Disappearing Unions mean disappearing Wages.

Republicans rule by pure ideological theory, thinking whatever does go wrong can be explained by blaming outside liberal policies. And there will never come a time when Republicans won’t find some way to find, even create, something that sounds horribly liberal.

It works wonders for Republicans; they made failure and hard times a plus that gets them votes. That oddly makes their constituents end up resenting the actual victims of free market GOP policy.

Scott Walker even said the sharp bitter public divide over policy makes us better and stronger. He wasn’t kidding if you're a Republican trolling for votes and a lifetime in office.

Act 10 and right-to-work promises to feed the resentment and detachment people feel over government policy, keeping wages low or lower, all the while helping Republicans stay in power. The fact that wages are stagnant at the same time Republicans brag RTW is actually raising pay is all you need to know about the lack of critical thinking on the right. It's all BS.

The Economic Policy Institute’s latest report: “Union decline lowers wages of nonunion workers: The overlooked reason why wages are stuck and inequality is growing,” tells us what Democrats have been saying all along. "Key findings from our report include the following:"

1. For nonunion private-sector men, weekly wages would be an estimated 5 percent ($52) higher in 2013 if private-sector union density (the share of workers in similar industries and regions who are union members) remained at its 1979 level. For a year-round worker, this translates to an annual wage loss of $2,704. For the 40.2 million nonunion private-sector men the loss is equivalent to $2.1 billion fewer dollars in weekly paychecks, which represents an annual wage loss of $109 billion.

2. For nonunion private-sector men without a bachelor’s degree or more education (non–college graduates), weekly wages would be an estimated 8 percent ($58) higher in 2013 if union density remained at its 1979 levels. For a year-round worker, this translates to an annual wage loss of $3,016. As a benchmark, consider that the wage loss from increased trade with low-wage nations (Bivens 2013) among non–college graduates is estimated to be 5 percent.

3. For nonunion private-sector men with a high school diploma or less education, weekly wages would be an estimated 9 percent ($61) higher if union density remained at its 1979 levels. For a year-round worker, this translates to an annual wage loss of about $3,172.

4. For 32.9 million full-time nonunion women working in the private sector, weekly pay would be a total of $461 million more (and roughly $24.0 billion more per year) in 2013 if unions had remained as strong as they were in 1979.

5. Union decline has exacerbated wage inequality in the United States ... Earlier research (Western and Rosenfeld 2011) shows that union erosion can explain about one-third of the growth of wage inequality among men and about one-fifth of the growth of wage inequality among women from 1972 to 2007. 

6. At least for middle-wage men, the impact of the erosion of unions on the wages of both union and nonunion workers is likely the largest single factor underlying wage stagnation and wage inequality.

For everyone but Republicans, our vanishing union presence is bad news for a U.S. economy that is 70% dependent on consumer demand:

That presence has vanished throughout much of the private sector, rendering unions unable to exert the same political, economic, and cultural influence over the working lives of average Americans, union and not.

Here are a few easy to read charts, just click to enlarge:

Act 10's anti-freedom and liberty choice to be in unions cuts Membership in half.

Republican logic follows that unions can still provide services they’re not allowed to perform, without membership dues, to non-members who are along for a free ride. Any decline will prove unions were always bad.  So...

(Before Act 10) Wisconsin union members made up 14 percent of the total workforce. Last year, that number shrank to just over 8 percent.

Big surprise? Even when private sector union businesses objected to government interference, Republicans ignored their free market choice. So much for freedom and liberty, as mentioned by one right wing trolls comment below:

Clearly the people of Wisconsin have spoken with their feet exactly how useful unions are to them. Long live the liberty and freedom of the people of Wisconsin to make their own choices. Never again let us be forced to join organizations we do not support.

Last I looked no one has ever been forced to join a union, since no one is forced to work at a union company. Job seekers still have the freedom and liberty to walk away from a unionized business.

This was a big government choice to destroy a business Republicans did not agree with. And a business that challenged their campaign contributors. Kind of gets back down to money...I mean free speech. Sen. Scott Fitzgerald admitted as much in the Fox News clip below, saying without union cash, Republicans win:

Gary Chaison, a professor of industrial relations with Clark University, said Act 10 and a right-to-work law crippled organized labor. "Essentially it was an anti-union climate in Wisconsin that resulted in severe loss of membership," he said. Chaison said the decline is a major historical shift for a state that at one time was a leader of the national labor movement.

Walker wants to End all Labor Protections and Destroy Economic Mobility for Workers.

Scott Walker hasn’t exactly come right out and said it, but some unions are great, even coddled.

The Wisconsin Troopers Association … spared both Act 10 and take-home pay reduced by roughly 10% because of cuts to health care and pension benefits … and still negotiated a roughly 17% pay increase. 

Walker protected two other unions that supported him, but to do so, he had to protect them all statewide:

The police officers and firefighters of Milwaukee backed Walker on the campaign trail. Walker's spokeswoman Patrick pointed out that Act 10 preserved collective bargaining for all local police and firefighters, not just those in Milwaukee, saying that proved Walker doesn't play favorites. 

The only thing Patrick didn’t say at the end was “…suckers!”

Collateral Damage - Killing Unions is Killing Upward Mobility: Outlined perfectly in a Huffington Post article:

(A) new study, “Bargaining for the American Dream,” establishes that the children of union members earn more money … children of non-union members who live in areas with high union concentration earn more money as well.” The report concludes, “What is clear is that mobility thrives where unions thrive.”

Economic mobility is the American Dream – the ideal that every American has the opportunity to work hard and do better for himself and his family. And that is what Republican presidential candidates want to kill by destroying unions.

It may be that Walker’s anti-labor message may not be going over well with conservative voters who still have jobs and have kids who will need jobs someday:

Last week, Scott Walker one-upped the gang of GOP presidential candidates all jostling for the coveted Republican title of Best Billionaire Bootlicker … announcing with pomp and fanfare that, unlike those other Republican pansies, a President Walker wouldn’t stop at crushing labor unions. No. That wouldn’t hamstring the middle class sufficiently for Walker. He’d also deny workers paid sick leave and compensation for overtime. Now those are some real anti-worker, middle-class-hatin’ chops!

Walker promised that as president he would kill the federal board that investigates unfair labor practices, annihilate all unions representing federal workers, end “fair share” fees nationwide, terminate the requirement that contractors on federally subsidized jobs pay workers a fair wage based on local standards, stop mandating federal contractors provide paid sick leave and slash the number of workers who must be paid overtime when they work more than 40 hours. 

Really, and that’s supposed to convince struggling American workers that Scott Walker got their back? 

Walker, like all Republicans, think it’s a justifiable trade off to lose upward mobility if they can at least destroy the unions ability to fund the Democratic Party. Gotta win elections.

Clearing up the language; Fair Share or Freeloading?

 Employees don’t have to join a union and they don’t have to pay union dues ... if they don’t they are required in 25 states to pay a “fair share” fee that covers the cost of union services that benefit them, such as collective bargaining and grievance litigation … Federal law mandates that the union provide services for all workers, including those who don’t join.

Killing Upward Mobility: 

The 25 states that prohibit fair share fees deliberately deny unions that income in order to financially cripple them. The likes of Paul and Walker are eager to financially strangle the organizations that provide millions of workers and their children with access to the American Dream. Sounds like a big, fat pay cut for millions who are struggling to support their families. With laws forbidding fair share fees and other anti-union measures, Republicans stole economic mobility from workers. 

CNN's Jake Tapper's question to Walker, "Give me an example of one time you took on a conservative special interest?"

After all the years Scott Walker has bragged about taking on Washington special interests, no one has ever asked if he could name one right wing special interest like the Koch brothers that he had boldly stood up to like the unions.

When asked, Walker struggled, flailed and fumbled, because isn't it obvious, he's never stood up to conservative Washington special interests. CNN:

Jake Taper: "...but you've been backed by Republican special interests like the Koch brothers right, how does that square with what you're saying about taking on special interests, or do you think only liberal special interests are ones worth taking on."

Walker: "I'm taking on the ones in Washington. In my state, I didn't just take on the unions and Democrats early on ... there were some senators including some who'd been in the leadership who didn't want to do the kind of reforms...."

Of course we all know how legislative Republicans responded a few months back when they heard Walker had just thrown them under the bus. Republican State Sen. Luther Olsen said it best:

"The thing is, we were all the guys facing the crowds every day coming in and out of our offices. We didn't have the police protection," he said. "Taking on your friends ... and saying you were the tough guy? Thanks a lot, buddy."

Tapper continued to get Walker to answer:

Tapper: "But aren’t the Koch brothers special interests too?” Tapper pressed. “Can you give me an example of one time you took on a conservative special interest?"

Walker: "I raised 80 million in three and a half years, 70 percent of it came from people who gave me $75 or less. We’ve raised from over 300,000 donors in all 50 states."

Again, Walker never answered the question. He was also unprepared for Tapper's line of questioning. Which makes you wonder why Wisconsin media never asked. If they had, Walker wouldn't have this meaningless talking point today.

Walker is aware the Nation can hear him lie, right?

Snuggle up on the sofa with steaming cup of hot cocoa, and bask in the warm glow of the (Pants on) fire. Tis the season for bigger, national sized lies from our sociopathic governor.

While Walker and his band of legislative Republican pirates insist a constitutional change allowing the State Supreme Court justices to vote every two years for a new chief justice brings true democracy to their workplace, that same kind of "democracy" doesn't apply to workers voting to unionize their workplace. Whatever "principled" rationalization is convenient at the time I suppose.

Unions are still the super villain holding down corporate dominance. They're so bad that Walker has the balls to compare unions to the Red Threat. But as pictured here, even the unions back then were squarely in the sights of the Soviet Union.

But as PolitiFact pointed out, Walker's play to the base is simply outrageous:

Five experts told us they had never heard of such documents. Several were incredulous at the notion. McCartin, a Georgetown University labor history expert who wrote the book about the strike that Walker cited, said: "I am not aware of any such documents.  If they did exist, I would love to see them."

Svetlana Savranskaya, director of Russia programs at the National Security Archive at George Washington University, told us she "had to listen to the Walker interview twice, so ridiculous is the statement about the air traffic controllers. There is absolutely no evidence of this." James Graham Wilson, a historian at the U.S. State Department, also told us he was not aware of any Soviet documents.
 Reagan's own ambassador to the Soviet Union, Jack Matlock, told us: "It's utter nonsense. There is no evidence of that whatever." Matlock questioned whether Soviet leaders even paid much attention to the firings, saying: "At that point, their big question was whether (Reagan) was going to attack them."

Walker cited no Soviet documents showing that the firings made the Soviets treat Reagan more seriously. And experts, several of whom felt Walker’s claim is outrageous, told us they are not aware that any such documents exist.

For a statement that is false and ridiculous, our rating is Pants on Fire.

Paranoid Christie says Unions want to make example of Walker in bid to takeover state!

Republicans constituents know and love their rich sugar daddy leaders, and embrace the idea of following those leaders no matter how bad they fail, because it’s always someone else’s fault anyway. As one average Republican voter said about Chris Christie on a campaign stop for Gov. Scott Walker:

Phillydotcom: Richard Johnson, 73, of North Hudson, said … "Some think he's a little too liberal,” referring to Christie as "arm-in-arm" with President Obama after Hurricane Sandy. But Johnson didn't blame Christie, who, at the time, praised Obama. "You know where the money is, so you might as well butter up with it," Johnson said.

Says it all doesn't it?

The easily led Republican “stand with Walker” voters are comfortably numb to Walker’s broken jobs promise and near last place national rankings for jobs and business start-ups. Relieved of the responsibility to think, Walker’s rabid Borg-like followers have settled on the simple minded gotcha, “cut and paste” Mary Burke. 

The Union Bogeyman: Republicans seem to think liberals, progressives and Democrats follow leaders in lockstep like they do. Since when do unions consume my every waking moment? Wrong. It's mentally lazy to settle for that cliché. But it's an effective fan favorite that was used yesterday by Chris Christie to distract from his and Walker’s policy failures. Christie's collected 7 credit downgrades so far for N.J. 

From Walker and Christie's rhetoric, this is a national campaign! But for voters, like us, we’re just damn concerned about what’s happening to Wisconsin:

Addressing Walker supporters, Christie said the "big government unions" that "tried to come into this state and take this state over in 2012" want to "make an example of [Walker] to other governors around this country who want to do tough things to put the taxpayers first."

Yea, we're sending a message to every GOP governor, you're next. Republicans think in terms of “state takeovers” and “making examples of,” a governing style we're seeing play out under Walker with black lists and rammed through right wing policy. 

You'll notice I had to quote from a Philly newspaper. The media here is still stuck on the phony plagiarism brouhaha.  

Missed Labor Day story: Walker's ballsy Laborfest "presence" greeting Obama and union leaders.

Scott Walker and WISGOP succeeded in distracting the press long enough to make Walker's Laborfest participation a non-story.

Press Getting Fooled Again: The media couldn't get enough of the phony "Burke won't be seen with Obama" story. Like past Labor Day celebrations where Republicans like Sean Duffy and Paul Ryan hypocritically took part in hometown parades, Walker was right there gritting his teeth and waving to the crowd that wished he'd go away permanently.

You'd think Walker would have been more comfortable in the company of Sheldon Adelson or David Koch?

Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who pushed through a law that stripped most public sector union members of their ability to collectively bargain … was at General Mitchell International Airport to greet Obama upon his arrival in Milwaukee. Walker also greeted the labor leaders accompanying Obama, including Mary Kay Henry of the Services Employees International Union and Leo Gerard of the United Steelworkers Union.

Corporate Republicans won the War on Labor, now in control of Campaigns.

It took a banner GOP year in 2010 and 2012 to take control of political funding. No union money in 2012? Just a coincidence?

No Union at VW Plant in Tennessee!!!

Tennessee VW workers sent a clear message to union organizers; "we're southerners and we always vote against our best interest, like before."

Apparently those tough negotiations between management and labor is too nerve-racking for Tennesseans to justify better wages and benefits, especially at a union friendly company? These people are really scary.

From the Wall Street Journal: The vote was held amid public campaigning against the union by Republican politicians, including Gov. Bill Haslam, and conservative activist groups. Conservative political groups, including one backed by antitax activist Grover Norquist, put up anti-union billboards around Chattanooga. A small but determined group of workers who oppose the UAW also worked to tilt their colleagues against the union, an effort that ultimately proved successful. But more workers were persuaded to vote against the union by the UAW's past of bitter battles with management, costly labor contracts and complex work rules. "If the union comes in, we'll have a divided work force," said Cheryl Hawkins, 44, an assembly line worker with three sons. "It will ruin what we have."

Other UAW opponents said they dislike the union's support of politicians who back causes like abortion rights and gun control that rub against the conservative bent of Southern states like Tennessee. Still others objected to paying dues to a union from Detroit that is aligned with Volkswagen competitors like GM and Ford. "I just don't trust them," said Danielle Brunner, 23, who has worked at the plant for nearly three years and makes about $20 an hour—about $5 an hour more than new hires at GM, Ford and Chrysler plants.

Here's Rachel Maddow's take, starting off with the Scott Walker attack on unions;



It's important to see how Tennessee state GOP politicians threatened a private business like VW. Chris Hayes interviews John Nichols:

Tennessee Republicans threaten Private Business with Big Government Obstruction if they Unionize!!! Sen. Corker Interfers First Day of voting!!!

Republicans in Tennessee are threatening to use their big government majority to retaliate against a private company like German auto maker VW, if it unionizes.

Yea, that's small government alright. We should be thankful for the big reveal, because now we know how they'll react to something as basic as free market unionization. Sen. Corker made a statement about VW that directly conflicts with VW previous statements, that may be complete fiction: 

Reuters: U.S. senator drops bombshell during VW plant union vote - U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee said on Wednesday he has been "assured" that if workers at the Volkswagen AG plant in his hometown of Chattanooga reject United Auto Worker representation, the company will reward the plant with a new product to build.

Corker's bombshell, which runs counter to public statements by Volkswagen, was dropped on the first of a three-day secret ballot election of blue-collar workers at the Chattanooga plant whether to allow the UAW to represent them.

VW had been saying something else:

In the past few weeks, Volkswagen officials have made several statements that the vote will have no bearing on whether the SUV will be made at the Chattanooga plant or at a plant in Puebla, Mexico.

Not only are we seeing corporate obstruction, but now outright political interference, that could be illegal:

National Labor Relations Board expert Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, who is professor of labor at the University of Indiana-Bloomington, said Corker was trying to intimidate workers into voting against the union.

"I'm really kind of shocked at Corker's statement," said Dau-Schmidt. "It's so inconsistent with what VW has been saying and VW's labor relations policy in general." The Indiana professor also said Corker's comments "would be grounds to set the election aside and have to run it all over again at a later date" because it could be ruled to be interfering to the point that it is against federal labor law.

Here's earlier coverage where state politicians threatened economic obstruction:

As workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., prepare to vote this week on whether to join the United Automobile Workers, they are facing unusual pressure from the state’s Republican legislators to reject the union.

State Senator Bo Watson, who represents a suburb of Chattanooga, warned on Monday that if VW’s workers voted to embrace the U.A.W., the Republican-controlled Legislature might vote against approving future incentives to help the plant expand. “The members of the Tennessee Senate will not view unionization as in the best interest of Tennessee,” Mr. Watson said at a news conference. He added that a pro-U.A.W. vote would make it “exponentially more challenging” for the legislature to approve future subsidies. A loss of such incentives, industry analysts say, could persuade Volkswagen to award production of a new S.U.V. to its plant in Mexico instead of to the Chattanooga plant, which currently assembles the Passat.

Conservative Voters Celebrate turning Election Funding over to Business Lobbyists, credit Scott Walker.

Celebrating their own demise, conservatives and their Republican representatives are enjoying the plummeting membership and spending by our vilified public unions.

But, during their rabid pursuit and focus on destroying union labor rights and political funding, did they ever stop to think who’ll fill that lobbying gap?  

jsonline: "The new leaders in lobbying spending at the Capitol are large business groups, which are more numerous than large unions."

But the local news coverage missed that point over and over. Not to pick on WKOW, because everybody did it, this is what I saw across the board; no outrage over the now dominant business lobbyists:

It seems television news had time for just the first sentence of the story:

"In just two years, spending by the state's public employee unions on lobbyists has plummeted from the summit of Wisconsin politics, a new report shows."

Scott Walker’s Act 10 completely took unions out of the equation: 

"Act 10 sharply limited both the relevance and the fundraising ability of public employee unions in Wisconsin except those representing police officers and firefighters."

But that just helped anti-union simpletons make their faulty case to their anti-union conservative voters. Gee, I wonder…now who’ll help fund our politicians?

Powerline: The trend is obvious: when public sector unions don’t have the compulsion of the state behind them, their ranks will thin considerably. There is an important lesson here: not only did Scott Walker’s reforms strike an important blow for employee freedom, they also had the happy side-effect of depriving the unions of a large chunk of their funding, and therefore their ability to sway elections. So it is a win-win for everyone, except union bosses and the politicians they support.

Yee-ha, politicians are now funded by big business lobbyist:

The new leaders in lobbying spending at the Capitol are large business groups, which are more numerous than large unions.

"So it is a win-win for everyone." Conservatives win, and isn't that what it's all about?

Scott Walker union busting featured on MSNBC, to show Union influence in elections disappearing.

MSNBC’s Melissa Harris Perry featured the Madison protests tonight, showing how Scott Walker was able to take union money out of elections, leaving nothing but corporate cash.

Perry then said this: 

Harris-Perry: “We cannot know if Republicans in Wisconsin were motivated to strip union rights in order to achieve this end…”

Oh but we do know. Here it is, the now classic and amazing performance by Sen. Scott Fitzgerald on Fox News:

It's no surprise that business lobbyists have already taken the lead, and hold the top 3 positions. Just wait till election season:

jsonline: The new leaders in lobbying spending at the Capitol are large business groups, which are more numerous than large unions. Some local government groups such as the Wisconsin Counties Association and the City of Milwaukee also spent substantial sums in the first six months of 2013 seeking to influence provisions in the state budget that reduced the power of local elected officials or affected local concerns.

 "The top five lobbying groups for the first half of 2013" shouldn't be a big shock.

■ Wisconsin Insurance Alliance, $357,000.

■ Wisconsin Hospital Association, $324,000.

■ Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, $295,000.

■ Wisconsin Counties Association, $292,000.

■ Wisconsin Property Taxpayers Inc., $233,000.

The preliminary lobbying figures from the Government Accountability Board released this week are just the latest sign of the deep impact of Act 10, Gov. Scott Walker's 2011 law repealing most collective bargaining for most public employees. The new figures on who's lobbying state lawmakers follow a recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report showing that Act 10 had effectively crushed the membership and finances of government labor unions as well as eliminating most of their former duties.

Where's Fox News now on Video Fight with Union Member in Michigan.

While conservative talk radio played up another possibly false and edited video as "real," the story took an ugly but honest turn for the teabillies.

Provocateur and Fox News comedian Steven Crowder got caught in another Breitbart inspired video lie. He was with the Americans for Prosperity thugs in Michigan, taunting union members about right-to-work. The plan was to cause trouble. 

I didn't post this story originally because let's face it, everything from the right has been phonied up for immediate impact. But now that I know just a little bit more, thanks to this video interview on Canada's  Sun News, you can now see a Michigan union member get pushed to the ground by... well, that push came from Crowder’s direction. Surprise surprise. 

Confirmed; Crowder admits he pushed union members, thus causing the union guy in the video to fall, who then got up and slugged Crowder. I admit, I would have pretty much done the same thing. These smug truly clueless dunderheads don’t really seem to understand anything else. It’s insulting to think they think were that stupid. They want to freeload off the hard work of union representatives.

Even more insulting is the fact that these freeloaders think middle class Americans should just roll over, and not fight back. Having lived through the 60's war protests, these teatards don't have any idea of what's coming, and it is.

Check out the push, fist fight and admission. Hey, Crowder really is a comedian:

From Little Green Footballs: 

From Crowder’s own words, in this smug, self-aggrandizing interview with Canada’s Fox News imitation, Sun News. The thing about dimwits like Crowder is that if you let them keep talking long enough, they’ll eventually out themselves. They can’t help it.

Michigan Republicans took a whole hour and half to pass Right-to-Work. Does that qualify as ramming it down our throats?

Remember what happened when Scott Walker tried to pass Act 10 in 4 days? Or how quickly Republicans passed the voter ID law? Even though there were protests, Republicans didn't seem to care or more importantly, take it down a notch.

But remember how Republicans complained Obamacare passed to quickly after Obama campaigned and spent his entire first year debating it?

Never again. We will laugh in their face when they protest how quickly a bill was passed by Democratic legislators.

So now in Michigan, Republicans passed a Right to Work law in just an hour and a half over the protests of tens of thousands of voters. Like Scott Walker on ending same day registration, Gov. Snyder said he wasn't interested in signing any legislation like right to work. But if given the chance...well, you know the answer.

Republican never made any sense when they argued for right to work, and against paying union dues or being a part of the union. If they didn't like the conditions of their employment, why did they take the job in the first place? They could have always found a job somewhere else, instead of destroying union membership for those who are perfectly happy with it?

Why  didn't they leave well enough alone? You can call it rugged individualism, a way of defunding a union's First Amendment right to contribute to politicians, or a strong authoritarian need to control everything. All of the above?

Here's the story of freeloading conservative politicians and workers who don't want to pay union dues, but still want to reap the benefits, which by the way will disappear soon anyway. Goodbye living wages folks. Ezra Klein:

Fox News: Republicans rushed right-to-work legislation through the Michigan Legislature Thursday, drawing raucous protests from hundreds of union supporters, some of whom were pepper-sprayed by police when they tried to storm the Senate chamber.

Republicans in Indiana and Wisconsin recently pushed through legislation curbing union rights, sparking massive protests.

Even before the Michigan bills surfaced, protesters streamed inside the Capitol preparing for what appeared inevitable after Snyder, House Speaker Jase Bolger and Senate Minority Leader Randy Richardville announced at a news conference they were putting the issue on a fast track. "This is all about taking care of the hard-working workers in Michigan, being pro-worker and giving them freedom to make choices," Snyder said.

Again, people are free to choose to work somewhere else:

The Real Hostess Story just now Hitting the Fan, well after the Damage is Done.

Why is it when Republicans and conservative raise the biggest stink, it turns out they've either fabricated a story or got every fact wrong? Such is the case around Hostess and the evil unions that destroyed it. CEO Gregory Rayburn voiced an often heard comeback:

"If you don't like the package, go back to work and find another job."

Funny thing, that same sentiment can be directed squarely at conservatives who whine about being forced to be a part of a union job. If you don't like unions, go back to work and find another job, right?

Rayburn forgot to mention an important fact. According to Center for Economic and Policy Research's Dean Baker:

Accepting new concessions would provide no guarantee of job security. In fact, management wanted the unions to agree to the closure of 10-12 plants (of its choosing) as part of a new contract. This means that many of the company’s 18,000 workers would soon have been laid off even if the workers had accepted management’s terms.

Here's a great summary of the new race to the bottom business model using the Hostess bankruptcy as an example, by John Nichols: 

What happens when vulture capitalism ruins a great American company? The vultures blame the workers … the union. And vapid media outlets report the lie as “news.” That’s what’s happening with the meltdown of Hostess Brands Inc.

Americans are being told that they won’t get their Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Ho Hos because the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union ran the company into the ground. The BCTGM workers did not ask for more pay. The BCTGM workers did not ask for more benefits. The BCTGM workers did not ask for better pensions.

The union made wage and benefit concessions ... adjusted to new technologies, new demands ... took deep layoffs (20 percent of the workforce) ... kept working even as the company stopped making payment to their pension fund more than a year ago.

Hostess was smashed by vulture capitalists—“a management team that,” in the words of economist Dean Baker, “shows little competence and is rapidly stuffing its pockets at the company’s expense.”
The ten top Hostes executives pocketed increasingly lavish compensation packages. The Hostess CEO who demanded some of the deepest cuts engineered a 300 percent increase in his compensation package.

In 2011, Hostess earned profits of more than $2.5 billion but ended the year with a loss of $341 million as it struggled to pay the interest on $1 billion in debt. This year, the company sought bankruptcy protection, the second time in eight years. When BCTGM workers struck Hostess, they … were challenging Bain-style abuses by a private-equity group—Ripplewood Holdings—that had proven its incompetence and yet continued to demand more money from the workers. “Our members knew that the massive wage and benefit concessions the company was demanding would go straight to Wall Street investors and not back into the company,” recalled BCTGM president Frank Hunt, who described why the union struck Hostess rather than accept a demand from management for more pay and benefit cuts.

Janesville School District Employee Handbook the work of another Bad Angry Manager.

Remember how people dressed in the 50's? A suit and tie, dress, heels and June Cleaver necklace.   We're going back to that?

Janesville is headed that way, thanks to another hatchet job employee handbook.

Ever work for a bad boss? There easy to spot; they make ridiculous rules up to appear managerial, think other people need a list of regimented disciplines to stay in line, and seek respect through heavy handed control policies.

That describes bad actor and human resources director Steve Sperry, who's heavy handed new employee handbook now has "very clear  expectations." No jeans? Really?

Another petty bad manager feeling important and cleaning up our public schools. WISC 3:

After African Police kill 34 Striking Platinum Mine Workers, 270 Fellow Minors now Being Charged with Murder.

It can’t happen here, right?

American’s already have a hard time imagining the horrors we read about in the newspapers from ever happening here. Outrageous worker abuses, even killings. But since 2008 and the tea party emergence, we’ve seen a Republican Party change overnight. In an uncompromising radicalized movement, just how long will it be before something unthinkable happens. Already we're seeing conservatives offer up austere changes that only affect the victims of the Great Recession; the poor, labor and seniors. Unthinkable once, sure, but not anymore. It's even been packaged as courageous acts of leadership, and not something repugnant.  

Try to wrap your minds around the events that took place in Africa against striking miners. Can it happen here? Did you ever think it could happen anywhere?  

NY Times: As the police opened fire on workers engaged in a wildcat strike at a platinum mine two weeks ago, killing 34 people, Mr. Ramaphosa, now a multimillionaire business tycoon and senior leader of the governing African National Congress, found himself in a very different position: on the board of the company the workers were striking against, the London-based Lonmin. Ramaphosa (was once) the firebrand leader of the National Union of Mineworkers.

That’s right, a former union leader sat by while this was allowed to happen. With American rage against unions here, and the widening gap of social inequality, we’re starting to mirror events like this happening around the world:

Now, as the shock of the killings reverberates through the nation, seething rage from the poor in one of the world’s most unequal societies, (they’re) sensing that the A.N.C. has created a wealthy black elite, including men like Mr. Ramaphosa, without changing the lives of ordinary people.

Any of this sound familiar? If you thought that was bad, get this:

Prosecutors have said they are charging 270 miners arrested after the melee, (and) not the police officers who fired the bullets, with the murder of their colleagues.

It appears the ruling authority is well protected. Will we even notice?

We’re there, Americans are giving up; ‘Just be glad you have a job!!!’

For a while, collective bargaining gave workers  a little skin in the game, and an important voice in their workplace.

But the Republican and corporate campaign to vilify and belittle unions and labor has turned the public against those profit draining employees.

Breaking the American workers spirit appears to be working, as demonstrated below by the average working family’s comments below.

I’m hoping this heartbreaking example isn’t becoming the prevailing attitude by many.

WSJ: REEDSBURG: As a bagger at the Viking Village Foods grocery store here, Thane Rogers sees firsthand the importance of a job. In less than a year, the 17-year-old senior-to-be at Reedsburg High School has seen his hours reduced, meaning he doesn't have as much money for gas and spending money when he's hanging out with friends.

But it's better than nothing, and he cherishes his job where he works 10 to 12 hours a week for $7.25 an hour. "Some of my friends aren't able to get a job," Thane said. "So I make do with what I've got."

That's an attitude Thane's parents, Phil and Emily Rogers, wish more Americans would adopt … "We have this idea that we'd rather be unemployed and promote our master's degree and tell them we're worth $70,000 a year and we'll wait till we make that salary," said Emily Rogers. "Let's hire the whole group of people in between and have them help out with services we need," she said — even if it's bagging groceries. "We need people to get back to work doing something."

If Americans don't catch on and see what's happening, that it doesn't have to be this way, than I feel horrible for my young sons. This wasn't what I picture for them and their future families.

Marc Levin's HBO documentary Hard Times shows us people trying to find work and the crushing consequences of joblessness. Michael Smirconish:

Walker's "Break the Union" Success? Membership Down.

Great report from Rachel Maddow on what Scott Walker has accomplished:

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Ron Johnson Sputters, Stammers and Shakes to Death Threats, the Affordable Care Act and Unions.

The dumbest Senator is at it again! Let's face it, Ron Johnson's mind is clouded by imaginary threats to life and freedom. He's appears to be consumed by fear. The Don Quixote of all paranoid schizophrenics.

Which brings me to the three surreal and convoluted comments presented here.

A story you may have missed, and for good reason because it's crazy, is that every Republican state legislator a the Capitol received a death threat. Every one of them!! And forget about all those Walker thugs who threatened Democratic lawmakers and recall petition signers, they don't count because they didn't win the election. Johnson's comment here is grossly unprofessional and the ultimate in political fear mongering. It's Johnson unhinged:

  

In the next clip, Johnson is asked about a Republican replacement for the Affordable Care Act, just in case the Supreme Court strikes it down. Apparently, Johnson is unafraid of not having a plan...

Johnson: "I'd like to say that we absolutely have that nailed, um, but I'd say we don't. I think there are number...all kinds of alternatives, and there are some really good ideas from a number of different members of congress. Um, I'm not afraid that we're not gonna be able to come to a consensus, I just say that we haven't got that consensus yet."  

It's at this point Johnson goes into full panic attack mode, describing in his typically disjointed way, the health care mandate and holding onto that last shred of freedom:

Johnson: "We are collectively suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome here. Which I think you realize what that is, right. it's when a hostage...somebody who's been kidnapped...just, just thankful, grateful, for any ounce of mercy their captors shown, Well that's what's happening. We are begging to be allowed to maintain that last ounce, that last shred of freedom."

And finally Johnson whines about those unfortunate workers who applied for, and got, a union job with the state, where union dues are taken out of their paychecks. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we've been told over the decades by conservatives that if you don't like the job, pay or benefits, leave. So I'm wondering why anyone would apply for a union job with the state, if they hate unions and hate paying their dues? Just leave, right? Kind of blows their argument to protect workers, doesn't it?