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Freedom Not Fear petition drive

Submitted by sanuzis on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 10:26
in

Newt Gingrich asked me to Chair a national effort to protect workers rights and support “Freedom Not Fear” in the workplace.

In a closed-door meeting Tuesday, President Obama told over 100 top union officials that “we will pass the Employee Free Choice Act.” It’s now clear that President Obama, Big Labor, and their left-wing allies in Congress, will attempt an unprecedented power grab that is a mortal threat to our economy and our democratic values.

This is being done in a stealth manner because its backers know that this bill will not pass if the American people understand its destructive nature.

To expose and stop this effort, I’ve joined American Solutions as National Chairman of our “Freedom Not Fear” campaign, and you can join us by signing our petition here.

The Employee Free Choice Act, or “Card Check,” would eliminate the right to vote by private ballot when deciding whether to join a union, and it would undermine the right to freely negotiate contracts.

We can’t tolerate this. We must stand for freedom, not fear in the workplace. We cannot afford to be intimidated. Please stand with us now. This is about protecting our fundamental right to vote privately without coercion. It’s about protecting the right of employers and employees to negotiate freely. It’s about allowing businessmen and women, not bureaucrats and union bosses, to run our businesses. And in the end, it’s about saving and protecting American jobs.

Please sign the petition now.

 

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Comments

Myth

Submitted by NextRightNando on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 10:45.

EFCA would preserve both options for unionizing -- secret ballot and card check (in which a union is formed when a majority of workers sign cards certifying their desire to organize). The difference is that workers themselves would get to choose which is used. So if an employer is harassing his or her workforce, employees can ditch the election and decide whether or not to unionize on their own terms.

Oh please...

Submitted by sanuzis on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 10:59.

NO one is harassed if they have a "secret ballot" or better said, a "private ballot".  If you think anyone is going to believe that the union bosses somehow see "ditching" an election as a way to allow workers to make their decision on their "own terms" you probably believe in Obama's "stimulus package" too?!?

 

The top legislative priority for organized labor and their allies in Congress is the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), also known as “Card Check.” EFCA is an enormous power grab by big labor bosses that would strip workers of their right to decide by private ballot whether to join a union, and their right to freely negotiate their contract. Instead, workers would be asked to publically sign cards in front of union organizers, potentially subjecting them to harassment or intimidation. EFCA is a threat to workers’ rights.

Our effort is not anti-union; our effort is anti-EFCA.

 

The problem, of course

Submitted by NextRightNando on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 11:05.

is the employer's ability to stymie the election - and illegal firings of the workers pushing for it.

I have more faith in Obama;s stimulus package than I do in the Republican's ability to fix the economy, yes. Which puts me in the mainstream - NBC/WSJ poll this week, by a 48-20 percent margin, Americans believe the Democratic Party would do a better job of getting the U.S. out of recession than the Republican Party.

Union = Detroit = Hell Hole

Submitted by aintnopillforstupid on Sun, 03/08/2009 - 16:02.

Unless you live in Metro Detroit, you can't begin to appreciate the social disaster that the union / entitlement mentality has bred at both GM and at the government level of the City of Detroit. 

See how the city council is taking advantage of the recent Obama / Socialist movement to play the race card like no demorat has ever played it.  All because there is no one else to blame for failed schools, failed leadership, and a total collapse in morals and values at the elected level.  Why is there no liberal outrage at the behavior of City Council, I wonder?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZi05MMkLxA

If the Council was white, Jesse and Al (and any good demorat) would be camped out in front of city hall.  But its ok to be racist or politically incorrect when you're liberal.

Unions had their place one time in history, say...the 1920s.  Trouble is, when you're protected by the union, you don't have any incentive to work harder than the next guy, but you get just as much as the hardest working one. 

So why the need to change the rules all of a sudden?  Its not like there have been stories of worker rights being trampled on in the last 20+ years.  Its just the opposite -  look at the excess of pay & fringes at the UAW.  And look at what it has gotten them now.

Its payback time for all of the Obama supporters, and a chance for the demorats to broaden the reach of their core base.

Don't forget, what government giveth, government can taketh.

 

Not withstanding the hellhole that is Detroit...

Submitted by davidfarrar on Sun, 03/08/2009 - 18:44.

... which I agree with you, it is; the political platform of the Republican party recognizes the workers' right to organize and to collective bargain. The party is beyond the question of whether unions are good or bad for the country or our democracy. 

Secondly, unions and companies should pay the price when they drive up the cost of their produce, forcing the company into bankruptcy -- which, by the way, negates labor contracts, if I am not mistaken. It's too bad our Republican president didn't think so.

What we are doing here is standing by our party's declaration that workers have a right to organize and to collective bargain often times in the face of hostile company officials.

ex animo

davidfarrar

What a Joke

Submitted by goodepic on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 17:15.

The percent of unionization drives that resulted in illegal firings in an attempt to intimidate workers into not unionizing was something like 50% in the Reagan and Bush II years.  That dropped into the 20s I believe during the Clinton years.  Guess when we had the best economic growth in the past 30 years?  Still seeing a correlation between increasing workers' power and a "mortal threat to our economy"? 

Right now the power is almost all in the employers hands.  They have more money for legal and bureaucratic holdups under current law and have the trump card, especially under Republican administrations, of being able to resort to just firing any uppity workers and paying slap on the wrist fines, in some cases, many years later.  EFCA is a small step in leveling the playing field between emloyers and workers, and insuring that the next time a Republican wins the presidency it's not a guaranteed screw the workers again free for all.

 

Firings of union organizers

Submitted by NextRightNando on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 17:29.

Center for Economic and Policy Research study, January 2007 - link to PDF.

Our estimates suggest that almost one-in-five union organizers or activists can expect to be fired as a result of their activities in a union election campaign. Even after we adjust for the increase in organizing campaigns not built around NLRB-elections, our calculations suggest that about one-in-seven union organizers and activists are illegally fired while trying to organize unions at their place of work.

 

a good chunk of them were probably crappy workers

Submitted by brienldownie on Mon, 03/09/2009 - 02:16.

while my thoughts here are purely anecdotal, and based on 2nd-hand evidence i've heard from those who do have 1st-hand experience...

I've known companies that treat their employees incredibly well, who offer the best benefits and wages in the business, but for some reason the employees just have a chip on their shoulder and are unhappy about everything.  The ones who organize the union in this case are most likely the ones who don't work nearly as hard, and don't want to work hard, and want to "screw the man."  That said, they're probably getting fired for the poor quality of their work, and disrespect to management.  If that's not totally warranted, than I don't know what is.

Alcohol addicted

Submitted by ranjeet22 on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 19:07.

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Drug or alcohol addicted person is very irresponsible. Sharing needles, non protected relation with people that they don't know, getting disease the individual will suffer for the rest of his life. Also it can bring the individual in to criminal activities that will bring him to spend part of his life in prison as a large percentage of the crimes are directly related to substance abuse. Also it can mean the addicted individual will die due to his life style or his direct use of Drugs. They do not see the "world" as it is. The goal of the intervention is for the person to accept the reality of their substance addiction and to seek the right help. They would to look at those around them as to measure of how right or wrong their behaviors are. People that surround themselves with persons who are caught up in the grasp of substance addiction are not able to see the drastic lengths that their own dependence has come to. Their using "friends" are a duplicate of themselves, leading them to believe that their own actions are acceptable cause the environment accept them. You should never get in to a drugs or alcohol intervention without the full knowledge of what to do. Also get the advice and help of a professional counselor.

……………………………………………

 

Jack005

………………………………………………….

 

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illinois drug rehab -illinois drug rehab

 

Good idea

Submitted by BulldogsRule on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 19:08.

I signed and sent to all my friends. Hope this helps.

Card Check Goons at Your Door at 10pm...

Submitted by Reaganite Repub... on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 19:42.

In today’s world, if someone else is willing to do what you do for less, you’ve got a problem.  There is no way to force employers to pay you more than what you’re worth, as the company will be destroyed by competitors with labor purchased at the market rate.

The gangster methods and ludicrous job rules of the UAW only work for the short term benefit of a few, in the long run the company, workers, and country all lose out as the enterprise is bled white. If you want to earn more money, you better obtain a marketable skill… the days of $50/hr for putting hubcaps on Cutlass Supremes is long, long gone.When Reagan pushed the unions back, 20M jobs were created, and real GDP grew 30%... so who does the UAW help?When Obama pays back his shady union backers with card-check, union goons can show up at your doorstep at 10pm to “ask” you to join the union.  And guess what?  You WILL sign- lolLike most of Obama’s leftist proposals, there’s no precedent to suggest restoring union power will help the country as a whole- it’s historical revisionism, at best.  Barack takes care of Barack #1… but political backers like Tony Rezko and unions are a close second.

The UAW has been nothing but a tumor on the neck of the free-market capitalist system… and look what it got us.  If you want the rest of the country to look like Detroit, just Go Union.   

http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/

 

The free market, free trade,

Submitted by In between on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 20:09.

The free market, free trade, and outsourcing is killing the middle class. There are factories, union and non-union, closing down in the MIdwest as they cannot compete with third world labor. I don't blame them, why pay middle class wages, healthcare insurance, pensions, social security, and have OSHA standards. The only problem is that it is ruining the country and the middle class. Cities and states are going broke as factories close.

Republicans like to adhere to ideology like tax cuts-to provide jobs. But it doesn't work with free trade as we see the ruination of the middle class. And if you are going to have free trade, then you need to replace the old jobs with new jobs and jobs that will stay here and provide for a middle class, for revenue for cities, states, the federal government, and for small and big business.

I view all jobs blue collar and white collar vulnerable to outsourcing.The republicans have to come up with an answer to this instead of having their fingers up their rear ends with laissez-faire. And this is why the Midwest voted for Obama and did away with republicans. It shows the carelessness and the naivety of the republicans towards the middle class. The republicans abandoned the middle class. And we have had a president for 8 years who said "free trade is good" as factories close. So what is the answer besides tax cuts. We had tax cuts for 8 years and we are back into a recession. The trickle down did not trickle down as people lost jobs. So come up with an answer, instead of some ideology. 

Um, Ronald Reagan was a union

Submitted by molotov on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 20:53.

Um, Ronald Reagan was a union man.  President of the Screen Actors Guild.

Oh, the irony.

So Newt Gingrich put you up to this?

Submitted by Jim Dandy to th... on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 20:01.

Interesting.

Ol' Newt is desperate to regain his credibility and become a viable GOP candidate for 2012.  And I guess shilling for the bosses is a part of his strategy, as well as being one of those "Conservative Principles" that somehow got added on along the way, like denying radical Global Climate Change and hating on Libs.

When are Conservatives going to understand that attention-whores and Corporate shills like Newt and Rush do not have their best interests at heart?  Like sanuzis, who has his talking points ready and just keeps pushing them out when Nando confounds him with simple facts.  Sanuzis, do you know how this makes you look?

Honestly, I see guys like Newt, Rush, and Sean playing with the rubes like they're 5-year olds,  and people here thinking that because they've memorized Rush and Sean and Newt's lines and read Ayn Rand they are part of the "Conservative Movement".   And I gotta laugh.

As a Republican who supports EFCA,

Submitted by davidfarrar on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 22:04.

I consider it highly irresponsible on the party of Mr. Sanizis to simply oppose a legislative initiative without offering a counter-proposal. In view of the Republican party's political platform regarding the rights of worker to unionize; I am interested in knowing just how Mr. Sanuzis, as Chair of Newt Gingrich's "Freedom Not Fear" campaign intends to protect the workers' right to unionize against the commonplace thuggery and intimidation of company officials?

Mr. Sanuzis, have you every been an un-unionized hourly worker, fighting against company officials to be unionized? I can't imagine anyone who has actually been in this situation to suggest it is the evil union organizers who are intimidating the workers. Everybody knows it's the company officials who are actually intimidating the workers. In most cases, since union organizers can't directly approach workers at their workplace, it is usually a fellow worker who is doing the organizing.

In view of the Republican party's political platform regarding workers' right to unionize; I am not entirely sure just how Mr. Sanuzis arrives at the conclusion that "unions threaten our economy and our democratic values."  As Chair of Newt Gingrich's "Freedom Not Fear" campaign, Mr. Sanuzis must surely know at present workers don't have the right to call for a secret ballot during union organizational efforts, that "FREEDOM" is enjoyed by the company alone, not the workers. 

What I see here is just another example of the party's corporate elite, pursuing its own political agenda against the party's political platform and at the expense of the party's grassroots. 

ex animo

davidfarrar

EFCA doesn't protect anyone's rights

Submitted by sanuzis on Sun, 03/08/2009 - 19:07.

I have been a Teamster and an un-unionized hourly worker.  However, EFCA has NOTHING to do with either situation.  Union bosses are taking away a worker's right to a secret ballot when it comes to organizing and allows some government bureaucrat set the terms of someone's employment. 

I am NOT against unions, I'm against taking away the fundamental American right to a secret/private ballot that is designed to help union bosses and their political allies...NOT workers.

If this is such a good idea, why are the unions and Democrats trying to do this so secretly...not everyone can afford to go the South Beach's Fountainblue for more "education".

Freedom NOT free in the workplace without undue intimidation.

You can't take away something you do have, Mr. Sanuzis.

Submitted by davidfarrar on Sun, 03/08/2009 - 22:09.

I cannot believe as a Teamster and an-unionized worker, you are blissfully unaware it's the company that calls for a secret ballot, not the workers.  As a Teamster and an un-unionized worker, I cannot believe you think the company does this as an unselfish act to protect its works' fundamental American right to a secret ballot.

Please, Mr. Sanuzis, stop posting here if you are not prepared to go past simple demagoguery. You are embarrassing yourself, Mr. Gingrich, the Republican party, and me. But most of all, you are making NextRightNando look good.

ex animo

davidfarrar

Freedom Not Fear petition drive

Submitted by tomllewis on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 21:54.

Saul,

I was more than happy to sign the petition. It's a compliment to you that Newt would ask you to lead on something so critical to our country's future.

Obama and the Democrats will do anything to gain more power, and this is a way for them to steal it. One would hope the general public would just look at what the Unions have done to bankrupt companies General Motors & Chrysler.

If they could win elections by just registering the most people, they would do that too.

I'll be more than pleaesd to help you with this after the March 31 special election in NY20. This really is a fight to protect our Freedom.

I will go away and never post on this board again

Submitted by NextRightNando on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 22:34.

Saul, I will go away and never post on this board again if you can just copy and paste here the passage or passage of the bill that will, in your words, ""eliminate the right to vote by private ballot when deciding whether to join a union".

Becasue I'm sure that you've studied the issue, that you aren't just relying on Newt's word for it.

Here's my position: EFCA does not abolish the National Labor Relations Board election process. If EFCA passes, that process will still be available. EFCA simply enables workers to also form a union through majority sign-up if a majority prefers that method to the NLRB election process. Under current law, workers may only use the majority sign-up process if their employer agrees. EFCA would make that choice - whether to use the NLRB election process or majority sign-up - a majority choice of the employees, not the employer.

Prove me wrong, and I will go away and never post on this board again.

Don't go away, just stop spinning

Submitted by sanuzis on Sun, 03/08/2009 - 19:14.

You point is if "employees" decide to use the "card check" option they can still chose to have an election, if they want to...of course.  And tat employees should have the choice of which process to use?  

However, the whole point for the "sign up" card check system is to get around a secret ballot...why not allow both management and labor to make their best case and then just like any election, allow workers/voters to decide with limited intimidation or arm twisting which position to take.

No union would encourage or suggest that "employees" go for an election...because they tend to lose most of those these days.

I am NOT aware of anyone who is making the argument with a straight face that this isn't all about union bosses and their allies trying to make it easier to unionize, organize and collect more dues for their liberal agenda.

It's all about politics and NOT about the "workers".

 

 

I quote your original post

Submitted by NextRightNando on Sun, 03/08/2009 - 19:18.

I quote your original post:

The Employee Free Choice Act, or “Card Check,” would eliminate the right to vote by private ballot when deciding whether to join a union, and it would undermine the right to freely negotiate contracts.

Prove that you and Newt Gingrich are not lying about this by posting the language from the bill that eliminates the right to vote by private ballot.

 

sanuzis, I'll check in daily

Submitted by acinphx on Sun, 03/08/2009 - 22:42.

I'm confident you can cite the Act's language to prove it will eliminate voting by private ballot.  Everyone is so busy these days that I'll understand if it takes some time for you to get back to us with the text, so I'll wait patiently and leave a daily reminder until you respond.

I also hope you'll respond with comments that address davidfarrar's concerns about the implications of your petition in light of the GOP platform's support of workers' right to organize.