Let’s just cut to the chase and call for her head, OK (re: Bushco’s Labor Secretary); even though she’s a symptom as opposed to the disease and we would no doubt get someone in her place just as bad or worse, it would still send a message.This notes the new restrictive overtime pay guidelines instituted in August 2004 (and note who is leading the charge against them) as well as many other ways that this administration fights the rights of workers to organize, fights family leave, appointed Eugene Scalia as the country’s top labor attorney (given his record in lawsuits against workers, if that wasn’t “the fox raiding the hen house,” I don’t know what was), and fights the SEIU and UAW in particular.
This also notes how Chao’s labor department encourages outsourcing/offshoring at every opportunity and fights workplace safety regulations with equal vigor.
The last straw for yours truly, though, is this story in USA Today stating that Chao and her Labor Department are sanctioning agreements written by employers that fire whistle-blowing employees, and a follow-up article tells the story of Matthew Zipoli, who was terminated for reporting safety and security lapses at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Lawrence Livermore makes nuclear weapons, by the way. Of all the places where I would be concerned about safety and security, that might very well top my list.
The eternal Molly Ivins once noted that Elaine Chao was the most anti-labor labor secretary she’d ever seen (a sentiment echoed by AFL-CIO president John Sweeney). Again, though Chao’s only following orders, as they say, it’s long past time for her to meet the same fate as those courageous individuals such as Zipoli who have suffered for doing the right thing.
Fire Elaine Chao right now.
Update: This is the Wonkette link from the commenter, by the way (thanks again...gives you more than a bit of a clue of what this woman is all about).
4 comments:
Here is a little more stuff re Madame Chao from the Wonkette.
http://wonkette.com/politics/elaine-chao/madame-chao-okay-now-well-call-her-a-dragon-lady-171645.php
This woman is supposed to protect the interests of labor. That is working people. She has done nothing but harm them.
I have mixed emotions though. I am a strong union advocate. I listened to the union bashers for years...and most of the bashing came from the white collar group. That group is now under assault. It is now reality that a worker can be required to work overtime, or work a 50-60 hour week without financial compensation. They are paid in comp time. Go pay a bill with comp time. Maybe the idea is to get a second job with the comp time to do that.
It was not just union workers that benefited from the efforts and sacrifices of those who fought for collective bargaining, there was a trickle down effect to non union employees. The union was leverage.
Now with the diminished power of unions can we say the workers are better off? No. The working conditions are reverting back to pre Hoover days...slowly but surely. Maybe Americans should know more about the history of labor in this country, it was tragic.
Absolutely...more people should have been mindful of that before they started listening to Ronnie Baby telling them that they too can be rich, just like him and his friends at G.E. - "now just run along now, American worker, while I fire all of the air traffic controllers," which got this horrible "ball rolling," so to speak, to begin with.
You don't have to tell me about the evils of "comp time," by the way.
Thanks for checking in.
Did you see what she said in Parade? If not here's an excerpt:
How Safe Is Your Job?
You could lose your job to a foreign worker -- not because he’s cheaper
but because he has better workplace skills and discipline. That’s the
message Labor Secretary Elaine Chao hears from U.S. executives who are
worried about America’s competitive future. While losses are low thus far
-- one study estimates that only 280,000 jobs in the service industry out
of 115 million are outsourced each year -- that could change. Beyond the
cheaper cost of labor, U.S. employers say that many workers abroad simply
have a better attitude toward work. "American employees must be punctual,
dress appropriately and have good personal hygiene," says Chao. "They need
anger-management and conflict-resolution skills, and they have to be able
to accept direction. Too many young people bristle when a supervisor asks
them to do something."
That's unbelievably repugnant even for a member of the Bushco gang of crooks; I had been reading the "Intelligence Report" in Parade for a little while, but it disappeared and I gave up on it for a time. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Post a Comment