LABOR: US Flag must be at elections, board says

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080303/BUSINESS07/803030310

Bottom of page

The National Labor Relations Board, which oversees union representation elections in the United States, has issued a new rule that the American flag must be displayed at all such elections in the future.

"This new element of the election process is based on the belief that the display of an American flag will impress upon all the participants to elections -- employers, unions and most importantly voters -- the solemnity and importance of the agency's election process," the NLRB explained in a news release.

The NLRB also noted that since some voters in union representation elections may be new immigrants, they could be participating in a free and fair election for the first time in their lives.

Free Press staff and news services

[enlightenment]

1. I support unions, overall - but

this is ridiculous.

[texshelters]

2. In Aizona, state funded classrooms have flags

One was put up in my room, right in front near the white board and it was very distracting. I left up the Constitution that was behind it and put the flag in another corner.

Isn't this kind of nationalism one of the ten steps to a fascists state?

Tex Shelters

[Wilms]

3. The flag means different things to different people.

Sometimes it means different things to the same person.

Like me. :(

[AndyTiedye]

4. I'd Fly Like to Fly The Flag but…

then I'd leave some repiglickin naked.

[MaryCeleste]

5. Seems a bit silly, but harmless

[Earth Bound Misfit]

6. free and fair election? That's a good one.

If they fly the AMUR-KUN Flag (as Chimpy would say it), It MUST be FREE and FAIR!

NLRB Elections Violate Basic Standards of Fairness

The National Labor Relations Board's system for union elections is so corrupt that it doesn't remotely resemble the democratic process the term "election" brings to mind, according to a new report from a University of Oregon professor.

"Apart from the use of secret ballots, there is not a single aspect of the NLRB process that does not violate the norms we hold sacred for political elections," Professor Gordon Lafer said. "It is hard to imagine anyone - Republican or Democrat - who could win election under the conditions workers must use to form unions."

"Free And Fair? How Labor Law Fails U.S. Democratic Election Standards," describes the grossly one-sided advantages employers hold in representation elections, from the power to squelch workers' free speech rights on the job to outright threats and firings.

"Every high school civics student knows that elections aren't fair without free speech, equal access to voters and the media, and freedom from voter coercion," said former Congressman David Bonior, Chair of American Rights at Work. "Gordon Lafer's research confirms that the system for union recognition is badly broken and profoundly undemocratic. Any reform of existing labor law must begin with this understanding."....
http://www.cwa-union.org/news/page.jsp?itemID=27357028

"Free And Fair? How Labor Law Fails U.S. Democratic Election Standards"
Based on a Report by Gordon Lafer, Ph.D., University of Oregon
Produced for American Rights at Work, June 2005

Recent debates on labor law reform have focused on how we best bring elections for union representation in line with the norms of U.S. democracy. One side argues that the current National Labor Relations Board system must restrict all forms of union recognition to the process of a secret ballot election to safeguard democracy. Others assert that the secret ballot is not enough to guarantee a free and fair election.

American Rights at Work commissioned University of Oregon political scientist Gordon Lafer to investigate how current union election procedures measure up to U.S. democratic standards. Lafer
engaged in a thorough examination of the political philosophy and published works of the founders, the historical development of electoral law and jurisprudence, and current statutes and regulations that define "free and fair” elections.

Lafer concludes that union representation elections fall alarmingly short of living up to the most
fundamental tenets of democracy. The inclusion of a secret ballot does not change the fact that the
process as a whole is fundamentally broken and unfair.

The Full Report (38 pgs):
http://www.morsechair.uoregon.edu/_pdfs/residential_scholars/Lafer%20Free%20and%20Fair%20Article.pdf

[Omaha Steve]

7. I hope you keep coming back

We need the free choice act as soon as the NEW Congress convenes next year.

OS

[texshelters]

9. Very good analysis.

Thanks!

Adam Przeworski in "Capitalism and Social Democracy" points out that measures like the NLRB give the appearance of concrete labor autonomy as a way to circumvent real workers control of the economy.

I'm sure Chomsky would agree.

Tex Shelters

[DainBramaged]

8. Isn't this just like wearing a flag pin?

You ain't a patrirat unless yous wears a 'Murkin flag pin.


Why not the UN flag? Our (unions) membership has become a potpourri of races from all over the world? We aren't limited to 'Murikans in Unions any more.

Or how about a Harley Davidson flag, at least it represents 'Murkin made products.



:sarcasm: