The Vise Tightens: Where's The Outrage?

    I woke up this morning to read about two new attacks against workers. The banner headline in the Financial Times (subscription required) reads: "Delphi seeks to tear up labour deals." You may remember that back in November the company's CEO Steve Miller had concocted a deal that would plunge Delphi into bankruptcy, gut the living standards of the workers (cutting wages from $26 an hour to $12.50 an hour) BUT pay executives and senior managers hundreds of millions of dollars in severance packages and bonuses. Even some conservatives have had a dim view of Miller's plan.

    Now, the FT reports that Delphi "is set to ask a bankruptcy judge to tear up its labour contract with its 33,000 US blue-collar workers as a way of stepping up pressure on trade unions to accept deep cuts."

    While The New York Times makes no mention of the Delphi development, it does have a front-page story on a new hard-line taken by the New York City's transit authority in negotiations with its workers. After the transit workers rejected a proposed contract by just seven votes, the authority has come down with a substanially worse offer.

    According to The Times:

The authority's new offer keeps the provision that union members disliked most, a requirement that workers begin contributing 1.5 percent of their wages toward health-insurance premiums, and revives a proposal that had been taken off the table, that new workers contribute more to their pensions than current workers. It also includes provisions dropped early in the negotiations, like the expansion of one-person train operation.

In addition, the authority's new offer eliminates a provision that delighted many workers — a pension refund that would give thousands of dollars to about 20,000 union members who made overpayments from 1994 to 2001.

    So, here are some thoughts. Why do we sit by and allow the bankruptcy laws to be used to bludgeon workers, particularly while executives make off with millions of dollars? Executives at these companies are essentially engaging in legalized looting--using the cloak of the law to force concessions from the average worker in order to enrich themselves.

    Where is the Democratic Party? The corruption story that should really be making the front-page news every day and spark press conferences with outraged politicians performing before the cameras is these outrageous looting of companies at the expense of millions of Americans. From where I sit, the story of Jack Abramoff is nickel-and-dime stuff--though certainly part of a corrupt pattern.

    The big story is how politicians from both parties aid and abet the construction of a legal system that makes it possible for a guy like Steve Miller to screw his workers and enrich himself. United Airlines executives are doing the same thing (millions of dollars will be pocketed by execs after workers have given $4 billion in concessions).

    At a minimum, we need to change the bankruptcy laws. If a company goes into bankruptcy, if its going to demand wage cuts from its workers, executives have to be hit with the same proportional hit to their pay and benefits. And, as an aside, the law should prohibit companies from using bankruptcy to shred pensions--because pension money, after all, really belongs to workers (it is their compensation that they've deferred to a later date).

    And where is the Democratic Party demanding that, as a part of any of these concession demands, companies commit to endorsing and working to enact Medicare For All? After all, rising health care costs are a major factor hitting the bottom line of many companies in distress (certainly, airline and auto companies). It's idiotic to think you can just hit workers now as a way of turning around a business if you ignore a central structural cost that can be solved with national policy.

    Same goes for the transit authority. No deal should be made that includes a provision for health care concessions without a commitment on the part of the authority to embrace Medicare For All.

Comments

[John Foster]

The real question is; where is organized labor? The outrageous behavior of the corporations against working men and women is now standard operating procedure. Take away benefits, reduced wages, decimate the workforce, and at the same time line the pockets of the corporate executives. And as long as this behavior goes unchallenged, it will continue. If you think that the Democratic Party is going to be able to stop this or intervene in some manner that will change the course of events, all I can say is don’t hold your breath.

The only way the Democrats will ever stand up for working men and women is if they feel that organized labor is a powerful force that can have a serious effect on their ability to get elected or re-elected. So far, organized labor seems impotent when it comes to taking the lead against these ongoing attacks against American workers. Where is the Change to Win Federation, where is the AFL-CIO? Maybe we have to wait for Move-On Dot Org. to take up the cause, because so far; the trade union movement seems to be pre-occupied with something else.

John Foster
GCC/IBT Local 4C

[Jan]

Just where IS everyone that's supposed to stand up for workers? Where is the outrage? Are people feeling so absolutely defeated that they just can't do it anymore? Believe me I know how that feels but DANG, we are going down the tubes here folks. The Dems are making a huge mistake politically in not fillibustering-the country will just keep seeing them as weak and ineffective. This is the last nail in the democracy coffin. Even if it didn't work it would show us that they are at least trying to fight.
I never thought I'd see this in my lifetime.

[Gratis]

Where are the Democrats? Where they've always been -- on the side of the ruling class. I think the more intelligent question to ask is how can there be so much discontent among the working class and still most liberals don't see the importance of solidarity and organizing. They want their well connected heroes to swoop down and save the helpless working folks out of some romantic sense of justice which clearly DOES NOT EXIST for the simple fact that their interests are in opposition to those who earn their money.

[populardemocrat]

FT Jumped the Gun..So Did Mooney and Toussaint
Not so fast. FT (known for its coverage of the former colonies) may not be reporting the full story. The Detroit Free Press (known for their coverage of the auto industry) reports that the UAW will participate in the bankruptcy in an ex-officio role on the creditor committee. This will give them full access to confidential information including executive comp. It's a strong move for the UAW. The FT story is just bluster. Of course Delphi is looking to scrap the contract with the union. It's Chapter 11! Every contract is being reviewed.

As for NYC Transit: Looks like it's time for new leadership, but it's too late to get a good deal. I was critical of Toussaint for calling a strike during the Christmas holidays. The move enraged the mayor and the governor; two people who usually have no trouble finding a news crew when they need one. Then after they got concessions from the MTA they couldn't get it through a union vote. Not the most encouraging sign of leadership or representation for the bargaining table (Mooney, Toussaint's nemesis for control of the union, ought to be thrown on the third rail!). Now the union is in a bad situation: binding arbitration is the Taylor Law remedy, but the public outcry makes arbitration risky. If they strike (again) the public will turn on them and the court ordered fines will chew a big hole in their resources. Mooney may get the union, but it will be very damaged goods. For all those who gave me shit for not backing the December strike, just watch what happens next. The union leadership was politically tone deaf. They brought out the big guns too soon, and now the rank and file will pay for their mistake.

As for damning MTA management--forget about it. They're just out maneuvering the union. It was the unions game to lose, and you cannot blame them.

[Kevin F Droste]

Change in this country only occurs when enough people get behind the catalyst of change. If Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, and the bus driver then had her arrested, and if she paid her fine, or even refused to pay her fine, and no one else joined in the fight, we would still have the same segregated society we had at that time. The Democrats would have done nothing, because there would have been no public uproar over the incident. But when the people decided to boycott the bus system, this created the uproar. People walked to work at great risk to themselves and their families. Now is the time to ask yourselves, how far are YOU willing to go? The problem has been stated by otheres in various posts to this system. The guy from Fedex who thinks his life is wonderful because he is making $50,000 a year. $50,000 a year, and you're satisfied? The guy posting to Winds of Change from the South who thinks that the poor have three bedroom houses and a lot of other stuff, who has absolutely no clue what it means to be poor in this country. I worked in social services for many years before coming to work in the union movement. I worked with people who lived in public housing, got maybe $100.00 a month in food stamps, and had disposable income after all was said and done of less than $100.00 per month. That is poor!! But I do give him credit for one thing, he is the only who realizes that people who have those meager belongings he descried in his post are POOR, just like our guy who is making that whopping fortune of $50,000 a year at Fedex or the guy who defends Walmart because his wife makes $40,000 a year. They have no clue that they are just one bad corporate decision away from becoming like the truly poor with whom I worked all those years ago. Until the working people of this country stop being grateful for getting screwed while the CEO's and Boards of these companies make off with more in one year than all the workers combined will make in 10, than there is absolutely nothing the AFL-CIO, C2W, the Democrats, or anybody can do to change what is happening. WE, working Americans, have to decide how far we are willing to go to get back what is rightfully ours, how much we are willing to suffer in the fight for economic and social justice versus how much we are willing to whine about what is being done to us, how far we are willing to be pushed before we turn around and kick some ass. If you think you are going to be allowed into the "CLUB" by going along to get along, just remember, they ain't letting you into the club, EVER. To get into the club, you need to fight your way in, not just sit back and politely ask for admission. Until someone is ready to start the war by taking up the fight, we will be saying thank you for the screwing. It is not the Republicans, the ruling class, the rich and powerful who are at fault. We have identified the enemy, and the enemy is any of us who are taking a beating and saying, "Thank you, sir, may I have another." I have advocated before to take this fight to the neatly manicured front lawns of the Waltons, and the other CEO's who are screwing you. Let's go to Bentonvile, and then on to other places, and let's take away their aloofness and unfeeling by virtue of ignorance, and let's take it to their front door. Otherwise, stop crying.

[Bill Pearson]

Sucks doesn't it? Sitting here reading this crap, wondering where the dems are? Where institutionalized labor is? Just when will one of our hero's step up and say enough is enough.

John is right, it won't be coming from the boys at the top. They have insulated themselves; become icons of organizations that are far more important than what is happening to workers. How many of the boys leading unions do you think are millionaires today? How many of them are interested in risking their status by taking on the power structure?

It is fucking (excuse me but no other word says it better) sickening to see this kind of assault on workers without even a whimper. You want more? Watch what happens in California and Texas as the Hedge fund buying the Albertson's stores (led by Dan Quail) is done. Will the UFCW come out swinging, or will they be begging for the new employers to play nice?

The shits of it is, through all the workers pain, suffering and misery, the leadership keeps their big salaries, their great benefits and their positions of "power." Cool, but at some point the house of cards collapses and down they go. Thank God they've had those $200,000 and $300,000 a year salaries as buffers.

Kevin is right, this fight has to come down to a basic us vs them mentality. The pigs in the trough need to be brought down...and i mean anyone who is feasting off the workers.

[JustaDog]

I praise anyone that tries to break the union. Unions are nothing but destructive. If in doubt, ask the 60,000 union workers from GM and Ford that about to loose their jobs because of extortionistic union demands. Huge labor costs means the company has to use cheap parts and therefore a cheap product is the result. I haven't owned an American built car for many years - all junk.

Also, union workers only do the minimum the union tells them they have to do to get a paycheck. No pride in thier work, no pride in the company that pays them. Their pride is only for their union. Now do you think the union will help those 60,000 people pay their bills when they have no job? Nope.

And then there are the record number of people in the Chicago area - 25,000 - that turned out to apply for jobs at Wal-Mart. Seems a huge number that doesn't believe the union BS lies against Wal-Mart huh?

[siggy]

That's pure bullshit JDog. I recent being implicated and/or condemed for what amounts to little more than a few corrupt individuals, corporate and labour, feeding on the backs of other humans. This has bugger all to do with union, you know it and I know it!

[Bill Pearson]

Hey justadog you are a stone cold moron. Unions have their problems but the shit you are spewing is pathetic and baseless. Go find a site/blog run by the National Right To Work committee, i'm sure they'll welcome you with open arms.

[Marc]

Where's the outrage you ask? Where is organized labor, and Democratic Party?

I'll tell you were their at! There out trying to encourage more illegal immigration, and guest worker programs to take away more jobs from Americans. That's where there at.

Did you forget this story from January 19, 2006 - Guest Workers: What to do?

[Marc]

Sorry for the misspellings. I accidently hit the post button instead of the preview button. So to correct the middle paragraph.

I'll tell you were they're at! They're out trying to encourage more illegal immigration, and guest worker programs to take away more jobs from Americans. That's where they're at.