"It's just a bunch of brainwashing, but it kind of worked"....

[Smarmie Doofus]

Cody Fields, Wal-Mart employee, Loveland, Colorado, quoted in today's NY Times.
Seems employees at the Loveland store went through the preliminaries of unionization but lost the battle when the WM headquarters send their anti-union experts to lie, intimidate and obfuscate.

Worked big time... 17-1 no vote.

WM has never lost a unionization battle. Cody makes 8.10 per hour. He voted no.

The story resonates for me ; somehow reflects on a microcosmic scale how things are working nationally. ( i .e There's something the matter with the whole friggin' thing; not just "Kansas".)

Also persuades me that I'm not crazy. I like that part best.

[Darkhawk32]

1. Enjoy that $8.10 an hour! They'll fire you soon enough to bring...

in somebody making $6.00 an hour.

[rodeodance]

2. I posted this story on DU this morning. Yes, we are brainwashed and the

model for brainwashing comes directly from the WH.
But that certainly does not explain the 17-1 vote. I do not know why people do not look after their own economic health. It is baffling to me.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. they have been fed lies about unions

they think Jimmy Hoffa and the mob. Or they fear that any raises they get will be offset by union dues. Its stupid, I know-but how much labor history is taught in schools nowadays?

[rodeodance]

6. part of the explanation is that unions do have a bad reputtion for

extoring their own members. And even if some of that has changed, it does play into why people say no to unions (they trust the WH not to take their money, but not the unions)

[two gun sid]

9. That reputation is totally false.

The fact is Unions are far more democratic than any company or corporation or our political system. Any time a Union official is accused of any misconduct the MSM plays it to the hilt. My Union has done more to protect me than my government or employer.

As for extorting members, well, I pay my Union Dues with joy in my heart, knowing they use that money to collectively bargain for better wages, health care, and other benefits. My government takes my money and gives it to Halliburton and other sick fucks who support the repug party.

For your information: it hasn't changed, it was never that way. I grew up in a Union home. UMWA, UAW, IBEW, AFSCME. It was only through those Unions that I have any of the things I enjoy today. Anyone who would refuse to certify a Union because they are corrupt and expects their employer to be less corrupt and give them a better deal is fuckin' delusional.

I'll go to my grave, in that Union burying ground, believing that I received a fair shake only because of my Union membership.

[Career Prole]

11. They have a bad reputation produced and directed by

the same corporate/republican spin machine that brought you the bad reputation of social security, the bad reputation of welfare, the bad reputation of Iraq, et cetera, et cetera, et f**kin' cetera.
Why do you fall for it?
I'm not denying instances of corruption, but corruption exists throughout society...even in its religious institutions. If you fall for ANY republican B.S. you're harming yourself.
Unions have done far more good than bad, and that's history.

[Smarmie Doofus]

10. Sorry, late riser here; didn't see it.

Some unions are, in fact, better than others. Some collect dues and do little else. Some are easily coopted by mgmnt ( I mean " bought off"; I think this happens much more often than we realize.)

I think the union busters have perfected the exploitation of fears about these things to an art form.

And part of it is, well, people just aren't as smart as they ought to be. One need not look hard to find evidence in the culture that people are getting dumber by the DAY. Bush, Swift-boats, Schwarzenegger, Iraq, infotainment. There was a book written about 10 yrs. ago by Paul Fussell."The Dumbing of America". Good analysis but absolutely quaint by today's standards.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. something similar happened in my county

about ten years ago, the government was allotting contracts to clearcut the forest. A bunch of us protested because the local loggers, who we knew would be more environmentally responsible, were left out of the loop. The big corporations invited in some folks who lied, telling the locals that we were a bunch of lazy, jobless hippies trying to 'take away their way of life', and they bought it. Some were so riled up that our lives were threatened, I was nearly run off the road on the way to work, and an activist neighbor was beaten up (two ribs broken) and his house burned to the ground. The corporations came in and did their dirty deed-and never hired one local to even help with the operation. Many small mills closed. Shows how powerful lies and hatred can be.

[Mutley]

4. they're all crazy

[bush_is_wacko]

7. And when they can't brainwash the employees, they threaten

to shut the store down. If that doesn't work they actually do shut the store down! Walmart is THE worst of all the discount stores! I don't know how they manage to get away with what they do but the seem to be pretty effective at keeping their employees under control.

[Feathered Fish]

8. Wal mart lost one union battle

in Quebec. Then, they promptly closed the store down due to high costs and slow business. Apparently there were bomb threats made against Wal mart, which they promptly blamed on the union. It is still unclear at this point who made the threats, but a lot of people suspect Wal mart of doing it to make the union look bad.
Wal mart is bad fucking news.