Senator Specter Flip-Flops on You

[Omaha Steve]

http://unionreview.com/senator-specter-flip-flops-you.

Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter announced yesterday that he would oppose the Employee Free Choice Act, even though he has been on the supporting side for years. This should be looked at a little deeper from anyone who has a job, union or not.

Politico reported that Grover Norquist, the conservative activist and head of the Americans for Tax Reform said, “This is like Christmas and Easter and Valentine’s Day rolled into one,” referring to Specter’s decision. And isn’t it great to hear that potential labor law assisting everyday working people is likened to Christmas? I find it as insulting as FedEx Express announcing it will refuse to buy its planned for $10 billion of American-built planes if another labor law, not in its favor, is actually passed. (Fed Ex is a bit pouty these days because the loophole they squeeze – read misclassify – their workers into is finally being challenged). Oh well, we’ll just wait and see what happens there.

“This is a particularly bad time to pass employee choice legislation,” Specter said. But why is it a bad time to help working Americans? Why does Specter want the broken labor laws to persist? (Probably a political move, I am sure … but, look who has to pay the price). When is it ever a bad time for working Americans to get a voice at their work place? When is it ever a bad time for working people to have concrete work rules and an enforceable contract? Is this a “particularly” bad time for workers to want a bonus or a bailout – probably, but is that what a union contract is? No.

Someone will say, “It’s the economy, man.” And yes, the economy sucks, but unionized workers, who generally earn more than their nonunion counterparts, also keep the wheels of the overarching economy turning!

“Testimony shows union officials visit workers’ homes with strong-arm tactics and refuse to leave until cards are signed,” Specter said. But certainly the Senator from Pa. has witnessed at least one or two organizing campaigns in his career. Surely he must know that business, and their Grover Norquists, not only strong-arm, they harass and fire workers – removing them from their trades, simply because they want a better life for them and their families. Ah, for the record, Specter DOES know this, “Employees have complained about being captives in employer’ meetings with threats of being fired,” he said.

And this is where the word “complained” is too weak. These are not complaints like, “Crap, my head is killing me.” These are life-changing, life-altering situations that take place every single day of the year, including Christmas. Is it OK that our labor laws are broken and in desperate need of the Employee Free Choice Act? Well, big business and Republicans would say yes.

Weird that I personally boycott so many companies because of this stuff, and how I wish you would too.

In the end, if you think Specter deserves a piece of your mind around this issue, then I urge you to reach out to him. http://specter.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=contact.contactform.

[Fresh_Start]

1. he's a politician

he can promise anything but when its time to really put it on the line, he'll have an excuse.

[dcsmart]

2. K & R..this is the message i sent him:

"Joining together in a union to bargain for health care, pensions, fair wages and better working conditions is the best opportunity working people have to get ahead.

Today, good jobs are vanishing and health care coverage and retirement security are slipping out of reach. Only 38 percent of the public says their families are getting ahead financially and less than a quarter believes the next generation will be better off.

But workers who belong to unions earn 28 percent more than nonunion workers. They are 52 percent more likely to have employer-provided health coverage and nearly three times more likely to have guaranteed pensions.

All workers should have the freedom to decide for themselves whether to form unions to bargain for a better life."

from AFL-CIO web page

"One class now owns the tools while another class uses them. One class is small and rich and the other large and poor. One wants more profit and the other more wages. One consists of capitalists and the other of workers. These two classes are at war. Every day of truce is at the expense of labor. There can be no peace and good will between these two essentially antagonistic economic classes. Nor can this class conflict be covered up or smoothed over." Eugene V Debs

Debs once commented that he could not imagine why working people would vote for republicans since they were no friend of working people. I think your decision validates his point as does your entire party. Hopefully, the Democrates will have the courage to fight for this bill. However, the truth is that the working class have only themselves and their willingness to fight as their true friend in the struggle for a equal share of the wealth they produce.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

7. Here's the message I sent him....

EAT SH$t,F@$k OFF, AND DIE SPINCTER.

No, not really, but your's is a good model to use. I haven't started mine yet, because right now I am still too angry to write an effectively worded but strong message.

[Bozita]

3. Off to the Greatest Page!

[Earth Bound Misfit]

4. You beat me to it..

K & R!

[Earth Bound Misfit]

5. SPINCTER is TOAST...

Great Post.

Specter voted for the stimulus package and appears DEAD to the Repiglican Party. He couldn't be trusted by EITHER PARTY before, and is trusted EVEN LESS now by BOTH PARTIES, with his BETRAYAL of Labor, without whose support and contributions in 04 he would not have been re-elected, it makes him a DEAD MAN WALKING in the '10 general, IF he should by some MIRACLE survive a G"NO"P primary.

He likely had to cut some kind of deal. I can't see how a politician of SPINCTER'S "savvy" (CUTTHROAT RUTHLESSNESS) making this kind of move, which on the SURFACE appears to be political SUICIDE.

From Think Progress.org: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/03/24/specter-no-efca/

As evidence of the right-wing pressure he was facing, one of Specter’s first calls was to Grover Norquist, the head of Americans for Tax Reform, to inform him of his decision. Further, as Sam Stein notes, Specter is “likely to face a major primary challenge from Club For Growth president Pat Toomey in the 2010 election, which may have factored into this apparent decision.”

Responding to Specter's announcement, Norquist told the Washington Times, "This is huge. This ends card check for the year. Now we have to make sure the Democrats don't pick up two or three Senate seats."

Hmmm. Maybe Toomey will decide to "spend some more time with his family" instead of running in the primary (which show him with a 41%-27% lead according to a recent Quinnipiac poll).

I guess SPINCTOR chose political expediency over the average working American. But hey, who cares, right? It's just the working stiffs who get SCREWED, right?

BTW, the hyper-link in your OP doesn't work, I tried to repost it here, but it still won't work.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

6. If Reid calls for a vote on this NOW

even if Franken gets "released" from his Repukelican imposed exile, and allows them to filibuster this without actually having to filibuster, I WILL GO ABSOLUTELY BATSHIT INSANE CRAZY. I can't even begin to think what I will actually do, but I will go FUCKING NUTS if he allows this thing to die, or EVEN WORSE, IMO, GUTS IT and passes some piece of krap, and sells it as a "compromise" bill. The C of C and other anti-worker front groups have described this as "Armageddon", well that goes BOTH WAYS.

LET THE FUCKERS FILIBUSTER, LET EM STAND THERE IN THEIR FUCKIN' DIAPERS.

SHOW US SOME BALLS, HARRY...

[pberq]

8. We cannot let this get us down - the fight continues!

http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/03/24/fight-for-employee-free-choice-continues-despite-specter%E2%80%99s-flip/

Fight for Employee Free Choice Continues Despite Specter’s Flip


by Seth Michaels, Mar 24, 2009




Even though he was a sponsor of the original Employee Free Choice Act in 2003, supported the bill again in 2005 and voted against a Republican filibuster of it in 2007, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) announced today that he would support a filibuster this year in an attempt to block the legislation from coming to a Senate floor vote.

Specter made a statement today about the failures of America’s labor laws—failures that make the Employee Free Choice Act necessary—but he also advanced falsehoods spread by corporate front groups. The statement shows that he’s listening not to his constituents, but to the big-money interests who are hoping to prevent workers from exercising their basic freedom to form unions and bargain.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says that while Specter’s cave-in to corporate lobbyists is disappointing, it won’t blunt the momentum behind this critical bill to protect worker’s freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life.

Today’s announcement by Sen. Specter—a sponsor of the original Employee Free Choice Act who voted for cloture in 2007—is frankly a disappointment and a rebuke to working people, to his own constituents in Pennsylvania and working families around the country.

The fact is the Employee Free Choice Act has more support than ever—large majorities in both houses of Congress, the president and vice president, 73 percent of the public. We will continue to work with Democrats and a number of Republicans to create common-sense solutions to the decades of corporate power.

We do not plan to let a hardball campaign from Big Business derail the Employee Free Choice Act or the dreams of workers.

There are deep flaws in our labor laws, as Sen. Specter acknowledged today. The freedom to join together and bargain with employers for fair wages and better benefits is critical to rebuilding our middle class—and now is exactly the time to do it, as we begin to revive our economy in a way that works for everyone. In the coming weeks, we will be escalating our campaign and finding the best ways forward to a balanced, strong economy.