On March 1 of this year Congress passed the much needed labor law reform bill known as the Employee Free Choice Act of 2007 (EFCA), and a vote on the senate version of the bill is expected soon.
As currently written, EFCA would modify the National Labor relations Act (NLRA) in three important ways. First, it would require stronger penalties for violation of workers rights to organize. Second, it would provide for mandatory mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes if needed. And third, it would allow workers to form or join a union on the basis of signed authorization cards from a majority of the employees.
Through a massive campaign of disinformation, corporate executives and their Republican representatives are exerting a vigorous effort to prevent EFCA from becoming law--but not for their stated reason of preserving the right of workers to select union representation by the use of a secret-ballot election. EFCA would not, as their disinformation campaign would have folks believe, abolish secret ballot elections in union representation elections. Under EFCA, workers could still certify their union representation choice through a secret-ballot election if that's what they wanted to do. Plus, establishing a union through signed authorization cards is already permitted under current law.
So why, then, are corporate executives adamantly opposed to EFCA? Because what EFCA would do is to eliminate management's ability under the current law to insist on a so-called secret-ballot election when presented with signed union authorization cards from from a majority of its workers--even from 100% of the workers! By being able to insist on an election, management gains weeks and weeks of time of time during which they put on a virulent, one-sided and many times illegal anti-union campaign designed to intimidate and coerce their workers from joining or supporting a union. It is this time frame that corporate executives are really fighting so hard to preserve, and it is no surprise that they are doing so through the use of lies and misrepresentation--the very same tactics they use every day in this country to thwart their employees right to freedom of association.
Sadly, the NLRA has become a union-avoidance tool of management (pdf file). EFCA would help to restore the NLRA to its intended purpose, which, as the law itself says (in the last paragraph of Section 1), is to "[encourage] the practice and procedure of collective bargaining and...[protect] the exercise by workers of full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, for the purpose of negotiating the terms and conditions of their employment or other mutual aid or protection."
(NOTE: a version of this post, edited by the editors of the newspaper, appeared in today's edition of The Bryan-College Station Eagle.)
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Thwarting workers
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Student war protests
"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." --Elie Wiesel
That's the signature line my better-half Annie uses on her personal email account. Too bad the young Brandeis student who did the radio essay (on PRI?) last week about the sparse involvement in the Iraq war protests by students in this country is not familiar with that quote. I haven't been able to locate that essay online, but as I remember it the gist was that students weren't apathetic about the Iraq war, it was just that they didn't think protests would do very much to stop it..."protests will only take you so far," she said.
I don't believe that protests will only "take you so far, but that'll have to be a point for another post. Sparse involvement of students in Iraq war protests around the country, however, has often been a topic of discussion at such protests that I've participated in. It looks, though, that student participation in and organization of antiwar protests is on a fast-track increase and much more pervasive than it might appear. Take, for example, these recent news headlines as compiled by a resurgent Students for a Democratic Society (which provides links to all these stories):
3/9/2007 - The Students Are Stirring: A Campus Antiwar Movement Begins to Make Its Mark, by Ron Jacobs - MR Zine - Interview with Kati Ketz of UNC-Asheville SDS about March 20
UNC-Chapel Hill
3/21/2007 - ‘Whose Streets? Our Streets!’ Students protest war by hundreds on anniversary
3/20/2007 - War protesters leave classes, flood streets
Maria Carillo High School (Santa Rosa, CA)
3/21/2007 - Maria Carrillo students protest war
University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa
3/21/2007 - Protesters: ‘Get out of Iraq now’
Rutgers University (New Jersey)
3/21/2007 - Rutgers students walk out of class to protest war
3/21/2007 - Protest halts traffic - Hundreds rally at Rutgers, on Route 18 against war
3/20/2007 - 400 protesters swarm downtown New Brunswick, NJ, shut down highway, block recruiting center
University of Illinois - Chicago
3/21/2007 - Photos from UIC walkout and march
University of Minnesota
3/21/2007 - Students spread message, stop traffic
UNC-Asheville
3/21/2007 - Students walk out of class to protest the war in Iraq
Winthrop University (Winthrop, SC)
3/21/2007 - Winthrop students turn out to protest Iraq war
New York University
3/21/2007 - A walkout in the park: On Iraq’s 4-year anniversary, about 150 protest
University of Iowa
3/21/2007 - Hundreds Rally for Peace
3/9/2007 - Some to Head to Pentagon for Protest
Grand Rapids / Activate SDS (Michigan)
3/21/2007 - Antiwar March Confronts Congressman Ehlers at his Home
Drew University (New Jersey)
3/21/2007 - Video clips of walkout and march
Cherry Hill High School (New Jersey)
3/21/2007 - Cherry Hill students mark anniversary in war protest
Brown University (Rhode Island)
3/20/2007 - Students arrested at SDS ‘die-in’ downtown
3/19/2007 - R.I. Students Protest Weapons Manufacturer
Middlebury College (Vermont)
3/21/2007 - Students observe Iraq war anniversary
Harvard University
3/21/2007 - Memorial steps host Iraq war vigil
University of Florida
3/21/2007 - 200 UF students march against the war in Iraq
3/19/2007 - Local Activists Join in National Anti-War Protest
North Carolina State
3/21/2007 - Walk out brings high school, college students together
Enloe High School (North Carolina)
3/21/2007 - Walk out brings high school, college students together
Southeast Raleigh High School (North Carolina)
3/21/2007 - Walk out brings high school, college students together
Macalester College (St. Paul, MN)
3/20/2007 - Macalester Students Walk Out Against War
Michigan State University
3/21/2007 - MSU student war protest
Southern Illinois University
3/20/2007 - Anti-War Protest at SIU
Binghamton University
3/20/2007 - Students Participate in Walkout to Protest War
Sacramento State
3/20/2007 - Shoes Display Student Protest of War
UCLA
3/19/2007 - Groups to Hold March in Protest of Iraq War
UC-Santa Barbara
3/18/2007 - Critical Mass (Bike Ride) Against War in Santa Barbara
3/9/2007 - Strike Against War Continues With Bikes
University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
3/15/2007 - Protesting for Peace
Ventura College
3/15/2007 - Students rally against Iraq war; 50 from Ventura College Join In
University of Maryland
3/15/20007 - Sparse Protest Marks Iraq Milestone
I'd say that's an impressive amount of student antiwar activity, and certainly more than I was aware of. In addition, Sam Graham-Felsen has a good piece on the increase and broad array of students and student groups in antiwar demonstrations, in which he makes this eye-opening observation: "Four years ago numerous polls found that students, like the majority of the population, overwhelmingly supported the war. Now students, more than any other age group, oppose the war." (emphasis mine) Peter Rothberg also makes this same statement in his March 21 "Students Against War" blog post, also for The Nation magazine.
Wow, that's amazing. I hadn't seen that reported before, but it seems to me like a corner has definitely been turned with respect to student antiwar activities. And if student antiwar involvement continues to grow, we may soon see a tipping point in this country where Congress will be forced to reign in the Bush-Cheney war machine. That point can't come soon enough.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Roses and Linen
While in Silver City, New Mexico, last week, Annie and I had the pleasure of sitting in with a fine group of folks from the Grant County Peace Coalition who were planning a “Roving Peace Occupation / Happening / Peace Walk” under the banner “Come Home, America” in observence of our country's 4th Anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.
“Come Home, America,” a gathering of roving musicians, street actors, clowns, friends, old hippies, young hippies, students, weirdos, moms, dads, kids, carnivores, vegetarians, disgruntled postal workers, lovers, peacemongers, enviros, pissed-off Gen Xers, gays, lesbians, veterans, bicyclists for peace, cowboys, disgusted Republicans, clergy, Democrats, Greens, Libertarians, potential cannon fodder, business owners, anarchists, Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, rock stars, AND EVERYONE WHO’S SICK OF 4 YEARS OF THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION OF IRAQ, AND A POSSIBLE INVASION OF IRAN, AND WHO JUST WANT TO LIVE IN A PEACEFUL WORLD
is taking place today from 3 PM until dark in downtown Silver City. While our travel schedule didn’t allow us to participate in this gathering, Annie and I did help the cause a skosh by volunteering to apply “IMPEACH MINT” labels to mint candies and “Bring Me Home” labels to plastic toy soldiers. The IMPEACH MINT candies and Bring Me Home (a Mouths Wide Open Army Men Project) toy soldiers are being distributed to fellow citizens during the event.
Today is, of course, the fouth anniversary of our country attacking, without provocation or justification, Iraq, and as in many communities across this land, commonsense folks in Silver City are taking to the streets to collectively and visibly voice their disapproval of the war and to call for the withdrawal of American troops. Here in the Bryan/College Station Texas area about 40 of us or so gathered last night to protest the Iraq war and also in remembrance of the soldiers who have lost their lives in Iraq. One particularly thoughtful protester, a member of the Brazos County Veterans for Peace, brought with him a couple of dozen white roses and distributed them to other participants, who in turn waved them at passerbys. Why white roses? Well, along with linen, such as the American flag that covers the caskets of U.S. casualties killed in Iraq, a rose is one of the traditional gifts for a four-year anniversary.
Also while in Silver City, Annie and I sat in on a meeting of the Southwestern Chapter of the New Mexico ACLU, and they, too, were a fine group of folks. Their meeting wasn't at all any different than any of our Brazos Valley ACLU Chapter and we felt right at home among them.
Annie and I have both felt drawn to New Mexico from very early on in our individual lives, primarily because of la tierra y la gente, that is, the land and the people--like the kind of folks we met last week from the Grant County Peace Coalition and the ACLU. But there's also something else that draws us to the Land of Enchantment. Like maybe because New Mexico is descended from the sky. To say that we’re anxious to move there permanently in two years would be a sure-fire understatement. We can hardly wait.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Impeach 'em both!
NOTE: My better half Annie and I are off to New Mexico for Spring Break, so this will be my last post until we return on the week of March 19.
Although I'm not registered to vote in NM (because we haven't yet moved there full time), I have been following with pride the tremendous effort by many in that state to impeach Bush & Cheney. In a Republican orchestrated maneuver in which nine Democratic senators joined, NM Senate Joint Resolution 5 died yesterday. Had it passed, SJR 5 would have required the NM state government to send a petition to the U.S. House of Representatives asking that impeachment proceedings immediately begin against Bush and Cheney.
Via Steve Terrell's Legislature Blog, here's what NM Senator John Grubesic, co-sponsor of SJR 5 had to say after this resolution died:This country was founded by rebels. This country was forged in violence, ferocity, dissent and uproar. This country is vanishing before our eyes, not because we are blind, but because we are willing participants in its destruction.
Today on the Senate floor you witnessed an excellent example. The Impeachment Resolution — (Senate Joint Resolution 5) – died quietly with no debate whatsoever. The dignity of the New Mexico State Senate was maintained as we followed carefully designed rules of procedure to ensure that nothing disrupted the workings of this austere body. We did a great job of making it appear that government was working.
However, we have to ask, which government and on whose behalf? The action taken by the Senate was not the action taken by a body that protects the freedoms of a sovereign people. The action was a carefully orchestrated option designed to protect the integrity of an institution and perpetuate the well-oiled workings of government. A government that has evidently forgotten that we serve at the please of those we govern.
It is clear that, from the highest levels of government in our country down to our State, very few of us want to deal with the unpleasant political mess that impeachment could become.
Our actions today showed where our priorities are – we forgot that the Constitution was not designed to serve government, but to protect the people.
There should have been debate, argument, uproar. Instead, we quietly gutted the sovereign power of the people with polite political procedure.
When future generations look back on our time, the shock will not be because of the violent, impolite nature of the fight that preceded the destruction of Constitutional government, but by the meekness with which we watched it die.
Grubesic is correct, there should have been debate, argument and uproar...but all across this land, not just in the Land of Enchantment. That there wasn't is a tragedy and another failure of timid and turncoat Democrats.
Vermont (Bush only) and Washington (Bush and Cheney) are two other states where state legislature impeachment measures have been introduced, but I haven't been following either of those measures so I really don't know much about them or their chances for success.
And wouldn't you just love to hear the following words from one of our Representatives of the People prior to Bush & Cheney & Gang leaving office on January 20, 2009?:Mr. Speaker:
Under the standards set by the United States Constitution, President Bush—along with Vice President Cheney, and Secretary of State Rice—should be subject to the process of impeachment, and I have filed H. Res. _ in the House of Representatives.
Well, in fact, those are the exact words former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney said in introducing her Articles of Impeachment on December 8, 2006. No one in Congress has yet filed any such resolution in the 110th Congress, but I wouldn't rule it out despite what Pelosi said. My sense is that there is plenty of movement around the country and in the Halls of Congress to impeach Bush, Cheney or both.
For those of you who are against impeaching Bush, like I was, because you don't want the eviler Cheney to be promoted to take his place, I recommend you take a moment and read this terrific piece by David Swanson, a co-founder of After Downing Street. After you've read it let me know if you still feel impeachment proceedings shouldn't be undertaken.
See you after Spring Break.
Peace.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Iraq War protest at Snow-job A&M Lecture update
There are couple of new articles about the Iraq War protest that I wrote about below. The first article is from The Dallas Morning News:
65 protest war during Snow speech at A&M
Demonstrator: Many in conservative places want fighting to stop
12:00 AM CST on Sunday, March 4, 2007
By RICK ROJAS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Tired, shivering from the cold, but pumped, the five girls were huddled together at the bus stop after protesting for several hours against the war in Iraq.
They had been among about 65 protesters, mostly students at Texas A&M University, demonstrating Friday outside the Annenberg Center at the George Bush Presidential Library complex. Tony Snow, press secretary to the current President Bush, spoke inside on the president's relationship to the news media. The protest was notable because it took place at Texas A&M, which has a reputation for conservatism.
"We want to let them know that [there are] a lot of people, even in a conservative place like College Station, who don't support this war," said Melana Kasper, a 20-year-old junior kinesiology major.
Standing outside the Annenberg Center and holding signs like "Love our soldiers, hate the war; Bring them home," the protesters chanted, "Support our troops, stop the war" as people left the lecture. Former President George Bush and Barbara Bush attended, but it was not known whether they saw or heard the protesters.
While most of the people ignored the protesters, some responded.
"If we could get a few Corps boys out here," referring to A&M's Corps of Cadets, "they would take care of these people," one elderly man muttered angrily as he walked away from the protesters.
The second article is from The Battalion, the independent Texas A&M student-run newspaper:
Protesters oppose Iraq war
By: Rick Rojas and Candace Birkelbach
Issue date: 3/5/07 Section: News
A group of students and members of the community gathered outside the George Bush Presidential Library Complex during a lecture given by White House Press Secretary Tony Snow to protest the war in Iraq on Friday.
Community members, Texas A&M faculty and political action group moveon.org joined forces to stage a protest directly outside the Library, while a group of students marched over from the Century Tree holding banners and shouting slogans while beating drums and tambourines.
"Our goal is to show Tony Snow and the Bush administration the public's disapproval of the war, which is not only resulting in the deaths of innocent civilians of Iraq and United States troops, but also to express outrage at the economic cost of the war," said Wes Kimbell, a junior international studies major who coordinated the student-led protest.
Kimbell said he initiated and planned this protest because he is totally against the illegitimate war in Iraq. He said the war has cost the United States more than $360 billion, which drains the pool of loans available for student loans and health care.
There have been more than 3,000 deaths of U.S. servicemen and women, and some people don't realize that more than 120 Iraqis are dying every day from the turmoil, Kimbell said.
"We want to give awareness to the student body and show that there are people here who aren't gung-ho Bush," Kimbell said. "We are people who realize and understand the costs of war and want to avoid it at all costs."
Students participated in the protests for a variety of reasons.
"I came out here because of personal beliefs," said Sarah Campbell, a freshman management major who participated in the protest. "We all support the troops - we're proud of all the work they're doing, and a lot of our friends, people our age, are going there."
Tony Snow's appearance at the Bush Library directly encouraged some students to voice their opinions about the war.
"(Snow)'s kind of the hit man," junior kinesiology major Melana Kasper said of her reasoning for spending her Friday night protesting his visit. "We want to let them know that a lot of people, even in a conservative place like College Station, don't support this war."
Jean McCarthy, a Republican and a member of the Bush Library from Houston, said Bush had worked to make this University and Library a place for education and the actions of the protesters distracted from that.
"It's very low class," McCarthy said.
Colt Jim Clemens, chair of the College Republicans, said Americans should be more supportive of Bush's efforts in Iraq.
"I am pleased by people forming opinions and expressing views in a civil rights manner," said Clemens, a junior political science major. "However, I do believe this war is winnable and that the president and U.S. troops deserve all the support we can give them, and we should do everything in our power to ensure success for the war in Iraq."
David McWhirter, English professor and coordinator of the community and faculty protest, said Snow is a major player in the Bush administration and should not speak anywhere without having to hear from people who oppose the war.
"We are opposing the escalation of the war and support an immediate and orderly withdrawal," McWhirter said. "Everyday, Snow provides misinformation, spin and lies that have contributed to this misguiding and illegal war."
While Congress has taken some action, leaders are timid in putting an end to the war, even if American people want it to stop, McWhirter said.
Some students said they had interesting experiences while participating in the protest.
"It's not every day you get to play tug of war with a 70-year-old woman over a sign," freshman history major Jessica Googins said about a woman coming up to her behind the railings, and snatching her sign that read, "Love our soldiers, hate the war, bring them home."
One can’t come away from that protest experience, or from reading these two accounts (which provide much more detailed coverage than the short-shrift given to the protest story by The Eagle and KBTX) and my recounting below, without a realization that many of the folks who attended that Snow-job lecture haven’t a clue exactly how unpatriotic they truly are.
Oh, sure, those faux patriots I’m speaking of talk a great talk, but they all fall flat on their scowled, pinch-nosed faces when it comes to recognizing and respecting the rights to peaceable assemble and free speech enshrined in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Can anyone believe that the unidentified “elderly man” quoted in the last paragraph of the above Dallas Morning News story who said, "If we could get a few Corps boys out here," referring to A&M's Corps of Cadets, "they would take care of these people,” truly understands or respects the civil liberties we have in this country? It seems to me that he is also guilty of doing the same thing that Chickenhawks George “AWOL-from-the-National-Guard-1972-'73" Bush and Dick "I-had-other-priorities-in-the-'60s-than-military-service” Cheney do: employ violent means through younger surrogates to resolve differences of opinions.
“Take care of these people?” That doesn’t sound like an American patriot to me; it sounds like he’s been watching too many Godfather reruns. Actually, it’s much more serious than that; he sounds to me like a small-minded and ignorant hate-filled fascist.
And what’s with that “low-class” remark from Ms. McCarthy, the Republican member of the Bush Library from Houston who is quoted in The Battalion’s story above as saying the actions of the anti-war protesters were “very low class”? Low-class? What an elitist prig.
From attempting to yank anti-war signs from the hands of peaceable dissenters, to wishing them bodily harm, to yells of “go home,” to nasty disapproving looks, to elitism, those Republican lemmings guilty of uttering or approving such things are sorely in need of a civil liberties education. So I have a question for them:
Do you consider the so-called pro-lifers who demonstrate, picket and harass women entering Planned Parenthood health and medical clinics “very low-class”? Are you going to call in a Corps of Cadets to “take care” of those protesters? Are you going to yell at them to “go home”? Are any of you going to attempt to yank away any of their placards?
What’s that you just said? Those protesters have inviolable First Amendment rights to picket and demonstrate? Why yes, I agree, they certainly do. But tell me, why is it that you only recognize such civil liberties for groups or actions you support and not for groups or actions you don’t? Oh, I see, it’s a civil liberties for me, but not for thee low classes kind of a thing.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Republican lemmings
White House press secretary Tony Snow was in College Station, Texas tonight giving a lecture at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center adjacent to the Texas A&M University, and I was among the 50 or so anti-war protesters there who greeted the gullibles folks who came to hear his speech.
In fact, I was the first protester to show up and from the first moment I held up my "Stop Bush's Endless War" sign I started getting disapproving glances from many of those arriving for the Snow Job. "Go 'W,'" said the first person to see me. "Go down 'W,' said I in response. "Go home," said another. "I am home," I responded.
My homemade sign
And so it went, rolled eyes, raised eyebrows, frowns, scowls, tsk, tsking, and much heading shaking.
One guy walking in by himself heard our chanting, looked our way, read our anti-war signs and immediately put a huge scowl on his face and continued on his path without saying anything. "Hey, mister," said the young woman standing next to me, "you dropped something." No response from the frowner, noteven a look back to see if he dropped his car keys or something. "You dropped your smile back there," finished the woman. That drew chuckles from our crowd, but only more head shaking from the elder, white, well-groomed, well-dressed Republican lemmings right behind him going in to hear the "Flautist at the Gates of Dusk." "Some of you folks are too old to be on that side," said one of the elder, white, well-groomed, well-dressed Republican lemmings as he and his companion came up to the barrier separating us patriotic folks who believe the best way to Support Our Troops is to get them the hell out of Iraq from the send-in-more-troops crowd who disapprove of those who actually use their First Amendment rights to protest an unjust war. "Well," said one of the older protesters off to my left, "given that wisdom usually accompanies aging, we were thinking the same about you folks." The elder lemming, who appeared to me to have had downed a couple of bourbons and water earlier in the evening, struggled a bit to respond intelligently, but all he could come up with was, "Do y'all have wisdom?" "Enough to know that sending more of our families into the paths of bullets and bombs in Iraq isn't the answer," I said. And before he could respond I said: "Now let me ask you a question. As President Eisenhower once said, 'When comes the end?' When is this war going to end?" "When it's over," yelled his male companion angrily. Ah, the wisdom of Republican lemmings.
For me, and I think many of the half-dozen or so of us who arrived early, the high-point of our anti-war demonstration was when a group of about 40 A&M students joined our ranks, albeit a bit too tardy to be noted by the main crowd of Republican lemmings. They had assembled on the A&M Campus and marched, chanting and singing all the way, about a mile or so to join us. As you might imagine, those of us old enough to have been there had emotional flashbacks to the Vietnam War protests as we watched the A&M students marching up to our location, holding anti-war signs, beating drums and bongos, and chanting, "Hey hey, ho ho! This Iraq War has got to go!" (I forgot to bring my camera with me to the protest, so I don't have any pictures to share here, but if I can get a copy or two from one of the other demonstrators that took some I will post them.)
This was the largest turnout of anti-war A&M students that I've seen at any of our local Iraq War protests and I damn sure hope that their public showing will serve to draw out yet more students at the next anti-war demonstration.
