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In My Opinion: Working America Under a Corporate-Rightist Regime
In writing my final column, as I prepare to step down as your president at this month's CWA convention, it would be tempting to reminisce. But this isn't a time to look backward. Our movement is in trouble. Maybe I can better apply the perspective of 51 years as a union activist by highlighting the serious problems I see for workers today and in the near future.
The first presidential election I participated in as a union officer was 1956, when Eisenhower defeated Stevenson. Since then, we've had nine presidents, and I can tell you that never has there been a more ideological, anti-worker, anti-union administration than the current one.
This president signaled his allegiance to corporate power at the expense of the very health of working people with his very first legislative initiative-that of pressing the Republican Congress to kill the Clinton administration's workplace ergonomic standard, aimed at curbing the epidemic of repetitive stress injuries.
And it's continued downhill for workers ever since as the administration has driven a corporate, right-wing agenda to try to undo the New Deal programs and protections for the middle class. The Bush White House took direct aim at the Fair Labor Standards Act and the 40-hour week, and succeeded in snatching overtime pay eligibility from millions.
The ideologues in the administration and Congress would like to dismantle the biggest New Deal program of all by partially privatizing Social Security; while that effort has been stalled, you can be sure they haven't given up. (Just wait and see if they are able to pick up five Senate seats next year for a filibuster-proof majority.)
And we know that right now the Labor Department, which in effect has become a subsidiary of the Commerce Department, is rewriting the rules to weaken provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act.
While ignoring the biggest problem facing middle-class and low-income Americans-the health care crisis-the White House focuses like a laser on the interests of its upper-bracket clients: trade deals that will speed more outsourcing of jobs, elimination of the estate tax, income tax cuts targeted for the wealthy while squeezing out federal funds for education, health programs for kids and worker training.
The administration knows that organized labor is the one political force that stands in the way of totally imposing its will on the country. So it systematically attacks unions on all fronts, with no pretense of doing otherwise. A recent issue of Government Executive, a magazine directed at management, said it all when it put a picture of President Bush on its cover with the headline: "Union Buster." The cover story detailed how the White House has eliminated or restricted collective bargaining for thousands of federal workers in the name of national security.
The Bush-packed National Labor Relations Board has aggressively perverted our labor law system, last year reversing 45 prior board decisions, in each case ruling in favor of management over workers. (See NLRB Orders New Election at Chinese Daily News)
The latest NLRB travesty was a ruling allowing companies to ban workers from fraternizing after hours and away from the jobsite-a clear attack on workers' freedom of association, and the ability to get together to organize and discuss job complaints, guaranteed under the National Labor Relations Act.
At a time when the labor movement needs to be united more than ever, I'm angry that three major unions have just walked out of the AFL-CIO (See AFL-CIO Convention Delegates Take Action on Labor Reforms). This fratricide couldn't come at a worse time as we look toward the 2006 congressional elections and, again, the possibility of a filibuster-proof Republican Senate.
When we attack the corporate-right wing cabal that's virtually running our government, the wealthy elites start screaming, "class warfare." However, these forces have really declared war themselves on the interests of working middle-class America. And they so far have succeeded in distracting many voters with a focus on divisive social issues and national security fears from Karl Rove's playbook.
As Thomas Frank writes about the old political bait-and-switch in "What's the Matter with Kansas?"-an examination of Red State/Blue State issues: "The trick never ages; the illusion never wears off. Vote to stop abortion, receive a rollback in capital gains taxes. Vote to make our country strong again, receive deindustrialization... Vote to stand tall against terrorists, receive Social Security privatization."
It's essential that we work harder than ever in 2006 to help more people see that the power structure in Washington is all about serving its wealthy masters, while the working middle class works harder for less, and prospects for our kids and grandkids grow less bright.
In retiring as your president, I do so with enormous confidence in the talent and dedication of the next generation of leadership that is emerging in CWA. They will need your support in these troubled times. But with that support, I have no doubt that CWA will continue to be a guiding force for our labor movement and for working families.
The first presidential election I participated in as a union officer was 1956, when Eisenhower defeated Stevenson. Since then, we've had nine presidents, and I can tell you that never has there been a more ideological, anti-worker, anti-union administration than the current one.
This president signaled his allegiance to corporate power at the expense of the very health of working people with his very first legislative initiative-that of pressing the Republican Congress to kill the Clinton administration's workplace ergonomic standard, aimed at curbing the epidemic of repetitive stress injuries.
And it's continued downhill for workers ever since as the administration has driven a corporate, right-wing agenda to try to undo the New Deal programs and protections for the middle class. The Bush White House took direct aim at the Fair Labor Standards Act and the 40-hour week, and succeeded in snatching overtime pay eligibility from millions.
The ideologues in the administration and Congress would like to dismantle the biggest New Deal program of all by partially privatizing Social Security; while that effort has been stalled, you can be sure they haven't given up. (Just wait and see if they are able to pick up five Senate seats next year for a filibuster-proof majority.)
And we know that right now the Labor Department, which in effect has become a subsidiary of the Commerce Department, is rewriting the rules to weaken provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act.
While ignoring the biggest problem facing middle-class and low-income Americans-the health care crisis-the White House focuses like a laser on the interests of its upper-bracket clients: trade deals that will speed more outsourcing of jobs, elimination of the estate tax, income tax cuts targeted for the wealthy while squeezing out federal funds for education, health programs for kids and worker training.
The administration knows that organized labor is the one political force that stands in the way of totally imposing its will on the country. So it systematically attacks unions on all fronts, with no pretense of doing otherwise. A recent issue of Government Executive, a magazine directed at management, said it all when it put a picture of President Bush on its cover with the headline: "Union Buster." The cover story detailed how the White House has eliminated or restricted collective bargaining for thousands of federal workers in the name of national security.
The Bush-packed National Labor Relations Board has aggressively perverted our labor law system, last year reversing 45 prior board decisions, in each case ruling in favor of management over workers. (See NLRB Orders New Election at Chinese Daily News)
The latest NLRB travesty was a ruling allowing companies to ban workers from fraternizing after hours and away from the jobsite-a clear attack on workers' freedom of association, and the ability to get together to organize and discuss job complaints, guaranteed under the National Labor Relations Act.
At a time when the labor movement needs to be united more than ever, I'm angry that three major unions have just walked out of the AFL-CIO (See AFL-CIO Convention Delegates Take Action on Labor Reforms). This fratricide couldn't come at a worse time as we look toward the 2006 congressional elections and, again, the possibility of a filibuster-proof Republican Senate.
When we attack the corporate-right wing cabal that's virtually running our government, the wealthy elites start screaming, "class warfare." However, these forces have really declared war themselves on the interests of working middle-class America. And they so far have succeeded in distracting many voters with a focus on divisive social issues and national security fears from Karl Rove's playbook.
As Thomas Frank writes about the old political bait-and-switch in "What's the Matter with Kansas?"-an examination of Red State/Blue State issues: "The trick never ages; the illusion never wears off. Vote to stop abortion, receive a rollback in capital gains taxes. Vote to make our country strong again, receive deindustrialization... Vote to stand tall against terrorists, receive Social Security privatization."
It's essential that we work harder than ever in 2006 to help more people see that the power structure in Washington is all about serving its wealthy masters, while the working middle class works harder for less, and prospects for our kids and grandkids grow less bright.
In retiring as your president, I do so with enormous confidence in the talent and dedication of the next generation of leadership that is emerging in CWA. They will need your support in these troubled times. But with that support, I have no doubt that CWA will continue to be a guiding force for our labor movement and for working families.