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Tag(s): Alabama; Audio; Justice; Management; Unemployed; Work
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August 6, 2008 at 16:14:32

Headlined on 8/6/08:
Have Americans Forgotten the Importance of Unions?

by Roger Shuler Page 1 of 1 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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Have Americans Forgotten What Unions Have Done for Them?

As someone who recently was wrongfully terminated from his job, I've been thinking a lot about unions recently.

I'm painfully aware that it is uncool to be seen as "pro union" in many circles these days. Union membership in the U.S. has been declining for years, particularly in the Deep South where I live.

As I sit here unemployed, roughly 11 weeks removed from being fired from my job as an editor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), I can't help but think how my life would be different if I had worked in a union environment.

In a major investigative story, Raw Story reported that my termination showed clear signs of being politically driven. Specifically, it appears that I was terminated because I write a blog that is critical of the Bush Justice Department, particularly its handling of the Don Siegelman case.

In fact, an audiotaped conversation between me and UAB employee relations director Anita Bonasera pretty much confirms that I was targeted for political reasons. You can listen to that audio here.

So how would my life be different if UAB employees had a union? Well, I have no doubt that I would still have a job, after 19 years of service. In fact, I feel certain that management types at UAB would not have even attempted the stunt they pulled on me if I'd had any kind of workplace representation at all.

Why was it so easy for UAB to cheat me out of my job? Because in the various meetings I attended leading up to my termination, I was always the only person in the room concerned about my rights and well being. I had no representation of any kind.

I also was the only person in the room concerned with the truth. UAB President Carol Garrison has made a public statement, saying my termination had nothing to do with politics and was based solely on work performance. Garrison's own employee grievance committee has found that my termination was wrongful, and I should be reinstated. As for Garrison's claim that politics played no role, the audio above begs to differ.

Americans tend to forget the many things we enjoy because of the union movement--five-day work weeks, eight-hour days, 40-hour weeks, vacation time, health benefits. We "worker bees" also tend to forget how vulnerable we are when management suddenly turns on us--for whatever reason.

You can rest assured that I haven't forgotten.

www.legalschnauzer.blogspot.com

I live in Birmingham, Alabama, and work in higher education. I became interested in justice-related issues after experiencing gross judicial corruption in Alabama state courts. This corruption has a strong political component. The corrupt judges are all Republicans, and the attorney who filed a fraudulent lawsuit against me has strong family ties to the Alabama Republican Party, with indirect connections to national figures such as Karl Rove. In fact, a number of Republican operatives who have played a central role in the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman (a Democrat) also have connections to my case. I am married, with no kids and two Siamese cats. I am the author of the blog Legal Schnauzer. The blog is written in honor of Murphy, our miniature schnauzer (1993-2004)who did so much to help my wife and me survive our nightmarish experience with corrupt judges. I grew up in Springfield, Missouri, and I am pretty much a lifelong St. Louis Cardinal baseball fan. I've lived in Birmingham for almost 30 years and have adopted the UAB Blazers as my Southern college football and basketball team to follow. Also, follow East Tennessee State basketball. An avid reader, both fiction and non-fiction. Influential writers on public affairs are Kevin Phillips, Michael Lind, Thomas Edsall, E.J. Dionne, Molly Ivins, and Scott Horton.

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7 comments

I am a conservative independant. I believe in the Constitution of the United States.
Jay TimminsI am a conservative independant. I believe in the Constitution of the United States.

"Have Americans Forgotten the Importance of Unions"

Roger I'm sorry to hear you lost your job due to freedom of speach. People have forgotten what unions have done for them....all of them. If it wasn't for unions, the wages would be 3rd world which is exactly what the Bush Administration is trying to impose. We all need to educate the masses about how wages and owning a home got to where we were just about 7 1/2 years ago. I have seen nothing but a decline in everything in this country since Bush 1 was elected. We seemed to have money in the bank when Clinton was president and then junior got elected or should I say he wound up in office. Clinton was the last elected president. I don't see much hope in the two candidates that are running now. Seems as though only elitist crooks run for any office today.

by Jay Timmins (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 103 comments) on Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at 8:50:59 PM

Conservative prolife anti-death penalty tree hugger. Believe that less government is good government, government cannot solve anyone's personal problems, the government taking money from one group of people and giving it to another group of people is a crime, and that people should take responsibility for their own lives.
Mad JayhawkConservative prolife anti-death penalty tree hugger. Believe that less government is good government, government cannot solve anyone's personal problems, the government taking money from one group of people and giving it to another group of people is a crime, and that people should take responsibility for their own lives.

Federal Law

If your employer broke federal law as you contend then you can take them to court and get reinstated with back pay. Hire a lawyer and sue them. But keep in mind that large employers usually have good employment lawyers on staff or on retainer and your employer probably did not act in haste in terminating you. They undoubtedly checked with those lawyers about the entire matter and have plenty of legal reasons for terminating you. It is nice to think that they fired you for solely political reasons but I seriously doubt that that would be the only reason. No company, I can assure you, wants to get involved in a messy employment lawsuit by illegally terminating someone.

I got fired for almost no reason (for standing up to my bosses), walked out the door and that same day got what I thought was one of the best employment lawyers in the US and a month later won a generous settlement from a company that 'never lost an employment lawsuit'. You can do the same. Forget unions. They are almost all corrupt and are only interested in feathering their officers' nests and protecting their interests not yours. Take care of yourself.

One piece of advice for next time: quit your job before calling all your bosses or their friends names.

by Mad Jayhawk (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 399 comments) on Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at 10:29:32 PM

A concerned citizen and former mathematician/engineer now retired and living in rural Maine.
PrMaineA concerned citizen and former mathematician/engineer now retired and living in rural Maine.

The Legal Option

A lawsuit is not something to be undertaken lightly as it can be a quite expensive adventure. If you are lucky you might find a decent attorney to work for you at less than $200 an hour, but don't count on it and don't count on winning. This is a game for people and institutions with deep pockets.

For someone who is now unemployed and wondering how to pay the mortgage and health care, not to mention food and transportation, paying an attorney for an unknown number of hours with no guarantee of success can be a difficult decision to make. Like most institutions in our society, the system of justice is tilted in favor of the most well-off.

by PrMaine (11 articles, 9 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 391 comments) on Thursday, August 7, 2008 at 7:37:03 AM

I have worked as Union Electrician in a good part of this land. And the Union Brothers taught me well about how things should work
Michael DeweyI have worked as Union Electrician in a good part of this land. And the Union Brothers taught me well about how things should work

How

It does seem like America has forgotten about the power Unions can give people, by US standing together. Are we not all Union People for are Founders tried to form a more perfect Union.

There is even a better way to work called the Mondragon Cooperative of the Basque in Northern Spain. Its now the 8th largest company in all of Spain. The Coop owns Banks and a Collage too. You cash your shares in upon retirement.

Its how I would spread the wealth out in this Land. For it will be spread out as Isaiah 23:17-18 states. Even if it takes throwing the kings in jail as Isaiah 24:21-24 states. That all will give great cause to celebrate that big party of Isaiah 25.

by Michael Dewey (4 articles, 1 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 203 comments) on Thursday, August 7, 2008 at 12:20:31 AM

Retired. Male. Western Minnesota. Social Science/Spanish undergrad majors. Master's in Counseling. Socialist.
Bryan EmmelRetired. Male. Western Minnesota. Social Science/Spanish undergrad majors. Master's in Counseling. Socialist.

Unions

I am now retired and have been a union member all my working life. I have seen so many advantages compared to non unionized workers that they are too numerous to mention but certainly include worker security, health insurance and better wages and working conditions.

Unions have had a difficult row to hoe since, after WWII, there was a fascist push to weaken the unions and congress passed (over Truman's veto) Taft-Hartley Legislation that put unions at a severe disadvantage. Those laws need to be repealed.

There are powerful anti union propagandists among right wing groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers, the Chamber of Commerce and others that dominate the media to dish negative propaganda about unions and people have fallen for it. Look at Wal Mart holding meetings with all supervisors and managers trying to discourage employees from voting for Democrats for fear that pro union legislation will pass in the congress.

by Bryan Emmel (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 221 comments) on Thursday, August 7, 2008 at 5:16:20 AM

Grounded in family and rich in deprivation, Mr. Rankin is a U.S. Naval Veteran and engineering designer living near Akron, Ohio, where he and many are increasingly challenged by debt, inflation, wage suppression and the exodus of core industries. He is politically self-educated: a socially and environmentally progressive liberal. Outraged by the contemporary U.S. Government and its lap-dog press, he is increasingly determined to help expose today's combination of corporatism, nationalism and m...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Donald Rankin IIIGrounded in family and rich in deprivation, Mr. Rankin is a U.S. Naval Veteran and engineering designer living near Akron, Ohio, where he and many are increasingly challenged by debt, inflation, wage suppression and the exodus of core industries. He is politically self-educated: a socially and environmentally progressive liberal. Outraged by the contemporary U.S. Government and its lap-dog press, he is increasingly determined to help expose today's combination of corporatism, nationalism and m...

to see more of bio, click on member name

In A Word...

Yes.

(Good luck!)

by Donald Rankin III (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 44 comments) on Thursday, August 7, 2008 at 12:02:23 PM

I've worked union, I've volunteered in organizing campaigns, worked boycott picket lines for the farm workers back when. I'm a political junkie, a huge believer in truly representative democracy, and a left libertarian according to the Political Compass.

"A way can be a guide, but not a fixed path;
names can be given, but not permanent labels."
--Lao-tzu
Morgan MorganI've worked union, I've volunteered in organizing campaigns, worked boycott picket lines for the farm workers back when. I'm a political junkie, a huge believer in truly representative democracy, and a left libertarian according to the Political Compass.

"A way can be a guide, but not a fixed path;
names can be given, but not permanent labels."
--Lao-tzu

If they did, they've remembered.

I don't think it's fair to blame the workers, or the American people for the actions, or inaction, of our seriously undemocratic form of government.

http://www.sharedprosperity.org/bp182.html

"Workers want unions more than ever before. The proportion of workers who want unions has risen substantially over the last 10 years, and a majority of nonunion workers in 2005 would vote for union representation if they could. This is up from the roughly 30% who would vote for representation in the mid-1980s, and the 32% to 39% in the mid-1990s, depending on the survey. Given that nearly all union workers (90%) desire union representation, the mid-1990s analysis suggested that if all the workers who wanted union representation could achieve it, then 44% of the workforce would have union representation. The rise in the desire for union representation since then suggests that the share of the nonunion workforce wanting union representation in 2005 was 53%. These results, in turn, suggest that if workers were provided the union representation they desired in 2005, then the overall unionization rate would have been about 58%."

by Morgan Morgan (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Thursday, August 7, 2008 at 10:02:19 PM