Tag: labor

Crossposted at ProgressVA.

Conservative lawmakers in Virginia's House and Senate are so eager to attack working Virginians, they're throwing smart business protections for taxpayer dollars out the window--and they're doing it with the help of the national, pro-corporate greed group ALEC. Legislation that has been approved by House and Senate committees seeks to prohibit Project Labor Agreements (PLAs), which are actually extremely beneficial to Virginia. Project labor agreements are a market-based tool that sets rules and expectations for management and workers and as a result, projects with PLAs come in on-time and on-budget.

Crossposted at ProgressVA.

Opposition to a blatantly anti-labor bill is beginning to build in Virginia, and State Senators Dave Marsden and Chap Petersen and Delegate David Englin are among those voicing criticism. House Bill No. 2, introduced by Delegate Bob Marshall, would prohibit Virginia from providing funding for Phase 2 of the Dulles Corridor Metro Project if it is subject to a project labor agreement (PLA).

PLAs don't actually require projects to only hire union workers--they are a tool for taxpayer accountability. PLAs require the use of trained workers and safety standards for contractors, and worked great on Phase 1 of the project, as we pointed out previously. State Senator Dave Marsden said in a statement this week,

"What concerns me is that this bill appears to stem from an anti-union mindset that places ideology over public good and job creation. It could lead to experienced workers who performed well on Phase I being excluded from Phase II, and create the need for the expense of training new workers. Just as importantly, the PLA will create local jobs for a largely local workforce... A PLA is not always necessary on public projects, but I would ask my good friend Delegate Marshall, 'what problem are you trying to solve with this legislation?' It seems that continuing the PLA during Phase II is in keeping with good public policy. Let's not remove what has proven to be successful tool from consideration."

(More below the fold.)

Two points on this: 1) gotta hand it to Frank Wolf, at least he's been consistent in his dislike of tunnels, either at the airport (where we don't need one) or in Tysons Tunnel (where we badly DO need one); and 2) good for the union members protesting Wolf's constant anti-worker, pro-corporate, right-wing ideological votes on everything from health care reform to the environment to huge tax breaks to rich people to defunding Medicare to...you name it. Every time Wolf pokes his head out of his spider-hole, he deserves to be confronted with protests like these.

Buried in HR1135, designed to "provide information on total spending on means-tested welfare programs, to provide additional work requirements, and to provide an overall spending limit on on means-tested welfare program" is a sneaky provision which would actually cut off food stamps for all members of a family in which one member goes on strike:

"(3)STRIKING WORKERS INELIGIBLE---- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no member of a family unit shall participate  in the food stamp program at any time that any able-bodied work eligible adult member of such household is on strike as defined in the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947 (29 U.S.C. 142(2)), because of a labor dispute  (other than a lockout) as defined in section 2(9) of the National Labor Relations Act"

"I work for a private company, I had to take a pay cut, it's only fair that public workers do, too." Well, isn't that true?  Isn't that fair?  The concept of "fairness" does not occur in Nature. Fairness is an entirely human invention. Anyone who has watched tiny children in action knows that even the youngest has an innate idea of what's fair, especially when it applies to themselves individually, and their toys.  As we grow older, our sense of "fairness" grows more subtle, and tends to expand, sometimes to the sophisticated level of rationalization to excuse personal greed (when one is on the receiving end of more toys), and perpetual victim-hood (when one is not on the receiving end of more toys). What does fairness have to do with unions in Wisconsin, or jobs, or the current fad of concern for budget deficits/debt ("it isn't fair to saddle our grandkids with paying off our huge debt")? Answer: a lot.

What's considered fair by a human being is completely determined by what is included in the description of the situation; in other words, what is within the framework. The one who draws the frame, deciding what to include and what to leave out, is the one who will determine what is "fair." In the current discussion of the deficit, the budget, and so-called entitlements, the corporatists and the Republican Party have completely dominated the discussion.  Why? Because they have created the issues, defined the terms, and decided what is to be included in the discussion.... the mass media and the Democrats, including President Obama, seem to have completely accepted their terms of debate.

Let's look at how the fairness frame of each topic has been designed, and what happens if you change the frame to include other factors, or exclude a factor or two currently included.

Don't go to the so-called MSM, including the Associated Press, to learn about the facts about the Wisconsin state employees unfair treatment at the hands of its dictatorial, ambitious, and duplitous governor. He's counting on trying to turn the country against public employees and he wants all of us as unwitting accomplices. So he spins one lie after another about the root of the problem.  (He is it, as in a he's a contrivor and Machiavellian manipulator). Note that I drew from Joshua Holland's article for some of these points.  But you will want to read the Holland article.  There is much useful information here.

Here are some facts to fill in some of the blanks:

• Gov Walker inherited a surplus.
• State workers have had no raises in 2 yrs.
• Workers gave 100 million in pay concessions in Dec. , including 16 furlough days w/o pay.  

Some argue: you have no claim to the product of your labor; it's the property of your employer. After all, the employer owns the job. And without the job, labor has no value. So follows the views of Governor McDonnell and apparently Senator Warner and DPVA Chairman Moran. Slavery redux.

All of them support the oxymoronic "Right to Work" lobby; a movement rearward to the age of fiefdoms. This is a Virginia issue for any of a number of reasons. Some:

• Our Right to Work Laws foster a hostile environment for labor
• Unions protect a very small portion of the labor force
• Wages for skilled labor are lower than in states without the "Right to Work"
• Skilled labor migrates to higher wages and out of Virginia
• Democratic leadership kowtows to Republican interests above labor's interests

A Daily Kos post this past Sunday laid out an argument that the mega-have's are mounting a final assault on the middle-have's. It wipes away the misconception that the "business-friendly" right-to-work states receive economic benefit in employment growth and economic gains.

But though the middle class will likely diminish as a result of this consolidation of wealth, the attack is not only against it but also against anything of value they can attach; even that of the little-haves. The Republicans have grown as ignorant about production and business as the anti-capitalists they so deride. Two sides of the same coin. They are fostering a soviet style business climate that sees wealth as a zero sum game; the only way to increase it is by taking someone else's. Redistribution of wealth private sector style; today characterized by glossy grift.