Michael Parenti -- Some Labor History!

In our quest to handle all things labor related. Lucy's grape fight

Excellent article on how the mainstream media plays an active role in the discussion of unions

Daily Kos: Union basics the media often gets wrong—and ways right-wing messaging sneaks into labor coverage:

'via Blog this'

A typical way the media likes to portray the unions. For some reason they don't talk about all the labor violations that happen when a work force tries to unionize.

Two regular features of reporting about unions are sometimes hard to tell apart: A lot of reporters don't know basic facts about labor, and anti-union forces have a powerful PR machine tirelessly working to insert anti-union language into the media as "neutral" language. Some mistakes are just that. They're wrong but not necessarily harmful. Others may have become naturalized, repeated so often that even people who don't intend any harm to unions have picked them up. But it's important to try to get things right, and it's particularly important to combat the spread of right-wing messaging, maybe especially when it's been so successfully inserted into the discourse that people don't recognize it for what it is.

This list isn't anywhere close to exhaustive, but it features a few of the big problems I see repeated the most often.

Big labor—Ooh, scary, right? Not just labor, not just unions, not just millions of working people joined together, fighting together rather than one by one, having hired some lawyers and organizers to represent their interests, but big labor. It must be a fair fight between corporate money and Koch brothers money and U.S. Chamber of Commerce money and big labor money, right? No, of course it's not. But those are the assumptions embedded in the term, which is exactly why it's important to push back on it.

Union boss—Try this: "union leader." Though union officers are elected through different processes, some at conventions at which delegates from around the country vote, some by a vote of the union's entire membership, union officers are elected leaders. The term "union boss" is used to create a false equivalence between the boss in the workplace put there from above who holds the power to hire and fire workers, to promote or discipline them, and the elected union leader.

Merit shop—Any time you see this one, you know that the person using it is straight-up anti-union. "Merit shop" refers to non-union companies, usually construction companies, implying that workers are hired and paid according to their individual merit, not union rules. Of course, it turns out that the individual merit of "merit shop" workers leads to lower pay, fewer benefits and a whole lot of misclassification. One of the particularly Orwellian things about this term is that construction unions and union contractors typically invest heavily in apprenticeship and training, while non-union construction firms are less likely to do so.

Closed shop—This term describes something that doesn't exist under law—a workplace in which only existing union members may be hired. Not only are collective bargaining agreements prohibited from limiting hiring to existing union members, they are prohibited from forcing workers to join the union once hired. Any worker can decline to join a union and pay a fee covering their fair share of the work the union does directly representing them. Yet anti-union organizations like the Associated Builders & Contractors and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will still use this term, just to see if they can get reporters to quote them doing so without challenging it.

Right to work—We've been over and over the substance of these laws, but the challenge imposed by the name deserves a word. "Right to work" is akin to "death tax" as a right-wing frame. Unfortunately, the right created this law and with it the name, so there's no formal name to call it by that isn't by design an anti-union term. "Right to work" laws don't put anyone to work and they don't give them any right except that to receive benefits that they do not pay for—which is why you'll see such laws referred to as free rider laws or right to work for less laws or no rights at work laws—but the official name they are given says otherwise, and until we have the kind of PR engine and access to powerful people using a pro-union message that has gone into creating anti-union messages, we are stuck grappling with it.

Project Labor Agreements are not union-only—But anti-union groups generally claim they are. Project Labor Agreements govern large construction projects, setting uniform terms across different contractors and different types of work being done on a project. Each PLA is specific to a project, and they can greatly increase efficiency and reduce the risk of interruptions or labor conflict. While PLAs set the same standards for union and non-union contractors on a project, they do not require that all workers or contractors be union. Additionally, they can be used for things like requiring that a percentage of the work on a project be done by local workers or by economically disadvantaged workers.

Union/labor leader—There's nothing wrong with this term if it's correctly applied. But when it's incorrectly applied, take a second to think about why. The key thing here is that only the elected leaders of a union should be called union (or labor) leaders. That's presidents and secretary-treasurers, not political directors and communications staffers. Unions are organizations of workers, and officers are their elected representatives. Staffers are critical to the function of a union, but their role is to execute the interests and the will of the workers who are members of the union, under the direction of the leaders elected by those members. So if you read an article in which someone other than a union president or secretary-treasurer or maybe vice president is described as a union leader, ask yourself: Did the author of this article not know enough about unions to know the difference between an elected leader and a staffer, or is there a political agenda involved in the error? If so, what might it be?

Top union/labor leader—A term to be applied very judiciously. If the full description is "top union leader" and the context is national politics, there's room for legitimate debate about who should be characterized as a "top" labor leader, but it begins with a core of the president and secretary treasurer of the AFL-CIO and the presidents of maybe a dozen of the largest or otherwise most significant unions, and it doesn't extend a whole lot further—certainly not beyond the presidents and secretary-treasurers of national or international unions, and likely not that far. Of course, if "top union leader" is modified somehow—top Los Angeles union leader, top construction union leader—the pool changes.

The AFL-CIO is not a union—The AFL-CIO is often referred to as a union, but in fact, it's a federation of unions. It's in the name! American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations. The AFL-CIO consists of 56 unions, ranging from the very large to the tiny, familiar names like AFSCME and unions you may not have heard of like, say, the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers International Union. Each of those unions has its own organizational structure, and a voice within the AFL-CIO. This is why, when unions are divided between different candidates in an election, the AFL-CIO may not endorse until late, perhaps after a primary.

original post is here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/10/1086581/-Union-basics-the-media-often-gets-wrong-and-ways-right-wing-messaging-sneaks-into-labor-coverage

Awesome whywefight.mov

While the other side buys politicians elections, elections, police forces, picks their voters rather than have their voters pick them to keep them in power. We need to become ungovernable mass. We've got to make sure the side that has all the weapons will quit first. It is either we succeed or we become economic slaves. If you listen closely to the other side, you'll realize that they have no answers other than more tax cuts for their rich friends and pitting one disenfranchised group against another.

Occupy Economics "Class Warfare"

Big Alec contributor Walmart agrees to pay money "accidentally withheld" from their workers paychecks

How many government organizations does it take to investigate one company? In Walmart's case, at least three.
On Tuesday, the Department of Labor announced that Walmart had agreed to pay $4.83 million in back wages and damages to employees it had illegally denied overtime, following an agency investigation.

More than 4,000 workers, all vision center managers or asset protection coordinators, will receive money from the settlement.

"Thousands of employees will see money put back into their pockets that should have been there all along," said Nancy J. Leppink, deputy administrator of the Labor Department's wage and hour division, in a statement.
Walmart is also being investigated by the Department of Justice and the U.S. Congress over allegations that it systematically bribed Mexican officials in order to obtain permits for new stores.

While all U.S. workers are legally entitled to overtime when they work more than 40 hours a week, certain salaried managerial employees in "executive, administrative or professional" roles, are exempt from this provision under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

 Prior to 2007, Walmart considered its vision center managers and asset protection coordinators exempt, a policy the Department of Labor now calls a "misclassification."

Unions in America

The war against unions

Unions need to organize unemployed workers

Maine Mural Opens Up in Lawrence Where The Bread and Roses Strike Took Place

Unions welcome chance to campaign against Mitt Romney and all that he represents

Unions welcome chance to campaign against Mitt Romney and all that he represents

The New York Times' Steven Greenhouse identifies a fundamental truth about Mitt Romney: though he would likely be tougher than Rick Santorum for President Obama to defeat, many of the people who would be tasked with defeating him would kind of enjoy the task. Greenhouse lines up a series of union leaders and staffers talking about their eagerness to campaign against Romney. Reasons include wanting to use him to open a discussion of locust capitalism:

“Do we welcome doing battle with him over his past as a businessman? You bet,” said Tim Waters, political director of the United Steelworkers. “We’re already talking to folks about what happened in his years at Bain — how they closed all these factories and people’s lives were destroyed by this kind of vulture capitalism.”

Romney's constant rich-guy gaffes also offer unions an opportunity to establish, even with working-class people struggling in this economy, that he emphatically does not feel their pain:

“Right off the bat we see that Romney has problems relating to workers because he’s part of the 1 percent,” Mr. Trumka said. “Every time he opens his mouth it comes out that he’s about the upper class. He doesn’t understand workers because he’s never around us.”

pics on Sodahead

Conservatives are destroying Ben Franklin's best invention - The Post Of...

Massachusetts explaining budget cuts and debt. What will be left? Just to make sure Bill Gates doesn't have a tax cut

Banking "Technocrats" Undermine Democracy. How long until democracy is canceled all together?

The alternate St. Patrick's Day Parade

Yesterday the alternate St. Patrick's group the Veteran's for Peace, the group that defended the camp at Occupy Boston.

From the Veterans for Peace: From the depths of our collective hearts we want to thank you all for participating in our Saint Patrick's Peace Parade the people's alternative parade for Peace, Equality, Jobs, Social and Economic Justice. It was a beautiful day and just a spectacular parade. By several people's estimates it appears as if there were somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 people. That is at least three times bigger than last year. If someone has a more accurate count please let us know. Everyone who I have spoken to or has contacted us said that they had a wonderful time and will be back next year. 

They also had groups of gays, lesbians and transgender that had been kept out of the parade as well

There was also Church groups

And labor was represented

As was Occupy Boston

Including the Gandhi statue that was in Dewey Square

As were the peace groups

The issues of the day were represented

From the Veteran's for Peace: What a wonderful reception we received from the tens of thousands who were still around when we came by. This is like David and Goliath, and we all know what happen to the big guy. We are winning hearts and minds, our parade is growing and I think we are getting close to seeing the last institutional vestige of bigotry, prejudice and exclusion in the City of Boston come tumbling down. We can't give up, lets see what happens next year. I think the pressure is growing on the City of Boston to make some changes, lets hope so. The bigger we get, the more likely things will change, it is just a matter of time. As we have been told, everything has changed in South Boston, the neighborhood has changed, the residents have changed, Southie is much more integrated and multi-cultural. Everything has changed except the small group of "white men" who run the traditional parade, that too will change in time.

And the police watched over the whole event

It was a great day

Scott Walker's Fundraising Pitch: 'Big Labor Bosses' Are Trying To 'Barge And Bully' Into Wisconsin

Scott Walker's Fundraising Pitch: 'Big Labor Bosses' Are Trying To 'Barge And Bully' Into Wisconsin

WASHINGTON -- "Big Union-sponsored mercenaries." "Bare-knuckle union attacks." "Strong-arm tactics."

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) most recent fundraising letter to solicit donations for a potential recall election minces no words in going after his Democratic and union opponents. The four-page letter uses a variation of "Big Labor Bosses" 14 times. It also calls out other classic bogeymen for the right: the "Moveon.org Radicals," "Liberal Billionaire George Soros' attack organizations," "President Obama's Political Machine" and the "Ultra Left-Wing Elites from Hollywood and Manhattan.

" These menacing forces are all coming together to, according to the letter, carry out a "naked power grab" in Wisconsin.

"Mark my words," reads the letter, "if they barge and bully and get there [sic] way here, your state's next...so, together, we must fight them tooth and nail right here and right now."

Scott Walker the Koch Brother's pet

From Gawker: Excellent article on whether labor unions are done with the democratic party. Boy do we need a third party and let the "whig party" die a quiet death

Is Big Labor Done with the Democratic Party?

The relationship between "Big Labor," especially the AFL-CIO, and the Democratic party over the last few years has been painfully one-sided. Unions raise large sums of cash for Democrats in federal elections, help them whip up support for major votes, and get nothing in return. Is labor finally ready to reconsider this terrible deal? Perhaps!
Probably the most stinging backstab national Democrats gave labor was when they had 60 votes in the Senate a couple of years ago but still couldn't manage to pass card-check, a piece of legislation that would have made it easier for workforces to organize and which big unions considered their last big opportunity on the federal level to save private sector unionization from its rapid slide into extinction. The problem was that one Democratic senator, Blanche Lincoln — who technically represented the entire state of Arkansas but was essentially a voting lobbyist for the company Walmart — didn't want it, and it died. Blanche Lincoln still managed to lose her reelection bid in 2010 by double digits. So allowing her to get away with that, while perhaps dealing a death blow to the last decently organized liberal group in your national coalition, seems to have been a miscalculation.
Then this year, when teachers' unions became public enemy #1 and the source of all deficit problems and earthly evil according to new Republican (and even some Democratic) state legislatures across the country, national Democrats barely opened their mouths.

Rest of story: http://gawker.com/5834384/is-big-labor-done-with-the-democratic-party

Labor backed groups come out with ad against MA. Senator Scott Brown

Kasich the retreat has already begun. Help send him back to Wall Street and Fox where he can talk for the people again