Fox's Year-Long Attack On Organized Labor

ALBERT KLEINE & COLEMAN LOWNDES/Media Matters for America

Fox News devoted a significant amount of negative coverage of organized labor since last Labor Day, ranging from misleading reports about right-to-work legislation to outright smears against union workers.

Here's a look at some of the network's worst offenses:

Workers fight back in Michigan

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Romney’s Latest Myth: Obama Wants To Force Workers Into Unions!

By Adam Peck/Think Progress

During a Sunday evening conference call with a group of Iowans, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney warned voters that President Obama wants to force everyone into organized unions. Twice during the 30 minute phone call, Romney raised the spectre of President Obama and Democrats reintroducing the Employee Free Choice Act, which was last introduced in 2009.

EFCA would have introduced “card check” votes in the workplace, making it easier for employees to decide whether or not to unionize. If 50 percent of workers sign a statement of support of organizing, that union would be granted bargaining power with the employer. The bill would strip employers of their ability to force their workers into a full union organizing election if they don’t like the results of a signature campaign.

As it stands, employers can legally force their workers to attend anti-union meetings and one-on-one “discussions” with their superiors ahead of any vote on unionization, an intimidation tactic that succeeds in derailing many unionization efforts. Stricter penalties for failure to negotiate a contract with a new union and for discriminating against any worker who supports a union would have also been included.

Even though EFCA never made it past the House in 2009, that didn’t stop Romney from ringing the alarm:

Romney brought up card check twice, unprompted, when answering Iowans’ questions about other topics. Early in the call, Romney mentioned it when describing his five-point plan for creating jobs.

“We’ve got to champion small business,” he said. “Small business is getting crushed under the president’s program with higher and higher regulation on small business, with higher taxes on small business, and by forcing people to join unions that don’t want to. That’s something known as card check. I think that’s a bad idea.”

But EFCA does not force anyone to do anything. It simply gives workers the ability to more easily organize themselves into a union if a majority of them choose to do so. One study found that “employers threatened to close plants in 57 percent of [union] campaigns and threatened to cut wages and benefits in 47 percent,” while firing pro-union workers 34 percent of the time.

Unions have simply become Republican politicians’ new favorite straw man, with the GOP invoking them to attack everything from teachers’, police officers’ and firefighters’ compensation to the rebounding auto industry.

Romney’s new anti-union rhetoric comes days after a new analysis by the Center for American Progress Action Fund which shows that unionization has a positive impact on economic mobility, creating more opportunities for Americans to work their way out of the 47 percent and move into a higher income bracket than their parents.

Gov. Rick Snyder, Republicans could destroy years of progress between labor, management

ALEC brought me here to make corporation live easier.

By Rick Haglund/Mlive.com

Michigan’s history of strong labor unions hasn’t exactly been a key selling point for economic developers looking to attract investment here.

Their story line in explaining it goes something like this:

Yes, Michigan has seen its share of labor-management conflicts. Some were historic, such as the Flint Sit-Down Strike of 1936 and 1937, and the 1937 Battle of the Overpass at Ford’s sprawling Rouge complex.

That was then. Today, labor and management are cooperating like never before to improve business competitiveness and provide good jobs at the automakers and other companies.

Global competition in manufacturing and a profound shift to a service economy have greatly reduced the chance that a company investing in Michigan will be organized by a labor union.

But Gov. Rick Snyder and Republican lawmakers have shredded that narrative.

Their actions have put in motion what is likely to be a nasty political fight this fall that could destroy years of progress in labor-management relations.

Business-friendly Republicans have been threatening for months to introduceright-to-work legislation. The measure would ban labor contracts that require workers to join unions and pay dues as a condition of employment.

Indiana in February became the first Great Lakes state to adopt right to work. Supporters say that increases pressure on Michigan to do the same.

Snyder has said he doesn’t want to see a right-to-work bill on his desk, calling it too divisive. But the governor has refused to say that he would veto the legislation.

Labor leaders and others opposed to right to work don’t think he would veto it. Their view is supported by a 2010 video interview that has been circulating in which Snyder says he would sign such legislation.

The unions have responded with a bold preemptive strike. They’re collecting signatures to put a proposal on the November ballot that would enshrine collective bargaining rights in the state constitution.

If the measure gets on the ballot, and many political observers think it will, we’ll see a return to the bad old days of labor and business disparaging each other in ugly rhetoric and nasty ads.

And the world will be watching.

Snyder has publicly exhorted backers of the proposed constitutional amendment to withdraw it. So has the politically powerful Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which has not taken a position on right to work.

But it’s hard to see how a head-on collision involving labor and business interests can be avoided. Trust between the two sides appears to be shattered.

And the jobs of Michigan’s state and local economic developers just got a lot harder.

Mich. labor gets ready to rumble over GOP’s right-to-work plans

by: MARTY MULCAHY/People's world/Hat tip to @wavingcrosser on Twitter




LANSING, Mich. (PAI) - Organized labor has little to show for its battles with state Republican lawmakers here in 2011, in the effort to stop the GOP's steady stream of anti-worker legislation. The GOP, controlling all levers of power in the state capital, pretty much did what it wanted last year.

But things could get much, much worse for unions in 2012. Labor will likely spend all kinds of time, money, and resources to lobby against right-to-work legislation in Michigan - and it still could pass.

"Those pushing right-to-work legislation, or as they call it, labor freedom, say they expect bills to be introduced in January, and are urging their supporters to contact GOP Gov. Rick Snyder, who has not backed the idea," said the Gongwer News Service on Dec. 21.

Gongwer said the group, Michigan Freedom to Work, has an email list of almost 9,000. The group claims that 75 organizations, including Tea Party groups and county Republican committees, have issued resolutions of support for RTW.

The Michigan right-to-work drive is yet another part of the national big business-GOP-right-wing plan to trash workers, destroy unions and lower the standard of living. The latest such effort came in Indiana, where Gov. Mitch Daniels joined the GOP drive there for right-to-work, after blocking it in 2011 in favor of other anti-worker legislation - such as taxpayer-paid vouchers for private schools.

Snyder said he wouldn't push for right-to-work legislation, calling it a "divisive" issue. But he is on the record that he would sign an RTW bill if it comes to his desk, according to Lt. Gov. Brian Calley. And it's worth noting that Snyder hasn't put his veto pen to a single anti-worker, anti-union bill that Republican lawmakers placed on his desk last year.

Similarly, another assumed moderate Republican, Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville sent conflicting signals about his stance on RTW. He told the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council Legislative Conference in March that "it's a basic right of citizens in Michigan to bargain collectively." But he similarly hasn't put the brakes on any anti-labor legislation that came before the Senate last year.

And in September, Richardville tacitly acknowledged that he supports a "right-to-teach" law for teachers, which would effectively bust teachers' unions.

On behalf of the Snyder administration, Calley told the television program Off the Record late last month that an RTW bill would have "an uphill climb" through the legislature. "On an issue as controversial, that one would have a difficult time making it through the entire process and hitting the governor's desk," Calley said.

The Michigan Freedom to Work group is joined by at least one other pro-RTW group, fronted by former Republican lawmaker Jack Hoogendyk of the "Center Right Coalition of Michigan," which sent out feelers last year in an effort to garner support for a right-to-work bill in the state.

And the "Rattle With Us Tea Party" website wrote in a Dec. 20 blog post that the Michigan Freedom to Work group is "a non-profit organization whose singular mission is to make Michigan a Right to Work state."

The blogger wrote: "The infrastructure to accomplish the goal is in place, but without a bill, nothing else matters. The original goal to introduce a bill by Labor Day was not reached, but a final draft is reportedly ready and we are optimistic it will be introduced in January as the 'Labor Freedom Act.'"

Michigan AFL-CIO President Karla Swift said, "Gov. Snyder and anti-union politicians in the legislature moved one anti-worker measure after another, doing nothing to help put Michigan back to work. We need our elected leaders to help create the kind of jobs that pay a fair wage and help give our kids the education they need to have a better life, rather than exploiting our children's teachers, nurses, and firefighters - the people who make Michigan safe every day."

Right-to-work bills were introduced last year, but not acted upon. One was a bill to make all of Michigan a right-to-work state. Two others allowed creation of RTW "zones" in any municipality in Michigan that wants a mini-RTW law. And there's a statewide RTW proposition also lurking - to be imposed only on teachers if it passes.

The effort to fight RTW in Michigan has started. One of the state's largest public employee union groups, Michigan AFSCME Council 25, sent out a Dec. 13 letter to its business community vendors, asking them to put their business' name on public campaigns as an opponent of right-to-work, or to show other types of support for workers.

"Many Michigan businesses have long recognized that an organized labor force supports a strong economy," Council 25 President Al Garrett and Secretary-Treasurer Lawrence Roehrig wrote. "They have often joined us in fighting bad ideas like this."

Right-to-work laws now exist in 22 states, pending the outcome in Indiana. And the Chamber of Commerce is pushing an RTW referendum in Missouri. RTW laws let workers at unionized companies forgo paying union dues if they object. These workers, however, still enjoy the same benefits and protections that dues-paying union members receive.

Numerous studies have shown a lower standard of living, and lower wages, for workers in RTW states. The AFL-CIO points out that 21 percent more people lack health insurance in right-to-work states compared to free-bargaining states. Right-to-work states have a poverty rate of 12.5 percent, compared with 10.2 percent in other states. And a University of Michigan study released in April found that construction industry fatalities are 40 percent higher in RTW states.

"I think it's safe to say that any right-to-work effort in Michigan is going to be met with the fiercest opposition organized labor has ever brought against a single issue," said Patrick Devlin, secretary-treasurer of the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council. "It gets down to what kind of state do you want Michigan to be? Do we want to take after the low-wage model of Alabama and Mississippi? Or do we believe in good wages? Do we believe in a decent standard of living? Do we believe in worker safety? Unions are really the only ones fighting for those things any more, and that's why unions are worth the fight that's probably coming in 2012."

President Obama in Detroit on Labor Day defies the laughable myth that his "base" has deserted him

 by Eclectablog/The People's view






Detroit's a special place. On Labor Day, it doesn't just have one labor union parade.

It has two.

Yes, in Detroit both the building trades union and the AFL-CIO both held simultaneous parades to celebrate workers in general and union membership specifically. The theme of the day was "Labor and Community: We are One". Thousands of union members walked along the streets of Detroit, streets that are showing surprising amounts of life and resurgence despite the tales of gloom and doom we read about on a daily basis. Detroit's quiet reemergence from the desperate economic straits we're in was reflected in the quiet dignity of the union members who walked today. In their faces you could see hope, resolve and an acknowledgment that they are stronger speaking with one voice than they could ever hope to be alone. Out of many, they are indeed one.





Both parades ended at Hart Plaza in the very heart of the city. From there, they walked a short distance to an area between the majestic Renaissance Center and the Detroit River. There, thousands had already gathered to hear speeches by various political dignitaries and labor leaders.


Congressman Gary Peters


Michigan AFL-CIO president Mark Gaffney


Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow

Here's a look at the crowd a full hour before the president even arrived.





Take a look at that crowd. Old people. Young people. Union members. Non-union members. Black, white, Hispanic, mixed-race. There is almost nothing in this country as diverse as an Obama rally in Michigan!
Aretha Franklin even came out to show her appreciation. As she sang R-E-S-P-E-C-T, she ran through a list of men she respects, ending with the President as the one she most respects.



If you pay attention only the most prominent liberal/Democratic websites or the main news outlets, you probably have come to the conclusion that the Democratic "base", whatever that means, has deserted the President. You probably believe that the economic recession we're suffering through, a downturn that has impacted a city like Detroit far more intensely than most, has caused both traditional Democratic voters along with the millions of new voters that turned out in 2008 to be abandoning Barack Obama.

You would be quite wrong. According to the Detroit Free Press, some 12,000 people turned out to see the President speak. And look at the reception they gave him:





You can't look at a crowd that big and that and enthusiastic and honestly tell me the President has lost his base. He hasn't.




"If you want to know who helped lay these cornerstones of an American middle class you just have to look for the union label."


"The time for Washington games is over.  The time for action is now.  No more manufactured crises.  No more games.  Now is not the time for the people you sent to Washington to worry about their jobs; now is the time for them to worry about your jobs."




"When I hear some of these folks trying to take collective bargaining rights away, trying to pass so-called “right to work” laws for private sector workers -- that really mean the right to work for less and less and less -- when I hear some of this talk I know this is not about economics.  This is about politics. And I want everybody here to know, as long as I’m in the White House I’m going to stand up for collective bargaining."

The Detriot Free Press has a nice overview of the day including a bit of Aretha Franklin's amazing performance:

Left Wing Elitism: Richard Trumka Joins the Professional Left

by Deaniac83/The People's View

Union membership among American workers is at a dangerously low level: in the private sector, less than 7% of workers are unionized. Despite Americans' strong and overwhelming belief in workers' right to organize, this is still the case. Why? Two reasons: primarily, corporate wholesale purchasing of an entire political party (the Republican party). Secondarily, labor establishment and "leadership" like this:

 The most powerful union official in the country offered reporters his harshest critique of President Obama to date Thursday, questioning Obama's policy and strategic decisions, and claiming he aligned himself with the Tea Party in the debt limit fight.

"This is a moment that working people and quite frankly history will judge President Obama on his presidency; will he commit all his energy and focus on bold solutions on the job crisis or will he continue to work with the Tea Party to offer cuts to middle class programs like Social Security all the while pretending the deficit is where our economic problems really lie," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told reporters at a breakfast roundtable hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

I would call Trumka uninformed, but I know that is not the case. The debt ceiling deal offered no changes on social security - none - either as part of the initial package or as part of the triggers. In fact, the President has never offered the Republicans or anyone else any cuts to basic Social Security benefits, and in fact, for the poorest retirees, proposed to increase their Social Security benefits, while guaranteeing a base benefit above poverty. By the way, the AFL-CIO supported the Clinton economic plan in 1993 that raised taxes on social security benefits (in other words, cut the dollar value of the benefit for some beneficiaries).

But Trumka is not ignorant. While it leaves me somewhat confused just what progressive thing Trumka thinks is gained by spending $800 billion a year on paying interest on the national debt alone, it's not Trumka's ignorance but his elitism that is the most striking. That comes off here:

 Trumka dismissed Obama's recent job creation proposals -- an extended payroll tax cut, patent reform, free trade deals -- as "nibbly things that aren't going to make a difference," and said the AFL might sit out the Democratic convention if he and the party don't get serious.

I hate to tell you this, Mr. Trumka, but while for someone who collects nearly $300,000 a year (search for Trumka on this labor reporting database) on union officer salary alone (and thus pays a payroll tax only a little more than a third his income), a cut in the payroll tax can seem like a "nibbly thing," I assure you for the average American family that it put $3,000 in the pockets of this are not going to have the same view. I assure you that the working poor - for whom this is the first tax reduction in a long, long time, don't think this is "nibbly." And because it most affects the working poor and the middle class, who have a higher propensity to spend extra dollars they have (due to their necessities), it certainly wasn't a "nibbly thing" to the economy.

Apparently, Trumka also doesn't care much for infrastructure or an infrastructure bank, because it apparently won't create any jobs. Said Mr. Trumka of President Obama:

 He’s talking about things like patent reform and an infrastructure bank, but that’s not going to do anything for jobs.

Oh. I see. Not only investments in infrastructure has the capability of creating a million jobs in the near term, Mr. Trumka of August 2011 may want to have a chat with Mr. Trumka of January 2011:

 America's working families and business community stand united in applauding President Obama's call to create jobs and grow our economy through investment in our nation's infrastructure.

Whether it is building roads, bridges, high-speed broadband, energy systems and schools, these projects not only create jobs and demand for businesses, they are an investment in building the modern infrastructure our country needs to compete in a global economy. [ - Joint statement of Trumka and US Chamber CEO Tom Donohue. ]

I'm a little confused. Which Trumka am I supposed to listen to? The one who issued a statement on his website as official representative of his union, or the one he made to the Christian Science Monitor?

Trumka did not fail to take a potshot at the President's council on job creation, saying that he doesn't know if the council is making any difference. Interestingly enough, Trumka has not yet turned in his resignation from this panel that he doesn't know to be making a difference. And for someone eager to compare President Obama to the Tea Party (yes, the Tea Party people who show up to Presidential events with guns and display pictures of the President as a witch doctor with a bone through his nose are apparently doing all of those things as a display of their affection for Barack Obama), the American Prospect notes that Trumka refused to go after the Tea Party:

 Trumka didn’t lay much-deserved blame at the feet of the Tea Party Republicans control the House of Representatives and thus set much of the legislative agenda.

Of course not. He was too busy whining about the wording of the President's speeches to worry about the policies of the Tea Party that is hurting this country.

Maybe there's a reason some labor publications themselves opposed Trumka's rise to AFL-CIO's top post for what they noted were his essentially elitist attitudes.. The American labor movement has a problem - and it is not entirely attributable to the big business lobby in DC (although it is to a very large degree). Some of the problem lies within the leadership of the labor movement itself.

That part of the problem lies with people who badmouth the President whose Administration has been a steadfast ally of labor and the right of workers to organize - whether by proposing to speed up the union election process so employers have less opportunity to intimidate, by preventing Boeing from moving a plant just get non-union workers, by protectig coal miners, winning wage increases for agricultural workers, taking action against employers who fail to pay benefits or legal wages and/or put their hands in employee pension funds, or a myriad of other ways (hat tip for much of this goes to rootless_e). Ignoring the achievements and the dedication of this President to American workers and organized labor is the kind of "leadership" that reeks elitism.

The progressive movement is dependent on the labor movement and the labor movement on the progressive movement. Men like Richard Trumka may want to realize that President Obama is a friend of labor, not the enemy of it. Snipping at this President and pre-emptively attacking him for an economic plan that is yet to be released does not do any favors to the American worker or the organized labor movement. It only hands ammunition to the true enemies of labor and worker fairness.


UPDATE: Action Item - Call Trumka!

Hat tip to samcdc in comments - call the AFL-CIO at 202-637-5000 and ask for Trumka's office. Give him a piece of your mind. Tell him it is unacceptable to be launching pre-emptive, ridiculous attacks on the President.

Union Workers Replaced With Prison Labor Under Scott Walker’s Collective Bargaining Law

By Alex Seitz-Wald/Think progress

While Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) law dismantling collective bargaining rights has harmed teachers, nurses, and other civil servants, it’s helping a different group in Wisconsinites — inmates. Prisoners are now taking up jobs that used to be held by unionized workers in some parts of the state.

As the Madison Capital Times reports, “Besides losing their right to negotiate over the percentage of their paycheck that will go toward health care and retirement, unions also lost the ability to claim work as a ‘union-only’ job, opening the door for private workers and evidently even inmates to step in and take their place.” Inmates are not paid for their work, but may receive time off of their sentences.

The law went into effect last week, and Racine County is already using inmates to do landscaping, painting, and another basic maintenance around the county that was previously done by county workers. The union had successfully sued to stop the country from using prison labor for these jobs last year, but with Walker’s new law, they have no recourse. Watch a reportfrom Fox6 in Green Bay:

The Washington Examiner called Racine’s move “another success story” and “all great news for Wisconsin taxpayers. Hopefully, we’ll see more of it.” So far, it appears no other jurisdictionhas followed Racine’s example — for now. It may just be a matter of time to allow existing union contracts to expire. The spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office of Dane County, which includes Milwaukee, said, “Nobody in our jail will be benefiting…at this time” from the new law, but the left the door open for future changes.

While giving prisoners more work and activity options is generally positive, using free inmate labor to replace public sector workers is a disturbing trend.

Thousands Gather In Lansing To Protest Budget

From Click on Detroit




LANSING, Mich. -- Thousands of Michigan teachers, public employees and others staged a protest at the state Capitol Wednesday.

Protests last month were sparked by the Republican governor's efforts to give sweeping new powers to emergency financial managers and tax most retirement income. Snyder agreed Tuesday not to tax seniors over age 66, but protesters say he's still forcing residents to pay for business tax cuts.

Unions are upset about proposals they say would undermine collective bargaining rights. Other groups are upset about proposed cuts to education funding and other programs.

IMAGES: Thousands Gather In Lansing To Protest Proposed Budget

Snyder has said the protests are part of the democratic process.

WATCH: RAW VIDEO: Protesters Gather In Lansing 
Watch: Unions Rally In Lansing In Opposition Of Snyder's Budget Cuts

More than 100 Detroit city bus drivers called in sick so they could attend the rally. It resulted in several route delays or cancellations.

“We really apologize to our public and people who ride with us every day. We love you and we’re doing this for you, not just for us,” said Detroit bus driver William Williams. “If the cuts being proposed are allowed to happen, there are going to be more inconveniences that this one day. This is one day to save the rest of the year.”

Full Story: DDOT Sick-Out Causes Major Delays

Several protesters voiced their fear of a financial takeover of the city of Detroit. But Snyder told Local 4 he has no plans to take action in assigning a manager for city.

"We're going to work with them on it in terms of a consent agreement, a budget plan that works well. And help work with them on monitoring follow through to make sure these appropriate things happen so we can avoid this problem," Snyder said

Poll: Americans favor unions over GOP governors in labor disputes

By David Edwards

More Americans back unions over governors who are trying to curb collective bargaining rights, according to a recent poll.

The polling organization Gallup found that 48 percent, or nearly half of Americans agree more with state employee labor unions. Only 39 percent favored governors in those states.

An additional 13 percent agreed with neither or had no opinion.

The results were split along party lines. In all, 65 percent of Republicans supported governors, while 70 percent of Democrats chose unions.

Republican governors in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Maine and several other states have all proposed stripping union rights.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) signed into law Thursday a bill that bans strikes and curbs collective bargaining rights.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed a similar bill into law last month, after weeks of protests by public workers.

The Wisconsin governor agreed Thursday to honor a judge's order to temporarily halt implementation of the law.

The Gallup survey of 1,027 adults was conducted March 25-27.