Costco, Starbucks, Whole Foods Present Alternative Labor Plan

[babsbunny]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/21/AR2009032101449.html?hpid=topnews

By Alec MacGillis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 21, 2009; 3:48 PM

As business and labor gird for battle over legislation that would make it easier for workers to organize, the debate could be transformed by a "third way" proposed by three companies that like to project a progressive image -- Costco, Starbucks and Whole Foods.

[marmar]

1. Translation: A watered-down EFCA.....

Beware of multinationals bearing gifts...... :scared:

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

2. When are they going to learn

that we don't want the corporatists to build a labor plan for us, a plan which would most certainly serve their best interests?

[ColbertWatcher]

3. A third way? While I encourage creative solutions, this sounds lazy.

Didn't the GOP claim a "third way" was needed to "deal" with detainees held in Abu Ghraib and Gitmo? Didn't Yoo claim because of this "third way" torture had to be redefined?

What is so hard about treating employees fairly?

[LeftyMom]

4. Two of those three businesses are active union busters.

If John Mackey suggests something, keep both eyes on him and a hand over your wallet.

[readmoreoften]

5. THIRD WAY is standard terminology for union-busting PR, for those who don't know.

There is no such thing as a "third way" when it comes to Corps vs. Unions. The third way is any one of the following: a temporary pay raise to undermine unionizing, any empty gesture done for PR, or (most often) the development of "company unions" structured and organized by the corporation itself.

A company union is an artifice where 'elected' (or company appointed) employees complain to the management about the bullshit they already know they pull and management summarily politely tells the "company union" reps to tell the employees to go fuck themselves.