Thoughts On A Labor Day Weekend

Happy Labor Day Weekend

What Workers Never Get From Republican Officeholders

Want to see what the average worker in America no way gets from any Republican member of Congress or, God forbid, resident in the White House. This:

Obama observes Labor Day, extends contractors' paid leave

WASHINGTON (AP) — Showing solidarity with workers on Labor Day, President Barack Obama will sign an executive order Monday requiring paid sick leave for employees of federal contractors, including 300,000 who currently receive none.

These things that support workers and the working class and middle and lower classes, they never come from Republicans anymore. They haven't come from Republicans in the last 100 years.

Keep that in mind come any election day.

Happy Labor Day and Labor Day Weekend!

Have a terrific, relaxing, rejuvenating, safe, fun weekend.


And by the way, you're welcome.


Signed,

--Labor Unions and labor workers across the country for the last 100 years.

Quote of the day

“We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community …. Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.” --Cesar Chavez, farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist (1927-1993)

Feel helpless at your job or in this economy?

If you feel helpless now, either to your boss, the company you work for or in this economy, overall, more generally, just wait until Wisconsin's labor bill passes, if it does, doing away with collective bargaining.

When it's just you vs., again, either the boss or the company, we both know who's going to win that battle (unless he or she does something blatantly illegal and prosecutable, of course).

When people have the power and ability to form a group--yes, a union--so they can negotiate better workplaces and conditions, then things can happen in our favor.

But we all know that.

From the article I read this morning:

States across the nation are struggling with enormous short-term budget gaps. If Walker's effort passes and is judged a success, it could give a boost to state leaders--GOP Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is the most prominent example--who are also looking to rein in public employee benefits. A wave of states advancing Wisconsin-style bids to drastically downscale public unions and pensions could reinforce the notion, pushed by many Republicans, that overly generous state employee benefits are at the root of state budget problems. And that consensus, in turn, could embolden some states to mimic Walker's more direct challenge to collective-bargaining rights.

There is even an accusation out now that Wisconsin Governor Walker even shot through the state's budget surplus, just so he could pick this fight with the union, too:

It's important that people understand this: This is a fight Gov. Walker picked for the specific purpose of breaking the unions. Wisconsin had a surplus, and as soon as he was sworn in, Walker gave it away to special interests in order to put the state into deficit.  (see 2nd link, below).

If this flies in Wisconsin, I absolutely look for a very similar proposal by some Republican representative across the state line, over in Topeka.  I hope I'm wrong but I doubt it.  With Kansas' budget problems and the perception of unions, I think it's entirely possible unless there is some legal barrier.

Ironically for Kansas workers, it is Kansas' own Koch brothers, apparently, who are helping the Wisconsin governor with his push to bust their union:

The fact is, Walker is carrying out the wishes of his corporate master, David Koch, who calls the tune these days for Wisconsin Republicans.  Walker is just one among many Wisconsin Republicans supported by Koch Industries--run by David Koch and his brother, Charles--and American for Prosperity, the astroturf group founded and funded by David Koch.  The Koch brothers are hell-bent on destroying the labor movement once and for all.  --Adele M. Stan, Alternet, see link below

If Wisconsin's bill becomes law as seems likely, this will surely and most likely be the furthering of the reduction of the Middle Class in America.  Working conditions, pay and all other issues will be decidedly in the employer's, owner's or corporation's favor.  It will be everything for the betterment of the company and if our needs go against the perceived needs of the company, you and I--the "working man and woman of America"--will lose.

Every time.

Link:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110217/ts_yblog_thelookout/why-the-wisconsin-labor-bill-is-a-big-deal
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/republican-governor-deliberately-spen
http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/ed-schultz-outlines-fox-media-strategy-agai
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/opinion/18fri1.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha211
http://www.alternet.org/news/149965/wisconsin_is_a_battleground_against_the_billionaire_kochs'_plan_to_break_labor's_back
http://www.workingamerica.org/blog/2011/02/17/wisconsin-democratic-legislators-leave-the-state/

Men: On shifting sand?

"The yang of America’s labor force is this: over a 40-year career, a man earns $431,000 more than a woman on average, according to the Center for American Progress. The yin of America’s labor force is this: in this decade, for the first time in American history, men no longer inevitably dominate the labor force. Women were actually the majority of payroll employees for the five months that ended in March, according to one measure from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s mostly because about three-quarters of Americans who lost their jobs in the Great Recession were men." --Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times (see link below) When you add this kind of data to the fact that the former minorities are becoming the majority and that we have our first Black president, etc., etc., it's not a complete surprise that white, conservative, reactionary men resort to at least confusion, if not insecurity and, unfortunately, some ugliness (e.g., racism, etc.). That doesn't make it okay but it certainly helps explain a lot of their actions and reactions to our world of late. And I have news for ya'll on it---it's not going to get better. We're not going back to the way things were--or the way we think they were. Link to original post: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/opinion/22kristof.html?_r=1&hp