE shareholders, concerned citizens descend on Summer Street headquarters to raise awareness of corporate giant’s federal tax dodging
Dozens of General Electric (NYSE: GE) shareholders and fellow concerned citizens descended on GE’s Boston headquarters today for a choreographed protest of the corporate giant’s tax dodging practices. The lunch hour flash mob shut down the company’s Summer Street lobby for nearly 20 minutes, as the crew donned blaze orange MASSUNITING hats and performed the “General Electric Slide” to the tune of the 1976 Marcia Griffiths classic [lyrics below].
Check out video of the “General Electric Slide” flash mob here: http://bit.ly/IqRvH6
A new report by the non-partisan Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy and Citizens for Tax Justice reveals that General Electric is amongst the worst tax dodgers in America. Despite posting profits of more than $19.6 billion over the last three years, GE managed to draw in a federal tax refund of $3.7 billion. The resulting net-negative tax rate of -18.9% placed GE near the top of the non-profits’ “Dirty Thirty” list of corporate tax dodgers.
“As a shareholder, I’m saddened to see General Electric has been crowned a top tax dodger yet again,” said Bethanne Sullivan, a GE shareholder from Brockton. “GE brought in nearly $20 billion in profits over the last three years. No one in their right mind can say the company’s billion-dollar tax refunds are justifiable.”
In 2010 alone, General Electric’s federal tax subsidy cost Massachusetts nearly $100 million in federal spending and direct aid – including $15 million for Medicaid, $1 million for education programs and $981,000 in disability compensation for veterans.
“Every year, budgets get tighter and tighter – and every year, taxpayers have to come up with more money just to maintain the basic services we all depend on,” said Lesley Stafford of Boston, who joined Thursday’s flash mob. “If General Electric just paid their fair share like the rest of us do, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
General Electric shareholders plan to join hundreds of other Massachusetts residents Tuesday, April 17 for a
Tax Day rally and march through Boston’s financial district. The day of action will highlight several of the hub’s most notorious tax-dodging corporations, including GE. Details available at www.TaxDayBoston.org.
