Tuesday, October 08, 2024

Unions.

Action speak louder than works.

The strike has ended.

Biden refuse to invoke the Taft – Hartley Act, Newsweek reported,
Calls are growing among anti-strike figureheads for Biden to invoke the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, a law that would temporarily halt the strike and force negotiations for an 80-day cooling-off period.

The National Association of Manufacturers and the National Retail Federation are urging Biden to act now, fearing long-term economic consequences.

Despite this pressure, Biden has so far refrained from using the act, instead encouraging both parties to resolve the issue themselves. "It's time for them to sit at the table and get this strike done," he said last week.

Officially known as the Labor Management Relations Act, the Taft-Hartley Act was introduced after World War II, designed to limit union power and allow presidential intervention in strikes that threaten national security or public health.

Drafted by Republican Senator Robert Taft and Representative Fred Hartley, the law allows the president to request a court order suspending strikes, but it has been met with resistance from unions.
Instead the President used his office to help move along the talks...
 
As reported in Politico,
Multiple people familiar with Biden’s and the White House’s thinking said the president’s team was deeply engaged on the issue over the past month, eventually turning up the heat on the shipping companies this week after the dockworkers walked off the job. The people were granted anonymity to speak about internal and private conversations.

Biden on Monday evening called ILA leader Harold Daggett to convey that he had their backs and was pushing the shipping companies’ representative, the United States Maritime Alliance, to make a better offer.

But as the union went on strike Tuesday morning, Biden believed that the alliance, known as USMX, could have prevented the situation — and he wanted to ramp up the pressure. He issued a statement clearly backing the union and calling out the largely foreign-owned shipping companies for their record profits. That last step unnerved the ocean carriers, who began to express concerns about the public pressure campaign, according to the people describing the White House’s viewpoint.
Quiet behind the scenes pressure, no rants or ravings about what he is going to do to end the strike just quite pressure. ABC News reported that Biden said,
"I want to thank the union workers, the carriers, and the port operators for acting patriotically to reopen our ports and ensure the availability of critical supplies for Hurricane Helene recovery and rebuilding. Collective bargaining works, and it is critical to building a stronger economy from the middle out and the bottom up," he continued.
Trump…

The Washington Times said,
Former President Donald Trump said the longshoremen’s strike “would never have happened” if he were president.

Speaking at a rally in Saginaw, Michigan, the GOP nominee bashed Vice President Kamala Harris, saying she has “unleashed nothing but chaos and suffering for American labor” over the last four years.

“She’s made life excruciating for the blue-collar workers who make this country run, and now our entire nation is paying the price,” he said.

“If I was president, the longshoremen strike affecting the entire East Coast, and indeed the entire nation, would never have happened in the first place,” Mr. Trump said.
In another ABC News article;
Details about Trump's visit, first reported by ABC News, reveal an effort to woo meeting attendees with labor-friendly views and a promise of political access if the Teamsters went on to endorse him, according to an account published last month by the Teamsters in the union's quarterly magazine.

"Before departing the union's headquarters, the former President directly told those in attendance that the Teamsters would have a seat at the table if a potential endorsement was made for a second administration," the Teamsters magazine said.
The article went on to write about Trump and Musk…
In an interview on Monday with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, Trump praised Musk for what he described as a willingness to fire employees who go out on strike. Federal labor law prohibits the termination of workers for engaging in a collective labor action, such as a strike.

"They go on strike. I won't mention the name of the company but they go on strike and you say, 'That's OK. You're all gone. You're all gone. Every one of you is gone.' You are the greatest," Trump told Musk in an interview broadcast on X.
Gee that doesn’t sound like it is union friendly?

Let’s take a look at what Trump actually did when he was in the Oval Office and his recent statements on unions. The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) wrote,
President Trump’s Union Busting Executive Orders: What You Need To Know

Last week, President Donald Trump issued three Executive Orders aimed at degrading the rights of federal sector employees. At NFFE-IAM, we understand that the existence of unions in the federal sector is to promote the efficiency of the civil service. When NFFE-IAM members use official time to fight discrimination, we are upholding that principle. When NFFE-IAM members engage in negotiations to improve working conditions, we are upholding that principle.  Organized civil service employees are a check on the worst impulses of the executive branch agencies and these Executive Orders threaten to open the flood gates for abuse on the job.
That also doesn’t sound union friendly.

The Communication Workers of America wrote,
Trump has encouraged freeloaders, made it more difficult to enforce collective bargaining agreements, silenced workers and restricted the freedom to join unions:
  •     During a live conversation on X with Elon Musk on August 12, Donald Trump said striking workers should be fired*.
  •     Trump packed the courts with anti-labor judges who have made the entire public sector “right to work for less” in an attempt to financially weaken unions by increasing the number of freeloaders.
  •     Trump stacked the National Labor Relations Board with anti-union appointees who side with employers in contract disputes and support companies who delay and stall union elections, misclassify workers to take away their freedom to join a union, and silence workers.
  •     Trump made it easier for employers to fire or penalize workers who speak up for better pay and working conditions or exercise the right to strike.
  •     Trump promised to veto the PRO Act and the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, historic legislation that will reverse decades of legislation meant to crush private sector unions and shift power away from CEOs to workers.

Trump has restricted overtime pay, opposed wage increases, and gutted health and safety protections:
  •     Trump changed the rules about who qualifies for overtime pay, making more than 8 million workers ineligible and costing them over $1 billion per year in lost wages.
  •     Trump reduced the number of OSHA inspectors so that there are now fewer than at any time in history, and weakened penalties for companies that fail to report violations.
  •     Trump threatened to veto legislation that would raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
  •     Trump’s Secretary of Labor, Eugene Scalia, is an anti-worker, union-busting corporate lawyer who aggressively defended Cablevision’s decision to fire 22 workers when they tried to win a contract with CWA.
Me thinks that he doth talk out of both sides of his mouth.

And the International Brotherhood of Teamsters  refused to endorse any candidate?

And the Trump wanabe DeSantis said according to WPLG Ch10…
‘Simply unacceptable’: DeSantis suggests alternative to longshoremen strike resolution

Striking port workers across the nation and here in South Florida are staying on the picket lines, demanding better wages.

Now Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is getting involved.

“Do we have time for weeks of disruptions given all that has happened?” DeSantis said Thursday.

[…]

Telegraphing an executive order, DeSantis said national and state guard would deploy to critical ports without naming the four affected - PortMiami, Port Everglades, Tampa and/or Jacksonville – potentially replacing longshoremen and women holding out for contract terms as materials and goods, including rebuilding supplies, sit offshore waiting to be unload.

“To have this happen in a way that could negatively impact people reeling from a Category 4 hurricane, that is just simply unacceptable,” DeSantis said.
Theatrics, that is all this is! He wants to show that his is tough on unions, can you imagine these National Guard soldiers trying to work strange machinery. Not knowing anything about the dock operations taking over?

Vote Blue… for a saner world and one that is not pro-billionaires!
 
 
*PBS had more about this...
August 13, 2024

DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers union has filed unfair labor practice charges against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk after the two discussed on social media about Musk supposedly firing striking workers.

In documents filed Tuesday with the National Labor Relations Board, the union alleges that both men interfered with workers who may want to exercise their right to join a union. The NLRB said it would look into the charges, which are a request for the agency to investigate.

UAW President Shawn Fain, whose union has endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris, said in a statement that Trump is anti-labor.

“Both Trump and Musk want working class people to sit down and shut up, and they laugh about it openly,” Fain said.


Updated: 4:15PM


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