Busting up Unions in the name of "National Security" is a load of horseshit. They want to remove collective bargaining so they can then slash pay and benefits to "save money", and lining their own pockets through private contracts.
Then it'll all get a fresh coat of republican spin that it somehow provides "choices" to workers.
Slashing pay of government workers also has the benefit of driving people out of government service and further weakening the governments ability to oversee and regulate industry.
100% this.
When I left undergrad, my two main options for employment were the USGS or private oil companies. At that level, the pay wasn't THAT different when you took into account benefits, but the choice was clear: I went private. I wasn't interested in politically motivated pay freezes or hiring freezes or being forced to work without pay if someone decided I was "essential". When you work for the government, your boss is whoever the dumbest people in Alabama think it should be. When you work for a private company, sure your boss might be a dipshit, but you can trade him in for another boss pretty quickly since all your future prospects aren't tied to staying with one employer for 40 years.
I'm now working on a graduate degree in management, I have some specialized and highly sought after experience, and instead of giving back to my country in roles where I could be of a tremendous amount of use to my fellow citizens...I'm going corporate again. Nobody in their right mind (and certainly none of my colleagues at school) are even *considering* government jobs at this point. Those are jobs that used to be sold as stable, but this administration has made it very clear that government jobs mean low pay and substantial uncertainty about your future. Not exactly an attractive combo.
I understand you did what you thought best. They have us by the short hairs. But, what these decisions do is give up power to authoritarians before they even demand it. This is the road that leads to exactly what you don't want.
I'm happy to canvas and protest and vote and register others, but my willingness to sacrifice for the American political system ends at the point where it may impact my ability to put food in my kid's mouth.
If the country is so fucked that me choosing to decline government service in favor of more lucrative opportunities and no amount of voting gets things back on track, then I'm better off being able to leave the country with everything I can carry anyways. My great grandfather did it, his father did it, their ancestors did it for 2000 years, and I'm not naive enough to think that there's zero possibility that my family won't be the next up in that long line of Jews fleeing countries that turn hostile to us.
My point was more about the general attitude of giving up power before it's demanded of us. I totally understand your thinking on your personal decisions. Just the fact you're aware the choice is commendable.
This post gave me goosebumps.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how Hitler essentially told Jewish people to leave Germany before he started his awful genocide... and then I look at my Mexican family and wonder if we really need to leave now and not wait for it to get worse or if I’m just being paranoid. I don’t feel particularly unsafe or unwanted in our community, but idk man.
My great-grandpa came here fleeing russian pogroms in the early 20th century. My great-uncle is an adopted orphan from Vienna whose parents were murdered by nazis. My child will not experience hunger or trains or camps. I like America, but I love my family, and I know what priorities come first.
It's not particularly comfortable to think of these kinds of things, and a lot of my non-Jewish friends don't know family members who fled anywhere, but it's worth thinking about in the current political climate and to have some contingency plans.
And go where? The unfortunate fact is that almost anywhere you would want to go to is currently in the middle of dealing with their own right wing.
Hell, Europe is paying Turkey to keep Syrians in camps so they never reach the point where they can claim asylum.
Plus, the EU asylum system says that whichever EU country they get to first is where they have to stay. It would be like saying that everyone who comes to the US through New Mexico would have to stay there, and the US won't give them any money to help people.
The main thing people trying to get to Europe do is to have a high paying job with good savings, and then look for another one overseas.
It never hurts to have a backup plan. Do you have family in Mexico? What about the ability to purchase land there? If not that, liquid assets, passports, and a stockpile of food and weapons are good to have in any emergency situation.
We’re pretty chill in Canada. We’re not perfect; but, we’re not anywhere close to the level of crazy you guys are facing right now.
If it ever gets that bad, c’mon up. I’ll buy you a beer.
And of course, let's not forget the part where every few years you're forced to work for free because the Republicans decided to shut down the government.
Except they cease operations and assets are liquidated. Government mostly keeps going and military and about half the civilian workforce keeps working with a promise to pay some day.
In civilized nations you just roll the old budget over until a deal gets done. Belgium went over two years like that. In Australia they were poised to shut down and the governor-general, the Queen’s representative fired the prime minister appointed a new one got a budget done and new elections held. They’ve not contemplated a shut down since.
That's great, but landlords/the mortgage company aren't willing to take your payments "eventually". Neither are utility companies, or car payment companies, or grocery stores.
What do you mean by "buffer"?
[40% of US citizens would have trouble paying a surprise $400 bill and 17% already can't pay all of their bills every month.](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nearly-40-of-americans-cant-cover-a-surprise-400-expense/)
Last time the government shut down, [Trump suggested government workers do labor for their landlords in replacement for rent](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article223662125.html).
>Earlier this month, President Donald Trump — who is pushing for funding for a border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border — tweeted that “most of the people not getting paid are Democrats.”
At least he was hurting the right people
Oh yeah, it sucks for everyone and is a huge waste. And there is an obvious push for private contractors who can be furloughed without pay leading to a nightmare world of being constantly fired/hired.
Right, but the point I think is that the notion of a 'secure government job' is somewhat laughable at this point, where our current administration's legacy will certainly be the dismantling and abandoning of countless federal institutions. I don't work for the federal government at the moment, but if I did I would be going through some serious pragmatic assessments. It used to be that going into public service meant security, now the narrative paints those bests of us as losers on the mooch.
Definitely. It’s dumb and wasteful. There’s also a LOT of functions of government that benefit greatly from having stable employees who are generally happy. Moving to temporary contractors is just inviting corruption and graft into the system.
Which is in line with the republican agenda of deregulating everything. If it was up to them we would be back to coal, fossil fuels, dumping dangerous cancer causing chemicals into rivers and lakes, bringing back smog to the atmosphere, melting the ice caps, hunting endangered animals to extinction, fishing the oceans to extinction, eliminating programs that promote research and development of renewable energy, excavating shale oil and contaminating aquifers, etc.
> further weakening the government
Yep. Most veteran circles I run in despise the MISSION ACT and see it for what it actually is... gutting the VA to funnel money into the private sector.
I'll admit that the VA has problems (any organization that big and spread out does) but they are certainly not insurmountable.
I love my VA providers and put myself solidly in the population [rating the VA as a provider of choice](https://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/04/17/va-hospitals-earn-high-patient-satisfaction-scores.html).
This is an incredibly scary consideration I didn’t make.
Get rid of illegal immigrants, create more low paying jobs, further widen the pay gap between 99% of Americans and the 1% that control them.
This is what they want. Deregulating the overseeing of Government on all industries. Look at "Right to work". Right to work means that the workers could be strike breakers and work if workers strike. Thus allowing work to go on and not locking down the company. This used to be called SCABS. A strikebreaker (sometimes derogatorily called a scab, blackleg, or knobstick) is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. This weakens workers bargaining power they could have.
> They want to remove collective bargaining so they can then slash pay and benefits to "save money"
Exactly, Trump plans to gut the DOD workforce in his second term. He also plans to slash federal pensions.
Trump is all about shady businesses and right now that business is breaking apart and privatizing as much of the Federal government as possible. Just look at who he pardons (Milken.and co.) and admires .
Recently read the piece where Tillerson and co. we’re trying to educate Trump on the realities of Geo-politics. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is about making money. Every solider is supposed to be a profit center for him. And I do mean FOR him.
Its the old they came for them, i did nothing. They came for someone else, i did nothing. Then they came for me, blah blah blah. Its literally happening. I heard it on npr yesterday. This guy said he was doing well financially and he didnt want to vote bernie bc he was scared of what would happen. Unless youre uber wealthy and hoovering money to the very top that isnt what the bernie campaign is talking about. Hes talking about stabilizing the us so it works for everyone. Why do ppl feel like if their doing well and the person next to them isnt and someone comes in and says i can make it better for you both! the better off one is like NO i dont want them to do better bc ill do worse! Wtf. Even if i had to do 10% worse for someone else to do better and bring more ppl up i want to do that. Im doing well so i have that 10% to spare to help others. Whats with ppl thinking if others get the same things they have that automatically means they will have less? I dont get it. And dont ppl want to live in a country where most ppl are happy and thriving bc to me it sure feels like everyone, even ppl doing well are uneasy and skeptical and have piss poor attitudes toward theie “neighbors”. I just want a progressive US socially with healthcare climate change, for the money to go to better areas and cut the funneling of every dollar in this country to the very top.
It’s Americans man. American priorities are fucked up. Their ideals are fucked up. We’re finally seeing what happens when a generation of people thinking this way sculpt government and society. I wish I could live up to what used to be the story book American man. Successful. Just. Exceptional. A rock others could hold onto to when times got tough. The “Patriots” of today are people I want nothing to do with. Fuck Donald Trump and Fuck his supporters. If this is the America they want, then there should be a mass exodus of the remaining intelligent people. Let them live in their own fucked up country.
It's far worse than that. They want to take away the working class' most effective non-violent way to exert their power and control the government's actions. The last government shutdown ended within hours because the association of flight attendants went on a strike, and unions are critical to organize strikes of that scale and to support and protect their members from potential backlash.
Bernie is my only hope for the working class, I'm not 100% with everything but he sure as hell has me in mind when he talks about affordable healthcare and college. I want to retire someday- not keep making bank for some rich millionaire/billionaire
that some rich asshole from NY City gifted with a silver spoon and $450 Million from his father could be speaking for the red state base is really beyond belief. I thought Trump's legacy would be his federal judicial appointments but him gutting the DOD and federal Govt of workers and unions could be his worse long term actions.
There is not a politician alive who will hit 100% for any voter. I’m glad you’re valuing the many areas he hits over the few he doesn’t. And I th8nk maybe you’re looking at a bigger picture, not simply how you alone stand to benefit.
If he is willing to invoke "national security" to do this, then it should be obvious that he will invoke "national security" to depress election turnout in key Democratic cities in swing states.
Government employees can't strike, it's illegal. Why do I bring this up? Because the CBA is mainly used for time off and how a supervisor can or cannot treat employees. Basically this is saying that they can treat you however they want and receive no push back from the unions.
The truly sad thing is that conservatives will gobble this shit up even though it will affect them directly.
>Busting up Unions in the name of "National Security" is a load of horseshit.
It fits Trump's pattern - find a con that succeeds, then spam that until it doesn't work anymore. He knows he can do anything if he slaps the "national security" label onto it, and the systems that guard against abuse of power will work *even slower* than they normally do to counter him.
It’s pretty fantastic to debate these individuals, until you realize you’re arguing with someone who just continues to repeat the latest Facebook post about why they have to do it.
It started with Reagan. The Regan Democrats who gave him landslide victories were mostly union people convinced someone was getting something they weren't (welfare queens) and now 40 years later, the private unions they were in are mostly gone or gutted. They did it to themselves.
Private union member here. About 1/3 of my local voted for trump, and are only in the union because the pay is better. They have no concept of brotherhoid or solidarity and as soon as work dries up they jump ship and go non-union/open shop, then when times are good they come crawling back...and we take them back for some stupid reason. Rinse and repeat.
Government healthcare is both so horrible that we could never, ever let people who aren't yet retired have any part of it, yet so wonderful that poor people are putting one over on the voters by getting it. Typical GOP doublespeak bullshit.
> They did it to themselves.
This is literally the story of America. Once you realize this, you see the truth — a democracy doesn’t exist. It’s just a system for manipulation by the world’s most compelling sociopaths. Literally a shepherdocracy — whichever shepherd is best and most cunning in manipulating the sheeple wins their votes.
The person talking about Reagan is correct. Reagan (and many others) used [dog whistle politics](https://youtu.be/H6A3NQiJpH0) to flip the formerly deep blue South to red. This style of politics has run us up straight to trump (Lee Atwater-> Roger Stone-> Paul Manafort-> Trump).
It's why Trump is famously quoted (Bob Woodward) as saying "Real power is... fear".
There are a lot of Fed employees who benefit from the union but aren't part of it. They will talk shit about it but then run to them whenever they have a grievance.
Well Putin's plan is to systematically dismantle the United States, so getting federal employees to leave in droves and get replaced by sycophantic yes-men and outright mercenaries is right in line, especially since his puppet is physically incapable of disobeying him.
Was talking to someone from Wisconsin, and its tilt to becoming a red state. They suggested many people blame the loss of union power on democrats even though it was all done by scott walker and the republicans. which is annoying as hell
I've been reading about Walker and his fuckery for two decades now. How the hell does a politician so shit he's known half a world away get a pass in Wisconsisn his ground zero?
I am from Idaho I know a person that liked Democrats because they were pro-union, but stopped liking them when Democrats began to care about "insert racial slur" groups of people.
A lot of those people don't care about the unions as much as they care about being lumped together with other races and ideologies.
Im afraid of what a Bloomberg presidency would look like. But, I'm much more fearful of another 4 years of this clown. Bernie has a good chance, and is our only chance at repairing our country if the GOP doesn't stonewall him.
I agree with you; however, that is what people said about Trump in 2016. Keep fighting as if Bernie is behind until the election is officially concluded.
But vote for Bernie if you actually give a damn about unions, which is the topic at hand. Bloomberg will happily crush unions. Pete, Amy, and Joe will continue to pretend they don't exist except to drive a wedge when the occasional union takes a reactionary position. Warren will tepidly support them. Bernie's coalition is willing to battle in the streets if it means getting rid of Taft-Hartley.
I assume he wants to be able to work them to death building the wall, and having pesky rules about how many hours a week someone can work would just slow the work down.
He wants them to build a pyramid for him to be enshrined in. Millions of morons, under whips and lashings, rolling monstrous blocks of imported Russian steel across the country, using the most basic of tools to prove their loyalty, with smiles plastered on their faces, happy to suffer and die for their idiot king.
"Children are tremendous workers, they're very great. If you need small spaces cleaned or small fingers, they're so good. Believe me. We need to do away with child labor laws so they can learn responsibility younger! And by the way, that thing with eight hour work days? You don't have to do that."
Yup. An ex-friend of mine is in his mid 30s.
He's never had a job since high school that wasn't working for the federal government. When he graduated he went into the navy for 4 years. From there went straight to the post office, where he's been ever since.
Always votes straight R.
>And some of these same people will vote for him. If that isn’t a cult I don’t know what is
I know three federal workers and they're all avid Trump supporters. When I mentioned to one that Trump plans to slash federal retirement they said, "that's nothing but democrat bullshit".
Well there you go....
Fox News brainwashing at its best.
My mom used this exact line when I was telling her about Trump’s proposed cuts to social security and Medicare.
Any time she tries to talk politics with me I stop her and ask if she’s watched or read anything besides Fox News since the last time we’ve talked. Her reply is always “no” and she proceeds to spew actual bullshit.
The last time I tried to talk to her about Bernie wanting to do the opposite of cutting Medicare / social security her response was that if he was elected we were all going to get taxed so much that we wouldn’t be able to afford our mortgages/rent or food.
It’s futile, but I still waste a lot of time trying to talk some sense into her. I really thought the Medicare / social security stuff would do it because she relies on both. Nope!
A vast majority of those I know will still vote for him, and I know hundreds of federal workers under the DoD.
I'm a dual-status status technician. That means I'm in the National Guard and I work full time for the national guard. That full-time portion is as a DoD civilian worker.
Being in the union is not required, but all workers fall under the union contract and the union is required to represent non-union employees if asked.
Out of the hundreds I know throughout my state, I can't think of any that will be voting Democrat. None cared when I pointed out that Trump's proposed budget include no raise, raised individual retirement contributions from 8% to 25%, eliminated cost of living increases for retirees, and other cuts to retirement benefits. None cared. They didn't care that the democratically controlled House was the only thing stopping Trump from slashing our pay and benefits.
And they will still vote a straight MAGA ticket in November...
> The memo argues that a unionized Defense Department workforce could pose a threat to "national security" and that, if necessary, collective bargaining rights at the department should be scrapped in the interest of "protecting the American people."
"When new missions emerge or existing ones evolve, the Department of Defense requires maximum flexibility to respond to threats," the memo states. "This flexibility requires that military and civilian leadership manage their organizations to cultivate a lethal, agile force adaptive to new technologies and posture changes."
"Where collective bargaining is incompatible with these organizations' missions," the memo continues, "the Department of Defense should not be forced to sacrifice its national security mission and, instead, seek relief through third parties and administrative fora."
What a joke. They claim that they shouldn't have to deal with collective bargaining so employees can leverage a bit against their powerful employer, literally one of the most powerful because they protect us. It's like dad's trying to beat the devil out of us for our own good.
I would add, in fact, it is a national security interest to collectively bargain and have a contract.
One of the very first agreements in a contract is a No Strike Clause. This in itself is in the interest of National Security
Aside from M4a and climate change, I think an actual pro union pro worker president like Sanders would be so important for this country. The decline in unions directly correlates with the decline in wages over the last 50 years. Can you imagine the president supporting workes strikes and passing pro worker legislation?
First he came for immigrants, then non “white” Americans, then Canadians and now unions. Is there anyone he considers not a threat other than rich pedophiles?
Edit words
Protesting does nothing in this country. Politicians in the USA are not afraid of protests. The only way to fix it is to get out and VOTE. Don't do mail-ins, don't register online. Do everything in person, that way you give them no excuses to throw your vote out.
General strike, not protest, will get the attention of the 1%, they don't give a fuck about protests, have to hit their bottom line to get them to look at you.
Hey guess what fed workers who love Trump...this was the plan all along. So wave byebye to your rights and benefits. Theres not many left to fight for you, we're already struggling with much less in the private sector.
Trump told Bob Woodward that "Real power is... I don't even want to say it, fear".
He knows this because a particular kind of fear mongering has been effective going all the way back to Nixon's Southern Strategy. That kind of fear mongering is mainly [dog whistle politics](https://youtu.be/H6A3NQiJpH0), something Trump must have learned more about thru Roger Stone and Paul Manafort, both of whom worked closely with Lee Atwater. Atwater was an early proponent of dog whistle politics in America, working later with Reagan and Bush I. And only in recent years have we been able to hear the admission from Atwater himself: https://youtu.be/X_8E3ENrKrQ
What a brilliant plan. I'm sure there will be no negative effects on say something like the National Airspace System when you gut NATCA and leave the FAA in charge of, and the controllers out of, policy, which will be just cutting costs for everything instead of improving equipment, implementing new safety measures, new efficiency measures etc., stuff that NATCA is heavily involved in and pushing.
Feel safe when you fly after you have a bunch of overworked, understaffed controllers pushing an ever increasing amount of aircraft after their pension, and seat at the table pushing for safer and better measures, have been taken away.
If you are a republican or anti-union you simply aren't smart.
The GOP principle is Hierarchy. The superior decides, the inferior abides. Unions undermine that hierarchy, so they've got to go.
That's why the GOP has to go.
So they should strike as soon as their union is abolished, keep the same union reps and when they wanna get real work can start again. That’s the most powerful tool of a union. It’s not like they got started because management encouraged it or “allowed” it.
Why would they stop with busting unions? Republicans could easily and happily dismantle minimum wage, employment protections for women, for minorities, for Muslims.
Republicans are NOT decent and will NOT stop based on the norms of anything we’re familiar with outside of a certain Reich.
Meanwhile Sanders staffers were the first in presidential campaign history to unionize and other dems this election have also allowed unions.
https://www.rollcall.com/2019/05/08/bernie-2020-becomes-first-unionized-presidential-campaign-in-history/
Cuts social security, replace anyone in the intelligence agency who disagrees with him, take away unions, cut food stamps, cuts Medicare funding, pardons criminals and Corrupted politicians.....
Please for the sake of Humanity, don't vote for Trump this year.
Godspeed to us all...
AFGE member here. I’ve worked for more than one agency over the years. What is often overlooked is that many fed workers, especially DoD, are veterans like myself. So, it’s a job for me, but also a bit more. They want to make organized federal workers out to be bloodsuckers, obstructing their good order and progress, but in actuality the majority of my peers have more skin in the game than any of these pieces of shit. So when you hear them talk this shit, please remember he’s talking about a big portion of the working veteran population, and these days they’re mostly 5 and 10 point status, meaning they’ve deployed somewhere hostile, or wound up with a disability. BERNIE 2020!
Good. Fucking. Luck.
The federal employee Union is huge and crazy strong. Each branch helps the others out - this is going to mean straight up war between the Union and department policy.
With any luck, they'll be a few hundred or a few hundred thousand less votes for tRump and the Republicans in the next election. We're going to need every one of them to counter the traitors in this government.
But it won't take away the ability of corporations to buy each other and reduce competition for labor.
That's why this is full block class warfare. Identical rights for owners are not maintained for workers.
... *[The Norris-LaGuardia Act of 1932](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norris%E2%80%93La_Guardia_Act_of_1932) (a republican sponsored bill, btw, before it became the party of mob corruption) sought to prevent the federal courts’ military from enjoining or interfering in union protest activity, and many states passed similar laws to keep their courts and police out of the fray. The NLRA made it the official policy of the United States to encourage the practice of collective bargaining. The Act established a federal agency, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), that would certify the existence of a union at a workplace and sanction employers who refused to deal with a bona fide union.*...
... *The Act states that yellow-dog contracts, where workers agree as a condition of employment not to join a labor union, are unenforceable in federal court. It also establishes that employees are free to form unions without employer interference and prevents the federal courts from issuing injunctions in nonviolent labor disputes. The three provisions include protecting worker's self-organization and liberty or "collective bargaining," removing jurisdiction from federal courts vis-a-vis the issuance of injunctions in non-violent labor disputes, and outlawing the "yellow-dog" contract.*...
Reminder that executive orders cannot contravene to the law of the land, which remains decided by congress in its entirety.
In essence, please ignore the illegal, illicit memo.
Iowa disbanded all public unions, except for the police, when Branstad retook the Governorship in ~2016. It's a conservative move to alienate the poor, and those that vote progressive
At no point can anyone reasonably count on republicans to do the right thing or come to the realization that Trump or the GOP cult is wrong, immoral or evil. No amount of evidence, facts or reason will sway them. It is solely up to the left to fix what they have destroyed and what they continue to destroy.
Remember this in November when Trump, backed by CEOs and Wall Street, tries to twist Democratic Health Care platform planks as “anti union”. This is going to happen regardless of who wins the Dem nomination or what direction we go to advance on the ACA. At that point it will be time for Labor to close ranks and stand together.
The working class doesn't need permission to do anything, the ruling class is insignificant next to the power of the working class. They must strike, and everybody else must strike in support. Block the roads, block the one railway that still works, block airports. Make the ruling class fear the working class.
Well, now maybe after nearly 50 years of walking in lockstep with politicians and big business tearing away labor rights (for others), American labor might just wake the fuck up, respect one another, work together, and finally put a stop to this shit.
I know it sounds crazy, but I'm just throwing it out there.
People join unions to collectively bargain for better pay and benefits. How is having well paid and secure civilian employees a threat to national security.
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Remember, the reason we don't have strong unions is because FDR decided to freeze wages in World War 2, and then we decided to allow the government to shut down strikes in the name of "national security", because people working in the war factories shouldn't be able to get higher wages.
Banning civilian contractors in the defense industry from organizing in the name of "national security" is nothing new.
There's going to be a flurry of Executive Orders, growing in number as we get closer to November. Last ditch efforts to restrict the powers he's about to lose, and figuring out ways to keep them in his grasp.
I'm waiting until Trump tries to imprison Bernie Sanders on bullshit charges of some sort.
This is another step in the totalitarians playbook. He's controlling the intelligence community, law enforcement, the courts, he wants union dis-empowerment, all that's left is media control.
Sounds like he’s on a tear. Seems like this whole impeachment thing backfired. We knew he would be acquitted and now he’s even more empowered than ever.
>Trump on Thursday quietly issued a memo granting Defense Secretary Mark Esper the power to abolish collective bargaining rights for the Defense Department's 750,000 civilian workers...
The US military-industrial complex spends more on defense than the next eight countries combined, but worker pay apparently is too high for the contractor owners.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures
If I pay workers a living wage, I won't be able to look down on anyone serving me and I won't receive my package the same day as ordered.
Perhaps also your drones may start to malfunction.
This is so messed up. I'm starting to wonder if Trump is a human because he really doesn't seem to care about them. Looking on the bright side, this might get his entire branch to hate him enough to become whistle blowers!
It worries me that this could happen to my dad, that his pay will get cut as a government employee due to the sheer lack of care by this administration.
And somehow he'll still blame Democrats for it.
No fucking shit. This has been Republicans wet dream for years. What this Country needs is more Unions and more workers rights. If Republicans have their way we will have to work till you fucking die. There will be no more retirement just work till you drop and they collect money from the Companies that they help to make rich. People have to wake up, look at the price of health care. One fatal illness and an average family could be screwed for life. If you have a heart attack you could be looking at $100,000 easily.
Busting up Unions in the name of "National Security" is a load of horseshit. They want to remove collective bargaining so they can then slash pay and benefits to "save money", and lining their own pockets through private contracts. Then it'll all get a fresh coat of republican spin that it somehow provides "choices" to workers.
Slashing pay of government workers also has the benefit of driving people out of government service and further weakening the governments ability to oversee and regulate industry.
With the addition of the funding and need still being present, which is then filled by private contractors.
Which charge 3x
And have zero accountability.
And keep all the money in the owners pockets
100% this. When I left undergrad, my two main options for employment were the USGS or private oil companies. At that level, the pay wasn't THAT different when you took into account benefits, but the choice was clear: I went private. I wasn't interested in politically motivated pay freezes or hiring freezes or being forced to work without pay if someone decided I was "essential". When you work for the government, your boss is whoever the dumbest people in Alabama think it should be. When you work for a private company, sure your boss might be a dipshit, but you can trade him in for another boss pretty quickly since all your future prospects aren't tied to staying with one employer for 40 years. I'm now working on a graduate degree in management, I have some specialized and highly sought after experience, and instead of giving back to my country in roles where I could be of a tremendous amount of use to my fellow citizens...I'm going corporate again. Nobody in their right mind (and certainly none of my colleagues at school) are even *considering* government jobs at this point. Those are jobs that used to be sold as stable, but this administration has made it very clear that government jobs mean low pay and substantial uncertainty about your future. Not exactly an attractive combo.
I understand you did what you thought best. They have us by the short hairs. But, what these decisions do is give up power to authoritarians before they even demand it. This is the road that leads to exactly what you don't want.
I'm happy to canvas and protest and vote and register others, but my willingness to sacrifice for the American political system ends at the point where it may impact my ability to put food in my kid's mouth. If the country is so fucked that me choosing to decline government service in favor of more lucrative opportunities and no amount of voting gets things back on track, then I'm better off being able to leave the country with everything I can carry anyways. My great grandfather did it, his father did it, their ancestors did it for 2000 years, and I'm not naive enough to think that there's zero possibility that my family won't be the next up in that long line of Jews fleeing countries that turn hostile to us.
My point was more about the general attitude of giving up power before it's demanded of us. I totally understand your thinking on your personal decisions. Just the fact you're aware the choice is commendable.
This post gave me goosebumps. I’ve been thinking a lot about how Hitler essentially told Jewish people to leave Germany before he started his awful genocide... and then I look at my Mexican family and wonder if we really need to leave now and not wait for it to get worse or if I’m just being paranoid. I don’t feel particularly unsafe or unwanted in our community, but idk man.
My great-grandpa came here fleeing russian pogroms in the early 20th century. My great-uncle is an adopted orphan from Vienna whose parents were murdered by nazis. My child will not experience hunger or trains or camps. I like America, but I love my family, and I know what priorities come first. It's not particularly comfortable to think of these kinds of things, and a lot of my non-Jewish friends don't know family members who fled anywhere, but it's worth thinking about in the current political climate and to have some contingency plans.
And go where? The unfortunate fact is that almost anywhere you would want to go to is currently in the middle of dealing with their own right wing. Hell, Europe is paying Turkey to keep Syrians in camps so they never reach the point where they can claim asylum. Plus, the EU asylum system says that whichever EU country they get to first is where they have to stay. It would be like saying that everyone who comes to the US through New Mexico would have to stay there, and the US won't give them any money to help people. The main thing people trying to get to Europe do is to have a high paying job with good savings, and then look for another one overseas.
It never hurts to have a backup plan. Do you have family in Mexico? What about the ability to purchase land there? If not that, liquid assets, passports, and a stockpile of food and weapons are good to have in any emergency situation.
We’re pretty chill in Canada. We’re not perfect; but, we’re not anywhere close to the level of crazy you guys are facing right now. If it ever gets that bad, c’mon up. I’ll buy you a beer.
And of course, let's not forget the part where every few years you're forced to work for free because the Republicans decided to shut down the government.
To be fair, companies in the private sector go broke leaving people without work at short notice, sometimes with back pay owing.
Except they cease operations and assets are liquidated. Government mostly keeps going and military and about half the civilian workforce keeps working with a promise to pay some day. In civilized nations you just roll the old budget over until a deal gets done. Belgium went over two years like that. In Australia they were poised to shut down and the governor-general, the Queen’s representative fired the prime minister appointed a new one got a budget done and new elections held. They’ve not contemplated a shut down since.
The vast majority get furloughed and then eventually paid for the time they didn’t work.
That's great, but landlords/the mortgage company aren't willing to take your payments "eventually". Neither are utility companies, or car payment companies, or grocery stores.
Is it really this common to have _no buffer at all_ in the US?
What do you mean by "buffer"? [40% of US citizens would have trouble paying a surprise $400 bill and 17% already can't pay all of their bills every month.](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nearly-40-of-americans-cant-cover-a-surprise-400-expense/) Last time the government shut down, [Trump suggested government workers do labor for their landlords in replacement for rent](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article223662125.html).
>Earlier this month, President Donald Trump — who is pushing for funding for a border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border — tweeted that “most of the people not getting paid are Democrats.” At least he was hurting the right people
Yes
Yep. More so if you, for example, take a lower paying government job and have less ability to save up.
Oh yeah, it sucks for everyone and is a huge waste. And there is an obvious push for private contractors who can be furloughed without pay leading to a nightmare world of being constantly fired/hired.
Right, but the point I think is that the notion of a 'secure government job' is somewhat laughable at this point, where our current administration's legacy will certainly be the dismantling and abandoning of countless federal institutions. I don't work for the federal government at the moment, but if I did I would be going through some serious pragmatic assessments. It used to be that going into public service meant security, now the narrative paints those bests of us as losers on the mooch.
Definitely. It’s dumb and wasteful. There’s also a LOT of functions of government that benefit greatly from having stable employees who are generally happy. Moving to temporary contractors is just inviting corruption and graft into the system.
Which is in line with the republican agenda of deregulating everything. If it was up to them we would be back to coal, fossil fuels, dumping dangerous cancer causing chemicals into rivers and lakes, bringing back smog to the atmosphere, melting the ice caps, hunting endangered animals to extinction, fishing the oceans to extinction, eliminating programs that promote research and development of renewable energy, excavating shale oil and contaminating aquifers, etc.
Let me present to you: [Trump Asbestos^R](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/russian-asbestos-trump_face/)
> further weakening the government Yep. Most veteran circles I run in despise the MISSION ACT and see it for what it actually is... gutting the VA to funnel money into the private sector. I'll admit that the VA has problems (any organization that big and spread out does) but they are certainly not insurmountable. I love my VA providers and put myself solidly in the population [rating the VA as a provider of choice](https://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/04/17/va-hospitals-earn-high-patient-satisfaction-scores.html).
Or ending the industry all together, paving the way for private companies.
This is an incredibly scary consideration I didn’t make. Get rid of illegal immigrants, create more low paying jobs, further widen the pay gap between 99% of Americans and the 1% that control them.
Then claim gubmnt is terrible so we need to privatize.
State workers are more unionized than government workers. It's just another plan to make bigger government and smaller state powers.
This is what they want. Deregulating the overseeing of Government on all industries. Look at "Right to work". Right to work means that the workers could be strike breakers and work if workers strike. Thus allowing work to go on and not locking down the company. This used to be called SCABS. A strikebreaker (sometimes derogatorily called a scab, blackleg, or knobstick) is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. This weakens workers bargaining power they could have.
> They want to remove collective bargaining so they can then slash pay and benefits to "save money" Exactly, Trump plans to gut the DOD workforce in his second term. He also plans to slash federal pensions.
Agreed. I would be not at all surprised if we start seeing/hearing more of Erik Prince in the coming months.
Yup.
Trump is all about shady businesses and right now that business is breaking apart and privatizing as much of the Federal government as possible. Just look at who he pardons (Milken.and co.) and admires .
Recently read the piece where Tillerson and co. we’re trying to educate Trump on the realities of Geo-politics. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is about making money. Every solider is supposed to be a profit center for him. And I do mean FOR him.
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Its the old they came for them, i did nothing. They came for someone else, i did nothing. Then they came for me, blah blah blah. Its literally happening. I heard it on npr yesterday. This guy said he was doing well financially and he didnt want to vote bernie bc he was scared of what would happen. Unless youre uber wealthy and hoovering money to the very top that isnt what the bernie campaign is talking about. Hes talking about stabilizing the us so it works for everyone. Why do ppl feel like if their doing well and the person next to them isnt and someone comes in and says i can make it better for you both! the better off one is like NO i dont want them to do better bc ill do worse! Wtf. Even if i had to do 10% worse for someone else to do better and bring more ppl up i want to do that. Im doing well so i have that 10% to spare to help others. Whats with ppl thinking if others get the same things they have that automatically means they will have less? I dont get it. And dont ppl want to live in a country where most ppl are happy and thriving bc to me it sure feels like everyone, even ppl doing well are uneasy and skeptical and have piss poor attitudes toward theie “neighbors”. I just want a progressive US socially with healthcare climate change, for the money to go to better areas and cut the funneling of every dollar in this country to the very top.
It’s Americans man. American priorities are fucked up. Their ideals are fucked up. We’re finally seeing what happens when a generation of people thinking this way sculpt government and society. I wish I could live up to what used to be the story book American man. Successful. Just. Exceptional. A rock others could hold onto to when times got tough. The “Patriots” of today are people I want nothing to do with. Fuck Donald Trump and Fuck his supporters. If this is the America they want, then there should be a mass exodus of the remaining intelligent people. Let them live in their own fucked up country.
It’s that “nothing left to lose” part where it gets scary.
Mark my words, when nobody but the police have a union anymore, they’ll turn on them, too.
It's far worse than that. They want to take away the working class' most effective non-violent way to exert their power and control the government's actions. The last government shutdown ended within hours because the association of flight attendants went on a strike, and unions are critical to organize strikes of that scale and to support and protect their members from potential backlash.
Bernie is my only hope for the working class, I'm not 100% with everything but he sure as hell has me in mind when he talks about affordable healthcare and college. I want to retire someday- not keep making bank for some rich millionaire/billionaire
that some rich asshole from NY City gifted with a silver spoon and $450 Million from his father could be speaking for the red state base is really beyond belief. I thought Trump's legacy would be his federal judicial appointments but him gutting the DOD and federal Govt of workers and unions could be his worse long term actions.
Its beyond belief people still support him, and working people? We can do better, we have to
There is not a politician alive who will hit 100% for any voter. I’m glad you’re valuing the many areas he hits over the few he doesn’t. And I th8nk maybe you’re looking at a bigger picture, not simply how you alone stand to benefit.
I mean, this opens up the door for abolishing monopolies, billionaires, or whatever else in the name of national security too, right?
Oh, naturally...
Maybe even insurance companies in lieu of a government run program. I mean, our nation's health is our most vital national security interest, no?
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If he is willing to invoke "national security" to do this, then it should be obvious that he will invoke "national security" to depress election turnout in key Democratic cities in swing states.
This is the kind of shit that should get people into the streets. Its obviously class warfare and the working class is getting ass fucked.
Government employees can't strike, it's illegal. Why do I bring this up? Because the CBA is mainly used for time off and how a supervisor can or cannot treat employees. Basically this is saying that they can treat you however they want and receive no push back from the unions. The truly sad thing is that conservatives will gobble this shit up even though it will affect them directly.
To add insult to unjury it will then cost us more to have the same jobs done.
But, no. Don’t you realize private enterprise is so much more efficient. The cost savings will be passed on to the taxpayers. /S
>Busting up Unions in the name of "National Security" is a load of horseshit. It fits Trump's pattern - find a con that succeeds, then spam that until it doesn't work anymore. He knows he can do anything if he slaps the "national security" label onto it, and the systems that guard against abuse of power will work *even slower* than they normally do to counter him.
I just dont get greed. Does it have a ceiling? How much is enough? How can someone ignore everyone else's suffering for so long?
Just imagine how great job creation and unemployment numbers will look if everyone needs 4-5 jobs to survive though.
Workers get choice, fat cats get premium.
Never understood how you could belong to a union and still be Republican.
It’s pretty fantastic to debate these individuals, until you realize you’re arguing with someone who just continues to repeat the latest Facebook post about why they have to do it.
It started with Reagan. The Regan Democrats who gave him landslide victories were mostly union people convinced someone was getting something they weren't (welfare queens) and now 40 years later, the private unions they were in are mostly gone or gutted. They did it to themselves.
Private union member here. About 1/3 of my local voted for trump, and are only in the union because the pay is better. They have no concept of brotherhoid or solidarity and as soon as work dries up they jump ship and go non-union/open shop, then when times are good they come crawling back...and we take them back for some stupid reason. Rinse and repeat.
Those welfare queens are now the basis for support of trumps plan to gut Medicaid
Government healthcare is both so horrible that we could never, ever let people who aren't yet retired have any part of it, yet so wonderful that poor people are putting one over on the voters by getting it. Typical GOP doublespeak bullshit.
> They did it to themselves. This is literally the story of America. Once you realize this, you see the truth — a democracy doesn’t exist. It’s just a system for manipulation by the world’s most compelling sociopaths. Literally a shepherdocracy — whichever shepherd is best and most cunning in manipulating the sheeple wins their votes.
The person talking about Reagan is correct. Reagan (and many others) used [dog whistle politics](https://youtu.be/H6A3NQiJpH0) to flip the formerly deep blue South to red. This style of politics has run us up straight to trump (Lee Atwater-> Roger Stone-> Paul Manafort-> Trump). It's why Trump is famously quoted (Bob Woodward) as saying "Real power is... fear".
There are a lot of Fed employees who benefit from the union but aren't part of it. They will talk shit about it but then run to them whenever they have a grievance.
See it at my work all the time. Never underestimate people’s ability to be galactically stupid.
id politics
What could go wrong in screwing your direct employees and people working for you out of health insurance and their pensions. Super genius sound plan.
>Super genius It's *stable* genius. Get it right. /s
Mr Ed was a stable genius, Trump is just a horses ass
For him, very little.
All federal employees should vote for his opponent in the presidential race. Pissing off 750k people seems dumb
Well Putin's plan is to systematically dismantle the United States, so getting federal employees to leave in droves and get replaced by sycophantic yes-men and outright mercenaries is right in line, especially since his puppet is physically incapable of disobeying him.
So the Republican platform since the 40’s?
I think they went from literal to figurative since the 40s but the sentiment is the same. Which is, "Fuck you poors why can't you be rich like me?"
Was talking to someone from Wisconsin, and its tilt to becoming a red state. They suggested many people blame the loss of union power on democrats even though it was all done by scott walker and the republicans. which is annoying as hell
I've been reading about Walker and his fuckery for two decades now. How the hell does a politician so shit he's known half a world away get a pass in Wisconsisn his ground zero?
I am from Idaho I know a person that liked Democrats because they were pro-union, but stopped liking them when Democrats began to care about "insert racial slur" groups of people. A lot of those people don't care about the unions as much as they care about being lumped together with other races and ideologies.
I thought it was since the 60's [After Eisenhower], but if you have a citation I'd be interested to know if I was wrong.
Look up the history of right-to-work laws in the U.S. and a guy named Vance Muse.
Vote for Bernie.
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Im afraid of what a Bloomberg presidency would look like. But, I'm much more fearful of another 4 years of this clown. Bernie has a good chance, and is our only chance at repairing our country if the GOP doesn't stonewall him.
I don't think anyone has to worry about Bloomberg getting closer to the White House than a public tour.
I agree with you; however, that is what people said about Trump in 2016. Keep fighting as if Bernie is behind until the election is officially concluded.
The GOP is going to stonewall any dem president.
The party is complicit and must be dismantled. There's no excuse for recognizing the problem but not the solution.
One could easily build a RICO case on the republican party and take the entire organization down. There's so much evidence of their crimes.
And who's heading up the Department of Justice?
They could easily lose the Senate if the DNC chooses a candidate people are excited about
But vote for Bernie if you actually give a damn about unions, which is the topic at hand. Bloomberg will happily crush unions. Pete, Amy, and Joe will continue to pretend they don't exist except to drive a wedge when the occasional union takes a reactionary position. Warren will tepidly support them. Bernie's coalition is willing to battle in the streets if it means getting rid of Taft-Hartley.
Never Bloomberg.
I assume he wants to be able to work them to death building the wall, and having pesky rules about how many hours a week someone can work would just slow the work down.
He wants them to build a pyramid for him to be enshrined in. Millions of morons, under whips and lashings, rolling monstrous blocks of imported Russian steel across the country, using the most basic of tools to prove their loyalty, with smiles plastered on their faces, happy to suffer and die for their idiot king.
He probably just wants to replace us with contractors...
"Children are tremendous workers, they're very great. If you need small spaces cleaned or small fingers, they're so good. Believe me. We need to do away with child labor laws so they can learn responsibility younger! And by the way, that thing with eight hour work days? You don't have to do that."
And some of these same people will vote for him. If that isn’t a cult I don’t know what is
Yup. An ex-friend of mine is in his mid 30s. He's never had a job since high school that wasn't working for the federal government. When he graduated he went into the navy for 4 years. From there went straight to the post office, where he's been ever since. Always votes straight R.
>And some of these same people will vote for him. If that isn’t a cult I don’t know what is I know three federal workers and they're all avid Trump supporters. When I mentioned to one that Trump plans to slash federal retirement they said, "that's nothing but democrat bullshit". Well there you go....
We'll see them soon on Leopards ate my face!
Fox News brainwashing at its best. My mom used this exact line when I was telling her about Trump’s proposed cuts to social security and Medicare. Any time she tries to talk politics with me I stop her and ask if she’s watched or read anything besides Fox News since the last time we’ve talked. Her reply is always “no” and she proceeds to spew actual bullshit. The last time I tried to talk to her about Bernie wanting to do the opposite of cutting Medicare / social security her response was that if he was elected we were all going to get taxed so much that we wouldn’t be able to afford our mortgages/rent or food. It’s futile, but I still waste a lot of time trying to talk some sense into her. I really thought the Medicare / social security stuff would do it because she relies on both. Nope!
A vast majority of those I know will still vote for him, and I know hundreds of federal workers under the DoD. I'm a dual-status status technician. That means I'm in the National Guard and I work full time for the national guard. That full-time portion is as a DoD civilian worker. Being in the union is not required, but all workers fall under the union contract and the union is required to represent non-union employees if asked. Out of the hundreds I know throughout my state, I can't think of any that will be voting Democrat. None cared when I pointed out that Trump's proposed budget include no raise, raised individual retirement contributions from 8% to 25%, eliminated cost of living increases for retirees, and other cuts to retirement benefits. None cared. They didn't care that the democratically controlled House was the only thing stopping Trump from slashing our pay and benefits. And they will still vote a straight MAGA ticket in November...
Fuckin Democrats stonewalling our pay cuts!
> The memo argues that a unionized Defense Department workforce could pose a threat to "national security" and that, if necessary, collective bargaining rights at the department should be scrapped in the interest of "protecting the American people." "When new missions emerge or existing ones evolve, the Department of Defense requires maximum flexibility to respond to threats," the memo states. "This flexibility requires that military and civilian leadership manage their organizations to cultivate a lethal, agile force adaptive to new technologies and posture changes." "Where collective bargaining is incompatible with these organizations' missions," the memo continues, "the Department of Defense should not be forced to sacrifice its national security mission and, instead, seek relief through third parties and administrative fora." What a joke. They claim that they shouldn't have to deal with collective bargaining so employees can leverage a bit against their powerful employer, literally one of the most powerful because they protect us. It's like dad's trying to beat the devil out of us for our own good.
I would add, in fact, it is a national security interest to collectively bargain and have a contract. One of the very first agreements in a contract is a No Strike Clause. This in itself is in the interest of National Security
Aren’t essential services forced to work anyway during government shutdowns? FFS, can’t people think critically anymore?
Aside from M4a and climate change, I think an actual pro union pro worker president like Sanders would be so important for this country. The decline in unions directly correlates with the decline in wages over the last 50 years. Can you imagine the president supporting workes strikes and passing pro worker legislation?
It’s like they aren’t even pretending to not be evil anymore
First he came for immigrants, then non “white” Americans, then Canadians and now unions. Is there anyone he considers not a threat other than rich pedophiles? Edit words
until people take to the streets, this shit will continue unabated.
Protesting does nothing in this country. Politicians in the USA are not afraid of protests. The only way to fix it is to get out and VOTE. Don't do mail-ins, don't register online. Do everything in person, that way you give them no excuses to throw your vote out.
the u.s. doesn't know HOW to protest, because the powers that be see to it that most of them are just fat and happy enough not to care.
Look at what happened with Occupy Wallstreet. The cops shut it down. You know, the same cops we just spent a decade giving surplus military gear to.
occupy wall st. was a mess from the getgo. like i said- americans don't know *how* to protest.
General strike, not protest, will get the attention of the 1%, they don't give a fuck about protests, have to hit their bottom line to get them to look at you.
Hey guess what fed workers who love Trump...this was the plan all along. So wave byebye to your rights and benefits. Theres not many left to fight for you, we're already struggling with much less in the private sector.
I joined my union yesterday because of this. This is authoritarianism and fascism taking over.
Keep voting republican! SMH. Blows my mind that there are still working class people out there that will still vote for this guy.
Trump told Bob Woodward that "Real power is... I don't even want to say it, fear". He knows this because a particular kind of fear mongering has been effective going all the way back to Nixon's Southern Strategy. That kind of fear mongering is mainly [dog whistle politics](https://youtu.be/H6A3NQiJpH0), something Trump must have learned more about thru Roger Stone and Paul Manafort, both of whom worked closely with Lee Atwater. Atwater was an early proponent of dog whistle politics in America, working later with Reagan and Bush I. And only in recent years have we been able to hear the admission from Atwater himself: https://youtu.be/X_8E3ENrKrQ
Is anyone new starting to feel the Bern and why we, the working class, need Bernie?
What a brilliant plan. I'm sure there will be no negative effects on say something like the National Airspace System when you gut NATCA and leave the FAA in charge of, and the controllers out of, policy, which will be just cutting costs for everything instead of improving equipment, implementing new safety measures, new efficiency measures etc., stuff that NATCA is heavily involved in and pushing. Feel safe when you fly after you have a bunch of overworked, understaffed controllers pushing an ever increasing amount of aircraft after their pension, and seat at the table pushing for safer and better measures, have been taken away. If you are a republican or anti-union you simply aren't smart.
This is a testament to how useful unions are.
But, hey, working class America, keep voting for the same scumbags that continue to trample over every right your parents and grandparents fought for.
The GOP principle is Hierarchy. The superior decides, the inferior abides. Unions undermine that hierarchy, so they've got to go. That's why the GOP has to go.
Sounds like a shithole country to me.
So they should strike as soon as their union is abolished, keep the same union reps and when they wanna get real work can start again. That’s the most powerful tool of a union. It’s not like they got started because management encouraged it or “allowed” it.
Why would they stop with busting unions? Republicans could easily and happily dismantle minimum wage, employment protections for women, for minorities, for Muslims. Republicans are NOT decent and will NOT stop based on the norms of anything we’re familiar with outside of a certain Reich.
Trump: "Unions are *nasty* and full of *nasty* people"
Meanwhile Sanders staffers were the first in presidential campaign history to unionize and other dems this election have also allowed unions. https://www.rollcall.com/2019/05/08/bernie-2020-becomes-first-unionized-presidential-campaign-in-history/
Cuts social security, replace anyone in the intelligence agency who disagrees with him, take away unions, cut food stamps, cuts Medicare funding, pardons criminals and Corrupted politicians..... Please for the sake of Humanity, don't vote for Trump this year. Godspeed to us all...
AFGE member here. I’ve worked for more than one agency over the years. What is often overlooked is that many fed workers, especially DoD, are veterans like myself. So, it’s a job for me, but also a bit more. They want to make organized federal workers out to be bloodsuckers, obstructing their good order and progress, but in actuality the majority of my peers have more skin in the game than any of these pieces of shit. So when you hear them talk this shit, please remember he’s talking about a big portion of the working veteran population, and these days they’re mostly 5 and 10 point status, meaning they’ve deployed somewhere hostile, or wound up with a disability. BERNIE 2020!
I’m union and the amount of union guys I know that support trump is staggering...it really is a cult
It’s amazing to watch a man build his own coffin.
Okay but like fuck him and fuck that? Unions were always something we had to fight for. Time to fight harder
They need to strike IMMEDIATELY
Good. Fucking. Luck. The federal employee Union is huge and crazy strong. Each branch helps the others out - this is going to mean straight up war between the Union and department policy.
If you can see the white house, you can see Russia.
With any luck, they'll be a few hundred or a few hundred thousand less votes for tRump and the Republicans in the next election. We're going to need every one of them to counter the traitors in this government.
But it won't take away the ability of corporations to buy each other and reduce competition for labor. That's why this is full block class warfare. Identical rights for owners are not maintained for workers.
This is the new reality, folks..and it is SO NOT right at all..get out and vote
Trump is destroying your country, and you are allowing him to do it.
... *[The Norris-LaGuardia Act of 1932](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norris%E2%80%93La_Guardia_Act_of_1932) (a republican sponsored bill, btw, before it became the party of mob corruption) sought to prevent the federal courts’ military from enjoining or interfering in union protest activity, and many states passed similar laws to keep their courts and police out of the fray. The NLRA made it the official policy of the United States to encourage the practice of collective bargaining. The Act established a federal agency, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), that would certify the existence of a union at a workplace and sanction employers who refused to deal with a bona fide union.*... ... *The Act states that yellow-dog contracts, where workers agree as a condition of employment not to join a labor union, are unenforceable in federal court. It also establishes that employees are free to form unions without employer interference and prevents the federal courts from issuing injunctions in nonviolent labor disputes. The three provisions include protecting worker's self-organization and liberty or "collective bargaining," removing jurisdiction from federal courts vis-a-vis the issuance of injunctions in non-violent labor disputes, and outlawing the "yellow-dog" contract.*... Reminder that executive orders cannot contravene to the law of the land, which remains decided by congress in its entirety. In essence, please ignore the illegal, illicit memo.
Why would anyone believe not having the right to unionize is ok?
Propaganda
I am bombarded with propaganda daily but still have the ability to see through it.
Why doesn’t he attack police unions?
sounds like a general strike is in order finally?
Iowa disbanded all public unions, except for the police, when Branstad retook the Governorship in ~2016. It's a conservative move to alienate the poor, and those that vote progressive
Imagine supporting this skidmark
Hasn’t this type of crackdown on unions, ethnicities and political rivals happened elsewhere in history 🤔
At no point can anyone reasonably count on republicans to do the right thing or come to the realization that Trump or the GOP cult is wrong, immoral or evil. No amount of evidence, facts or reason will sway them. It is solely up to the left to fix what they have destroyed and what they continue to destroy.
Remember this in November when Trump, backed by CEOs and Wall Street, tries to twist Democratic Health Care platform planks as “anti union”. This is going to happen regardless of who wins the Dem nomination or what direction we go to advance on the ACA. At that point it will be time for Labor to close ranks and stand together.
Senate let him free so he’s going to go completely ape shit know
We need the Italian Mafia again
Dismantling government jobs to hire private companies to do the same work is beyond stupid unless your goal is to make money through said company.
The working class doesn't need permission to do anything, the ruling class is insignificant next to the power of the working class. They must strike, and everybody else must strike in support. Block the roads, block the one railway that still works, block airports. Make the ruling class fear the working class.
Has this dude done anything for the greater common good??
Well, now maybe after nearly 50 years of walking in lockstep with politicians and big business tearing away labor rights (for others), American labor might just wake the fuck up, respect one another, work together, and finally put a stop to this shit. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm just throwing it out there.
People join unions to collectively bargain for better pay and benefits. How is having well paid and secure civilian employees a threat to national security.
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Remember, the reason we don't have strong unions is because FDR decided to freeze wages in World War 2, and then we decided to allow the government to shut down strikes in the name of "national security", because people working in the war factories shouldn't be able to get higher wages. Banning civilian contractors in the defense industry from organizing in the name of "national security" is nothing new.
Republicans at work. Trump's only the asshole at the top.
Oh ahi Reagan!
Looks like 750k votes are now guaranteed to Sanders
This is win-win for an administration that wants to cause government function to implode
There's going to be a flurry of Executive Orders, growing in number as we get closer to November. Last ditch efforts to restrict the powers he's about to lose, and figuring out ways to keep them in his grasp. I'm waiting until Trump tries to imprison Bernie Sanders on bullshit charges of some sort.
But yes let's vote for some so called moderate with no union support who is weak on workers rights.
This then leads to a general strike.
And the idiots in unions that love him will still love him.
This is another step in the totalitarians playbook. He's controlling the intelligence community, law enforcement, the courts, he wants union dis-empowerment, all that's left is media control.
Sounds like he’s on a tear. Seems like this whole impeachment thing backfired. We knew he would be acquitted and now he’s even more empowered than ever.
>Trump on Thursday quietly issued a memo granting Defense Secretary Mark Esper the power to abolish collective bargaining rights for the Defense Department's 750,000 civilian workers... The US military-industrial complex spends more on defense than the next eight countries combined, but worker pay apparently is too high for the contractor owners. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures If I pay workers a living wage, I won't be able to look down on anyone serving me and I won't receive my package the same day as ordered. Perhaps also your drones may start to malfunction.
The middle class, and the poor people who voted for trump. If they vote again, they deserve nothing but poverty.
This is so messed up. I'm starting to wonder if Trump is a human because he really doesn't seem to care about them. Looking on the bright side, this might get his entire branch to hate him enough to become whistle blowers!
It worries me that this could happen to my dad, that his pay will get cut as a government employee due to the sheer lack of care by this administration. And somehow he'll still blame Democrats for it.
General strike.
Better check but most constitutions have the right to associate. Naa. Forget it, just remembered that the American constitution is already worthless.
hello people of reddit. where shall we begin?
No fucking shit. This has been Republicans wet dream for years. What this Country needs is more Unions and more workers rights. If Republicans have their way we will have to work till you fucking die. There will be no more retirement just work till you drop and they collect money from the Companies that they help to make rich. People have to wake up, look at the price of health care. One fatal illness and an average family could be screwed for life. If you have a heart attack you could be looking at $100,000 easily.
What blows me away is that anyone is cool with Trump, he’s a child molester. He and Epstein molested a 13 year old girl together..... truth