This is a cross-post from UR

 

I have seen a lot of disappointments and successes in the union movement in the United States; especially over the last three years of publishing Union Review. If there is a rhythm to what is and is not taking place in the United States it would have to be our lame administration. We have an anti-union president, NLRB, and more and more power transferred to the largest of union busting corporations. Clearly I am concerned with who will be taking office after this election.

 

While the AFL-CIO is spending a lot of dollars, time and energy on its anti-McCain campaign and the Change to Win is going with Obama ... I have watched close to both Democratic candidates since Edwards pushed out of the race.

 

I believe that Obama is serious when he says he will strengthen our ability to organize unions. I believe him when he says that he will fight for the Employee Free Choice Act. I believe him when he states that his labor appointees will support workers’ rights and that he will work to ban the permanent replacement of workers.

Many working people know that going on strike is often a last resort – but that it is a tool that we are often left no choice but to employ. Unfortunately, many working people also know what it is like to lose our jobs to scabs crossing our lines and taking less money, unaffordable health care, and take what they can get their hands on.

 

Can you imagine a president coming out and saying that he supports the right of workers to bargain collectively and to STRIKE if necessary? We need to be able to strike so that we can stand up for ourselves without the worry that some moronic scab will take our jobs. Obama has pledged to work toward BANNING replacement workers!

 

Then there is the misclassification issue that many of us deal with. Whether we are taxi drivers in California, nurses and health care providers, construction workers or FedEX drivers and sorters ... we have all known, first hand, the utter rubbish associated with misclassification.

 

Obama is a cosponsor of legislation that would overturn the “Kentucky River” decisions that classified hundreds of thousands of nurses, construction, and professional workers as “supervisors” who are not protected by federal labor laws – and that goes a long way with me. We need more Mickey Mouse laws overturned and stronger, union-made laws put in place. I truly believe that Obama can do this ... and more!

 

I am not going to head into a whole Clinton-bashing segment of this entry, but I will tell you this: I am not comfortable with anyone married to NAFTA. I am not comfortable with someone who sat on the Board of Wal-Mart ... knowing full-well how this company has continued to mistreat its workforce while instilling an anti-union rhetoric and propaganda parade as part of its corporate culture. I am not comfortable with someone who has recently lied about being against NAFTA, lied about being shot at in a warzone ... or, well anything else.