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Obama Signs Orders to Help Unions

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clippyrip

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 21, 2006
Posts
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WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama signed a series of executive orders Friday that he said should "level the playing field" for labor unions in their struggles with management.
Obama also used the occasion at the White House to announce formally a new White House task force on the problems of middle-class Americans. He named Vice President Joe Biden as its chairman.
Union officials say the new orders by Obama will undo Bush administration policies that favored employers over workers. The orders will:
_Require federal contractors to offer jobs to current workers when contracts change.
_Reverse a Bush administration order requiring federal contractors to post notice that workers can limit financial support of unions serving as their exclusive bargaining representatives.
_Prevent federal contractors from being reimbursed for expenses meant to influence workers deciding whether to form a union and engage in collective bargaining.
"We need to level the playing field for workers and the unions that represent their interests," Obama said during a signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House.
"I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem. To me, it's part of the solution," he said. "You cannot have a strong middle class without a strong labor movement."
Signing the executive orders was Obama's second overture to organized labor in as many days. On Thursday, he signed the first bill of his presidency, giving workers more time to sue for wage discrimination.
"It's a new day for workers," said James Hoffa, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who attended the ceremony with other union leaders. "We finally have a White House that is dedicated to working with us to rebuild our middle class. Hope for the American Dream is being restored."
Of the White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families, Obama said, "We're not forgetting the poor. They are going to be front and center, because they, too, share our American Dream."
He said his administration wants to make sure low-income people "get a piece" of the American pie "if they're willing to work for it."
"With this task force, we have a single, highly visible group with one single goal: to raise the living standards of the people who are the backbone of this country," Biden said.
Obama set several goals for the task force, including expanding opportunities for education and training; improving the work-family balance; restoring labor standards, including workplace safety; and protecting retirement security.
The president and vice president said the task force will include the secretaries of commerce, education, labor, and health and human services because those Cabinet departments have the most influence on the well-being of the middle class. It also will include White House advisers on the economy, the budget and domestic policy.
Biden pledged that the task force will conduct its business in the open, and announced a Web site, http://www.astrongmiddleclass.gov, for the public to get information. He also announced that the panel's first meeting will be Feb. 27 in Philadelphia and will focus on environmental or "green jobs."
 
I'm all for stronger unions and better benefits for the workers, but it's a balance. Workers can't have jobs without employers and employers can't have companies without workers. I am hoping all that he does along the labor lines is fair and balanced and will restore balance rather than shifting the absolute power from employers to employees. That's not good either.
 
_Require federal contractors to offer jobs to current workers when contracts change.


Does this apply to the constant shuffling of the USPS mail contracts or the federal contracts for airline seats? Can we insist on being hired by another airline when we lose the contract?

There are going to be some unintended consequences, Mr. Obama.

AKAAB
 
The next 4 or 8 years are going to be the steepest and most irreversible decline the US has ever seen.

Once the honeymoon period is over, and we run out of things to blame on Bush, the reality will set in too late.

We are, as a nation, collectively at fault for the ruining of our society. One man, neither Bush nor Obama, can be blamed for its destruction nor lauded for its salvation.

Like sheep, we are eagerly allowing ourselves herded for slaughter.
 
The next 4 or 8 years are going to be the steepest and most irreversible decline the US has ever seen.

Once the honeymoon period is over, and we run out of things to blame on Bush, the reality will set in too late.

We are, as a nation, collectively at fault for the ruining of our society. One man, neither Bush nor Obama, can be blamed for its destruction nor lauded for its salvation.

Like sheep, we are eagerly allowing ourselves herded for slaughter.

Worse than 100,000+ dead innocents and 4200+ dead soliders for no reason at all?

Wow that is going to be a hell of a slaughter.
 
The next 4 or 8 years are going to be the steepest and most irreversible decline the US has ever seen.

Once the honeymoon period is over, and we run out of things to blame on Bush, the reality will set in too late.

We are, as a nation, collectively at fault for the ruining of our society. One man, neither Bush nor Obama, can be blamed for its destruction nor lauded for its salvation.

Like sheep, we are eagerly allowing ourselves herded for slaughter.

The last 4-8 haven't exactly been a picnic, letting corporate America run amok has completely destroyed our economy.
 
Worse than 100,000+ dead innocents and 4200+ dead soliders for no reason at all?

Wow that is going to be a hell of a slaughter.

The military had captured, interrogated, and killed many terrorists, enemy combatants, and even captured Sadam Hussein. They have rooted out many bad factions in Iraq and Afghanistan that raped, pillaged, and enslaved decent and honest people. In addition to that, they have kept the fight over there, keeping us safe over here. I would say that's a very good reason. While I'd admit that many corporations got the best end of the deal the last 4-8 years, I wouldn't go saying our men and women over there have died in vain.
 
I agree for the most part. Iraq was helpful if you will. It had the effect of being a pile of honey to where many ants were attracted to. In this case the extremists that couldn't wait to kill themselves an American. Whether the political reasons were right or wrong, that's still up for debate. But I do believe it did have that somewhat positive impact.

On the middle class, worker side, we were slaughtered, no question about it. The CEOs and their cronies had their way with us. Even today, we still have the AIG executives trying to steal $450 million in bonuses while we the tax payers, gave them $120 billion in bailouts. The same model to a lesser extent applies to airline executives. They have done the same. They've always taken their bonuses while cutting our wages, pension plans, work rules and the like. Why? Simply because they could. They've had an ally in the White House for the last eight years.

I'm glad to see that the working class is finally getting a voice in Washington. It is long overdue. I do hope however, that the Unions don't take it to the extreme. As someone mentioned above, that can also be bad. We need a fair, well balanced approach to this opportunity.
 
I agree for the most part. Iraq was helpful if you will. It had the effect of being a pile of honey to where many ants were attracted to. In this case the extremists that couldn't wait to kill themselves an American. Whether the political reasons were right or wrong, that's still up for debate. But I do believe it did have that somewhat positive impact.

On the middle class, worker side, we were slaughtered, no question about it. The CEOs and their cronies had their way with us. Even today, we still have the AIG executives trying to steal $450 million in bonuses while we the tax payers, gave them $120 billion in bailouts. The same model to a lesser extent applies to airline executives. They have done the same. They've always taken their bonuses while cutting our wages, pension plans, work rules and the like. Why? Simply because they could. They've had an ally in the White House for the last eight years.

I'm glad to see that the working class is finally getting a voice in Washington. It is long overdue. I do hope however, that the Unions don't take it to the extreme. As someone mentioned above, that can also be bad. We need a fair, well balanced approach to this opportunity.

Well said.
 

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