Tag Archives: unions

Unions on the rise…

Well..with a settlement being reached with all three of the big three automakers and the UAW, the only conclusion that can be reached is that unions are on the rise in the US…and it really does appear that the worker are starting to get their fair share finally after sacrificing pay and benefits to keep the automakers afloat during the great recession…on average, it appears that the pay raises are going to be 25% over the next 4 years along with better retirement benefits and lower healthcare costs…and this is only fair after all of the companies announce record profits over the past 5 years…and this whole settlement is a  result in a change in tactics by the UAW that saw strikes against all of the companies at once and then a continual adding of more and more plants until the companies came to the bargaining table with no bullshit this time…and with all of the union activity going on in this country across almost every industry, workers have finally realized that their employers are not going to give them what they deserve out of the kindness of their hearts so they are banding together to use the power they have as a group to be compensated for their true worth….there are still people like Jeff Bezos of Amazon and the movie/tv studios who are willing to take on hundreds of millions in lost profit just to keep from paying workers, writers, and actors and small percentage of that they are asking for….showing this is just a bunch of assholes who run these companies…keep it up folks, we need a middle class again….geez…

This is what you’ll get with ole Scotty…

Well…as much as I hate the smarmy Scott Walker, I hate him even more today as he told an audience yesterday what he will do to labor when he is elected president…if you hate unions and the great things they have done to lift workers into the middle class..you are going to just love this idiots plan to make the entire US into a right to work country, to take the right to organize and bargain for pay and benefits from all federal workers, and make it almost impossible for unions to stay certified….yep…we now hear the Koch brothers coming through loud and clear with this crap…my question to ole Scotty is: Why do you hate US workers so much? All this coming from a guy who has never held a real job in his life..since his early 20′s, ole Scotty has been in government of some form…never once having to actually work for a living like union members do…how anyone can listen to this idiot talk about destroying the middle class and still vote for him? I know, they have the rubes snowed somehow so they just keep voting against their own interests….I am just glad this moron will never be president…geez…

Isn’t this illegal?

Well…int he runup to the union vote at a VW plant in Tenessee, the righties are out in force basically threatening the workers and even VW if they approve UAW representation. My question is: isn’t this illegal? Almost every repub in Tennessee has weighed in…threatening VW that they will never get another tax break if they go along with the unionization…even though VW has seen how well the “works council” relationship has worked in Europe and really do want the same kiind of relationship with their workers here in the states…but, have also threatened workers with retaliation if they vote for the union…now, I am pretty sure this is against the law and I can’t wait until a complaint gets filed with the NLRB and the lawsuits start to fly. These idiots in Tennessee have said that they will not approve any more tax breaks for the expansion that VW is planning…so, let me get this straight…if their workers vote to improve their work lives, the repubs will attack workers just to spite them and drive any new VW plant to Mexico?  This just shows you again that the repubs don’t give a damn about the workers in their states…just about the ideology that cuts workers wages and say in the workplace…but, this time, they don’t even have the support of the company in question…why don’t they just leave them alone and let the company do what it thinks is right? Geez…

This just occured to me…

Well…it has been a weird synthesis that has happened over the day today with reading a bunch of articles the were seemingly unrelated, but then a light came on and an idea slowly came to me about the controversy where union members don’t have any say when their dues are used for political donations and the repubs howling about it and trying to write laws to eliminate this use of those dues. Then it came to me…what is the difference between unions using their dues to support political candidates they like and corporations cutting peoples pay and then taking the money they save and giving it to their candidates? I’ve never heard a repub bitch about corporate giving or proposing any laws that would restrict it…and I’ve never heard of any corporation asking their employees to vote on what candidates or causes are supported….so, again, the hypocrites on the right have it wrong..but they are so used to having it both ways that they can’t see their hypocrisy…or better yet, they won’t see it because they don’t believe in truth…geez…

The one reason that people should be for unions…

Well…I know I said that I wasn’t going to do a political one today but this little thing popped into my head and I had to comment on it…to all of you out there that are in the working class and you are against unions, there is only one reason that you need to be for unions….they force companies to share the bounty of profits with everyone, with the hard workers that make the profits possible, not just the executive officers of the company. One of the reasons for the increasing disparity of income in this country is the decline of union membership over the past thirty years; form 25% down to the paltry 7% we have now.And, one of the worst offenders here in the US is Walmart who viciously opposes unionization of it’s North American workforce but allows it in every other country…well, not allows it but many other countries force them to allow their workers to unionize…or they are not allowed to be in those countries…not a bad idea for here, either…so, you tea partiers that have it in for unions and their members, it is you that is helping these thieves steal what is rightfully yours…..how does that feel you idiots?…..geez….

Number 750…..

Well…this one is kind of a milestone for me and this post…it marks number 750 and I don’t know if I should use it for musings on the past almost year of writing this thing or to go off on gov Snyder again…I am going to have to comment on him and the recent revelations of the detail of his budget, and I do want to comment on what I think the endgame is. So, I’m a little confused right now, but not in a musing mood so I guess I’ll take on Mr. Snyder…again.

If you’ve read anything of the politics here in Michigan, there is a battle going on with the makeup of the next budget with the repubs wanting to give unnecessary tax cuts to business paid for by increases in taxes on everyone else. This, in itself, is enough to show that the repubs don’t give a damn about you and me, but I think there is even a more insidious plan contained in this legislation; one that is being worked this minute in the guise of deficit reduction but whose ultimate aim is to destroy organized labor. I talked briefly about this last week, but the epiphany didn’t come until I was reading about the reductions in revenue sharing to cities and townships that is also included in this bill, and I made the connection to the new bill that would allow to governor to appoint “overseers” to take over municipalities that are in financial distress. Included in this legislation is the ability of the overseers to void union contracts and unilaterally prevent the union members from having any voice. Now…does anyone else see the conflict of interest here with having the governor controlling whether the municipalities end up in financial distress and then being able to force the undemocratic goals of the repub party on everyone? I have had enough of the repubs crying socialism whenever the dems want to do something that will help the middle class only to watch them do so much worse in governing by unelected and incompetent, faith based fiat. Geez…..

Is everyone at the Detroit News an idiot?

Well…..have to comment on an article by Michel Barone in the Detroit News this morning that finds it is a bad thing that unions give money to Democratic candidates and makes the assertion that since public employee unions give to the Dems it is the same as taxpayer money going to them with no say by the people paying the salaries. Yikes, what a leap of logic this guy is pushing…by that same reasoning any time a business gives money to the repubs, that I have helped make possible by purchasing a good or service from, they are making political contributions that I have no say in. Michael, of course the unions are going to give to the dems, they are the only party that gives a damn about the middle class and still fights for people to have a chance against the manipulations of corporations that are aided and abetted by the repubs. He continues with the spurious, circular argument that asserts that since private sector employees have been beaten down and have had their real compensation stall or recede over the past 20 years, the same should happen to those who have managed to stay even or even improve their lot; while corporate profit is at it’s highest level in history. I have a question for you Michael, when will you on the right be happy? When there is no middle class left to purchase anything from your sainted corporations? Geez….

Are we waking up?

Well…if this stuff keeps coming to me, it may be a record day here but I think this just may be compensation for the uncontrollable stuff that is happening in my life right now…could even be avoidance, but who knows? One thing that I am taking away from the protests that are happening across the midwest is hope, hope that the workers of this country are finally waking up to the organized assault on the middle class and are starting to do something about it…and I have to thank governor Walker for being so open about the right’s agenda, pulling the curtain back on the coordinated effort of the repubs to steal the entire country for themselves. My only fear is that this may fizzle out before it can be converted into electoral gains for those who value the middle class and the dignity of labor….

Manny is still a shill….

Well…just a short one to talk about something I read in the Detroit News by our favorite shill for the repubs, Manny Lopez. In this one, one of the things he bitches about is the media coverage of the protests across the midwest, and his rationale is that since there are only about 12% of the working population in unions, the media should not cover the protests of these “sign carrying, bullhorn toting” crowds. Oh, really Manny? You thought that coverage of events like these was just peachy when it was the tea partiers carrying the signs and toting the bullhorns, and at the time you thought it was wonderful uprising of ordinary folks “taking back their government”. What’s the difference here Manny? These are ordinary working folks trying to keep the government from taking away their right to collectively bargain and if this was happening at a tea party rally, you would be right there with them. This is just another instance where the right shows its intellectual and moral bankruptcy…funded by the Koch brothers….geez….

Make no mistake, this is war…

Well….just did my state taxes and that put me in a kind of crappy mood, but I really don’t mind paying taxes to keep the society running…and this comes from an unemployed guy who is quickly going broke…so what is the excuse for the richies to not want to pay theirs? But, that’s not what this one is about….I just need to make sure you understand that the attacks on organized labor by the repubs is war, it is an attack on all of us that have tried to drag ourselves up out of poverty and have found that the only way you can stand against the moneyed interests in the US is to organize. I have some questions to ask those non-union folks who are so adamant that the unions have become greedy and unresponsive to the needs of todays economy…do you like your 40 hour workweek? Do you like your employer paid health insurance? Do you like your vacations? Do you like your pension or 401K match? Well…all of these are a result of the unions standing up for all of the workers here in the US…not just their members. All you right wing union bashers out there, do you think your companies would just give you these things out of the goodness of their hearts? If you do…you are even more delusional than you sound in the message boards. Make no mistake….emboldened by the billionaires who bought this last election for the repubs, these same repubs have been told to wage war on labor and the middle class…it’s a take no prisoners game in which all of us need to decide what side we’re on….billionaires or your neighbors and friends..geez…