The latest attack on unions has come in a ridiculously outlandish disguise: pro-Labor Day, worker friendly, and populist.
It is an advertisement, running in print and electronic media, with the bold characteristics of a silk screen or woodcut labor-propaganda-poster from the WPA era.
Populist Shmopulist
It features a defiant fisted forearm and a blue collar worker juxtaposed over the silhouette of a small town at sunrise, except...GREAT HORRORS! The fist is punching the WORKER!
"Dear, God. Why?" you ask, wringing your hands together.
The poster answers solemnly: "Big unions are fighting us." It would be fighting for us, but some fool crossed out for.
(Maybe that's because senior level executives from the greediest corporations are ultimately paying for the advertisement to incite a populist backlash against unions.)
But let's hear the plaintiff. Here's the logic:
"Labor Day used to celebrate efforts to help working Americans," it declares, "But it's no longer Unions vs. Management. Now it's Unions vs. Employees."
Big business lamenting the bygone halcyon era of the authentic Labor Day? You really need to appreciate the absolute hilarity of this proposition.
Imagine the following visual as you hear a movie trailer voice over guy read the above quotations:
Cue eerie music. Fade up on a peaceful Main Street splattered with Old Glory and apple pie. The action voice gushes: "Labor day used to celebrate efforts..." The words, "This Summer," flash onto the screen and fade..."to help working Americans..."
Cut to a passel of children on a playground. The word, "Nothing," blinks in and out..."But now its no longer Unions vs. Management." Cut to a Liberal (Al Gore) hard wiring a bomb beneath a factory of workers. "Now it's Unions vs. Employees." The words, "Will Be The Same," appear and burn away.
Cut to Bruce Willis, sooty and sweaty as he shoots at Alec Baldwin and Jane Fonda while escaping from a burning building on a motorcycle. The menacing voice continues, "They stole Christmas, but liberals went too far when they tried to take away Labor Day... Bruce Willis is Lt. John McClane in "Hardly Unionize or Die Hard.' In theatres everywhere Friday."
WOW! Thanks, Big Business, for saving us from the evildoer unions. They came so close to raising our salaries, and improving our benefits, and increasing safety standards, etc.
The imitation populist ad is paid for by the Center for Union Facts, a "secretive front group" run by lobbyist Rick Berman, according to Source Watch.
