Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Coercion over Persuasion

When I was a young pup, my father was working for a beer distributor in Columbus, Ohio.

My dad was a loyal union guy, a Teamster, so I got lots of information about the workings of the union.

During one particularly difficult strike, the union held a contract vote. This is how the vote was taken.

All those against this contract say Aye! ( about 70 % said aye according to pops)

Who are the pussies for it. ( silence)

Let it be noted that rejection of this contract was unanimous.

So when I read articles about the unions trying to get non secret elections for union votes it almost makes sick. Everyone, understands that secret votes are the cornerstone of democracy. Imagine a party official standing beside you as you cast your vote for an office holder. It would be Cuba.

George Will has a great piece about pending legislation making all union votes non secret ballots.

If this legislation passes, you can watch the remaining bits of our manufacturing industry head elsewhere. We won't have to worry about immigration amnesty, we'll all have have to move to Mexico to do the jobs we're doing here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

George Will, Elaine Chao and others anti-union voices are spreading building their anti-worker campaign on lies.

The fact is that what the Employee Free Choice Act really does is take the decision for a secret ballot election out of the hands of employers and gives it back to the workers who will choose whether or not to start a union.

And isn't it really more democratic to let the voters actually decide that they need to vote, say, as opposed to having a dictator decide that there must be an election months down the road? In the meantime, that dictator (the employer) will lock those voters in a room with his hired thought police ("labor relations" hired guns) once a week and feed them all kinds of misinformation about unions. That dictator will fire the leaders of the opposition (union organizers) and threaten anyone who would vote against him.

Does that sound democratic to you?

Think about it. Why would George Will, the U.S. Chamber and Bush Labor Department spend so much time, money and energy trying to shoot down EFCA? Do you think they care about workers – the same workers who are denied health coverage, retirement benefits, and respect? No it's because they want to stop unions from giving workers a real voice. They want to continue denying real benefits -- for the sake of profits.