Will Labor Take the Wal-Mart Challenge?
The Nation
"Staying
union free is a full-time commitment. Unless union prevention is a goal
equal to other objectives within an organization, the goal will usually
not be attained. The commitment to stay union free must exist at all
levels of management--from the Chairperson of the "Board" down to the
front-line manager. Therefore, no one in management is immune to
carrying his or her "own weight" in the union prevention effort. The
entire management staff should fully comprehend and appreciate exactly
what is expected of their individual efforts to meet the union free
objective.... Unless each member of management is willing to spend the
necessary time, effort, energy, and money, it will not be accomplished.
The time involved is...365 days per year...."
This
admonition comes from a handbook Wal-Mart distributes to managers, and
gives an idea of the passion and vision behind Wal-Mart's unionbusting
project. The $259 billion retail behemoth that has become a defining
feature of the American landscape has also profoundly altered labor
politics, deploying ever more creative and ruthless tactics to suppress
the right to organize, while driving down wages and benefits in the
retail industry and beyond.
The
company is providing a business model widely imitated by other
corporations, especially its competitors. To take one recent example,
after striking for months, grocery workers in Southern California were
forced to accept a vastly reduced health plan early this year, as
supermarkets, anticipating competition from new Wal-Mart Supercenters
throughout the state, refused to compromise with the union--probably
the first time in history that a potential competitor who had not even
entered the market yet was such a key player in a labor dispute. But
the California grocers are not alone. Supermarkets all over the country
have been lowering wages and decimating workers' health plans.
Management claims these cutbacks are necessary to compete with
Wal-Mart, but another explanation makes at least as much sense:
"Greed," says Linda Gruen, a former Wal-Mart worker now organizing
supermarket chains for the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).
"Management sees what Wal-Mart gets away with," she says, and realizes
that the way to increase profits is to do the same.
(more)
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Thursday, June 17
Will Labor Take the Wal-Mart Challenge?
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 17 Jun 2004 05:33 PM CDT
How about Howard?
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 17 Jun 2004 10:15 AM CDT
How about Howard?
Boston.com [I know, I know. Another post about Howard Dean as VP? Well, it is clearly a sea change. Do you remember back when the Kerry Kamp listed 40 names they were considering for VP and Howard was nowhere on the list? Finally, a poll that shows it might be a good thing, and all the Kerry Kamp can say is basically, "We like that boring, bland, inexperienced John Edwards." Well, I suppose that's better than boring, bland, evil-twin Gephardt. Here's an article from the Boston Globe.] JOHN KERRY wanted Arizona Senator John McCain, a charismatic Republican, as his running mate. It's funny that the man who will be the Democratic presidential nominee is searching for charisma in a running mate, because his party could not stand the idea of Howard Dean, a charismatic Democrat, topping the ticket in November. News accounts of Kerry's overtures and McCain's ultimate rebuff focus on the tempting idea of a bipartisan ticket that could reach across the vituperative divide in American politics. But Kerry would also benefit from the edgy energy and tell-it-like-it-is approach politicians like McCain and Dean exemplify. Settling for the handsome but bland optimism of North Carolina Senator John Edwards makes safe political sense. But it also shows the limits of tolerance for spark, verve, and controversy when Democrats think about selling fellow Democrats to voters or when Republicans think of selling fellow Republicans like McCain to voters. Dean is a doctor and a former governor; McCain is a senator. They hail from different backgrounds, but still there are similarities in the presidential campaigns they waged and lost. Like Dean, McCain energized independent voters when he competed in Republican presidential primaries via the "Straight Talk Express" in 2000. Like Dean, McCain was undone at least partly by opponents who undercut his message by focusing media attention on questions about temperament. Dean made it easy for opponents by showing a wild and crazy side on television after finishing third in the Iowa caucuses. In McCain's case, the issue was raised more subtly, by revisiting his years of captivity as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict. (more)
New Flash Game: Kick Bush Back To Crawford, Texas
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 17 Jun 2004 05:03 AM CDT
New Flash Game: Kick Bush Back To Crawford, Texas
 The DNC has a funny new flash game for us to play with. You get three chances for your Democratic donkey to kick W's arse back to Crawford, Texas, while at the same time being completely annoyed by the fiddle music! No disrespect to Gov. Dean, but this is much more cathartic than playing the Buy Bush A One-way Ticket Back to Crawford, Texas, game! Go here to kick the, well, you know. |
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