Shafting the Workforce
This is a typically upsetting piece from Greg Palast, detailing the fact that the Bush administration now plans to end mandatory extra overtime pay. Sure, the plan isn't quite so clear cut, but it's pretty obvious what the intention is, as Mr. Palast indicates:
Now I should say, according to Chao's press office, the changes will actually extend overtime benefits to 1.3 million burger flippin' managers. How does that square with the billion dollar "benefit" to business owners? Simple: The Chao hounds at the Labor Department suggest that employers CUT WAGES so that, added to the new "overtime" pay, the employees won't actually take home a dime more.
Now, I don't get overtime pay from my employeer, despite the fact I'm often working evenings and weekends on something or other - that's fine, that's something I knew going into the job. But I'm also a union rep, and as a 'solidarity, brother!' thing, this is really infuriating. Unions in both the UK and the US have slipped to the point where they are virtually powerless and unable to put up a decent resistance. This isn't helped of course by the fact that the leaders of certain unions actively roll over and present themselves for their shafting. There's an old Robert Burns poem that expresses his discontent at the rule of Scotland by the English... in it he expresses the sentiment: 'We're bought and sold for English gold. Such a parcel of rogues in a nation
We're still in the same situation, except that it's not Scotland and England - it's the workforce and the corporations. We're bought and sold for corporate gold. Such a parcel of rogues in a nation.
Considering President Bush's willingness to send US troops into pre-emptive conflicts, it's especially ironic that he's spent so much of his administration shafting the benefits and wages of veteran and serving soldiers. What a great deal - you get to die for the president's deceits, come under fire whilst protecting US transnational interests, and you can have your wages slashed from under you for the privilege.
Jesus Christ, the thought of four more years of Bush keeps me awake at nights. I hope the majority[1] of the American people feel the same way.
[1] Except that it's not the majority who decide it - funny old world. Even without the gross misconduct of the Supreme Court and the Florida administration, Al Gore still received more votes than George Bush. But still, that's the electoral college for you.
Now I should say, according to Chao's press office, the changes will actually extend overtime benefits to 1.3 million burger flippin' managers. How does that square with the billion dollar "benefit" to business owners? Simple: The Chao hounds at the Labor Department suggest that employers CUT WAGES so that, added to the new "overtime" pay, the employees won't actually take home a dime more.
Now, I don't get overtime pay from my employeer, despite the fact I'm often working evenings and weekends on something or other - that's fine, that's something I knew going into the job. But I'm also a union rep, and as a 'solidarity, brother!' thing, this is really infuriating. Unions in both the UK and the US have slipped to the point where they are virtually powerless and unable to put up a decent resistance. This isn't helped of course by the fact that the leaders of certain unions actively roll over and present themselves for their shafting. There's an old Robert Burns poem that expresses his discontent at the rule of Scotland by the English... in it he expresses the sentiment: 'We're bought and sold for English gold. Such a parcel of rogues in a nation
We're still in the same situation, except that it's not Scotland and England - it's the workforce and the corporations. We're bought and sold for corporate gold. Such a parcel of rogues in a nation.
Considering President Bush's willingness to send US troops into pre-emptive conflicts, it's especially ironic that he's spent so much of his administration shafting the benefits and wages of veteran and serving soldiers. What a great deal - you get to die for the president's deceits, come under fire whilst protecting US transnational interests, and you can have your wages slashed from under you for the privilege.
Jesus Christ, the thought of four more years of Bush keeps me awake at nights. I hope the majority[1] of the American people feel the same way.
[1] Except that it's not the majority who decide it - funny old world. Even without the gross misconduct of the Supreme Court and the Florida administration, Al Gore still received more votes than George Bush. But still, that's the electoral college for you.
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