Seems most don't care that OS is losing a right most of you will still have

[Omaha Steve]

Yes I have been a little out of sorts today. The state legislature is in the process of ending my right to be in a union. The hearings start Monday.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110120/NEWS01/701209835/1101655#bills-strike-at-state-labor-panel

LB 664 would bar public employees from going on strike or engaging in a work slowdown and would prohibit state and local governments from recognizing employees unions. The measure also would abolish the CIR. Sen. John Nelson of Omaha, who introduced the bill, last week proposed a state constitutional amendment that would prohibit collective bargaining by governments.


Todays email from the State AFL-CIO:

Dear Steven,

Firefighters, teachers, police officers, state employees and other public employees are being painted as Public Enemy #1 by politicians who want to balance the budget on their backs. Now, the Business and Labor Committee is holding hearings on legislation to block their freedom to join together in unions and bargain collectively.

Public employees are there for us when we need them. Let’s be there for public employees on Monday. We will tell the Business and Labor Committee to get busy strengthening our economy instead of attacking middle-class workers and their unions.

Please join us Monday.

WHAT: Press conference, followed by the Business and Labor Committee’s hearings on legislation attacking public employees and their freedom to come together in unions and bargain collectively.

WHEN: Monday, Feb. 7, at 11 a.m.

WHERE: The 4th floor of the NSEA (building in Lincoln, Neb.

For directions to the NSEA (Nebraska State Education Association) building, click here.

It is not right for politicians to attack middle-class workers and their unions while CEOs and Wall Street are making record profits. Going after workers, instead of boosting our economy or reining in Big Banks and CEOs that wrecked it, is the wrong priority. It is a political ploy to weaken workers and their unions.

Please join us Monday in Lincoln at 11 a.m. Then, stay as long as you can during the committee’s hearing on this unfair legislation.

Thanks for standing with us.

In solidarity,

Ken Mass, President/Secretary-Treasurer
Nebraska State AFL-CIO


WHAT: Press conference, followed by the Business and Labor Committee’s hearings on legislation attacking public employees and their freedom to come together in unions and bargain collectively.

WHEN: Monday, Feb. 7, at
11 a.m.

WHERE: The 4th floor of the NSEA (Nebraska State Education Association) building in Lincoln, Neb.

605 S. 14th Street
Lincoln, NE 68508

For directions to the NSEA building, click here.

[virgogal]

1. Awful---I'm the mother of a police officer.I wish you all well.

[Starry Messenger]

2. k&r

[Drale]

3. Crap like this is only going to bring back the days of violent unions

when scabs got the shit beat out of them or worst and the mob ran everything.

[Brickbat]

5. Bring the day.

Solidarity!

[TheKentuckian]

24. One can only hope we see that kind of solidarity again.

The Mob was more fair and responsive to the needs of regular folk than the corporatist who replaced them by a billion light years or so.

The mob at least understood that everybody has to get their beaks wet, the value of family and friends, and generally how to stay out of the way of individual personal self determination.

There should be no scabs...SOLIDARITY FOREVER!

[Bonobo]

4. The word is "losing".

Call me a jerk, but I hate to see this spelling error propagate.

The English language deserves to be maintained in its proper form and "loosing"/"losing" error is really starting to widen.

At least here on DU, I would like to see it diminish rather than flourish.

[Omaha Steve]

8. Done

I'm upset, on pain meds, and typing with just my left hand for another month.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. I stand with you, Steve.

Once I belonged to a union, and even though it was not strong, it certainly protected me from the worst abuses that it had been founded to stop.

I understand (as much as I can) what you're up against, and I am horrified and angered.

Recommended.

[Brickbat]

7. K&R for solidarity. If it's a right, it can't be taken away. An "illegal" job action can be a hugely

powerful and energizing thing to be a part of. I wish you the best and will pass along the press conference info to my Nebraska peeps.

[Fire1]

9. Just fuckin perfect! K&R

[spedtr90]

10. Unconstitutional?

Freedom of assembly!

The Chamber of Commerce is a union for wealthy businessmen. If unions have to go...start there.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Hey republs this is what you want

I say bring it on!!!!!!!

[Omaha Steve]

14. Great photo

I thought I'd seen them all. :-)

[niyad]

12. k and r--standing with you in solidarity

[Major Hogwash]

13. Sounds unconstitutional to me.

"Sen. John Nelson of Omaha, who introduced the bill, last week proposed a state constitutional amendment that would prohibit collective bargaining by governments."

Governments have the right to participate in collective bargaining with unions.

[Nevernose]

18. A lot of states have already done this

Nevada's teachers, for instance, lost the right to strike in 1969 -- but that was in exchange for allowing teachers to unionize in the first place. Now they're trying to get of our public employee unions, too. I really feel for the OP.

[proud2BlibKansan]

37. Collective bargaining and going on strike are two different things

In MO it's illegal for teachers to go on strike but we do have collective bargaining. For now at least - there's a move to take that away as well.

[shanti]

15. i'm sorry :(

when i worked for the state, i was a CSEA member and we had a no-strike clause built into the contract. they just keep breaking it down :(

[Omaha Steve]

16. This post pretty much died overnight

Maybe the weekend crew will post some replies?

[blindpig]

17. It's a crying shame

Where's the solidarity?

k&r

[DainBramaged]

19. The just wakey crew says FUCK LABOR HATERS

kthnxbai

[tpsbmam]

41. Absolutely! Never saw the post until just now.

(I see that happening to lots of great threads. Sometimes I've kicked them a few times to no avail.)

What's happening to ALL unions in this country is horrifying. The fact that it's continuing under a Democratic president is even more horrifying to me. I'm absolutely supporting you. I hope you'll keep posting as this continues -- it's 100% the kind of process I want to follow...and think we all can benefit from hearing about this process as you go through it. And I want to know how you're doing through all of this. What a huge bucket of suck!

Sadly, for you and hundreds of thousands (millions?) of others, it's not a "process." It's a very real, personal, frightening, infuriating threat to each and every one of you.

I most definitely have the "infuriated" part covered!! And I have the frightened part pretty covered too, albeit from a less immediate and less personally onerous point of view -- this is happening all over the country across so many unions. That scares the hell out of me. Just experiencing this recession and the power the "haves" have assumed to play with peoples' lives and downgrade their work expectations, well...it's just plain terrifying. I'm envisioning us returning to terrible times before unions gained strength in the U.S.


Men waiting in an unemployment line, Pittsburgh, PA, circa 1933.




:scared: :grr: :grouphug:

[kestrel91316]

20. K&R

[TBF]

21. We are being assaulted worldwide - from anti-union and unemployment in this country

to austerity measures in Europe and Africa. We ought to be connecting the dots and responding, as workers, worldwide.

Solidarity, Omaha Steve.

[lunasun]

48. workers of the world unite!

http://www.marxist.com/egypt-solidarity-letter-nepal.htm

[TBF]

63. Thank you - great link (and great letter). nt

[techno]

54. Public employees have much of this coming to them

Where were the teachers when USA de-industrialized? Teaching that it didn't matter--that's where they were at.
Where were the cops when criminal bankers started screwing with people's homes? Banging down doors and forcing people into the street at gunpoint--that's where.
Explain why public unions fought over tiny provisions in health care for themselves but did damn near nothing to advance universal health care.

Don't get me wrong--I am one of those people who believes EVERYONE--even the unemployed--should belong to a union. But I also think unions need to grow up and start addressing bigger issues. Because if they don't, they are going to be wiped out!

[TBF]

62. Legitimate complaints - the solution has got to be stronger unions

and stronger solidarity between us all. With all the wealth held in very tight circles there is only one thing that will challenge it - numbers. And as we've seen in Egypt even that is not enough. Welcome to DU.

[Daemonaquila]

22. Good luck.

I hope you kick some ass.

[susanr516]

23. K&R

Solidarity forever, from a union household in TX, CWA 6137.

[stlsaxman]

25. K&R

[CrownPrinceBandar]

26. Kick for solidarity.

[pam4water]

27. I surprised at how little support the teacher union got when they went on strike a couple of years

ago. They were striking because they were shifting the some of the cost of health insurance directly on to the teachers. Instead of support for the teachers all I heard was, "Why should they be any different than us." "We've all had to pay increase rate for health insurance for years why shouldn't they."

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. +1

And we still hear that shit today. :mad:

[customerserviceguy]

49. It's called shared pain

But some people just don't want to share.

Look, when you're in a union (and I am) and there is no official way to designate which individuals do a better job than others, then the thinking by the taxpayers or the customers is that you're all just mediocre.

[barbtries]

28. kicking your thread

omaha steve!

[guruoo]

29. k&r

[Heywood J]

30. They should be investigating freedom of assembly and association

with respect to challenging the constitutionality of the proposed law.

[jdadd]

31. Kick for solidarity......

[GreenEyedLefty]

32. Sickening.

I will stand with you from a distance.

My grandpa was one of the original 1937 sit downers.

Solidarity!

[okieinpain]

33. so what happened during the last elections. did people turn

out in droves to tell the repugs and teaparty NO!

[alfredo]

34. the freedom of assembly or association being violated?

[rhett o rick]

35. k&r NGU

[Enthusiast]

36. This is damn sickening.

There would be no middle class in this nation without collective bargaining. Believe me, this is only one such incident in a series of coming attacks. This will continue across the nation until the American worker is put in 'their place'.

Remember collective bargaining was outlawed in Hitler's Germany. They said it was not in the best interest of the nation to have organized labor.

Funny, how Republicans and blue dogs don't consider collective bargaining one of 'the freedoms' that must be defended.

[sudopod]

38. Kick because

fuck those people.

That makes me so unhappy. :(

[Hannah Bell]

39. kr.

[Omaha Steve]

40. I just got home from shopping and what a surprise!

This made the greatest page. Thank you ALL for the get well pick me up card.

OS

[dotymed]

43. Steve, This a a travesty and should be illegal.

It is just more oppression of the people, for the wealthy few.
Indiana Governor, Mitch Daniels made this his first official act. He forced all state employees to quit the Union. This kind of serfdom is exactly what my OP about not letting the revolution (peaceful) end with Egypt.Please, if you get a chance, read it and recommend it. It needs one more "rec" to make the "greatest page."
Unless we as the majority stand up to this blatant disregard and antipathy for the majority of our (not wealthy) citizens, more of the same will undoubtedly follow until we have waited too late.
Candidate Obama said he was going to get pro-Union legislation passed, so that it would be much easier to collectively bargain. President Obama did an about face and we the people are suffering at an increasing rate.
Good luck Steve. If you have any ideas about how we can organize a peaceful, effective revolution, like Egypt has, please post it on my OP. We need to organize somewhere since "they" are outlawing Unions.

[defendandprotect]

44. k/r

[Stardust]

45. I care.

[sueh]

46. I'm standing with you, Steve.

[rurallib]

47. Good luck ovr there Steve. Nebraska is just the beginning

Every state with a Republican governor will be looking to add the Union scalp to his collection.

[Honeycombe8]

50. Wow. That's a long list of far-right, ideological prohibitions and restrictions.

That is unbelievable. As if NE is stepping backwards decades.

[Chan790]

51. Wow, I'm sorry. That really blows my mind.

About the only upside I can ever see there is that it will almost certainly end up in court and I can't see the NLRB or US DoL not going smackdown just to assert the primacy of federal labor law over that of the state.

I don't suppose a call for a labor walkout that crippled the state would do much good. Imagine though if no unionized public employees showed up to work Tuesday. No police, firefighters, teachers or civil servants...the assholes would have to cave within an hour. Imagine if labor stuck together and no union members at-all showed up to work. Just one day...Nebraska would cease to exist. No state would ever try anything like this again.It's not like they can replace firefighters or cops on a moment's notice, it takes months to train people to do those jobs.

I think it's time that the bourgie fucks learned to fear organized labor again.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

52. Fuckers.

:mad:

They will not be satisfied until we are all working for $6 an hour, just happy to have a job at all. :puke:

{b]FUCKERS! And a pox on any Democrat that helps them do this. :mad:

[senseandsensibility]

53. Are people on DU really not supporting you on this?

Hard to imagine, but I see you have many recs, including mine.

[Omaha Steve]

59. The DU has been great overall

Even a post yesterday about unions for public workers got as much scorn as praise.

OS

[Hamlette]

55. I think it is a more difficult question than most do here

FDR who was a huge supporter of unions said: ""The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service," he said in the 1930s. A public employee strike, he said, "looking toward the paralysis of government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable."

It has been argued that we have the right to elect our own bosses. As a public employee I tend to agree.

[suffragette]

56. I care

and absolutely agree with you.

K&R

[laylah]

57. My grand-dad, dad

were union (Teamster) organizers back in the 20's, I heard many a story. Daddy NEVER crossed a picket line in all the years he worked for Admiral/Magic Chef/?! This effort to destroy the Unions began, in earnest, in 1980 and the election of Ronnie. I am saddened to read this, OS, and have sent it far and wide. :hug:

Jenn

[Lifelong Protester]

58. I care!! I agree with you and stand in solidarity.

I am now seen as 'management' I guess as a school principal (kicked out of the union when I became an administrator! But had been union president for 5 years...)

I almost did not click on your post as I thought the OS stood for "Operating System" like in a computer, and I didn't know if I really cared much about what was happening to Microsoft! :think:
Anyway, I guess the repubs want to go back to the violent days pre-union.

Bring it.

[blondeatlast]

60. Shameful. You have my full support, OS. Good luck and k/r. nt

[OmahaBlueDog]

61. Kicked and Recommended