Parrot Cage

The Rewards of Defaulting Pension Plans

Nice to know that those CEO's who fuck over their workers by either robbing, underfunding, or defaulting on their pensions altogether are rewarded for their efforts.  Anyone still doubt that class warfare is raging in this country?  Care to guess who's losing?

Read all about it.

Labor Losses and Wins

First, congratulations to IAM for the successful end to their strike against Boeing.  We owe many years of quality living standards to IAM.  Strikes are difficult for families to endure, but let it be known that the Cave Shadows Collective's progressive/radical worldview was largely shaped by a brief childhood dependence on strike relief.  We know that the workers had to sacrifice much, including wage increases, but they did win out for their pensions.  Let's hope that they have negotiated some protection for those pensions once they've been earned.  As United pioneered, and lax regulation guarantees, pensions not only can be plundered but their poaching is fast becoming incorporated into business models.

Northwest Airlines workers are finding hope in IAM's success.  But their struggle will continue to be an uphill battle, even as NWA sinks.  The NWA workers plight has been exacerbated by the disrespect of other unions.

Which brings us to the newly-formed Change to Win Coalition which split from the AFL-CIO in June but held one of those notorious labor conventions yesterday and designated Anna Burger their chair.  We actually think that this is an exciting development for labor.  Unions have been hampered by conservative mindsets and unresponsive leadership, and the AFL-CIO is the leading culprit; they have been rightfully rejected for their ineffectiveness in fighting for workers.  Many unions blindly bankroll Democrats, even as these very Democrats piss on them.  Building membership is the only real solution.

While sending those unionized factory jobs overseas has been enormously damaging to the American worker, labor needs to ensure that the next generation of jobs which do still exist--service sector--will be well paid.  Target numero uno:  Wal-Mart. The unionizing of Wal-Mart could be the Holy Grail for the new era of labor.

We don't know what the political consequences to stronger unions will be, but rest assured that in America there will always be plenty of working-class idiots who prefer gay panic to good jobs.

And now to re-inact Davis-Bacon....
 

Davis-Bacon Sizzles

Daily Howler alerts us that Lou Dobbs is asking the right question, possibly to the wrong person.  To his guest Jesse Jackson, Lou queried about the Louisiana's Democrats' reaction to Bush's suspension of the Davis-Bacon act to undercut wages during the post-Katrina recovery:

DOBBS: Well, let me ask you Jesse, the mayor of New Orleans, the governor of Louisiana, why in the world aren't they protesting and representing their constituents in this? Because it is on the face of it -- well, the nicest word I can put it is unreasonable to allow open-ended contracts, cost-plus, and put a minimum effectively, to reduce the minimum that workers will be paid.

Although Jackson didn't respond to what the local politicians were doing, the question hangs in the air.  We've expressed disgust for both Republican-in-sheep's-clothing New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen "Prayer-in-her-heart" Blanco, and we predict that neither of these maladroit politicians will make a peep in protection of the constituents whose lives their ineptitude has already ruined.

Talking Points Memo and TPM Cafe have followed the progression of the Davis-Bacon Act suspension.

And we remember where we first heard of the Davis-Bacon act, an article by Wall Street Journal hack John Fund and its Orwellian title: Making Life Easier for Folks in the Big Easy. Some might suggest that John Fund is a hopeless fool, but, like everyone from the Wall Street Journal Op-Ed page, John Fund knows exactly what he's doing and whose interests he is protecting.  The name of the paper kinda gives it away.

And locally, seems those Wall Street types see Katrina victims as a union-busting godsend in the form of ready-made scabs.

Roberts Hearings

Crooks and Liars has highlights of the Roberts grilling.