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Right To Work

Yesterday the Congress in its infinite jest to destroy America introduced a Right to Work bill.  If this passes we are back fully to the good old days when worker's protections and rights did not exist and the idea of OSHA and other regulations governing how employees are remunerated - including compensation, sick leave, family/maternity leave, and vacations will all likely follow.

We as Americans are sure that Unions are a thing of the past and that people are fine negotiators who can handle their employment agreements and contracts themselves.  Yes a person without a legal degree is able to review a contract, agree or disagree and in turn re-negotiate with the legal team of a Fortune 500 company.   The same company's that came up with Arbitration and Mediation in service agreements, non compete clauses and other exemptions which employees and others waive in order to business with said Company.  Good luck with that.

The anger and resentment regarding Unions comes largely from the political arena and by portraying them as the bad guys who create more problems then they solve, riles up and encourages the base to bash unions.  Ah yes they used to do just that in the good old days too - bash skulls to prevent labor organization.   History is dish best served in the schools but I am sure in the next few months the move to censor and ban books will be back with a vengeance.  It is a clear theme of oppression/suppression for our new leadership triad - the House, the Senate, and the Presidency.

I have been a Union member off and on for most of my adult life. I am the child of union members and I can assure you that first hand they have their strong suits and their weak ones.  In Tennessee here, a right to work state, you have had wages stagnant for over a decade and the reality is that despite the growth, wages have not remained constant with regards to cost of living.  This State, like Washington however which does have a strong Union presence, has no income tax and relies on regressive tax structures and professional licensing fees to generate income for the state.  As a result many infrastructure problems go ignored and in turn property taxes or levy's are another means of funding the kitty and again are incredibly regressive as they affect the poor disproportionately. 

The reality is that we are becoming like China with intense exploitation of labor and in turn pushing those who can't meet the odds further into poverty and displacement.  And yet Trump wants a war with them? They have a Military and it unlike ours is likely well funded and staffed, we have to rely on largely volunteers who elected entering service as they had no other option professionally.  The growth of technology and the skills it requires to design, implement and create has become a part of the Techno-class and like the Autocrats they go out of their way to protect themselves as they do their corporate secrets.

I was listening to Nick Hanuer Billionaire Activist from Seattle on BBC this morning discussing the problems in the American economy and his belief it was less about jobs but about compensation.  He made the analogy that those at the top of the Corporate ladder who make six figures or more truly believe that they are worth it, deserve and earn it and they feel that those who do not also deserve it as they are not good enough or smart enough to work out of it.  When he speaks to CEO's and Management about paying people a living wage they respond with eyes downcast and the argument that raising wages means affecting jobs and having fewer of them despite the fact that there is little data or truth to support this belief.  But this is the time of alternate facts and this is why the disenfranchised chose Trump as they thought he would be the one to finally hear them and change this.  In the same ways Unions did and in turn Congress changed laws and the way American capitalism grew despite it should be sufficient information to decry that claim; however,  the reality is that anger and a lack of education further enables the status quo to do exactly what they do best - protect the status quo by manipulating the facts to suit their self interest.

Trump is not doing anything to help the working class, there is nothing in any of these first acts he so proudly displays that does. The few bully pulpits regarding Corporate jobs remaining in the U.S, upon investigation, show that they are not quite the panacea needed to restore jobs and wages to pre recession levels. Building an Amazon warehouse, adding service sector work and other low level wage jobs do not do anything but give good PR to those companies wanting to avoid the Trump Tweet wrath.    Funny how many of them remain silent when he targets many of those who are the first to work at low wages in largely unsafe occupations, just ask those in building trades.

I feel bad for those here, they want to believe that they will work hard and get all the right credentials and be treated and compensated for them in exchange, the original contract that we have always had in most professions. But those days are gone.  I am amazed how many Doctorates and Masters Degree's litter the schools here and all for 5K more in salary but the payback and costs are not level.  It makes no sense to spend the money on degrees when you peak out at the top of the salary ladder and cannot make more regardless.  Yes that is public education when you have a Ph.d  your salary becomes equivalent to one who has worked in the system for 15-20 years and that is that.  So only when the entire salary ladder is changed will you get a raise and if you think that this is because of Unions I have a bridge to sell you.  Private schools and charters do not pay more and they have their own series of problems that lead to immense turnover. 

I truly hate my job here in Nashville and the people not far behind largely do to the lack of support for Subs and the compensation structure.  We are spoken to like dogs and this is by the Teachers and Administrators, the students follow suit.  I cannot tell you what it is like to be talked to as if you are an idiot and when I respond to another dressing down with: "I'm an idiot making 11/hr what do I know?" The response is much like the one Hanuer explained, they are embarrassed but instead of being understanding and kind they are judgmental and rude. This is largely due to the reality they have created with regards to living here and somehow anything or anyone that shakes that perception or misconception is a threat. Outsiders, like change in the South is welcome here. Again Southern Hospitality is an anathema here.

This is what anger looks like when you are underemployed and under compensated and yet even I knew Trump was not the answer.  And right to work is not either.  We need a Union here and we need organized labor if not to simply put into place decent compensation and in turn worker's protections.  And in turn a type of cohesion and community that is not part of the system as it is.  People need to see work as a cooperative endeavor and one that values their work and their role in the overall success of the industry. 

I think that is why a large part of anger is also directed towards Municipal/Governmental entities as those individuals are also poorly compensated, trained and supported. Add to the irony that the first people who criticize the Government are the one's employed within it. There alone is a contradiction in terms when you criticize the industry in which you work and in turn wish it destruction. And that is part of the problem, there is little ownership or value to their work and that climate extends outward as I have explained with regards to my work here.  The kick the can down the road or the one below you on the rung has become so prevalent today. Rage is a dish best re-heated and re-served, it is the ultimate in re-gifting.

So when the bill passes and it will America the red sea has grown larger, welcome and go f yourself! Get used to it as that passive aggressivity will be the norm.



With all eyes on Trump, Republicans are planning to break unions for good


A so-called ‘right to work’ bill going through Congress will starve unions of funding, leaving workers at the mercy of their bosses and politicians


Thursday 2 February 2017
Guardian UK
Michael Paarlberg

Alternative facts are nothing new; politicians have been making stuff up since they first crawled out of the primordial swamp. One of the most successful lies in modern US politics has been that of “right to work” laws, which break unions under the guise of protecting workers, one of which was introduced in Congress on Wednesday afternoon and will probably break unions in the country for good.

A national right to work law has been a pipe dream of corporate lobbyists, the chamber of commerce, the Koch brothers, and the politicians on their payroll for decades, and is about to become a reality. Right to work laws already exist in more than half the states in the country, where unions are weak or nonexistent, wages are correspondingly low, and workers are correspondingly disposable. In theory, these laws are about guaranteeing workers’ freedom of association. In practice, they’re about keeping workers from forming unions, by making unions financially unsustainable.

The main lie told by right to work proponents is that such laws put an end to “compulsory union membership”. It’s flat-out false; there is no such thing, and hasn’t been since 1947, when the Taft Hartley Act made the closed shop – a type of contract where union membership was a condition of employment – illegal. Nowhere in the US, whether you’re in a right to work state or not, can you be forced to be a member of a union, or fired for refusing to join one.

The second lie is that such laws protect workers from having their dues money go to political causes they don’t support. Nowhere in the country can you be forced to donate to a politician, campaign or political organization you don’t support. If you’re a dues-paying union member, you already have a right to simply not donate to your union’s political fund, and plenty of union members exercise it.

What right to work laws, including this bill, do is outlaw a specific type of voluntary, private employment contract that employers and employees may agree on. Under this agency shop contract, which must be voted on and approved by a majority of employees, workers agree to pay a fair share provision – a fraction of the dues amount that union members pay – to cover the costs of bargaining and enforcing the workplace contract.

The reason such contracts exist at all is because, under the same 1947 law that banned compulsory union membership, unions are bound by what are called “duties of fair representation”. Under DFRs, they are legally required to provide the same services to everyone in a workplace, such as filing grievances, providing legal counsel, or defending someone if they’re disciplined, whether they are union members or not.

This also assures that everyone gets the same benefits from a union contract: health insurance, vacations, rules that say your boss can’t just fire you if he wakes up one day and decides he doesn’t like your face. The idea is to prevent unions from discriminating against those who choose not to join. Obviously, if you’re going to receive a benefit automatically whether you join or not, the incentive is to free-ride. Agency shop contracts are set up to make sure everyone shares the costs so that those grievances get filed. Right to work laws encourage everyone to free-ride until the union is broke, can’t provide those benefits to anyone, and eventually ceases to exist.

Right to work proponents often point to the money unions throw at politicians, mostly Democrats, as justification for starving unions financially. But right to work laws don’t defund political activities, because no worker is compelled to fund them in the first place. The only union functions this law will defund are things like contract bargaining and grievance filing: precisely those everyday workplace activities that Republicans say unions should be restricted to doing.

It bears repeating: the contracts this law will ban are voluntary and agreed on democratically. They are not imposed on anyone by the government, the union or the company. Normally, outlawing a voluntary business contract between private parties is the kind of thing Republicans consider government meddling. And there’s something distinctly unconservative about forcing an institution to provide benefits to non-paying non-members while encouraging them to freeload. But if it’s about crushing unions, they always manage to find an excuse.

Certainly bill sponsors Steve King and Joe “You Lie” Wilson would never let ideological consistency get in the way of an opportunity to crush their opponents. Nor would President Trump, who was elected promising to fight for American workers. Unions are, after all, the only real vehicle for workers to defend their interests, whether in the workplace or the political arena. Taking that away from them leaves workers at the mercy of their bosses and politicians. Which is the whole point, and the only thing this law was ever designed to do.

















This post first appeared on Green Goddess VV, please read the originial post: here

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