Democrats Drop Key Part of Bill to Assist Unions-card check dropped (or is it?)

[Wretched Excess]

I honestly believe those views to be a mischaracterization of unions and their effects.  Again I emphasize that I see a union structure as a legal tool, it can be misused, if can cause collateral damage, but it can also build something which brings prosperity to all involved.  

I do not wish to debate nor attempt to persuade you to having the same opinion as I.  If you would like though, I can explain my position further.    

not that it's up to me, but please do . . . by all means. 

[Wretched Excess]

as long as we are on the subject, this is a recent happening here in charleston.   the story reads as though they voted the union out because it negotiated a crappy contract, but it wasn't lost on the workers when they voted that being non-union would give them an advantage on B787 assembly.  boeing has sold about a zillion of them, and if they ever get the first one off the ground, production will go on for decades.

SC is a "right to work state", for what it's worth.

Workers at Boeing's Charleston plant vote out union
Workers at Boeing's recently acquired plant in Charleston, S.C., overwhelmingly voted to decertify the Machinists union.

Workers at Boeing's 787 fuselage assembly plant in Charleston, S.C. have decisively voted to get rid of the Machinists union as their bargaining representative with the company. The vote was 199 for decertification of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union against 68 for retaining it.

The vote means that Boeing Charleston becomes a non-union plant. It will compete with Boeing Everett, an IAM stronghold, to be the site of a second 787 Dreamliner assembly line. A decision on that site selection is expected by year end.

Boeing spokesman Tim Healy said the company is pleased with the outcome. "Boeing Charleston can now move forward to focus on excellence and meeting commitments on the 787 program," Healy said in a statement.

The vote ends the IAM's role in Charleston a little less than two years after workers there voted to accept the union when it was run by 787 supplier Vought Aircraft.

Boeing bought out Vought in July, terminating the union contract and opening the door to the decertification vote.

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[JohnBrowdie]

more fun from arlen.  no one is buying this.  no one that isn't stoned or retarded, anyway. :

Specter tells AFL-CIO he backs organizing bill

PITTSBURGH — Sen. Arlen Specter tells the AFL-CIO that he will support legislation to make it easier to form unions.

Specter also predicts Congress will pass a compromise version of the bill this year that will be "totally satisfactory to labor."

His position is a change from earlier this year, when he said the struggling economy made it a bad time to pass the bill.

Since then, Specter has switched from the Republican to the Democratic Party. Specter is facing a strong primary challenge from Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak and is counting on union support to help him hold onto his seat.

Business groups strongly oppose the bill. It has stalled this year without the support of some moderate Democrats.

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[JohnBrowdie]

arlen has ZERO juice in the dem party.  I doubted tis when he said it.  specter is such a pariah that his progressive primary opponent and the (likely) conservative republican nominee are actually working together against him.

specter is the kiss of death.  he switched parties at the high water mark of dem popularity, and then the trouble over deficits, the congressional legislative agenda in general, and then health care all sort of crashed ashore. 

Senate Democrats pull back on Specter’s card-check prediction

Democratic senators on Wednesday downplayed Sen. Arlen Specter’s (D-Pa.) prediction that the chamber would pass a contentious union-organizing bill this year, saying they are in the process of shoring up support for a compromise that is being hashed out.

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), one of several negotiators working to reach agreement on a modified version of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), also known as card-check, said they have made progress toward a deal but have yet to ink one.

Several Democrats on Wednesday confessed to knowing nothing about a proposed deal, and the party’s top two leaders in the conference called the card-check proposal a work in progress.

“We have had real good discussions,” Carper said. “As they say, frank and honest discussion. I think we have made real progress and narrowed somewhat of the differences between organized labor and the business community. We are not quite there yet. My hope is we will finish what we have started.”

Specter on Tuesday told the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh that senators “have pounded out an Employees Choice bill which will meet labor’s objectives” and predicted it would pass before the end of this year. That set off a flurry of activity from lawmakers and union officials saying no agreement had been reached.

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