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OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 7/15/11

Our Hope for Change is Still Not Fulfilled

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Walter Brasch
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After significant compromise with the recalcitrant Republicans who want to continue to give the wealthy tax advantages while cutting significant social programs, President Obama has finally taken a stand on debt ceiling negotiations. However, in labor, wildlife management, and the environment he is still compromising rather than coming out forcefully for the principles he and the working class believes.

 

The Republican presidential candidates have torn into the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for a recent decision supporting organized labor. Mitt Romney claimed President Obama packed the NLRB with "union stooges." Newt Gingrich wants Congress to remove all NLRB funds and President Obama to stop the NLRB actions. Tim Pawlenty called the decision "preposterous." Michele Bachman not only said the NLRB is "way out of bounds," but declared if she were president she would appoint "free-market conservatives who believe in job growth," thus making the NLRB a political arm of her beliefs rather than the independent agency that was created to protect workers from management exploitation.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who isn't a presidential candidate but is strongly anti-union, declared the decision "is nothing more than a political favor for the unions who are supporting President Obama's re-election campaign." Other Republican senators have claimed they will block the nomination of NLRB acting general counsel Lafe Solomon to a permanent post.

 

At issue is an NLRB decision that Boeing violated federal law by trying to stop a production line in its Seattle-area plant that manufactures the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and opening a new facility in South Carolina, an anti-union "right-to-work" state. The NLRB agreed with a complaint filed by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) that Boeing's decisions was retaliation for the actions of the Seattle workers. In both public and internal memos, Boeing stated it didn't wish to deal with unionized workers in Seattle. The NLRB suit is currently in federal court.

 

At a recent press conference, President Obama sidestepped support for both the NLRB and unions by claiming, "I don't know all the facts," and that he didn't wish to interfere in the process. However, he did state that corporations "need to have the freedom to relocate . . . . and if they're choosing to relocate here in the United States, that's a good thing."

 

When Barack Obama was campaigning for the presidency, he promised to support the working class. If there was a picket line, or if the workers were being threatened, he promised to "put on a comfortable pair of shoes" and walk side by side with them.

 

That has not happened. He never spoke out in defense of the workers in Seattle during their two year fight against Boeing, nor after they filed their complaint in April. Nor has the President given support to the millions of of citizens in several states where conservative governors and legislatures have launched campaigns to break unions, while giving special benefits to the business and executive classes.

 

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Walter Brasch is an award-winning journalist and professor of journalism emeritus. His current books are Before the First Snow: Stories from the Revolution , America's Unpatriotic Acts: The Federal Government's Violation of (more...)
 

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