Although corporate executives would refuse to do their jobs without contracts guaranteeing their extravagant salaries, many of those same execs regularly deny workers the same protection. The Employee Free Choice Act would allow workers the option of choosing whether and how they want to form a union. (Sounds scary, huh?) To greedy CEOs and their congressional peg boys, any piece of legislation that might result in higher wages and better conditions for workers smacks of socialism... or worse!
An anti-EFCA group called "Americans for Prosperity" (which really should be called "Americans for the Prosperity of Wealthy Americans") paints a scary picture on its website: Unions seem intoxicated with the idea of card check because it allows them to see who is not yet onboard with unionizing a specific shop. Those who have not yet applied their signature to the card are often visited at all hours of the day and night. They are pressured both at work and at home by organizers intent on obtaining signatures. (Hear that? If ya' don't sign da' card, dem union thugs is gonna pay your famly a little visit in the dead of night, mebbe measure youse guys for some cement galoshes.)
But as public support has been growing for the Employee Free Choice Act, the stalwart defenders of corporate sovereignty - that'd be the GOP and right-wing pundits - have called out the big guns to pitch their anti-labor message. Their new hero is the guy with more ego than Rahm Emanuel, more self-delusion than Dick Cheney, and more love of publicity than Rev. Rick Warren. It's the Wascally Wurzelbacher! (Even the ever-evolving Madonna never reinvented herself as many times as Samuel Wurzelbacher aka Joe the Plumber aka Joe the Political Pundit aka Joe the Congressional Hopeful aka Joe the War Correspondent... and now, Joe the Union Basher! The difference being, of course, that Madonna is arguably more adept at switching hats than Joe the Whatever whose swollen head is so ripe that it absolutely SCREAMS for a bed of lettuce.)
So now Mr. Wurz-burger has joined the ranks of those who think workers must be forever grateful for whatever crumbs get tossed their way by the masters of corporate greed and mismanagement.
Amanda Terkel at Think Progress writes: Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, aka “Joe the Plumber,” was recently tapped by the anti-labor group Americans for Prosperity to shill against the Employee Free Choice Act. Americans for Prosperity spokesperson Mary Ellen Burke said that Wurzelbacher was chosen because “he represents the American worker” and is a “role model.” At a rally yesterday near Pittsburgh, PA, Wurzelbacher received a chilly welcome from many residents - especially union members... As the union members noted, Wurzelbacher never had a plumbing license.
One union member is quoted as saying: "So for the Republican party to take a position that this is the epitome of a working person makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to anybody here that has to pay taxes."
David Sirota sums up: Workers stagnating wages has nothing to do with decreased productivity... wages are stagnating despite increases in productivity. The truth is what business and its anti-labor front groups don't want to admit: That workers' wages have stagnated because workers have not been able to collectively bargain for better pay. That's what the Employee Free Choice Act aims to fix.
And that's what "Americans for Prosperity" and Joe the Union Basher want to stay broken.





