Do Workers Deserve to Have Any Rights Or Should They Be Obedient Slaves to the Corporations That Hire Them?

• TYLER, TX - Yesterday, after nearly a decade of legal maneuverings and circumventions of federal law, Wal-Mart was finally forced to the bargaining table in Jacksonville, Texas. More than nine years ago, workers in the meat department in the Jacksonville Wal-Mart voted to be represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 540. What Wal-Mart proceeded to put these workers through was both unlawful and unconscionable. In one of the company’s most audacious displays of hubris, Wal-Mart first ignored the workers, refusing to bargain with them or provide information to their union. Only after the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against Wal-Mart did the company try to move the goalposts by claiming that workers in the meat department had lost their right to representation because the skilled meatcutting jobs had been replaced by a prepackaged meat program. Eight years and several legal battles later, Wal-Mart ran out of excuses when the United States Court of Appeals forced the company to bargain with these workers. National and international law protect the right of workers to join a union of their choosing. When the outcome of an election is uncertain for this long in other countries, we call it a coup. When it happens here, it’s just another day on the job for the millions of American workers for whom a voice on the job is being unjustly denied. The story in Jacksonville, while particularly alarming, is far from the only one of its kind. A multi-billion dollar war chest and a team of corporate lobbyists shouldn’t be prerequisites to the free exercise of federally-protected workplace rights. Without legislation like the Employee Free Choice Act, workers will continue to fight drawn-out, expensive, and - all too often - losing battles against multi-national corporate empires that see them as a liability to be minimized. EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT Labor unions and business groups have launched a fierce battle over proposed legislation that would rewrite the nation’s labor laws and make it easier for workers to form a union. If passed, the Employee Free Choice Act would amend the National Labor Relations Act to allow workers to form a union if a majority of them signed a card or a petition. Under current law, employers can force workers to hold a secret ballot election before recognizing a union. The bill also adds penalties for employers that discriminate against workers for their union-organizing activity and mandates that a government arbitrator will intervene if employers and workers cannot agree on a contract within 120 days. Labor groups say the Employee Free Choice Act would help restore the freedom of workers to form unions and bargain collectively, while business groups argue that the bill would hurt profits and lead to more layoffs. Both sides have launched massive lobbying efforts. http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/13/business_labor_groups_clash_over_legislation

• Answer:

  Corporations are merging and top managers are getting millions of dollars as bonuses, regardless if the company makes a profit or not. The average workers income has staedily declined and he/she has been told to take it or leave it. Yaeh, Teamsters gave unions a bad name, but putting jobs overseas, canceling contracts, laying off workers and re-hire for a lower rate is not a way Anerican workers should be treated. What makes matters worse, workers have been brainwashed into believing this is a fair treatment. All profit goes to stockholders, and minimum wages to the people do the work. Workers and employees are the laughing stock of boardrooms. In my position as an executive in a department store, I had to attend meetings, where managers where trained to spot attempts to organize. I find it rather peculiar, that working people have bought into the union-demonizing and voluntarily giving up rights, garantied in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Paying workers a decent wage doesn't kill companies, as a matter of fact, if the bottom makes enough money, the bottom will spend and therefore create more business. The president of Walmart has made more money on January first, for which he doesn't even has to show up, than a store clerk makes in one year.... Capitalism has to re-invent itself, since we found out that continuous growth is not going to work anymore and feeding everything to the top either. This country belongs to everybody and everybody has the right to the persuit of happiness, which should include making a decent living!