GOP-ers may block Solis confirmation
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17538.htmlThe US is in economic turmoil. It is a cake we've long been baking in the oven, and the fact that the GOP is insisting on blocking a labor nominee because she might be pro labor, is rather disgusting. The story is that she is not willing to answer the question as to whether she would support the "card check" bill, in other words that she would take the side of unions in her position. I don't think there is any doubt where she stands. She has a working class background, and has consistently been a champion for labor, I think we all know she's going to support the legislation. The fact that she says she cannot speak for the legislation is TYPICAL for nominees on contentious issues (we all remember Alito's confirmation hearing, among others), so this blocking is just a way to pressure democrats and put them in a bad light. It's the same reason why players argue the ref or ump. There's no way the ref is going to change his call, but you might get a break later on. The only problem is the ref is the electorate, and you're not going to score any points with an electorate that is increasingly hispanic and who recently voted for a rather liberal congress and president.
Now, I've tried to understand why someone would be against the labor legislation, but I really can't. Spoken simply, the current way a union might unionize in a given company is by waging a secret campaign among the workers of the company, having them sign "cards" (hence card check) stating their willingness to have the union negotiate on behalf of them. After gathering about 30% of the workforce, the union can legally hold a ballot to determine their right to negotitate. Typically, the union will wait until it has %50 percent, because there is a large attrition of workers being fired or pressured out of support for the union, and they want to make sure that a majority of the workers at the company are supporting them if there's a fight. What the union then does is hold a "secret ballot" in which the workers vote for the union to take over their negotiation rights, held on the grounds of the company, subject to pressures from the company and "sweat sessions". Now what the bill would do is cut out that last provision and have the union instead collect cards of %50 of the workers. This essentially removes one barrier from forming a union, a barrier that is unethical and unneeded.
If you are a business, I can sort of understand why you might want to kill this legislation. In general, labor is the largest cost in any business, and if you reduce that cost, you can possibly keep your sheets in the black. So, in the short term you save some money on payroll and benefits. In the long term you contribute to your own doom, and the overall collapse of the U.S. economy. Now, I know that sounds like hyberbole, but I am really quite serious. If we look at the problems of the economy, we can see that its root lies in two things: the rotting away of the middle class and the proliferation of ridiculous credit. As real wages go down, expenses go up, and benefits dwindle, workers can't afford much spending. Without consumer spending the economy goes belly up, so how did our economy last so long with workers becoming increasingly unable to afford things. Enter credit. Credit in theory allows workers to buy necessities and large ticket items in the short term, to be paid off in the long term with the benefit of said items. An example might be someone taking out a loan to get a car, which he can then use to have a wider range for commuting. In reality, however, credit tends to just tie people up. People buy things they simply cannot afford, driven by the seduction of advertising and Mephistophelesian contracts. So, people start paying for everything with credit. They take out loans to pay for loans and cards to pay for cards, all continuing a trail of mounting credit to cover up the fact that the cannot afford things, and so they continue to consume. It's no wonder that our economy has collapsed, then, when the largest source of credit (people's houses) and the banks resonsible for doling out credit dry up. The alcohol leaves the system and America is left with a giant hangover.
So how do unions play a part in this? Unions are a way to have actual stability, not false stability through credit. It is a truism, or at least it should be, that if you want to do well, pay your workers enough to afford your product. As it is, our economy has demonstrated that it is not willing to do so on its own, so obsessed with short term profit as it is, and so the workers need to fend for themselves.
So what if Solis supports the bills? That means she's not living in the gilded age. Republicans need to take a long look at whom they represent, who they're protecting.
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