Wednesday, February 08, 2012

If You Screw Them We Will Come.

WeAreAllLivingInPottervilleNow
RobberbarronVille


So.

Why is Caterpillar taking our money and running and opening up shop in the fine state that hosted the 'A-Fiat-Is-Still-A-Fiat' Bowl last week.

I mean, to my naive ears it didn't make sense that the Robberbarrons were going to the northern, sensible state of Indiana when they could go south to a 'Right-To-Kill-Unions-Dead' state like, say, Tennessee.

Boy, was I wrong about that.

Thomas Walkom has the story:

"The timing of Caterpillar Inc.’s decision to close its locked-out London locomotive plant was no accident.

Last Wednesday, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels signed into law a so-called right-to-work bill making his state the first in the U.S. industrial north to directly take on private-sector unions.

Two days later, Caterpillar — which is based in next-door Illinois — closed its unionized London plant.

Since it locked out 460 Canadian workers in January, the giant U.S. firm had made little secret of its intent to move their jobs to Muncie, Ind.

All it was waiting for, apparently, was a signal that the state government there was serious about crippling trade unions...."


And still, there are people, some of them prominent 'business people' who should know better, who have been screaming that its the fault of the workers in London for not 'compromising' to save their jobs.

Again.

We are going in reverse at a million miles-an-hour, with the accelerator jammed to the floor.

That's us I tell you.


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And if you read a few of the comments to the Walkom piece you will see that there are many regular folks who make like the sheeple in Thomas Frank's 'What's the matter with Kansas' and cheer Caterpillar for screwing them and their community over on their way out the door...

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7 comments:

UU4077 said...

FYI - The CAT related Electro Motive plant was in London, ON, not Waterloo.

Anonymous said...

Start Canada Spring, Saturday March 24th and every weekend after till he's gone. Pass it on.

Grant G said...

I guessed you missed this..

"Could you imagine working making $50 to $70 k per year and coming to work one day and be told your new wage is $30 k per year with no benefits, these were skilled welders, electricians, computer specialists all sold out by corporate greed.

Kevin Oleary applauded the move, he called it good business, more corporate profits and as Oleary said in the show,

"They should have taken the 50% cut in basic pay and benefits"


you see folks, at one time in history Kevin Oleary couldn`t have gotten away with that, he would be sent packing, Kevin might have said something like, ...

Caterpillar is a good company with a bright future but as good corporate citizens go Caterpillar stinks to high heaven, but he didn`t, Kevin Oleary also blatantly misinformed and outright fibbed on air again..."....

1. What does Indiana's Right-to-Work Law prohibit?
Indiana's Right-to-Work Law ("RTW") makes it a Class A misdemeanor to require an individual as a condition of employment to:

(A) Become or remain a member of a labor organization;
(B) Pay dues, fees, assessments or other charges to a labor organization; or
(C) Pay to a charity or another third party an amount that is equivalent to, or a pro rata part of, dues, fees, or other charges required of a member of a labor organization.

2. Does RTW outlaw labor unions in Indiana?
No. RTW simply prohibits the payments noted in #1 above as a condition of employment.

3. When does RTW become effective?
March 14, 2012
The whole act is here

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Or read the whole story here..

http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.com/2012/02/monday-night-musings.html

rww said...

So it essentially makes the basis of Ontario labour law, the Rand Formula, illegal in Indiana.

RossK said...

Thanks UU-

Will fix

Anonymous said...

The thing is labour is forbidden access to the political process but folks like Caterpillar can "BUY" the legislation and politicians they want? Right? Never thought the day would come where we are seeing the repeat of European fascism in the USA that they fought WWII over. But the the Bund just went 'underground' and they have appeared full blown in this Century. History repeats itself about twenty years short of 2040.

Burgess

RossK said...

Thanks Grant--

And yes, Mr. O' was one of the fine 'business' folks I was talking about.

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rww--

Precisely.

This has pretty much already happened out here in the Construction sector.

Question is, is there a province, one that say, starts with an 'S' that will try this whole hog?

Sure hope not

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Burgess--

It is getting harder and harder to refute your argument.

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