The Radical Right is all over the Employee Free Choice Act (EFAC) because they are worried about taking away workers’ rights. Really? This is what you’re going to go with here, Republicans looking out for the welfare of the working man and woman.
Okay, I’ve stopped laughing, have you? So the Radical Right’s opposition to EFAC has nothing to do with union busting? Because the history of the Rebpublican Party has been one for the destruction of labor unions which is decidedly anti-worker.
Now, I’m not an expert on Nashville, I know it for its music both good and bad, and I’m no expert on Tennessee either, I know it for its barbecue and auto racing. So trying to make a big pronouncement about the people of Nashville and its environs regarding the passage later today of the English Only Referendum would be silly as well as ignorant.
But as the nation takes a step forward, Nashville and Davidson County will take a big step backward at the end of today as they will pass a referendum to make English the official language of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County.
T.A. Frank wrote a very informative article in the recent issue of the Washington Monthly that details the story of trying to organize a union at a Rite Aid distribution center in CA.
The Rite Aid organizers filed their union authorization cards with the NLRB, setting the ground for an election. And then things got ugly—and illegal, too….Eventually, the NLRB racked up so many complaints that it planned to take Rite Aid to trial on forty-nine violations of federal labor law. In the summer of 2007, though, Rite Aid chose to settle instead, agreeing to rehire two fired union supporters with back pay and to post a notice in a common area promising not to engage in thirteen types of illegal anti-union activity.
….[ILWU] won the March election, becoming the sole bargaining representative of the warehouse employees…..By August, thirty-nine more employees had been dismissed….Today, nine months later, Rite Aid and the ILWU have not yet come up with a contract. At meetings, Rite Aid has been pushing aside contract negotiations in order to discuss other things. Legally, Rite Aid is supposed to bargain “in good faith,” but such terms are highly subjective and difficult to litigate. Work conditions for the warehouse workers remain much as before, perhaps even worse. And that works to Rite Aid’s advantage — for when a union fails to deliver, its members may lose faith in it and vote it out.
Frank’s article provides some really useful detail on the process (and obligations) of union organizing, as well as some insight into what motivates people to want a union in the first place. Take very good note on who does the “strong arming” here.
I don’t know about dropping the card check addition in favor of stronger laws and penalties coupled with much better enforcement. But like pollution-prevention regulation and law, high penalties, statutory deadlines and rigorous enforcement can provide a deterrent cost of doing business that could go a long way to getting employer’s thumbs off of the scales.
(h/t Kevin Drum)
Approximately 1.8 million people descended on Washington D.C. for the inauguration and no one was arrested. I find this amazing.
First Politico now this MYDD mention…
Josh Kraushaar, reporting on the developments that may lead to Beau Biden becoming the next Senator from Delaware, makes what seems from this vantage an even more important catch: The Democrats may finally have a viable challenger for Republican Congressman Mike Castle.
[Beau Biden’s] biggest rival for the Democratic nomination, former Delaware lieutenant governor John Carney, appears to instead be looking at the state’s House race against Republican congressman Mike Castle.
“It’s been difficult to get people to step up to the plate and run against Congressman Castle. I’ve got to tell you, that’s something I’m looking at right now,” Carney told a Delaware radio station earlier this week.
Carney was passed over for the Delaware Senate appointment in favor of longtime Biden adviser Ted Kaufman, who is only holding the seat before the special election occurs in two years.
After winning his first term in the House back in 1992 by a 55 percent to 43 percent margin, Castle has never won by fewer than 18 points, with no Democrat even crossing the 40 percent threshold. But with John Carney potentially in this race — probably the strongest opponent Castle has ever faced, including his successful runs for Governor in the 1980s — Castle’s path to reelection is far from assured. Throw on top the fact that the Obama-Biden ticket received 62 percent of the vote in the state last November, and all of the sudden this could be a real contest.
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This attention demostrates how easily a top tier challenger could raise money to knock off Mike Castle.
As a commenter points out in the MyDD comments, Delaeware has no business being represented in Congress by an “R”
Fewer than ten House Republicans now represent districts with a partisan voting index in the D range:
http://www.swingstateproject.com/showDia ry.do?diaryId=3882
Castle’s is the most Democratic (D+6.5). That’s the old PVI–the PVIs for all the districts haven’t been recalculated since the 2008 election.
This is a Dem pickup in two years. Book it, stamp it, shrink wrap it and store it on a shelf.
RUSH LIMBAUGH: I disagree fervently with the people on our side of the aisle who have caved and who say, “Well I hope he succeeds. We’ve got to give him a chance.” So I’m thinking of replying to the guy, okay I’ll send you a response but I don’t need 400 words. I need four. I hope he fails.
I hated Bush from the outset, but being an American first and a Democrat second, I never rooted for his failure. On it’s face, this Limbaugh stance is patently unAmerican.
However, this is tricky to parse. Recall that Limbaugh considers Bush a success. So is he really saying that he wants Obama to “fail” as we normally define the word fail, or does he want Obama to have a kind of limbaugh-esque failure by which he means the opposite of Bush’s success?
This is very cool — one of the many challenges to making the electrical grid more efficient is figuring out a way to store electricity. The current grid does not, but you can see there might be production and cost efficiencies in being able to store electricity made when it is cheapest or most efficient to do so in an inexpensive and accessible manner for use when it is needed. One of the ideas for that storage is called Vehicle to Grid (V2G) and researchers from UD helped to develop this.
The City of Newark is the first city in the United States to put this idea to the test. University of Delaware Associate Professor of Marine Policy Willett Kempton has the car in the picture and there are currently plans for a total of six in the near future. It is interesting that this news would be released today, when Governor Markell talked about the creativeness of Delaware’s past economic history. While this technology is certainly in its infancy and will need more testing and much larger scale testing to determine its long-term viability, this is exactly the kind of thing that we ought to be figuring out how to nurture here.
If you did not get a chance to hear or see Governor Jack Markell today give his inaugural address, it has been posted on the new Delaware.gov website in this section, and reprinted below. Governor Markell seems clear here about the magnitude of the financial difficulties we face and that there will be some pain in getting to a balanced budget. But he will be looking for opportunities in this period of crisis to lay some foundation for building towards a few important objectives — schools and industries for a 21st century economy. What do you think about the direction being set today? (ps. Has anyone noticed that Mike Mahaffie has a glorious photo on the banner of the new website?)
…Nearly a half-century ago, President John F. Kennedy declared: “Let the word go forth from this time and place that the torch has been passed to a new generation.”
That torch has been passed again, in a ritual that marks the constant renewal, reinvention, and revival of the spirit that has made America – and Delaware – great. It is a torch that continues to light our way, even in the darkest times.
From the beginning, progress for America has originated in Delaware. The ratification of the Constitution, establishing the greatest democracy the world has ever known, was led by our state. And today, our nation is led by President Barack Obama and by our new Vice President, Delaware’s own Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
Yesterday’s historic Inaugural marked the realization of change we truly can believe in. It reinforces our faith that America can still meet any challenge and that our best days do indeed lie ahead. This is the American creed… and Delaware has lit the way.
Continue reading
Has Obama done more in office already than W did the past 4 years for this country?
Notice not one of the kids in this photo has their eyes on the President and his wife. Instead the focus is on the tiny LCD screen on the back of their camera capturing the image of the President and his wife that they are about to take. Are they missing out on anything? When all is said and done, what’s a lifecast worth on a deathbed? I thought about this this past weekend when I taking picture of Obama’s train going through Claymont. Would I experience more if I put down the camera and watched the train pass? Wouldn’t it be better if I waved back at the President instead of just taking a picture of him?
Due to the investigative efforts of Jeffrey Leiber at Daily Kos, the contents of former President Bush’s letter to President Obama have been revealed. Follow me over the fold for an exclusive ‘behind the scenes’ look at what advice Bush gave Obama.
I’m willing to take it as a given that Beau Biden will be Delaware’s next Jr. Senator.
He will, of course, have to run for the seat and (although the Republicans will fail to put up a credible candidate to oppose him) he will still have to meet and mingle with actual voters.
So the question is not will Biden be the next Senator, but what kind of Senator will Biden be? I think those 6 months of Biden’s candidacy are the only shot we’ll have to engage him on issues and try to influence his thinking.
After the election he will be in the incumbent bubble with Carper and we all know that common sense and decency will never penetrate that bubble. So we need to make those fleeting campaign months count. We need to start planning for making the best out of this situation.
How do we try and point Beau Biden’s compass toward true north?
(AP Photo/Pat Crowe II)
What happens when you promote greed as a virtue and reward criminals based on the audacity and ingenuity of their crimes?
When George W. Bush took office the Dow was at 10,578.20. By the time he left office, it had fallen to 7,949.09.
The country has a new vision:
A nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. Barack H. Obama 1/20/09