The idea of anti-labor laws at the state level is to make belonging to unions less attractive. In Wisconsin, for example, the anti-union law that passed there in 2011 took away the rights of unions to collectively bargain for better pay and benefits for their members, while also eliminating automatic deductions for union dues. As a result, union members each month had to decide whether to write a check for a union that was no longer allowed to do much for members' bottom lines.
Since that law passed, membership in Wisconsin's two main teachers unions has fallen by a third. Over the weekend, the members of one union voted to consider merging with its rival. From the Wisconsin State Journal:
"It's about building local union power," Kenosha teacher Michael Orth said. "That's what we need to do."
You can see the unions' lost power is a few ways: declining membership, requirements that teachers pay more for their benefits, and the decimation of their ability to give money to candidates. The last part comes with direct political gain for Republicans, which helps to explain why Republicans like anti-union laws. Consider the biggest contributors nationwide in this cycle. The money from labor doesn't start to keep up with the money from business (read: Sheldon Adelson), but without it, the Democrats almost get shut out of the top 10.
(Image: The Overpass Light Brigade/Milwaukee)
Postscript: In September, a Dane County judge ruled that much of Wisconsin's anti-union law is unconstitutional. The decision affected teachers and Milwaukee public workers. Last month a law enforcement group with some members affected also sued.
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Finally....some good news...
just saying...
Sooner rather than later the working class will get pushed too far and understand just why unions were formed in the first place. Then again maybe we are breeding a generation of Caste type drones? Time will tell.
So Walmart and NYC Fast Food workers start to unionize, but then they will not have any power if these laws stay in place.
Some people I talk to say unions have too much power and are not needed. But of course the only place you hear that is from the conservative news that wants unions gone. I am amazed at how well their propaganda works. And I am saddened by how well their propaganda works.
Unions are not perfect but they serve a purpose. And I think that unfortunately they are probably needed now again to help the workers.
The Republican Party - passing laws to please their corporate overlords.
Isn't it funny that you didn't hear from any of the liberal outlets that the reason why Hostess went under was becuase the Bakers Union went on strike even when 4 other unions agreed to the Hostess contract restructing agreement ( done in banksuptsy court) that would keep the company alive. The Bakers union cost 15,000 people their jobs.
I know your not smart enough to understand that a business owner has more bills than just his employee's wages. Unions only care about one thing and that is making money, all they are is an insurance company that provide very little for what you pay into it.
Well it has been a few years/decades since child labor and 16 hour days were the norm. Then we are also fighting to keep multi-national corporations that were propagated on the backs of American workers from outsourcing to countries where people are still born into caste systems. The caste system of course allows the rich to stay rich and the poor to stay poor. A very good deal if you are a rich greedy slug. Never mind that fewer people being able to buy the mass produced flimsy throw away crap means that prices will no longer be able to get low enough to maintain production.
Cell phones made in China and given away in return for a two year contract will no longer fly when nobody is willing to pay the ridiculus price of monthly service. Ah, but then they could tax us and give us thirty minutes of government bought time? Who will they tax? Greed kills.Thankfully it is the greedy that usually fall the hardest in the end!
You know us liberals,we try to look beyond the line we are fed by corporate slime so here is colmes' answer to that..
Hostess has been sold at least three times since the 1980s, racking up debt and shedding profitable assets along the way with each successive merger. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2004, and again in 2011. Little thought was given to the line of products, which, frankly, began to seem a bit dated in the age of the gourmet cupcake…
As if all this were not enough, Hostess Brands’ management gave themselves several raises, all the while complaining that the workers who actually produced the products that made the firm what money it did earn were grossly overpaid relative to the company’s increasingly dismal financial position.
from:http://www.alan.com/2012/11/19/what-really-happened-to-hostess-twinkies/
Are you smart enough to realize that without employees, business owners run the place by him/herself, limiting expansion of growth and income? Employees are the front line of the business, not the back end.
Without worker advocates, few corporations or businesses will volunteer living wages or safe working conditions or benefits, in the same way they're fighting government to deregulate pollution controls and trade regulations. Anyone that disagrees, such as yourself, with the benefits of unions have not bothered to learn the horrific history of how badly humans, under the guise of business and free market, are willing to treat other humans. Slavery isn't just about black people...
I like this person's answer to what unions have given US workers. Child labor laws, Disability insurance, Fair pay for work performed, Forty hour work weeks, Pensions, Over and double-time pay, Retention of American jobs on American soil, Retirement, Safety regulations, Survivor's benefits and Workplace health insurance.
actually, as a business owner I have found that any employee that doesn't do their job to a high standard can be replaced by 100 that will work hard. I have a waiting list for people to work at my office becuase I do pay my employees very well. I do that for two reasons: 1 I want well qualified workers that can govern themselves, and 2 I understand that paying an employee what they are worth keeps them at their job so I don't have to go looking for new employees.
Anyone that things Unions are the only way has not bothered to look at the horrific things many of them are doing to their own members currently. One of the reasons I moved out of Pennsylvania. The rest of your rant doesn't even make sense.
CUT CORPORATE ENTITLEMENTS FIRST !
How can we even begin to talk about cutting entitlements / social safety net programs that people have earned and / or need to pay for the cat food that grandma and grandpa have to eat BEFORE we begin to speak about cutting corporate entitlements / subsidies that corporations have not earned to pay for the caviar that wealthy business people do not need ???
Corporate Entitlements / Welfare amount to $150 BILLION dollars per year at least !!
CUT CORPORATE ENTITLEMENTS FIRST !
Please, can we start with Big Oil subsidies...after all, drilling in the US is putting the oil on the world market at world market prices which isn't helping US consumers at all...it's helping oil companies put profits in the bank. If they're making profits, they shouldn't be subsidized.
Big Oil subsidies are Bull Crap.
We're going to be number 1, We're going to be number 1
Big Oil Subsidies are NOT Bull Crap :
http://news.yahoo.com/history-u-oil-subsidies-back-nearly-century-215500548.html
History of U.S. Oil Subsidies Go Back Nearly a Century
By William Browning | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Thu, Mar 29, 2012
http://priceofoil.org/fossil-fuel-subsidies/
Fossil Fuel Subsidies in the U.S.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/2012/02/21/guest-post-end-oil-subsidies-the-4-billion-question/
Guest Post: End Oil Subsidies? The $4 Billion Question
By Scott McNally | February 21, 2012
And on
And on
And on . . ..
@Cap - for how long? Oil is finite and oil workers will face the same issues that loggers faced in the 80's and 90's - less trees to cut, (and forestry was supposedly run sustainably)!
@Hope,
Not sure of what to think. In the first post you are against corporate entitlements and in your second post I am not sure if you are for or against. I think the tax code needs to be corrected. The government can help small businesses. But the corporations can also use the law to help themselves.
@Jontara,
I agree, oil is a finite resource and we as a nation should be working on renewable energy. I think our government should be investing in renewable energy.
Agreed. Renewables like Solar and wind cannot be on the same old model of yore - one central point fed to many. The shift will need to go to outfit individual houses and businesses first then go outward. Which is a sustainable model once the old paradigm is broken.
I meant to say that Big Oil Subsidies are not fictional . . . I think I miss read the post right before me. I thought Capt Vic was saying there is no such think as Big Oil Subsidies . . . my bad . . . I need to read more carefully sometimes.
Big Oil Subsides DO exist is what I meant to say.
The problem is you have 2-3 generations now that take certain things for granted, like 40-hour work weeks, overtime pay, paid holidays, etc. They can't quite grasp the fact that things haven't always been this way -- that people (unions) fought and died for these things.
Never heard one story about union greed or abuse of power or strong arming by unions that caused their universal decline of popularity though.......
Yes, Scott. A thing has to be perfect before it can be useful.
While it's hard for me to have sympathy with Wisconsinites because when they had the chance to DO something (fire Walker) they didn't, and now they're reaping the benefits of those decisions! I also know that it was UNIONS that have allowed and enabled the flourishing of what used to be the Middle Class - so respect them even if you don't belong to a UNION and be grateful because those UNIONS fought against the oppression that we're living under NOW!!
Hey Wisconsinites - STOP VOTING PARTY & AGAINST YOUR OWN BEST ECONOMIC INTERESTS!!
Wisconsinites will be hit with a 5.5% loss of federal revenue if Republicans push US over the "fiscal cliff." Think living in Wisconsin sucks now, just wait. Walker is a Koch-sponsored John Bircher. This will not end well for Wisconsinites.
Hey ZORA, I live here in WI. I belong to a Union out of N.Il. (construction). The ONLY reason Walker survived the Recall was because Our State simply didn't believe in that Process. Period. I will also say that when it comes to Labor issue's here in WI Alot of the Union People I have talked to have found out the Hard way, With the thinking of Ah, It won't happen, Well sorry to say but it did. Some enjoy the benefit's, Some are not to willing to fight for what they have.I do not understand that at all.
The "It can't happen to me" mentalitiy because we live in Exceptional America, where everyone is above board and would never put the bottom line in front of workers.
And when I call my car/house/credit card company, I always get a human to talk to, never have to wait, and am always made to feel like a valued customer, plus my interest rates go down when they've had a good year...opps, strayed into Republican dreamland there for a moment.
As you may have guessed I have a theory of sorts. It goes like this..
The wealthy rig the system in their favor by buying our elected officials off. They then seek the great reward of having America become a two bit nation with the exception of military might,needed for their protection as they rape and pillage the world. They set about by convincing the public that we are way behind on education while at the same time getting evangelists to try and destroy the public school system. This ensures that in time we will lack confidence and become dumb enough to be pushed into a caste system where some are trained to do manufacturing and others are trained in service areas. These castes will be a permanent situation among the average American who since he is now trained in a specific job rather than given a well rounded education will accept his/her status as a worker bee. Pay will decline and only those born of the right class will enjoy the good life that the worker bees provide.
Golly another conspiracy theory?
Hey Coffee, I do believe that Worker's are fed up, Stagnate Wages lack of benefit's etc.I think when some of these Big Buisness CEO's speak out, I think it's showing alot of Working People that some of these Co's give a rat's Butt about it's Worker's. I get bashed because I took a job that offered Benefit's, good Wage, and I realized it would offer a Pension and that I would have something when I retired, So why are some so against the Fact that I planned for my future???? Everyone is stuck with the Thinking of the 30's 40's era about Union's. Not like that at all in mine. It isn't close to what some think happens. Baseball bat carrying thug's?? I would be in Jail just as quick as any other Worker in any other Profession. Gimmee a break, I would be sent down the road, Fined and lose my Card real quick. I know people watched the Soprano's, that is where they get the whole Labor thing!!
Why do I think that first people to complain about their pay, working conditions and benefits will be those that are no longer members?
Doug, I wish I could answer that. But your right. People that are against base alot of how they feel on incidents that took place many years ago. Media coverage has alot to do with the Perception, How the story is presented. I know what Workers are going through, I experienced the manipulation of hrs to avoid getting Health Ins. or just by simply going from Full Time to Full Time Seasonal, to avoid getting Health Ins. And I also feel that Workers should be able to Voice there Concern's without being Threatened or Harrassed. We all know how that work's out.
a ceo, a tea partier and a union worker were in a room with a dozen cookies. the ceo took 11 of them and said to the tea partier, "hey. he's trying to take your cookie."
The CEO of course gave all 11 to the union in Labor negotiations, and then had to promise to find a dozen more for the next days negotiations knowing he still owed for the first dozen.