McGovern: My Party Should Respect Secret Union Ballots

Wall Street Journal ^ | Aug 8, 2008 | George McGovern

[The Raven]

As a congressman, senator and one-time Democratic nominee for the presidency, I've participated in my share of vigorous public debates over issues of great consequence. And the public has been free to accept or reject the decisions I made when they walked into a ballot booth, drew the curtain and cast their vote. I didn't always win, but I always respected the process.

Voting is an immense privilege.

That is why I am concerned about a new development that could deny this freedom to many Americans. As a longtime friend of labor unions, I must raise my voice against pending legislation I see as a disturbing and undemocratic overreach not in the interest of either management or labor.

[Vaduz]

Then the riots will start , I bet.

[flowerplough]

Your Democrat party doesn’t respect anything but open displays of homosexual penetration on parade floats, and money, McG. The unions have money, so your party will do as the unions order and will try to institute “card check” for voting on unionization.

[Bob]

Walmart has the ultimate in effective strategies for beating the unions. If a store goes union, the company simply declares the site unprofitable due to increased expenses brought about by the union contract, closes the store and moves on to a different location. They are so huge that a store here and there are not critical to the over all bottom line and the message it sends when a store is closed will reverberate far and wide.

Do you happen to have a link to a story on this? I haven't read of it happening.

[laotzu]

We'll have reason to celebrate soon enough. That shriveled little pansy has gotta be about ready to croak.

What an incredibly petty, and evil sentiment.

[MrB]

Has anyone heard the unions’ defense of taking away the right of a secret ballot?

I would find it amusing to hear their justification of this obvious intimidation tactic.

[Slump Tester]

It's George McGovern and his liberal ilk who have screwed up our country to the state it is today.

How can a conservative possibly find ANYTHING good to say about a worthless liberal puke loser like George McGovern?

You probably think John Kerry is a war hero too.

[101voodoo]

Here’s something bit if you google it there is much more. The Union will never crack Walmart to any extent. They are simply to powerful and the union cannot offer the employees anything that Walmart will pay under duress.
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At Jonquiere, the union did not last long. But the struggle between Wal-Mart and its former employees has become a cause célèbre in Canada. The United Food and Trade Workers’ Union (TUAC) has organized anti-Wal-Mart demonstrations across the country.

“In 30 years of union activism, I have never seen anything like it,” said Yvon Bellemare, president of the TUAC. He believes the closure of the only store that dared to unionize, “is a Wal-Mart message addressed to the United States and elsewhere to say, ‘If you want to unionize, we’ll close you down’.”

When Ms Lavoie and her fellow-cashier, Johanne Desbiens, proposed the union, the response from colleagues was lukewarm. Wal-Mart’s anti-union stance was well known. In 2000, when 11 Texas meat-cutters voted to join a union, their department was simply eliminated. “There was always a bunch at Jonquiere who were against the union and who were intimidating,” Ms Desbiens said. “There have been third parties saying we were going to be beaten up.”

But, gradually, more colleagues became involved. This, after all, was not the United States, where only 12.5 per cent of workers are unionized. In Canada, the equivalent figure is 28.6 per cent. Not all employees were happy with wages starting at about US$6.20 (£3.29) an hour and rules limiting some workers to 28 hours a week.

But Wal-Mart’s directors acted quickly. A meeting of all employees was called. The union organizers were publicly named. The intimidation of union activists began, although Wal-Mart strongly denies involvement in the threats made to Ms Lavoie and Ms Desbiens. “We would never, ever support the intimidation of anybody,” a Wal-Mart spokes-person told The Independent. “It would be grounds for dismissal.”

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0511-03.htm

[Bob]

I would find it amusing to hear their justification of this obvious intimidation tactic.

It goes well beyond amusing, all the way to absolutely laughable. The unions claim that the secret ballot allows the company to harass workers into not voting for the union.

[P-Marlowe]

How can a conservative possibly find ANYTHING good to say about a worthless liberal puke loser like George McGovern?

George McGovern was a war hero, a man who literally put his life on the line for this country; a man who did what I do not believe I would be capable of doing, flying a bomber through enemy territory and flying directly into the face of anti-aircraft flack.

The man had liberal positions, but in my book he was an OK guy; he was sincere, but he was sincerely wrong, and still is.

The difference between liberals and conservatives is that conservatives believe that liberals (like George McGovern) are wrong, but liberals think that conservatives are evil.

Well sir, by your comments you prove the case for the liberals. You would relish at the thought of a great war hero like McGovern dying. In my book that is as anti-American as anything you can read on Democrat Underground.

You are a disgrace to this forum.

[Slump Tester]

What ever - We’ll be making popcorn.