Comments on: Labor: Beach Update

By: James E. Thompson

James E. Thompson — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 23:06:32 +0000

In the United States, an obscene alliance of corporate supremacists, desperate labor unions, certain ethnocentric Latino activist organizations and a majority of our elected officials in Washington works diligently to keep our borders open, wages suppressed and the American people all but helpless to resist the crushing financial and economic burden created by the millions of illegal aliens who crash our borders each year. Sorry about the cut and paste from Lou Dobbs but is how this 50year memberof th int. Uoion of Oper. Engs. see’s it

By: Laura Strand

Laura Strand — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 22:45:56 +0000

Jordan,
Great reporting and great work. I was concerned when I first heard reports that undocumented workers were being solicited to help with the recovery and rebuilding of NO and the Gulf region. I’m sure that many citizens would have jumped at the chance to:
1. rebuild their city/region
2. remain in their city/region so that, once done, their families could rejoin them (as my grandfather’s did after the SF quake/fire)
3. be able to speak out when their wages were far less than the amounts provided to the contracting companies
4. actively participate in the policy development - to avoid gentrification
5. speak to those of us outside the region about how things are going good and bad.

It’s the same story in Iraq, Iraqi citizens are jobless and undocumented workers are exploited by contractors.

The connection between the two - Joe Allbaugh.

Regarding the Bush administration and regulation - it’s always the same old same old Profits before People.

By: diogenes

diogenes — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 20:08:02 +0000

Two minor points to Jordan’s excellent post.

Labor organization in the South is definitely doable. When US Air ramp agents organized in 1995, many southern stations voted ‘Yes’ - mine, comprised solely of southerners, voted 100% yes. Republican hegemony in the south does not run as deep as they’d have you believe.

You hear about management/labor conflict, and I’ve certainly had my share. But I also had a old-school manager who understood the union role. During his tenure, we were able to come to equitable solutions acceptable to the company and the membership.

For the front-line employee, having your union represent you to management, as opposed to standing alone, goes a long way.

By: trblmkr

trblmkr — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 18:20:29 +0000

“I’m at the beach, monitoring a bunch of 18-year old girls…”

Sounds strenuous, I’ll be glad to take over, AHEH!

By: mui

mui — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 13:32:50 +0000

Good post. We are entering an Upton Sinclair era. I often wonder why so little media attention is being payed to the working situations of undocumented workers. And now that’s exacerbated by the whole anti-immigrant movment.

By: LindaR

LindaR — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 04:16:43 +0000

It looks like this entry got EPU’d before many responses. Labor is such an important issue — in fact, “issue” doesn’t seem weighty enough to describe it. Count me as one of the many, I am sure, daily readers of FDL who wants to know more about labor matters and to support efforts to strengthen workers in our country.

By: James E. Thompson

James E. Thompson — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 03:49:52 +0000

My Thanks to FDL for all you do and for Mr. Barab hang in there you all do make life better for myself and countless other’s. I agree if a person wants the stright facts there is NO BETTER PLACE than the BLOGS with me it is my frist place (NO msm ) of choice and FDL is where I start and end my day. Thanks Jim

By: ck

ck — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 03:15:43 +0000

America needs a New Deal for the 21st Century, and American Workers need “card check” Union certification elections.

Good Jobs Build Strong Communities; good jobs build strong companies.

The Revolution Starts Here — one “card check” Union certification vote at a time . . .

By: op99

op99 — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 02:57:34 +0000

…but enough Senators apparently listened to the families of the miners (in addition to the United Mineworkers, the AFL-CIO and others), and forced Senate leadership to cancel today’s scheduled vote on Stickler’s nomination.

Jordan, I know you split but I’d be interested in hearing the nuts and bolts of how exactly such a thing got accomplished, if you have that info. And do you think it would be happening if Bush’s political position was better? I don’t. That is really extaordinary considering the juggernaut behind Bush’s crappy appointments earlier in his tenure.

By: everhopeful

everhopeful — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 02:49:58 +0000

antonetteg #27:

dkos had a diary up about exactly that earlier today - the poster said that Howard Dean was telling a group about the poll workers taking the machines home and all, plus, tens of thousands of provisional ballots not counted…

So, Dean knows about it and he’s said publicly that CA-50 is not over. A start?