Archive for March 31st, 2009
Senator Specter betrays US workers – et tu, Obama?
If your eyes glaze over – or if they don’t – every time the subject of ‘card check’, unionizing, lost jobs, and the political power-and-money games surrounding them come up, please read Maria Cocco’s clearly written article:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090330_make_them_pay/
Yes, it is typical of a politician that they morph from their candidate phase into something quite different once they’re in office.
But with Pres. Obama working so diligently on (supposedly) saving the US economy and on ‘creating jobs’ one must wonder if the jobs to be created have a purpose other than paying wages.
And the paradox of the situation seems odd to me since corporate greed has become a headline, the president says he’s “angry, too”, and yet Mr. Obama doesn’t seem to support improvements for laid off workers and others whose wages have fallen through the greedy machinations of corporate gorillas afraid that union organization might cost them their next two or three Lexus payments.
One could suppose that overpaid CEOs, if financially strapped by paying decent wages to the people who make their wealth possible, could choose to rent out the extra bedrooms in their cushy penthouses – perhaps not a perfect solution since no decent person would want to live with them.
Not coming from a region of the country that has had the advantages (and disadvantages) of unionized labor, it isn’t always possible for me to follow the script on the subject of ’card check’ changes, other union labor disputes, and congressional legislation to ‘fix’ things that always seem to make matters worse for the little guy, and thereby plusher for corporate fatcats.
Yes, Ms. Cocco’s article has given me a boost in understanding what’s up with Arlen Specter on the subject of lost jobs, fallen wages, and lack of negotiating power for the common man - predictable, but disturbing nonetheless especially considering the economic climate we face.
Duh Moment Occurs:
So let’s see if I have this right: Congress (with its self-voting ability to raise its own pay) sides with corporations against US workers and their rights.
Yes, I think I ‘get it’ now. And it wasn’t so difficult for a southeast-born simpleton after all.
