Companies dump workers for union activity all the time, and they often get away with it

[marmar]

Published on Monday, September 12, 2011 by OtherWords

Fired for Organizing a Union
Companies dump workers for union activity all the time, and they often get away with it.

by Josh Eidelson


Last month Target fired Tashawna Green — but not for being bad at her job. They fired her, she says, for trying to make her job better. Green, a 21-year-old single mom, was the most public supporter of a campaign to unionize the workers at her Long Island, New York store. Before an unsuccessful union vote there, she told The New York Times and other media outlets about the challenge of supporting her daughter on $8 an hour and insufficient hours. Her photo appeared in several newspapers.

Target, which has more than 1,760 American stores, earned $704 million in profits in the second quarter. Like its big-box competitor Walmart, Target has zero union employees in the United States. That means none of Target's workers may bargain collectively over wages or the company's refusal to schedule more workers for full-time hours. More than 50 of Costco's nearly 600 stores, in contrast, are unionized.

Target isn't claiming Green didn't show up to work, or couldn't do the job. Instead, the company put out a statement saying she was fired for acting "in an overly hostile, disruptive manner." Green and representatives of the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union say that's just a tricky way of saying she wanted to join a union, and Target doesn't want its employees to have that option. The UFCW is filing charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), saying Target illegally punished her for engaging in activism.

It would be nice to say that what happened to Green is unusual, or that going to the government means she'll get justice. But the truth is that companies fire workers for union activity all the time, and they often get away with it. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/12-10

[Rex]

1. Big corporations hate unions, because then they actually have

to pay a the worker what they are worth and not slave labor wages.

[RockaFowler]

2. BINGO!!!!

[Starry Messenger]

3. This.

Plus the power to tell the boss to kiss your ass.

[bluestateguy]

4. If you try to organize your co-workers into a union, recriminations are likely to follow

Especially, if the unionization drive ultimately fails. Then the company finds a way to clean house and, voila, the union agitators are somehow not included in the company's future plans.

[Brickbat]

5. It's shameful and pathetic. And it's not always about wages -- employers lose their shit when they

are forced to respect workers and not treat them like subhumans with no lives.

[MilesColtrane]

6. Obama's appointments to the NLRB have only been on the job for about a year.

The right wing, Chamber of Commerce types hate what they're doing.

Economic Terrorism by Obama’s NLRB

http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/08/31/obamas-nlrb-rules-to-push-card-check-micro-unions/">it’s past time for Congress to move to defund the NLRB

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/06/21/obamas-nlrb-pushes-snap-elections-for-union-gain/">Obama’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been aggressively reinterpreting the law to foist unions on workers

http://expreacherman.wordpress.com/2011/08/31/obamas-nlrb-assumes-control-over-church-schools-shades-of-stalin/">Obama's NLRB...Shades of Stalin

This young lady may have a very good chance of receiving justice.

[bluestateguy]

7. He has appointed some good people

I wish the firebaggers would give him credit for that.

[Luminous Animal]

8. Firebagger David Dayan:"I don’t think the President gets enough credit for revitalizing the NLRB."

I don’t think the President gets enough credit for revitalizing the NLRB. This was an example of Obama doing the right thing without worrying about the political consequences. NLRB commissioners were stuck and the board was unable to operate with less than a quorum. Republicans were holding up the commissioners, including one of their own nominees (there are traditionally 3 Democrats and 2 Republicans on the NLRB), letting the dysfunction take place. Obama made recess appointments for the two Democrats, not the Republican.

And what has been the result? The NLRB has become functional.

http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/08/26/nlrb-issues-new-rules-on-workplace-postings-of-union-rights/

Firebagger Michael Whitney

This is why it’s nice to have a Democratic majority on the National Labor Relations Board: workers get rights. The National Labor Relations Board ruled that an employee can safely discuss work issues with their co-workers on Facebook without fearing punishment by their employer.

http://workinprogress.firedoglake.com/2010/11/09/nlrb-facebook-discussions-between-co-workers-are-protected-speech/

[bluestateguy]

9. Very well. I appreciate that.

But a good many folks here have not been so fair.

[Luminous Animal]

11. And you know that those DUers are firebaggers, how?

[Generic Other]

14. What are firebaggers?

I just want to know in case I am one.

[Luminous Animal]

17. People who read, reflect & sometimes agree with the articless on the website Firedoglake.

[Generic Other]

21. First thing I see over there is a pledge to sign to save SS and Medicare

I agree with that.

Radiation Nation
Our resource on fallout from the Fukushima disaster


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The latest on the fight for Social Security.


Middle East Popular Uprisings
Coverage of protests in Libya, Iraq, Bahrain, Yemen, Egypt and more


Private Bradley Manning
Investigating the inhumane conditions of Private Manning's detention

These are a list of articles currently on the site's sidebar. They all look like perfectly progressive ideas put forth. I don't see how they are substantially different than stuff I read posted here.

[undeterred]

10. If there was ever a group of workers needing a union, its Obama for America

and believe me, Obama would quash it.

[Luminous Animal]

12. Huh?

Could you give some details here? Otherwise your post looks like low-information Obama bashing.

[undeterred]

15. Worked for his campaign in 2008

14 hour days 7 days a week... breaking every labor law known to man but you couldn't complain because you were working to elect the lightwalker

[Generic Other]

13. We need to quit shopping at Walmart, Target and all these anti-union stores

Target worker makes $8.00 and hour.
Company profits $704 million in profits in the second quarter.

Bottom line: If the workers want to organize and management prevents them from doing so, union brothers and sisters need to support the workers.

[Lucian]

20. Walmart pays their employees $7.90/hour, starting out.

An associate can get up to a 60 cent increase/hr after a year, but that rarely happens. It's usually 40 cents.

[onethatcares]

16. the word on the street is

Together we negotiate,alone we beg.

[hfojvt]

18. well she is in luck

thanks to Obama, the manager who fired her will get a $3,000 tax cut and Target will get a $155,000 tax cut and this will trickle down and save her.

As long as she clicks her heels together and says three times "there's no place like Home Depot ..."

[Lucian]

19. I got written up at Walmart for telling other associates how good unions are.

I was a Teamster.

[Kingofalldems]

22. America's dirty little secret