This op-ed is a shameful misrepresentation of EFCA. EFCA does not do away with the secret ballot, it merely allows for another option.
The problem with union elections isn't the secret ballot, but the time that's allowed for company bosses to intimidate union supporters into voting the union down. Really, who do you think is the bigger bully here - the person who can hire you, fire you, schedule your work hours, assign your work location, etc. or the "union boss"?
Workers deserve to be allowed to take back their workplace. And a rising tide lifts all boats.
Libby Sinback @ 8:32 AM PST, Dec 24, 2008
Bret Jacobson sounds like a typical control freak businessman. He can't stand the idea of any worker having any amount of leverage in an employment situation. They will spend many millions of dollars to fight this EFCA which proves it is worthwile for working people.
Thomas Murphy @ 5:13 PM PST, Dec 23, 2008
Prohibiting secret elections is unAmerican there is no getting around that fact, it doesn't matter who the messenger is. If business can't compete here then companies will shut there doors in the U.S. and move ALL their operations out of the country. Look at California over the last decade,business flight...soon TX will have completely taken its computer industry. California was once a beacon of hope across the country but is now in danger of becoming "third world" in the next couple of decades because of its state government and tax policies. The U.S. is not immune, history has demonstrated that.
md @ 12:19 PM PST, Dec 23, 2008
This article is spin and is very loose with the truth. You have a person that knows the truth about the Mexico letter (Read here: http://edlabor.house.gov/micro/efca_myth.shtml ) yet takes only a segment of the issue to spin it. So, how can he be taken seriously for anything he now sites.
San Diego Reader @ 11:04 AM PST, Dec 23, 2008
I have not heard one logical explanation for doing away with secret ballots. Yeah, I have - because labor spent an ungodly amount of money to get Obama and other pro-labor dems elected - nothing like a little quid pro quo in the District. The EFCA will eventually be passed and workers will systematically lose their freedom to choose, in private, whether or not to certify a union; oh, the irony
Paul @ 9:43 AM PST, Dec 23, 2008
Is there any justification for the editors of the Los Angeles Times decision to NOT disclose that Bret Jacobson is the co-founder of the virulently anti-union business front group, the Center for Union Facts? This op-ed is essentially a press release for his organization, but he is only cited as connected to a research and strategy firm. This is simply disgraceful.
Joshua Wyeth @ 7:46 AM PST, Dec 23, 2008
who's really thrilled? the 60 million workers in America who say they would join a union in a heartbeat if they didn't have to risk getting fired to do it. why does business fear hilda solis? because she's the first labor secretary in modern memory to come from a working class family.
rayabernathy @ 6:23 AM PST, Dec 23, 2008
It's not difficult to see what's going on here. The economic catastrophe is the beginning of the end of the union, and their poisonous influence on industry and government. Obama's stopgap is predictable but will only delay the inevitable. Good riddance.
Fred Jackson @ 10:44 PM PST, Dec 22, 2008
Unions make America stronger.
40 years of Free Market thinking have proven your ideas to be a HISTORIC DISASTER. 40 years ago 1 person had to work and the other could stay home and raise a good family-THAT WAS BECAUSE OF UNIONS. We are ranked 12th in the standard of living and dropping, and everyone who beats us has stronger unions. History has shown without unions the middle-class dies and we all become poor and America becomes weak. The average family in real-adjusted terms was better off in 1968 than today. Save the niddle-calss with the EFCA!
Jeb Markov @ 9:56 PM PST, Dec 22, 2008
Gee, somehow when unions want their members to make a decent living they are making "impossible demands," but when a CEO gets a 25 million dollar bonus that should partly go to the workers, somehow that's fine and dandy. We actually will have someone on the side of workers for a change. Keep crying you fascist corporatists. Your time has come and gone
This op-ed is a shameful misrepresentation of EFCA. EFCA does not do away with the secret ballot, it merely allows for another option. The problem with union elections isn't the secret ballot, but the time that's allowed for company bosses to intimidate union supporters into voting the union down. Really, who do you think is the bigger bully here - the person who can hire you, fire you, schedule your work hours, assign your work location, etc. or the "union boss"? Workers deserve to be allowed to take back their workplace. And a rising tide lifts all boats.
Libby Sinback @ 8:32 AM PST, Dec 24, 2008
Bret Jacobson sounds like a typical control freak businessman. He can't stand the idea of any worker having any amount of leverage in an employment situation. They will spend many millions of dollars to fight this EFCA which proves it is worthwile for working people.
Thomas Murphy @ 5:13 PM PST, Dec 23, 2008
Prohibiting secret elections is unAmerican there is no getting around that fact, it doesn't matter who the messenger is. If business can't compete here then companies will shut there doors in the U.S. and move ALL their operations out of the country. Look at California over the last decade,business flight...soon TX will have completely taken its computer industry. California was once a beacon of hope across the country but is now in danger of becoming "third world" in the next couple of decades because of its state government and tax policies. The U.S. is not immune, history has demonstrated that.
md @ 12:19 PM PST, Dec 23, 2008
This article is spin and is very loose with the truth. You have a person that knows the truth about the Mexico letter (Read here: http://edlabor.house.gov/micro/efca_myth.shtml ) yet takes only a segment of the issue to spin it. So, how can he be taken seriously for anything he now sites.
San Diego Reader @ 11:04 AM PST, Dec 23, 2008
I have not heard one logical explanation for doing away with secret ballots. Yeah, I have - because labor spent an ungodly amount of money to get Obama and other pro-labor dems elected - nothing like a little quid pro quo in the District. The EFCA will eventually be passed and workers will systematically lose their freedom to choose, in private, whether or not to certify a union; oh, the irony
Paul @ 9:43 AM PST, Dec 23, 2008
Is there any justification for the editors of the Los Angeles Times decision to NOT disclose that Bret Jacobson is the co-founder of the virulently anti-union business front group, the Center for Union Facts? This op-ed is essentially a press release for his organization, but he is only cited as connected to a research and strategy firm. This is simply disgraceful.
Joshua Wyeth @ 7:46 AM PST, Dec 23, 2008
who's really thrilled? the 60 million workers in America who say they would join a union in a heartbeat if they didn't have to risk getting fired to do it. why does business fear hilda solis? because she's the first labor secretary in modern memory to come from a working class family.
rayabernathy @ 6:23 AM PST, Dec 23, 2008
It's not difficult to see what's going on here. The economic catastrophe is the beginning of the end of the union, and their poisonous influence on industry and government. Obama's stopgap is predictable but will only delay the inevitable. Good riddance.
Fred Jackson @ 10:44 PM PST, Dec 22, 2008
Unions make America stronger. 40 years of Free Market thinking have proven your ideas to be a HISTORIC DISASTER. 40 years ago 1 person had to work and the other could stay home and raise a good family-THAT WAS BECAUSE OF UNIONS. We are ranked 12th in the standard of living and dropping, and everyone who beats us has stronger unions. History has shown without unions the middle-class dies and we all become poor and America becomes weak. The average family in real-adjusted terms was better off in 1968 than today. Save the niddle-calss with the EFCA!
Jeb Markov @ 9:56 PM PST, Dec 22, 2008
Gee, somehow when unions want their members to make a decent living they are making "impossible demands," but when a CEO gets a 25 million dollar bonus that should partly go to the workers, somehow that's fine and dandy. We actually will have someone on the side of workers for a change. Keep crying you fascist corporatists. Your time has come and gone
Ellen @ 8:57 PM PST, Dec 22, 2008
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