Anti-Union Spin on New York Snow Storm In Doubt?

After the first major snow storm in New York, the story that emanated in the corporate media, was the union may be to blame for the slow snow removal. The story goes that five union workers were involved in staging a work "slowdown" that kept the city literally paralyzed. Two workers were from the transportation department and three were from the sanitation department. The workers purported to had mentioned to one city council member about the "slowdown". The two transportation workers have denied this claim and the three sanitation workers were never named by the council member.

Unfortunately, several people were reported to have died due to the delayed time it took emergency vehicles to reach residents in the bad road conditions. I was watching Morning Joe  and heard Wille Geist repeat the media narrative on air. But is it really true?

The city has recently made budget cuts to transportation and sanitation workers.  The good news is there was a federal investigation that was initiated after this disaster. But the bad news is that the investigation centered around the allegation of the union workers, but did not also include investigating recent worker layoffs as a possible problem for the slow removal of the snow. 

Councilman Daniel Halloran was the council member who started the story about the unions, but when he was questioned on specifics, his story changed and he would not provide the names of the sanitation workers who were supposedly involved. Halloran is a republican from Queens who has Tea Party support.

This anti-union narrative has become popular in the mainstream media as an excuse to blame organized government workers for everthing wrong in the country fiscally. How many times have you recently heard the meme that state workers should be cut in various states across the country to balance state budgets? 

While the investigation has not been completed, the media seemed eager to report, without verification, that the unions are to blame. The question is why does there seem to be an anti-union bias in our media? 

Watch this issue being discussed by Grittv's Laura Flanders.

AFGE President On Proposals To Cut Size Of Federal Government

John Gage, President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), made an appearance on a viewer call-in segment on CPAN's Washington Journal program this morning. Gage talked about the debate over how much federal employees are paid as well as the size and scope of federal agencies, the federal debt, and the federal deficit.

Watch.

Corporatists Attacks On Union Workers

Attacks on union workers have ratcheted up to a fever pitch in recent years. You can turn to one news channel after the other or on talk radio, and you will hear endless commentary from pundits about union workers and their exorbitant salaries.

The new wave of attacks surrounds public workers like teachers, police, and firefighters. Public workers, they say, should take pay cuts and reductions in benefits during a "down" economy to keep their jobs and help to close budget shortfalls in localities, states, and in the federal budget. Public workers are blamed for bankrupting localities and states. But are these assertions supported by facts?

In most places in America, public workers have already taken salary freezes and reductions in benefits. Case in point, just today it was reported in the Lansing State Journal that Michigan public workers have already given roughly $4.7 billion in pay and benefit cuts.   How much more much should they be asked to give up?

Will protectors of corporations and the wealthy be satisfied when American workers all earn no more than $9 per hour? How much more will working class Americans have to give up so the wealthy can continue to have their taxes lowered?

CSPAN recently had a viewer call-in segment on Washington Journal about state budget cuts around the country. The common cuts to budgets were reductions in police, firefighters, teachers, and other public service areas. Viewers called in with stories about extreme reductions in their town in critical areas that frankly endanger not only us as citizens but the men and women who work each and every day to protect us from crimes and fires.

The middle class is always being asked to sacrifice. But when was the last time you heard the wealthy asked to sacrifce? 

The Fight For Decent Wages For Workers

Many references were made to Dr. Martin Luther King this past week with the celebration of his birthday. But what often times does not get emphasized was that when he was killed in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, he was there for the purpose of joining the sanitation workers' fight for fair wages and good working conditions.

Watch Dr. King give a speech to  those sanitation workers just 1 day before he was killed.

 

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka Makes Remarks On Labor Issues

The President of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, made remarks this morning at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

Watch Trumka's remarks.

Really Corporatists, Offshoring Is Good For America?

On C-SPAN's Washington's Journal this morning one of the subjects for the call-in segment was US relations with China. China's President, Hu Jintao, is visiting President Obama this week and with the anticipation of the Hu-Obama Summit, this topic is obviously relevant.

During the segment a caller made a comment about all of the US offshoring of jobs to China and complained about how there are few things made in America today. The first response from the host this morning, Greta Wodele, was the typical corporate media or corporatist response to this type of sentiment. Greta implied in her response to the caller that if things would be still manufactured in the US, we as consumers would have to pay a higher price for these goods.

What is never mentioned during these discussions about alleged "benefits" of of cheaper products for US consumers as a result of shipping US manufacturing jobs overseas, is the enormous tax revenue that is lost to cities and counties, states, and the federal government. The loss of tens of millions of US manufacturing jobs to cheaper labor centers like China, means less tax revenues for things like your local roads, bridges, schools, police, fire fighters, and teachers. For example, in your local town if there was a manufacturing plant that employed 900 local residents that decides to move these 900 jobs to China, your local government now has to figure out a way to replace the tax revenues that will be lost from the salaries of those 900 workers. Guess how they will do it?

By raising your taxes (those of you who are living in that locality that still are employed). Have you ever seen the property assessment on your home dramatically increase in  one year when you've not made a single improvement to your home? Ever wonder why this happens? Simple. The higher the local government assesses your home value, the higher your property tax rates. Higher tax rates means you pay more in taxes.

Those that support shipping US jobs overseas for cheap labor never explain that there will be many negative effects that you and I will experience as a result of those jobs being shipped overseas. That $5 or $10 we are "saving" on some item in stores like Walmart, is in turn costing us to pay higher taxes on our homes and cars. Or more in local, state, and federal income taxes.

After thinking about it in that context, are you still eager to save that measly $5 or $10 now in Walmart for a pair of pants?

Non-Union Companies Means Lower Wages For Workers?

I was channel surfing last night and came across CBS's Undercover Boss. This program is a reality television series that takes CEO's of companies and puts them to work with entry level employees from their own companies. These employees are not told about this and do no learn that they've been working with the "boss" until later. This particular episode featured the founder and CEO of Belfor Restoration, a billion dollar disaster recovery and property restoration company founded in Michigan in the 1980's.

In instance after instance last night while the CEO, Sheldon Yellen, went to work with entry level employees on various assignments, he discovered that many of his employees were not making enough in salary to pay their bills. One employee was working side jobs along with his job at Belfor to try and make ends meet. Another employee had worked an entire year after her promotion without receiving the new salary increase that was supposed to accompany her promotion. She could not even pay her bills. 

My first thought, these employees are doing very hard physical labor all day and are still not able to make enough in salary to pay their bills. Second thought, is this company unionized? Take an educated guess. It is not. While the CEO of this company certainly showed a lot of heart, emotion, and compassion about the fact that many of his employees were working very hard for him everyday and yet were still unable to make ends meet due to apparent low salaries at the company, it illustrates yet again the importance of having unions at companies to represent the employees so that they can have a voice at the table when important decisions are made at companies about what the compensation should be, what benefits packages should be, and whether or not there should be salary freezes or not so that you don't have situations like what had been occurring at Belfor, a billion dollar company.

In my own work experience, the job that paid better wages and benefits was at a company that was unionized. The jobs that were non-unionized paid substantially lower wages and benefits. In states like West Virginia, union worker wages are 11.1% higher than non-union worker wages. According to a July 2010 Bureau of Labor Statitstics report on wages, union workers earn an average of $4.95 per hour more than non-unionized workers which equates to $10,300 annually. Although wages vary based on sector and occupation, it is clear when viewing wage data that the union worker has the advantage.  This is the connection that corportist in America do not want average Americans to make.

Here is a clip from last night's episode.

Child Labor Laws Unconstitutional?

Didn't our country settle this debate over 100 hundred years ago? Apparently not according to US Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah who is now stating that child labor laws are unconstitutional. Child labor laws includes many rules and statutes that regulates the employment of minors. The laws affect those under the age of 18. In 1836 the state of Massachusetts was the first to create a child labor laws which states that children under the age of 15  working in factories had to attend school at least 3 months per year.

Watch Senator Lee.

US Chamber Wants A Low Wage Nation?

On CPAN's Washington Journal this morning the US Chamber of Commerce executive vice president, David Chavern, appeared on a viewer call-in segment. Like all others from anti-union and anti-worker organizations, Chavern voiced his opposition to the minimum wage when asked about it by a caller. A minimum wage is is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly wage that employers may legally pay to employees or workers.

The minimum wage concept was first introduced as way to control the proliferation of sweat shops in manufacturing industries.  A sweat shop was a working environment considered to be dangerous or difficult especially by developed countries with high standards of living like the United States. The sweat shops employed large numbers of women and young workers, paying them what were considered to be substandard wages. The sweat shop owners were thought to have unfair bargaining power over their workers, and a minimum wage was proposed as a means to make them pay "fairly." The minimum wage was first introduced nationally in the United States in 1938 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

 The current minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Do you know anywhere an individual can live today in the United States today off of $7.25 per hour? And yet you have the vice president of the largest organization in the United States representing businesses saying that minimum wages are "counter productive".

Watch the US Chamber of Commerce Vice President talk about the minimum wage.

If Unions Can Take Concessions Why Can't The Wealthy?

I read an article today about firefighters in Fremont California agreeing to take concessions to give up pay and accept furloughs for the next 6 months to help the city balance it's budget and to eliminate fire station closures. The firefighter union President stated that it was important for us to help in the community.

The question that instantly popped into my mind was why are the wealthy citizens in Fremont not being asked to contribute to balancing the city's budget by paying slightly more in taxes?

There seems to be a re-occurring theme around the nation where working class Americans in unions are asked to take pay freezes and/or benefit cuts to balance budgets while politicians are not asking those at the top to sacrifice at all. In fact politicians are busy cutting their taxes. What is wrong with this picture?

In addition to the concessions the firefighters have already made, it has been reported that the city is also going to ask the firefighters to make further concessions by reducing pension benefits for future employees.

When will those in charge learn that budgets cannot be balanced on the backs of the working class alone? Those who are wealthy must also be asked to sacrifice by contributing slightly more in taxes. Wages for the working class cannot be continuously lowered to a point where the salaries are no longer meeting living wage standards just so taxes can stay flat or be reduced for wealthy Americans. This economic approach does not work. The US nationally has been doing this for about 10 years now and all we have to show for it are large deficits and very few jobs.

A Conservative Paradise: A Jobless Economy?

I came across an article on the Chicago Breaking News Center this morning. The article was about a 34-year old Gary firefighter, Jason Pickering, who had been recently laid off. He had worked in that department for 10 years and has a family of 6. 33 other Gary firefighters have also lost their jobs due to recent layoffs.

Pickering told a local Chicago news station that " We took an oath to save people's lives...and the city just threw us to the curb." He is now panhandling on the streets and protesting the layoffs.

The city of Gary was in a cash crunch due to the decline in the economy.The city has applied for federal grants to bring the firefighters back, but the grant has not been approved thus far. Nationally, DC Republicans have been in the media talking about cutting domestic spending which will mean more firefighters like Pickering will lose their jobs.

America has come a long way when a 10 year firefighter can not find employment. But what is even more disheartening than the city of Gary laying off firefighters were the comments from the readers.

Here is a sample.

"If this man was just laid off 3 weeks ago and is already stone broke....he was not handling his money all too well. I have to believe he is just doing this to tick certain people off. If not, he was living like ALOT of Americans...WELL above their means."

"What the heck, why do cops, teachers, firemen, and union people think they are any different from me. They should be laid off if there is no money just like I have been as a architect for two freaking years. I bet this moron was one of the many millions that voted for CHANGE, how is that working for you? Next time vote for a person's ability not because the misguided people of America thought it would be cool to have the first black, white, non-American president. So stop crying, shut-up and realize you are no different from the other unemployed professionals in the U.S. approx 10%."

"A fire fighter laid off? and..... I had to close when nipsco started doing my job and I had no boot out there, lay off 75% of cops and go to an all volunteer FD lay off everyone in the mayors office but him and his sec. all dept heads can be 1 town manager, no take home squads, no more bilking the have nots with 150k jobs for family, no job pays over $40,000 for now, insurance 1/2 the year unless they want to pay the other 1/2 and non union hiring and save 10 million on a 2 million dollar bid!!"

"That's right libs. We cannot afford lavish pay and 100% lifetime pensions on these unionized employees. The UNIONS are bankrupting America....Duh!"

"Oh give me a break! This is clearly a stunt probably orchestrated by his stinking union. He's more than eligible for public aid and doesn't need to be pan handling. I'm a sole proprietor so haven't been eligible for any public aid despite long periods of time without income. It makes me sick that these government union morons are so stupid, selfish and dishonest."

Is there no knowledge to the average American of just how bad our economy is? Do they not know that for every 1 job there are 4 or 5 applicants? Can they not do simple addition to figure out there is a major job shortage in America when you look at the jobs to applicants ratio?

To add to this mess, you have union haters, the majority of congressional Republicans, who are chomping at the bit to cut essential services. Is there no common sense understanding that the more Americans that a) have jobs, b) have jobs  that pay living wages and benefits, the less people you will have on welfare, food stamps, section 8, and other social programs?  You would have more citizens paying income taxes which then in turn are used to pay for essential services like police, fire departments, and teachers.

You cannot do everything you can to destroy the majority of unions and union jobs which pay living wages and benefits and think you can still have an environment where businesses can flourish. No business can flourish without customers. There are no customers unless there are many well paying jobs in every community across the nation so that citizens can earn enough money that is  necessary to buy the products and services that businesses provide.

Republicans And Media Go After Public Employee Unions

Dylan Ratigan of the Dylan Ratigan Show on MSNBC discussed the latest "controversy" about the response of snow clean up during the recent blizzard in Brooklyn New York. There were many complaints by residents about the clean up of the snow being extremely slow. Republicans have used the complaints to attack public sector unions who have workers that were involved in the clean up. Some in the corporate media have repeated the Republican  attacks over the airwaves on the public sector unions without any substantiation of the claims.

Watch.

What Happened To America?

For those 40 years of age and over, do you remember an America where anyone from the poorest of backgrounds with no education or work experience could get a job at a major company and work their way into middle class life? At age 43, I have watched our great country go from a land of opportunity for virtually all it's citizens who were willing to work hard to a land where even citizens with multiple college degrees and countless years of work experience are unable to find jobs. What happened in four decades to change things so drastically overnight?

For one the powers that control America kept changing the bar. What do I mean? We went from a nation where high school dropouts could get jobs at major manufacturing companies and work their way to the American Dream.  Then the rules starting changing and we were told "you need to have a high school diploma to get these jobs." The next bar change: "you need to have some college or certifications to get these jobs." The next bar change: " you need to have a college degree to get these jobs." The next bar change: "you need a graduate degree to get these jobs." How is it that the majority of Americans from WWII to the 1970's could master the tasks necessary to successfully manufacture quality products in America with no education beyond high school or previous work experience? From that time period the United States of America was #1 economically in the world with the new creation of this strong middle class . So why change the system if that system made you #1?

Today, to land the few jobs that are still available in manufacturing, you have to have all kinds of certifications and or college degrees or countless years of experience (like ten years in some areas) to try to land that same entry level job? Rarely are there opportunities to get a job and be trained. Why? To the elite running these corporations, are Americans no longer trainable? That doesn't make sense. There is no evidence of that.

Remember when you filled a job application today and were hired today? Now, the hiring process can literally drag out months. I've even heard stories of hiring processes that lasted six months and the applicant had even forgotten about applying for the job in the first place, when one day they receive an email or letter in the mail referencing the application. It only takes a few days to run background checks. So what has changed in the system?

I was watching cable news during the summer and heard a report that I never heard again stating that there were currently over two million vacant jobs at American corporations. This at a time when over fifteen million Americans are unemployed and another several million more are under-employed.

The reason for all of this is that the majority of American CEO's and politicians running these corporations and the country today have no allegiance to America. CEO's do not care whether Americans, who built their companies to begin with, now have jobs or not. They do not care if our entire country collapses. Their only allegiance is to their shareholders and the almighty dollar or in the case of politicians their allegiance is to big money they get from corporate America to get re-elected. This mindset is the only thing that can account for CEO's like Aetna's Ron Williams who last year dropped 600,000 policy holders from it's roles while he made $38,000,000 in salary. Or the US defense department outsourcing procurement to foreign countries. Or US state governments outsourcing IT and administrative jobs that contain sensitive data (like your social security numbers and tax data) to foreign countries which obviously poses security risks. Or American toy company CEO's who offshored their manufacturing only to wound up importing toys back to America that are now unsafe for our children because of dangerous toxins that can be used for foreign manufacturers just to save a buck in labor costs.

Welcome to the new America where there are mainly low wage jobs or no jobs at all.