BIG, RADICAL changes instead of stupid "incremental steps". I want to see a FEDERAL BAN on all laws

[Zalatix]

that forbid or punish public worker strikes. And a ban on hiring scabs to replace striking workers, too. And I'd also nuke the laws against public safety worker strikes. I'd rather have airline mechanics, pilots and ATC workers striking and have airplanes stuck on the ground, than risk having a plane crash because of poor working conditions or underpaid employees, which are the cause of 99% of strikes, period. I trust the workers in the trenches to use good judgement in deploying their final option to let America know when something is wrong.

Yeah, I said it. Laws against strikes, and strike-breaking tactics, are like rocket launchers in the hands of the NRA: they're not meant for ANYTHING but killing the working class. They have no substantial non-lethal use; in fact, they have no non-lethal use at all.

Yeah yeah, I heard it all, public employees work for us taxpayers, blah blah blah. Cheap labor and shitty working conditions are for China. Stalin and Mao busted unions, Plutocrats bust unions, not liberals.

Unions are workers in the trenches, they don't strike just because. They go on strike because things are fucked up and they're trying to fix it. Find another solution to the problem besides punishing workers who have been pushed to their final option to fight for better wages (or, in the case of Chicago) working conditions.

[rfranklin]

1. Airplanes are now being serviced outside of the USA...

Cheaper labor available elsewhere. It's the old joke about the lowest bidder come true...

Last month, American Airlines announced that it will lay off 42 percent of its U.S. aircraft mechanics. The work those mechanics do will argely be outsourced to repair facilities within the United States or overseas that's aren't owned or operated by the airline.

“[President and CEO of American Airlines] Tom Horton has talked about taking more advantage of outsourcing overseas,” say TWU President Jim Little. “If they outsource in the U.S., we can manage to compete with them, but in the case of foreign carriers, they have too much of an advantage. They are not under the same scrutiny and they don’t have qualified mechanics with the same level of oversight as here in the United States.”

....Currently, one in five planes operated by U.S. airlines are serviced at facilities from Central America to Asia, according to one NPR report. On average, industry analysts conclude that airlines spend half as much to repair planes overseas. The result is a dramatic increase in the last decades of the overseas outsourcing of airline mechanic jobs.


http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/12916/more_u.s._aircraft_are_being_repaired_abroad._are_airlines_sacrificing_safe/

[Zalatix]

2. As I said in another thread, offshoring is a great union-busting weapon.

You can't support free trade and also be pro-Union.

[HiPointDem]

9. wtf? security risk. again.

[Teamster Jeff]

3. Lots of hand wringing and soul searching..

on whether to support the strikers by so called liberals. It's a freaking disgrace.

[malokvale77]

4. A big THUMBS UP

[viguy007]

5. A Public Sector Union Is Not A Private Sector Union

When I was young to work for the government meant you were a public servant, you worked for below market wages and benefits, but you had job security. Your employer was the people and you had no right to strike. There is no profit motive on the part of your employer, and in fact, you helped pick who he was by your vote. When a public sector worker strikes he are denying the public a necessary service, and the strike will continue until the public become so inconvenienced that they demand an end to it. Then the public is mad, and concludes that all unions are bad. All unions lose the support of the public, they are no longer seen as having the moral high ground. The public is identifying with employers. That is why as public sector unions have grown, private sector unions have struggled and lost ground.

[Gabi Hayes]

6. 'he are denying?'

what sort of job do you have now?

scooping up the turds that fall out of Romney's mouth and trying to shove them back in before anyone gets a chance to decipher them?

certainly you aren't employed in any capacity that requires rational thought or expression

thanks for playing, though

[Zalatix]

7. OUCH. "Scooping up the turds"... that stings!

[viguy007]

8. I am retired now

But among the many hats I've worn in my life was that of a successful businessman, but more proudly was that of a union member (44 years now) and an officer of that union for 10 years. It was a multi-employer craft union that worked for employers in the public sector, nonprofit sector, and the private sector. Each sector had its own environment and we were always willing to settle for less from employers in the nonprofit and public sector for the same work performed by our members. We are one of the strongest unions in the nation, all our members have both a defined benefit pension, and defined contribution annuity, 2 health plans, a major medical and one that pays the deductible, as well as the union paying for any work related college courses our members take. But we also know you have to work with employers as to what they are able to pay. However, most of our employers are in the private sector which helps support the shortfall from nonprofit and public sector in our benefit programs.

[HiPointDem]

10. you've got it backwards. public sectors unions have grown, private sector unions have shriveled

to near nothing.

the teachers' unions are now the biggest unions in the country.

the 1% picked off the private unions during the reagan era, and now they're coming for the public unions.

[viguy007]

11. That is what I said:

That is why as public sector unions have grown, private sector unions have struggled and lost ground.

[HiPointDem]

14. you're right, i read it backwards. sorrybout that.

[cali]

12. If wishes were horses....

[Zalatix]

13. Ah, the solution person is back!

What's your solution to this, again? More of the status quo, I suppose?