I like how my pro-union statements are somehow anti-union to you.
I like how my pro-union statements are somehow anti-union to you.
Just calling things as I see them. You have a strange way of advocating for "collective bargaining", while railing against populist movements taking the place of organized unions.Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
Unions are, almost by definition, not "populist". And yes, I do rail against populism and other divisive/demonizing political movements.
Wage theft has been a matter of administrative regulation/law and not civil or criminal law because of labor lobbying. It was and always had been far easier to get favorable rulings against employers from bureaucrats than from the justice system.Agreed -- it's fairly outrageous that wage theft isn't being fully prosecuted in the first place, but it becomes egregious (a term lawyers like to use) when "Justice For All" becomes "Justice For Some". ie, those with enough money to
influencebuy lawyers and legislators. Welcome to the United Corporations of America?
Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"
Really? I don't see you railing against The New Republican Party divisiveness or demonizing, as dictated by The Tea Party "populist movement".
Sure, there was a time in US history when AFL/CIO/UAW, etc. had a lot of money, influence, and clout over domestic labor policy. But that era ended decades ago. Now it's public workers like teachers, police, and fire fighters trying to negotiate salaries and benefits, with meager "union" representation....plus retail and service workers trying to get adequate compensation for their labor's efforts, without "union" reps.
Are you melding centuries to make that statement "work", or just using the term "bureaucrat" indiscriminately?
Modern "labor lobbying" hasn't meant squat since Union membership/powers dwindled in the 80's-90's....and corporate employers out-funded their political donations. Our justice system is full of elected and/or appointed officials, particularly at state and local levels, which effectively makes them politicians. You, of all people, should know that.
Heh, powerless like all the union hacks at the NLRB who stand a good chance of getting all their rulings vacated?
Modern labor lobbying hasn't had to mean squat with things like this or many other labor-protection measures since they were instituted decades ago back when labor had more political pull.
Are you melding centuries to make that statement "work", or just using the term "bureaucrat" indiscriminately?
Modern "labor lobbying" hasn't meant squat since Union membership/powers dwindled in the 80's-90's....and corporate employers out-funded their political donations. Our justice system is full of elected and/or appointed officials, particularly at state and local levels, which effectively makes them politicians. You, of all people, should know that.
Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"
Agreed. Since the legislation is already in place.....isn't the modern weakest link within our judicial system itself -- where people rely on Judges, Sheriffs, Police Chiefs who have political connections/motivations, instead of Justice itself?
Divorce Court, Juvenile Court, Probate Court, Bankruptcy Court....these "entities" have become massive gravy trains for private lawyers, while cheating or exploiting people who rely on Public legal services that can't buy justice.
Attorney, adjudicate thyself?
I can tell you're trying to make some point but for the life of me I can't tell how any of those words tie back into what we were actually discussing and not just as part of your completely opaque and subjective holistic discourse.
Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"
We were discussing the Power Principle, right? From my pov -- the "bureaucrats" within our legal system, and their political donors, have replaced old Labor lobbyist influences. We agreed that protective legislation already exists. But flaws from that administrative regulation/law you mentioned....happen when legislators de-fund oversight and prosecutorial abilities. Laws can't be enforced without public regulators or lawyers, and the whole justice system can crumble or rot when it's overly privatized, or monetized.
OK, I probably shouldn't have added other Court entities, since it's not specific to Wage Theft, but a more general comment about taking "teeth" out of our public justice system. I was also blasting Dread's posts (about private collective bargaining, and union hacks at the NRLB), sorry for not making that distinction clear.
In welcome news, a new study finds that the US has already abolished minimum wage laws:
http://www.epi.org/publication/emplo...ate-economies/
So can we finally start focusing on the real problems such as smoking and lottery tickets?Key findings
We find that:
In the 10 most populous states in the country, each year 2.4 million workers covered by state or federal minimum wage laws report being paid less than the applicable minimum wage in their state—approximately 17 percent of the eligible low-wage workforce.
The total underpayment of wages to these workers amounts to over $8 billion annually. If the findings for these states are representative for the rest of the country, they suggest that the total wages stolen from workers due to minimum wage violations exceeds $15 billion each year.
Workers suffering minimum wage violations are underpaid an average of $64 per week, nearly one-quarter of their weekly earnings. This means that a victim who works year-round is losing, on average, $3,300 per year and receiving only $10,500 in annual wages.
Young workers, women, people of color, and immigrant workers are more likely than other workers to report being paid less than the minimum wage, but this is primarily because they are also more likely than other workers to be in low-wage jobs. In general, low-wage workers experience minimum wage violations at high rates across demographic categories. In fact, the majority of workers with reported wages below the minimum wage are over 25 and are native-born U.S. citizens, nearly half are white, more than a quarter have children, and just over half work full time.
In the 10 most populous states, workers are most likely to be paid less than the minimum wage in Florida (7.3 percent), Ohio (5.5 percent), and New York (5.0 percent). However, the severity of underpayment is the worst in Pennsylvania and Texas, where the average victim of a minimum wage violation is cheated out of over 30 percent of earned pay.
The poverty rate among workers paid less than the minimum wage in these 10 states is over 21 percent—three times the poverty rate for minimum-wage-eligible workers overall. Assuming no change in work hours, if these workers were paid the full wages to which they are entitled, less than 15 percent would be in poverty.
"One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."
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