Mon
Dec 1 2008
05:48 pm
By: R. Neal

Republicans have been fighting a bailout of the Big 3 automakers* because they don't want to help union labor, even though they have no trouble bailing out Wall Street investment bankers and funding their multi-million dollar golden parachutes.

Now the GOP is stepping up its offensive against "Card Check" organizing. From a NRCC mailer, subject "Help stop big labor's power grab":

Card Check legislation will make it easier for unions to organize...

...we cannot let the big unions and their liberal friends in Congress pass Card Check. That is why I need you to make an immediate contribution to our Republican Stop Card Check campaign.

Making it easier for employees to organize and enforcing tougher penalties against union busting both seem like good ideas.

But I've been on the fence regarding the Employee Free Choice Act (which Obama says he supports), because I'm not sure about eliminating secret ballots. Having experienced intimidation from both the labor and management sides first-hand, this doesn't seem like a good idea. I'm also not sure about arbitration, but I guess the argument is that it levels the playing field?

Anyway, when the GOP thugs come out so aggressively against something, plus throw out the "L" card, it tends to help clarify who is really on the side of working people.

Based on all that, the bill seems like a step in the right direction, but maybe it could use some fine tuning. I don't really know enough about it at this point. What do y'all think?

(*I'm still undecided about a Big 3 bailout. My inclination is to let the boards, shareholders, and executives go through the cleansing process of bankruptcy and let employees buy in to ownership of whatever emerges. They can't do any worse than current management.)

lovable liberal's picture

Shouldn't we be able to

Shouldn't we be able to build a card check system that's secure and secret?

Liberty and justice for all.

My home

gonzone's picture

Determining motivation

It's clear the GOP opposition to a big 3 bailout has to do with unions and little else. They were eager enough to help out the high stakes financial industry gamblers but oppose helping out where it would mean preserving real jobs for real Americans. Meanwhile the financial industry continues to behave badly and to shed thousands of jobs, the jobs of taxpayers who bailed their sorry asses out. Perhaps some wingnut can find a way to justify the GOP on this matter?

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
Hunter S. Thompson

Factchecker's picture

Doing what they had to do

Perhaps some wingnut can find a way to justify the GOP on [the auto industry bailout]?

Until we knew they wanted a bailout, the wingnut narrative was that the Big Three were the innocent good guys. They had to build SUVs and giant pickups, you see, because the buyers demanded them.

I wasn't aware of the EFCA. Eliminating secret ballot doesn't seem to be an improvement, I agree, but also agree that almost anything the GOP opposes to this degree re unions must be good. It's especially easy when they come right out and say it's bad because it would make organizing unions easier. That sounds like plenty reason enough to try and counter all the collusive acts governments and corporations have employed over the last few decades to bust unions.

RayCapps's picture

Hate the Card Check aspect...

the secret ballot must be preserved. Neither union organizers nor employers should ever be in a position to know how any individual voted on an issue like this. The rest of the bill is perfectly okay with me, but the loss of privacy that is necessarily associated with checking card signatures is unconscionable to me. This isn't a pro-labor or anti-labor question. It's a human rights question. The right to privacy ought to be sacrosanct in a vote like this.

yellowdog's picture

card check

Workers should be able to form a union without being subjected to management threats, harassment and intimidation. "Secret ballot" elections require a process that allows for that to happen. Even if the actual "vote" is safe and secure, the process preceding it is heavily weighted against a free choice to unionize.

RayCapps's picture

Management threats...

then change the process leading up to the ballot. The only way to address a problem is to address the problem, not by trying to make things "equally" unfair.

GBA's picture

Misleading

Your post is misleading. It is not the GOP that's keeping the bailout for the auto industry from happening. Please remember that Congress is run by the democrats.

Harry Reed said two days ago, "the votes aren't there", does not mean that only republicans are not in favor of the measure.

In fact, the democrats will have a hard time even with a democratic president and congress. WHY? Because of the blue dog democrats. There are a lot of elected officials that come from RED states. And if they want to get reelected, they better vote "conservative" not democratic or republican!

It's not going to be that easy for you.

Andy Axel's picture

"Up or down vote! Up or down vote!"

Your post is misleading. It is not the GOP that's keeping the bailout for the auto industry from happening. Please remember that Congress is run by the democrats.

And please forget that when the Republicans ran Congress (from 1994 - 2006), and the prurient dreams of the permanent Republican majority were accepted as gospel truth throughout the Establishment, the all-powerful "liberal agenda" was tying their hands from getting anything done - like shutting down the government, pursuing a specious presidential impeachment, starting a war based on false intelligence, unbridled spy authority, etc. etc. etc. Poow widduw powuhwess Weepubwicans. Always victims.

(First rule of "bipartisanship:" Majority/minority status notwithstanding, it's always the Democrats' fault when the Republicans don't get their way. Heads, they win. Tails, you lose.)

____________________________

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap! Special holidays, Sundays and rates!

GBA's picture

YOU’RE LOPSIDED from that

YOU’RE LOPSIDED from that huge chip on your shoulder.

All I said was that the democrats have all the votes they need to pass the bailout, why don’t they and don’t blame the democrats.

Your post is bias and offensive. You're very small minded and short sighted.

GBA's picture

Sorry.....don't blame the

Sorry.....don't blame the republicans......

gonzone's picture

six more weeks

Six more weeks and we have a chance to turn things around.

The markets love Obama it seems. People are learning you can't trust a Republican with your money.

And as for blame, who is currently the defacto leader of the GOP? Can you say Dubya? One president and leader at a time. Step forward Dear GOP leader and tell your party to fix this problem! What? No cojones? Blame the Dems again? What a cop out!

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
Hunter S. Thompson

Factchecker's picture

Do you mean Jefferson Davis conservatives?

Sorry.....don't blame the republicans......

Except they oppose it more widely than Dems. The new Congress in Jan. could have the votes not there now, especially if they're not voting on Bush's plan to rob fuel efficiency funds for the bailout.

...they better vote "conservative" not democratic or republican! ... It's not going to be that easy for you.

It's already tough for you, apparently. Having to cling to an ever narrowing group to try and identify with must be hard.

Nobody's picture

None of them need bailing

None of them need bailing out. Breaking the union though would be the thing to ever happen to the American automobile industry. Why is it that only the "Big 3" are needing help?

lovable liberal's picture

If Oregon can vote by mail...

... there's no reason card check couldn't preserve the secret ballot.

Liberty and justice for all.

My home

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

TN Progressive

TN Politics

Knox TN Today

Local TV News

News Sentinel

    State News

    Wire Reports

    Lost Medicaid Funding

    To date, the failure to expand Medicaid/TennCare has cost the State of Tennessee ? in lost federal funding. (Source)

    Search and Archives