Restoring America's Middle Class, One Corporate Bully at a Time

On Friday, August 1, The Wall Street Journal reported that Wal-Mart stores had held mandatory captive audience trainings to demand their supervisors and management employees vote against Democrats because a Democratic Congress and President would pass the Employee Free Choice Act to allow workers - including Wal-Mart workers - to decide for themselves whether or not to form unions and bargain collectively.

Presumably, those supervisors and managers would pass on the message to hourly workers - a violation of federal labor law. Ironically, much of the media was aghast at this intimidation and the blatant manipulation of Wal-Mart employees' most basic decision in a democracy - who to choose to represent and lead our country.

Ironically, because Wal-Mart routinely uses this kind of intimidation and manipulation and much more hard-edged retaliation every time any one or more of their workers thinks about or begins a discussion about whether to form a union.

In fact, at the first hint of union activity or discussion, 15 members of a Wal-Mart anti-union "hit" team get on a private jet in Bentonville, AR, to fly to the store and use intimidation, threats and firings to stop the union activity immediately.

Wal-Mart is America's best known corporate bully. They have bullied small towns across the heartland. They've bullied small businesses, pushing many out of business. They bully their suppliers and vendors. They've long bullied their workers. Now they are bullying their supervisors and managers. Most importantly and most dangerously, they are bullying America's political system.

But they are not alone. It is now a routine and accepted practice for America's employers and corporations to do anything to stop their workers from freely forming unions. Firing worker leaders, threatening to fire others, threatening to close or move worksite, changing shifts, moving union supporters to harder jobs, cutting hours, even physical intimidation, are now commonly used arrows in the quiver of American companies and anti-worker consultants. And American labor law and the federal agency designed to enforce it, the National Labor Relations Board, are powerless to stop them.

American labor law is broken, and it is hurting workers, our economy and our society. Wal-Mart's behavior is the best example of just how badly we need the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that would allow workers to form union without fear of retaliation. Alone, no worker has the power to stand up to a massive corporate bully.

But it is not just individual workers who suffer. Our society and our economy suffer as well.

As the economists and pundits debate whether we are technically in a recession or just headed for one, the living standards of American workers are dropping faster than George Bush's approval ratings.

- In 1980, the average American CEO made 40 times as much money as the average worker. Today it is 500 times more than the average worker.

- There are 20% more Americans living in poverty today than at the end of the last century when Bush took office.

- We have 47 million Americans without health care - more than in 1965 before we created Medicare.

And while our productivity has increased by 75% since 1973, our wages have stagnated, flatlined, even declined.

All this tracks very closely to the 30-year corporate and government assault on workers and their unions, collective bargaining and the freedom of America's workers to join and form them.

So rather than just send all of us a one-time stimulus check that most of us just passed on to the banks and credit card companies, the Congress and the President must take serious, fundamental and real action to strengthen the economy by restoring our right to bargain for better wages and benefits with our employers.

The Employee Free Choice Act will do that.

The Employee Free Choice Act will do three simple and common-sensical things:

1. It will impose real penalties on employers who violate federal labor law. Today there are no effective penalties.

2. Once workers form a union, it will ensure that they are able to win a union contract by allowing them to seek neutral mediation and arbitration if the employer refuses to bargain in good faith.

3. The Employee Free Choice Act will allow workers to join or form a union as easily as the employer can join the Chamber of Commerce - simply by signing a card or petition. And when 50% plus one sign up, the union is established.

We cannot solve America's economic problems by squeezing the middle class, forcing more and more Americans into poverty and further weakening buying and spending power. We must empower workers to form unions, bargain with their employers for the dignity of the middle class, and rebuild the greatest economic engine in history, the American labor movement and America's middle class.

Senator Barack Obama has promised to do just this.

Comments

[marijam]

The Employee Free Choice Act won't do a thing to stop a company from going bankrupt to break the union as the airlines have routinely made a habit of doing, or from deciding to sell off a branch, like Boeing did after the IT workers decided to unionize and then Boeing sold off their Wichita non-military division to a Canadian company. As soon as Spirit took over, they pink slipped everybody then hired them back - at lower salaries.

[Huffingtonposter231]

My understanding is that your 'facts" are flawed. Half the uninsured are not Americans as in USA citizens, they are illegal aliens that the democrats want us to provide coverage to. But it sure sounds like a big number when you toss the illegals in. Makes for good propaganda.

[DuganS1]

Another large percentage of the uninsured are only uninsured for a three month period on average or are young adults who can afford insurance but chose not to buy it because health insurance isn't a priority. Heck, I didn't have health insurance for a few years in my 20s because I never got sick and I wanted to spend my money on more productive young adult things like beer, cars, and girls!

[Huffingtonposter231]

I'm for doing something but the left always uses these dishonest numbers to gain sympathy for the cause. I can't support it when it starts out as a lie and a way to provide free health care to millions of illegal aliens.

[ipv4]

Source!

[Huffingtonposter231]

I understand that the bottom line for America poor is that the global economy has made their life better, they have been able to afford more in the sea of cheap goods from abroad. Far from being oppressed, they standard of living has risen.

Interesting. and the number of jobs we now have that are dependent on foreign sales means we will not be disconnecting ourselves from the global economy any time soon unless we really do want a REAL depression.

[flatus]

Also keep in mind that the open border with Mexico will provide labor for any company with disgruntled employees that cannot move offshore such as Walmart, Home Depot, Hotels, Motels and so forth..

[flatus]

Wages are stagnant because we are now in a global economy which means there are more people than there are jobs. Unions are powerless because of the threat to move 'offshore'.

It is also difficult to imagine a union of unskilled labor, such as Walmart, succeeding in this climate.

[DuganS1]

Wages are stagnant relative to the cpi but not relative to most consumer goods. Workers have more access to consumer goods than ever before. A renewed union movement would simply result in inflation and higher interest rates, strikes, less investment in new stores, the closing down of stores, higher unemployment, and less access to goods for other unskilled workers not in the union or not in the workforce.

[jcorrington]

It is my understanding that the US Military only allows FOX News to broadcast in Iraq. I would have to say, if that is true, then our own gov is guilty of the same thing (surprise, surprise).

[Huffingtonposter231]

You are wrong, that lie was debunked the day it came out.

[FogBelter]

Mr Acuff, what we really need is at least one political party in Washington whose definition of the America they serve is wider than just Corporate America. It's hard, within the two party construct as it stands, to see the kind of pressure needed from Washington being generated on Corporations to behave, when the bulk of elected officials owe their positions and livelihoods to Corporations.

If the Dems score the victories anticipated in November, then they should consider themselves in a period of probation with the American Voters. If the Democrats can't stand up to Corporations on behalf of the American People, and show concrete successes in dropping the hammer on these Corporate Thugs, it is time to rule the Republican/Democrat political dynamic a failure for American Citizens, and recognize the need to utilize the communication capacity afforded by the Internet to create a new, responsive, grassroots, publicly funded, American political party.

Without elected officials working vigorously against Corporate excess and abuse, all victories will be fleeting.

[Chavez08]

Mr. Acuff,

Thank you very, very, very much for your support and exposing the Corporate and policical attack on the middle-class.

And also many thanks to Huffpost for picking up and running with the working-class cause.

James

[Erdgeist]

Stewart, One of the great books of all time investigating the corporate mind-set was Ernest D. Lieberman's book *Unfit to Manage: How Mis-Management Endangers America and What Working People Can Do About It* (1988). He discusses among other things how U.S. corporations subside foreign competition, essentially, destroying jobs in America, but more importantly, the hight cost to the U.S. economy when corporations politically push the idea that unions are bad and low wages are good. I have been reading the book again. All of Lieberman's topics are still very timely. Essentially, nothing has changed insofar as corporations want it their way and to hell with the Middle Class.

[WorkingClass]

All of a sudden Democrats are discovering that low wages and high unemployment are not good things. The coming depression will be educational. People will "learn" that if 2% have everything then 98% have nothing. Duh.

[Chavez08]

"The coming depression..." - ??

Where I live, it's definitely a depression.

[WorkingClass]

Did you know there is an oil boom (natural gas actually) in northwest Louisiana? We have a boom and a recession running parallel. Its mighty confusing.

http://geology.com/articles/haynesville-shale.shtml

I always read your comments Chavez. Keep up the good work.

[Huffingtonposter231]

Of course it is. I'm sure you think someone somewhere near you is having a depression.

John Kerry was calling it a depression too, he lied, he wanted to get elected. And here we are again, another activist liberal with another "depression". Boring.