Saturday, February 26, 2011

Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO President, Also On Meet The Press Sunday

From WTMJ-4's online schedule, here's the lineup of guests for tomorrow's Meet the Press:

Sen. John McCain; Gov. Scott Walker; Gov. Haley Barbour, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, Richard Trumka.
Cleaver is an Ohio Congressman. Not sure why there are three Republicans. Maybe Trumka or Cleaver are that strong.

6 comments:

proud progressive said...

trumka is that strong....why is mccain on MTP every other week? what the hell does he have to contribute to the debate?

enoughalready said...

Ugh! More McCain? If I never see John McCain or Lindsey Graham on TV again it will be too often.

John P said...

Trumka is a Union thug. Again, I ask the question, why is it fair that if I want to work for the state I have to either join the union or make a fair share payment and that money is used to elect prounion politicians who will then be the ones who bargin for contracts. Can't you see the conflict of interest here? The same goes for school boards. WEAC does the same for school boards. So when the left talks about rights, how about my right not to join or support the union with my money.

Wonder what the unions heads would say if Walker agrees to collective barginging, but keept all of the other stuff in the bill, like letting it be optional to join or pay the union and having the union have to have a vote each year and the state not collecting union dues for the union any more. Would that be okay?

James Rowen said...

All workers benefit from the wages and benefits won and working conditions improved, so that's why a fair share payment is made.

John P said...

James:

Really, so I guess the states were PUBLIC employees cannot unionize must have terrible working conditions (which is not covered under collective bargining, but by the Public Servants Act), and have very low wages. I also guess Federal Government employees have very low wages and terrible benefits also.

I also noticed no response to my other question, but that is okay, we all know this has nothing to do with collective bargining rights, but has to do with money for the union. At least be honest James.

Betsey said...

When the economy was humming along and companies were desperate for workers, those same public sector jobs looked low-paying and unappealing. Now that we're in the midst of a second Great Depression and so many are out of work or underemployed, suddenly the jobs with good benefits seem cushy and the employees overpaid and greedy. Take a look again, John P. You may be experiencing a perception problem.

The truth is, if you work for the state, you get to enjoy benefits that the union has negotiated for you--EVERYONE is entitled to those benefits. That's what union dues are for.

Furthermore, even private sector employees have gained in wages, benefits, and working conditions that union members have fought for: a 40-hour work week, for one, plus paid vacations, health insurance, etc. At the same time, private sector wages have risen much higher than those government jobs.

The bottom line is that many current benefits of public employees were 'purchased' by lowered wages or no increase in wages years.

That's one reason why collective bargaining is not only a necessity, it is the only really fair way to go about it. And it's the answer to your last question: no, it wouldn't be fair for you to have all of the benefits and wages negotiated for your position by the union (not to mention job protections) and not pay modest union dues--like everyone else in the union.

What makes you think you're so special?