Craig Becker’s nomination to the National Labor Relations Board has failed on a 52-33 vote. The nomination required 60 votes to proceed.
2 Democrats (Ben Nelsen – Nebraska, and Blanche Lincoln – Arkansas) voted against the nomination. I’m guessing their names are going up on a bulletin board at AFL-CIO and CTW headquarters as we speak.
Next question is whether President Obama will recess appoint Becker, but given that at least two Democrats are also opposed to the nomination it looks like the smarter course will be to head back to the drawing board for a more palatable candidate.
Abolish the board.
What a lousey selection; but what an insightful vote…our legislators must recognize that we want less control, and less interfearence with our lives, jobs, and Family.
Joe has the attitude that has made the auto and airline industries so successful.
Unions are long outdated, 50 years ago there was not any laws to protect a worker, not the case today. It is because of unions that we can not compete globally, and our jobs do wind up going over seas. Employers can’t afford to grow or hire union employees.
Whitey Lawful has it right: abolish the board, repeal the National Labor Relations Act. Let us to head-to-head directly with the employers.
The NLRA does nothing for labor. Let us alone so we can do it for ourselves.
Bob Kastigar
IBEW Local 1220, Chicago
We had a 60-seat majority in the Senate. Why didn’t we repeal the Taft-Harley Act while we had a chance?
Has any of you right wing cry babies been told yet that the unions are just about gone and still you cry that the unions are destroying jobs in this country . There ain’t that many left to do anything to any body . Can any of your elk explain why in the 50′s and 60′s unions were at an all time high and we had a wonderfull economey ? You business owners love it when they see a union guy come to buy from them because they know that he has the money . Part of the reason the economey is so bad is because of no one can afford to buy with those cheap low nonunion wages.
I agree with Rudolf to a point. Unions had their place years ago when there weren’t many employment laws to govern corporations. However – times have changes – more laws, better HR and Admin practices but….Unions are not dead. Unions win close to 50 or 60% of their elections. So I would say that they are pretty active. The problem is that people don’t realize that just as a regular corporation – a union is a private entity. They are out to turn a profit as well. What good is collective bargaining if a union won’t partner with a company, making it virtually impossible to stay afloat and close their doors? – EVERYONE LOSES!!! Remember if a union loses a job at a location that means less dues collected!(aka – primary mode of income) That being said – I think that taking away tax incentives to move operations overseas is a good idea! We all need to work together to find ways to rebuild the infrastructure to support jobs in America. BTW – that’s part of how you reform healthcare – CREATE JOBS so people have healthcare.
Amen Dave K! Our business has employees that have been here 20 + years because of how the owner has treated them ON HIS OWN without a union! He doesn’t retire because he wants to take care of all of his employees because of the goodness of his heart!
Unions aren’t dead, the biggest growth exists within the gov’t sector. So our tax dollars pay for gov’t employee wages plus union dues. Union bosses, You’re very welcome! You remind me of the mafia!
Rudolph is living in the stone age. The fact is that off-shoreing jobs in the 50′s and 60′s didn’t exist because – at that time – the US had the most competitive industry, and a growth rate fueled by the Koren War and Vietnam. Additionally, buying a Japanese car in those days was a joke – their quality was terrible, and they were junk heaps. Today – Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese, and Japanese companies are at least the equal of US auto makers in quality (although overall US auto quality has improved markedly, and it appears Toyota has succesfully shot themselves in the foot). You can’t be competitive if you’re paying an employee $50,000 a year, when the competition in China is paying $10,000 a year. Simple economics. I had a friend in Detroit who had a patio poured by a guy who was on the clock at a nearby GM plant. How does that work? How do you compete with that kind of mindset. 80% (roughly) of union employees today are government /public works / school teachers – WHY? NO COMPETITION…
DANA, are you kidding? The only person making $10k a year in the Chinese Auto industry is the factory owner! Unions now represent only about 13% of US workers and that is actually sad. US jobs are, and have been, going south of the border, and not to just Mexico, and they are going overseas. This has created downward pressure on American wages and buying power. Also, on a “what if” line of thought – what if China (or any other country) was the supplier for American tanks and arms? How would the US defend itself if China decided NOT to build our tanks and the US has lost all that skill and manufacturing capacity? We can’t all work at Mc Donalds or Jack in the Box.
I could go on and on, but nobody really listens or thinks anymore.
The failed nomination shows the lobbies control congress. The Democrats that voted against Craig Shows cheap labor won again. I think that taking away tax incentives to move operations overseas is a good idea! We all need to work together to find ways to rebuild the infrastructure to support jobs in America. BTW
A former boss made the statement an “employer gets the employee he deserves”. Kenda mirrors that statement. A good boss who realises that it is his idea being implemented by the employees that gets every one their paychecks. In the last three organizing attempts where I work failed because 2/3′s of the employees realized they did not need to give the union a weeks pay + for the rights and protections we have under state and federal laws.
America in order to stay at least where we are at now must be competitive on the world market by quality and/or price. If you want more money you need to be more productive and buy things of quality from vendors who back up what sell. Buying cheep only gets you cheep. Buying more than you can afford now or in the future only lands you with little or nothing.
The next nomination form Obama will come from a goverment union. Since 2009 the number of union workers who are employed by the public sector out number those in the private sector. Fifty-One percent of the 15.4 million of America’s unionized workers are employed by some goverment body. The private sector unions are not only shrinkling but they could be finghting FOR THEIR LIFE against the private sector and service based unions.
None of this matters in the end. The public sector does not create wealth only the private sector (and in some cases the nonprofit sector) creates jobs and then wealth. When unions, even though they are shrinking minority, (check out the states from the dept of labor)can still influence legistlation and if not that then regulation then business in America will be like the one legged man in an ass kicking contest. We will be all desire but no hope of success.
If you union members do not like your jobs or do not think you’re getting paid enough, then go find a government job. We taxpayers can then pay your salary. Government jobs on the whole have better wages and benefits because taxpayers are paying for them.
Rob,
what does that have to do with unions? The fact of the matter union bosses hog tie companies and prevent them from being competitive. Union bosses is the reason and only reason Ford built the most automated and state of the art plant in the world in Brazil. The union wouldn’t let them build that type of factory in the U.S. Why, because the best interest of the company is never on the minds of the union bosses. It isn’t union employees I have a problem with, it is the socialist union bosses that are the issue and that is a fact!
Rudolf,
Just to set the record straight, I am NOT a business owner.
I am an employee in a right to work state. I do believe the unions did some great things many years ago but as mentioned above, they are now a for profit business themselves. Their customer is you paying your dues to get things the laws mostly already provide. If you ever get the chance, look at a P&L statement for a union company and a non union company. Nobody starts a business as a hobby! The best companies in this country to work for are non union. When you try to force the hand of a corp. to eat into profits, the first thing to happen is cuts in the work force!
Joe Naftel – from your comments I see you are not understanding what this is all about. The union boss cares less about the employee than the employer does. They simply want your dues to aid them in corrupting the system. If you’re so anti-employer I’d suggest you start your own business and become your own boss. I deal w/ union employees and while years ago they had a place the majority of unions simply increase costs and unfortunately many of the employees have an attitude of “I can do anything I want and you can’t fire me”. This is not any reflection on the majority of professionals who take pride in their job and perform a service at a high level of competence. The union benefits bankrupted GM and just look to the terrible teachers that are still in the classroom simply because they are in the union. As a taxpayer I AM PISSED that I will be paying for union pensions because they bankrupted themselves while at the same time I can barely save anything for my own retirement. The stinking pile is what we taxpayers are getting stuck with. No doubt you also think the rich don’t pay taxes – that only applies to the tax cheats in DC who don’t pay taxes unless they’re caught. The actual IRS breakdown shows that the top 5% pay about 53% of the income taxes collected, the top 10% pay 65% and 96% of ALL INCOME TAXES paid is by the top 50%. We already have in place MASSIVE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH !!!
I’m so tired of hearing that the unions served their purpose years ago and because of the laws today, we don’t need them anymore.
First of all, everyone should stop lumping unions into one group. Automobiles are one group. If you had a bad experience with a vehicle you bought, does that mean you never drive again? Of course not. There are vast differences between them and many work very hard to come to agreements with employers that make sense for everyone involved. Promoting business through training programs, for example.
Secondly, if all unions and the AFL disappear, can you honestly tell me that there would not be legislation the next day to repeal the existing laws? A movement to relax OSHA? Davis/Bacon Act? Of course there would; that’s why we still need unions in this country. All workers benefit from these laws, not just union members.
We see legislation every week at the state level that would take rights away from workers, reduce licensing requirements, or lower work standards. If we weren’t aware or didn’t exist, it would probably be passed.
Unions do a lot of good things for this country. In my local we are hard working and concerned about the contractors we work for, because we know without them, we would not work.
For the record, any unions I know of are 501c5 or 501c3 non-profit organizations, so stating they are for profit is rediculous.
Some good points made on both sides of the table about this issue. Lets face facts. Everyone needs to take a step back and re-evaluate. Companies need to stop gouging their employees and union employees need to realize this isn’t 1950, so stop expecting something for nothing. Maybe a compromise on both sides is the answer. Read the book by Author Philip Dine (State of The Unions). In it he talks about how great capitalism is, but capitalism without rules will eventually destroy capitalism. Unions are needed to police the companies (Enron sound familiar?), the government is needed to oversee the unions and the companies. Why is UPS so successful even though they’re a union company and FEDEX is under the gun even though they’re non-union? I’ll tell you why, because FEDEX cheated the system for decades and now they’re about to face the music with all these class action lawsuits. FEDEX gouged their employees because nobody was there to hold them accountable for their actions. Workers hit rock bottom so now the repurcussions have begun. Long story short, compensate your workforce properly and they’ll go the extra mile for you