Monday April 13, 2009, 4:52 pm


Americans are paying big time now for decades of buying into a hoax.

And it wasn't sub-prime mortgages.

It was the conservative contention that government is evil and inept. Swallowing that absurd assertion resulted in relaxation and elimination of supposedly onerous and unnecessary government regulations - from the ones that prevented banks from growing too big to fail to those that protected union organizers from illegal corporate obstruction tactics.
Unfettered, Wall Street speculators went on a rampage of reckless wagering that ultimately knocked the wind out of the world economy's bubble. With unrestrained corporate threats and interference, union membership declined to 12 percent, although 58 percent of non-managment workers surveyed said they'd like to join a union.

Now, that reviled institution - government - is the only one big and strong enough to rescue the economy that perpetration of the hoax devastated. How ironic. The government must also restore the ability of the American people to organize unions at their workplaces, if they so choose, by passing the Employee Free Choice Act.

President Barack Obama has said he wants to make government cool again. He stood on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill. on the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth and talked about why the 16th President supported the union and why concerted action is so effective. Speaking of the hoax, he said, "Such knee-jerk disdain for government - this constant rejection of any common endeavor - cannot rebuild our levees or our roads or our bridges."

Common endeavor is the power of unions, whether they be unions of states or labor unions. That is why corporations across America so fear the Employee Free Choice Act. It would ease forming a labor union. It would allow workers - rather than CEOs - to decide whether to create a labor union by collecting signatures from a majority of workers or by a secret ballot election.
Big business is attempting to perpetrate a second hoax on America - that the Employee Free Choice Act is no good. They've been flying a bunch of anti-union lobbyists to Washington to pressure politicians to vote against it. Sounds a lot like CEOs jetting to D.C. in private planes for bailout money.

The bailout money will, of course, come from the pockets of working Americans who those very CEOs don't want to unionize. And after decades when the policies of the government-is-evil-hoax meant wealth accrued to the very richest, it turns out that the economy would have been better served if wealth had been more evenly distributed.

More workers with more money to spend means more cars and houses and All-Clad pots and pans bought. Those purchases keep other workers employed, who spend more money.
When those workers are unionized, studies reveal two important statistics. One is that they earn 30 percent more than non-union workers. The other is that they are 59 percent more likely to be covered by employer-provided health insurance. So, in the end, unionization is good for the economy.

That effect was acknowledged in 1935 when the National Labor Relations Act was passed to encourage unionization and collective bargaining. It occurred in the midst of the Great Depression and followed decades rocked by lesser economic "panics" causing runs on banks.
The NLRA "Declaration of Policy" says this about this law: "The inequality of bargaining power between employees who do not possess full freedom of association or actual liberty of contract, and employers who are organized in corporate or other forms of ownership association, substantially burdens and affects the flow of commerce, and tends to aggravate recurrent business depressions, by depressing wage rates and the purchasing power of wage earners."

Simply put, employers wield considerable strength, and workers must be able to unionize so wage and benefit negotiations occur on a more even playing field. There's power in common endeavor.

In 1935, in the depth of the Great Depression, the government encouraged workers to use their power to obtain better wages. It did that because better wages to many would help end the depression for all.

Since then, corporations and CEOs - the perpetrators of the great government-is-evil hoax -- have also chipped away at the NLRA. They've seized from workers the ability to determine how unions are formed.

And they increasingly harass workers trying to form unions. In 2007, employers illegally harassed or coerced 29,000 workers. In the 1950s, companies illegally punished fewer that 1,000 workers a year for union activity. Thirty-six percent of workers who voted against a union said they did so because of pressure from the employer, according to an NLRB survey of 400 election campaigns in 1998 and 1999.

Just like in 1935, workers now need unions to help them secure better wages, which will, in the end, be good for the country because it will improve the economy.

For that to happen, though, the Employee Free Choice Act must pass. Workers must have the right, once again, to choose how they want to form their own organizations.

In Obama's speech in Springfield, in which he discussed the union of states, he quoted Lincoln on the purpose of government, saying, "The legitimate object of government is to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they can not, by individual effort, do at all, or do so well, by themselves."

In this quote, labor unions could be substituted for government: "The legitimate object of unions is to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they can not, by individual effort, do at all, or do so well, by themselves."

That is why workers must vanquish the new hoax being perpetrated by conservatives, greedy CEOs and other labor union-haters. Workers must win the freedom that they had in 1935 to choose how to form their unions. Labor unions give workers the ability to do what needs to be done but which cannot be accomplished by individuals. And that includes bargaining for the better wages that, when spent throughout the economy, will help end the current great recession.

Monday April 13, 2009, 5:08 pm
the congress and senate is owned by the wealthy and corporations, when they sway something doesn not have political support they mean their boswses are against it. the vaswt majority of americansw are basicallyh pro union and pro univerasl health care but according to the politicians there is no politicaql support. we will NEVER get anhy meaningful relief for the people until politicians are olimited t0o one or two terms and forbidden to get ANY MONEY at alkl other than their salaries, no pacs no campaign contribiutions no nothing

Tuesday April 14, 2009, 7:09 am
The R's are and have been out to "bust" the Unions for the past 8 years. We need to fight the lies and smears they spread around. I watch the Senate and House regularly, while the Dems are fighting furiously for the workers, the Rs could care less, they fight every single Bill that would help the workers. And I have heard the Rs stand there by the hour slamming Unions with their lies. Secret Ballot? BS. All they have to do is sign up if they want to join, if more than 51% sign up, they have a Union. They don't even need a vote at all unless they request one. If they request one, they can have the secret ballot. But the workers are under immense pressure from the employers, so just signing the card makes it much easier, and the employers can't intimidate the ones who signed by "secret" ballot which is seen by the company who then intimidates and even fires those who voted on that. That is the true reason that companies what the "secret" ballot, it is no secret, the companies get to see them. They don't see the cards when people sign up to join the Union. Thanks, Blue, great job.

Tuesday April 14, 2009, 9:06 am
Barbara, RepubliCON$ have been busting unions for more than 8 years; that's history!

Tuesday April 14, 2009, 3:30 pm
Great article Blue. I am ambiguous regarding this bill. However, my overall intent is that it's time that workers have a say in their choice to have a union or not. The Hyundai co. doesn't use unions (choice or not, I don't know) but if they will address the various situations that workers find themselves in today. First, the joke that Healthcare has become must be fixed prior to allowing for this expense in unions.
I say Go For IT!

Tuesday April 14, 2009, 3:39 pm
Thank you, Gayla, for your commentary!

Tuesday April 14, 2009, 6:31 pm


AFL CIO Report: 480 CEOs Received Pay Raises In 2008 Compared With 463 Pay Cuts... Average Salary Jumped 7%... CEO Perks Rose Nearly 13% To $336,246

Saturday April 18, 2009, 2:37 pm
Fighting Pirates: Done by Union Workers


The American crew members of the Maersk Alabama - a ship recently hijacked by Somali pirates - regained control of the ship. The seamen specifically cite their union membership as a reason for how they were able to beat the pirates.

In an interview with NBC, the ship's Third Engineer, John Cronan, said this about their efforts:

"We are American seamen. We are union members. We stuck together, we did our jobs. And that's how we did it."

Isn't it interesting how only the CNBC/FOX new crowd continually bash unions? Big business has their mouthpieces all lined up in a row -- but heaven forfend we should hear from working men and women.