Vote Against ‘Card Check’
The IntelligencerThe bottom fell out of labor union membership rosters during the past quarter-century - and West Virginia went right along with the rest of the nation. That should tell our elected representatives something.
Long a bastion of union power, the Mountain State has not been immune to the national trend of lower union membership. According to The Associated Press, the percentage of West Virginia workers represented by unions dropped to 14.7 in 2007. That compared to 28.3 percent in 1983.
During the same period, union membership nationally fell to 13.3 percent of the workforce.
Reasons for the decline can be debated, of course. Here in West Virginia, it has been speculated that layoffs in industries such as steel, aluminum, chemicals and glass bear some responsibility for the decrease. That certainly is true, as we in the Ohio Valley recognize.
At the same time, many working men and women have come to understand that unions contributed to the decline in some industries. Outlandish work rules and exorbitant pay and pension demands simply priced some U.S. companies out of business.
It isn't that the unions have not been trying to rebuild. They have - but often, workers see no benefit in handing over substantial portions of their paychecks to union leaders, to be used for political campaigns with which many union members do not agree.
Having failed to win by playing by the existing rules, unions now want to change labor laws. High on their priority list is the so-called "card check bill." If enacted, it would eliminate some secret-ballot guarantees potential union members now enjoy.
The card check bill is a monstrosity - but liberals in Congress and President Barack Obama are supporting it. That backing is payback for political support by several unions.
We continue to urge members of the House of Representatives and the Senate from West Virginia to vote against the bill. It is bad for working men and women. And, as the AP's new figures on union membership show, the overwhelming majority of West Virginians want nothing to do with organized labor.
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BurlEFolger
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12-01-09 4:16 PM
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Not a chance that the reps from WV will vote for this. Too many union teachers in this state have elected them.
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Thebudman
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12-01-09 12:03 PM
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The Valley has discarded capitalism for socialism. RIP OV!
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Back2Dvalley
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12-01-09 6:50 AM
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Democrat leaders from the Valley, WILL vote in favor of card check. How do I know? Because they are DEMOCRATS ! How do you think the Valley has managed to go from a hotbed of industrial activity to a virtual wasteland of empty factories. Democrats, that's how!
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Thoughtful
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11-30-09 11:20 PM
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I took time last fall to read the Web site for the United Mine Workers of America. They strongly supported Obama. As a reasonably intelligent person, I cannot understand that position. Based upon the leadership of the Democractic Party and its true feelings concerning coal, there will be no need to argue about card check or for that matter no need for the UMWA. READ the feelings of Harry REid, Henry Waxman, Nancy Pelosi. They truly want no coal burned in this country. we have 120 years of coal here and are finding ways to burn it relatively clean. Wake up UMWA Please think for yourselves.........
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1whoworks
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11-30-09 8:23 PM
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Back when Reagan was elected he made a statement to the effect that if elected he would work to see that unions used their funds for "training" to actually train the workers because often as not that money was lining the pockets of political hacks. The union national folks were scared as I ever saw them. The came in from Washington wearing their silk suits in their limos and conducted really stupid "training" sessions so they could prove that they were actually doing something. As soon as they realized that the government wasn't going to come after them we never saw them again. The only six figure salaries were those of the union bosses.
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1whoworks
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11-30-09 8:15 PM
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Unions are dying because of themselves. The fact is that when you have an organization (union) that fights for the job of someone who doesn't produce, is unsafe in the workplace, has high absentee rates, and any of the other myriad of things that hurt not only the company but the rest of the workers that are carrying the dead load. I realized that unions are there to protect their workers and they should do so. But they also need to find ways to add value to their workers. Many of the trade unions have started to do this and do indeed provide a better service for it. That aspect needs to be promoted and enhanced so that companies want the union worker rather that want to run away from them. As for card check it is insane to me that anything would be used other than a secret ballot. Intimidation, retribution and other fear tactics are used to extract votes when they are done in public. I have witnessed it in the union environment many times.
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Graysongs
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11-30-09 7:22 PM
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walksabout - How old was your eldest son? Wasn't the fact that he was still living with you and Mom a dead giveaway that he was "lefty dem"?
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formerohvalleyresident
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11-30-09 6:56 PM
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Russell, ok name one “Pro Corporate” law that has been passed in the last 5 years that costs “union” jobs? Other than NAFTA, which was signed by, ahem, William Jefferson Clinton (D), I can’t think of anything that might fit the bill. The vast majority of laws have been ANTI CORPORATE, ANTI BUSINESS supported by LIBERALS which force companies to stop manufacturing in the USA and run to foreign countries to bypass environmental regulations or stupid budget-busting social programs like the “family leave act” and now the “government health care proposals”. THAT is what costs jobs, union or otherwise. Open your eyes, the truth will set you free!
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walksabout
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11-30-09 6:37 PM
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another delemon we face. Our oldest son needs a transfusion. Ma and me, his blood type and our blood is clean of don't ask don't anything risks, we packed to go to him at the hospital. Ma was getting some of son's personal stuff together from his room when she discovered his voter registration card. He is a democrat liberal. Dememma is; should we call the hospital staff and let them know we are not coming ? Should we sell his personal stuff in his room ? I mean it is our home and we did buy the stuff even though he was youngster bach then, and the stuff was gifts. If he don't make it, how long should we wait to rent the room out ? Appearances you know. P.C. and whot not
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walksabout
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11-30-09 6:33 PM
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whoopie - right, Graysongs-96% right, former-99% right, Russell- understood what he learned.
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Russell1959
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11-30-09 5:49 PM
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actually unions are dying, not dead, not by their own hand but by legislation enacted by pro corporate legislators, who feel the United States ought to strive to have a living standard of third world countries (except, of course for those who get those legislators elected, not by votes, but by unfair campaign finance laws) The game is rigged against working folks...by blaming the unions you help to bring down your own standard of living, but what a surprise,conservatives, voting against their own best interests...nothing new I guess
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Blackrock
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11-30-09 3:51 PM
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Plain and simple, unions are dead by their own hand.
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Graysongs
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11-30-09 2:01 PM
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former - Ol' "Red Diaper Doper Baby" hoopie can't help being as stupid as he is. He was taught to be a commie at his grandpa's knee. It may have even realigned his DNA. Right-to-work states are the only ones which have a chance to get back on track after BoyObaMao is ousted. The unions, especially there in Wheeling, have left them well and truly out of the picture for a long, long time.
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formerohvalleyresident
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11-30-09 12:37 PM
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Hoopie, what “outrageous pay” in the valley? You mean like the Union LEADERS who collect their fat paychecks while Mittal and Sverstal raped and pillaged the local companies. Seems like about 90% of their membership is on layoff or eliminated entirely, what has the UNION done for anybody there? Urging their membership to vote DEM while the party sells them out on Cap and Trade? Hah! THAT is why the unions are in decline.
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Graysongs
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11-30-09 10:18 AM
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The overwhleming majority of unionized workers today are freakin' government employees. SEIU are some of the most thuggish of the union thugs. The NEA indoctrinates children with various agendas of lies and revisionist history. Instead of this "card check" scam, most thinking Americans would abolish all these unions.
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TrollSlayer
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11-30-09 9:28 AM
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wvhoopie, the main sticking point is that card check essentially eliminates the requirement for a secret ballot. Disenfranchisement of the opposition is always a favorite Democrat trick. And envy politics is another typical Democrat trick. Those productivity gains came from the efforts of engineers and managers, not laborers. If the laborers wanted to make management salaries they should have worked harder in high school and earned college degrees. You don’t make six-figure salaries for working nine-to-five digging ore, assembling components, or stuffing boxes. Harsh, but reality hits hard when you become an adult. Of course the laborers can unionize to extort higher wages, but the Chinese will always work cheaper and the board of directors will always determine what their managers are worth, not the laborers.
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wvhoopie
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11-30-09 7:55 AM
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I ask the author of this article who is getting exorbitant pay? Look around the valley, who has been getting outrageous pay? Is a pension plan asking too much while the mgt. gets six figure salaries off the productivity of the workforce? This newsrag is opposed to a family sustaining wage and that wage isn't $12 per hour. Try raising a family and put a roof over your kids head. Feed them and send them to school. Be responsible and carry your load in society. We need strong labor unions again to take back the productivity gains that never came to the workers paychecks. We need labor law reform badly.
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wvhoopie
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11-30-09 7:49 AM
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Labor law reform is sorely needed if we really want a free society of choice. The Employee Free Choice Act will not contain the main provision that business is so afraid of but it will contain quicker elections, penalties for firing supporters of the union, this happens in almost every election, and binding arbitration for company's who drag their feet during negotiations. This should pass relatively quickly since the main sticking point has already been worked out.
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