You know, it's getting hard to
out-parody the self-parody of West Virginia's Republican Rubber Stamp Congresswoman
Shelley Moore Capito's actual statements. As
pointed out days ago, the Employee Free Choice Act was a tough vote for her because Capito's received union support in the past, but the corporate fat cats who she really supports wanted her to vote against it.
So once again she tries to have her cake and eat it too. She's hoping the citizens of WV-02 won't notice what has become a too common ploy by her.
First
she claimed she opposed the so-called troop surge in Iraq. But then
she flip-flopped and opposed a vote opposing the "surge." (See also
here.)
Now she's trying to claim her anti-union vote is actually pro-worker rights.
"The right to organize and join a union is a bedrock principle of workers' rights and their pursuit of prosperity. I believe strongly in that fundamental right, but I also believe that a worker's right to a secret ballot is just as important.
"Whether it is choosing local elected officials, our nation's commander in chief or the 535 members of Congress, the secret ballot has long been recognized in our country as the best way to provide an individual with the opportunity to express an honest, unbiased opinion, free of intimidation from any person or outside group.
"No process is perfect, and I believe the National Labor Relations Board should vigorously enforce existing law to stop worker intimidation from any source during organizing efforts. However, I do not believe taking away workers' rights helps to protect them. To the contrary, this legislation serves only to erode away their fundamental right to make a private decision through the power of the secret ballot."
Honest. That's not parody. Go read
the release for yourself.
Here's what AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said of the Employee Free Choice Act:
Today's vote on the Employee Free Choice Act in the House of Representatives marks a momentous turning point in the growing movement to restore our nation's middle-class. Today, the voices of tens of millions of working people who deserve the right to make a free choice to bargain for a better life have been heard and heeded on Capitol Hill.
These are people like Shirley Brown, a housekeeper at Chicago's Resurrection Health Care whose co-workers are afraid to talk about forming a union - even outside of work - for fear of losing their jobs. They are people like Ivo Camilo, a 35-year employee of Blue Diamond Growers in Sacramento, who came to Washington to tell of the fear instilled in his co-workers when he was fired for exercising his rights. And they are people like Bill Lawhorn, who came to tell of being fired by Consolidated Biscuit in McComb, Ohio for supporting a union - and despite winning his government case against his employer, four and a half years after being fired he has not been rehired or received a cent of back pay.
Today those workers and millions like them have new hope that they will have the opportunity to bargain collectively for better wages, benefits and working conditions.
Because of today's vote, the future looks a little brighter to all Americans who have watched corporations celebrate record profits, but have themselves been shut out of the party, left with stagnant wages and facing soaring costs. A union card is the single best ticket into the middle-class and, thanks to the Employee Free Choice Act, working people may finally have the chance to be part of a union.
Labor law was intended from the outset to encourage working people to come together and bargain collectively for better wages and benefits than they would be able to get on their own. But in the past few decades, labor law has been so twisted by corporations and their union-busting hired guns that it is now virtually impossible to form a union against an employer's wishes. The choice that should belong to employees now belongs to employers. Corporations routinely fire, intimidate, harass and coerce workers during organizing campaigns, and labor law is helpless to stop them. The current process is rigged from the outset by the side that holds the power of the paycheck.
The changes made in the Employee Free Choice Act are not radical. It gives workers - not corporations - the right to decide how to vote for a union. It makes it harder for employers to interfere and levies real penalties on those that do. Finally, it creates a mechanism to ensure that corporations can't endlessly stall a first contract.
For too long, it has taken heroes to form unions -- brave men and women like Shirley Brown, Ivo Camilo and Bill Lawhorn. If we are going to have an economy and a country that work for working people, that has to change.
Today is the beginning of the change we need to see.
Ms. Capito voted against worker's rights and is trying to claim she voted to protect them. Once again she is trying to have it both ways. She's trying to play us for suckers. We deserve better than that. I'd have more respect for her if she was just honest and admitted she's there to represent corporate interests over the interests of working people.