This is truly a "battle victory" in the war on communism.
Posted on 08/04/2004 11:00:41 AM PDT by gunnygail
Goodyear workers voting to ditch their corrupt union! Can the traditional Dem voter base (and huge $$$ donor) be disintegrating? I LIVE for this stuff.
Well, so much IS riding on those tires, you know!
Asheboro, N.C. (August 4, 2004) - Employees at the Goodyear Tires (Goodyear) facility in Asheboro have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for an election that could strip officials of the steelworkers union hierarchy of their newly granted monopoly representation power over roughly 340 of the company’s employees.
The petition comes on the heels of a controversial “card check” unionization campaign which resulted in NLRB unfair labor practice charges filed by Goodyear employees complaining that revocations of coercively obtained signatures on cards were not honored, and that support for the union had not reached a majority. The employees filed those charges against both Goodyear and the United Steel Workers of America (USWA) union for their joint role in imposing an unwanted union upon them.
With free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, Scott Shaw filed the decertification petition signed by over 30 percent of his coworkers after Goodyear began bargaining with the USWA union despite its lack of majority support.
Under the National Labor Relations Act, if 30% or more of the employees in a bargaining unit sign a decertification petition, the NLRB should conduct a secret ballot election to determine if a majority of the employees wish to decertify the union and stop it from any further “exclusive representation.”
“Goodyear employees should be allowed, once and for all, to have a voice in whether they are unionized,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “It’s an outrage that Goodyear struck a backroom deal with USWA officials to deny these workers their rights.”
Bowing to pressure brought by USWA union operatives, Goodyear signed a so-called “neutrality agreement” that prohibits a traditional and less-abusive secret ballot election process in favor of a coercive “card check” campaign. Under the agreement, union organizers were given full access to employees’ personal information and company facilities to browbeat workers into signing union recognition cards that were counted as “votes” for unionization.
If a decertification election is allowed and is successful, the USWA union would lose its special privilege to act as the “exclusive bargaining representative” of the employees. All Goodyear employees then would be free to negotiate their own terms and conditions of employment and could be rewarded on their individual merit.
Meanwhile, the workers’ unfair labor practice charges are under investigation by the NLRB office in Winston-Salem. Numerous workers had submitted letters to Goodyear, and the arbitrator who counted the cards, revoking their previously signed cards. However, USWA officials, Goodyear, and the arbitrator ignored the revocations. The remedy to the unfair labor practices the employees seek is a recount of the cards, taking into consideration the many letters from workers revoking previously signed cards.
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, is assisting thousands of employees in close to 300 cases nationwide.
It doesn't say much for unions that the only way they can survive is through coercion and intimidation.
I hate Unions.
But I think this misses the point. Unions were built on industrial labor. But those industries have been 'out-sourced', long before the term was coined. So the unions did turn to retail, and found it difficult. And then they turned to government, and found it easy, and lucrative. There are government jobs which take certainly rivals anything once found in industry. And the unions can charge comparable dues.
There's another benefit to government organizing for the unions. Industries might be competitive - thus the 'out-sourcing'. Governments are not. They are protected from scrutiny, by and large, by the leftist 'mainstream' media. They are the very stuff of patronage, much more so than the union jobs of industry. Money flows freely, and irresponsibly. People line their pockets, and only rarely fear being caught, or subjected to a public expose - unless they are deemed an 'enemy-of-media', openly 'freeper', or conservative, or the like. So in that way, the government largesse for the lib is self-policing. It's the ideal situation for the unions. And this is obviously also a pillar of the Dem vote.
Reagan was right. Government IS the problem.
eggsackley!
Please include the published heading in the title box. Thanks.
"I LIVE for this stuff."
You don't have much to live for do you? What is the corruption of the Steel Workers Union you speak of.
Do you really think that Goodyear would deal with any union if it didn't have to?
Using "National Right To Work" is as lame as quoting the Kerry campaign.
Let's see how brave these workers are and how anxious they are to get rid of the USU once the union's bone-breaking, hand-to-hand, give-us-your-dues-and-your-lunch-money thugs get back from the convention in NYC!
Unions are like welfare. They are for the goldbricks, malingerers, and the lazy.
Flame suit on ... fire at Will. ;)
Seems like I recall the Rubber Workers Union merged with the Steel Workers because they couldn't stand on their own...
I remember the Teamsters coming to our P.B.A. and trying to get us to have them represent us. It went so far as a vote. Police could not strike, and that was the Teamsters only legal weapon.
Needless to say it went nowhere.
And yes lurkers, I was somewhat of a "Goldbrick". I left the peaceful guys and gals alone, and didn't go looking for trouble. ;)
Right on!
bump
Were y'all eventually going to PING this?
This is truly a "battle victory" in the war on communism.
don't forget the other arm of government holding back job growth and driving companies out of business: TRIAL LAWYERS
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