Secretly recorded Bank of America call - bailout recipients hatch plan to stop unions

On 27 Jan 2008, the Huffington Post ran a story by Sam Stein titled "Bailout Recipients Hosted Call To Defeat Key Labor Bill". The story inclded around five minutes of an hour long recording between federal bailout funds recipiets. The call shows the firms to be involved in lobbying, effectively, with public money. The file released here is the full hour long recording.
The summary below is excerpted from Mr. Stein's story:
Three days after receiving $25 billion in federal bailout funds, Bank of America Corp. hosted a conference call with conservative activists and business officials to organize opposition to the U.S. labor community's top legislative priority.
Participants on the October 17 call -- including at least one representative from another bailout recipient, AIG -- were urged to persuade their clients to send "large contributions" to groups working against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), as well as to vulnerable Senate Republicans, who could help block passage of the bill.
Bernie Marcus, the charismatic co-founder of Home Depot, led the call along with Rick Berman, an aggressive EFCA opponent and founder of the Center for Union Facts. Over the course of an hour, the two framed the legislation as an existential threat to American capitalism, or worse.
"This is the demise of a civilization," said Marcus. "This is how a civilization disappears. I am sitting here as an elder statesman and I'm watching this happen and I don't believe it."
Donations of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars were needed, it was argued, to prevent America from turning "into France."
"If a retailer has not gotten involved in this, if he has not spent money on this election, if he has not sent money to [former Sen.] Norm Coleman and all these other guys, they should be shot. They should be thrown out their goddamn jobs," Marcus declared.
Further information: http://
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I agree that if that horrendous bill passes (Employee Free Choice Act) it would be disastrous for this country.

The idea that a bill, that eliminates the secret ballot, and allows unions to force public votes is somehow a free choice act is insidious.

I don't see whats wrong with BAC hosting a conference call. This is the problem with nationalization, you lose your freedom as a private enterpise. The best thing would be for companies to fail then to sell their souls and rights to government. Its a bargain with the devil.
 
Reality check, this "secret ballot" has been disastrous for union representation. Since the 1970s, union membership has decreased by at least 75%.

This bill actually SUPPORTS unions. What it does is make the whole process easier. Before apparently under the "secret ballot" you had to get permission form the company to get an union, and thus it was almost impossible to create one.
Now you have 2 choices, the card way AND the secret ballot way. The propaganda around the bill is so dense, but it's actually easy to see who the bill supports when you look where the scumbags sit.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGZSWQRAk7g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7fQvowHBS8

Title of this video
"Boehner Says GOP Will Fight for Workers' Secret Ballot Rights"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEJL-TPW7Xc

Listen to it, it's golden. He start off saying .. "if you really want to create jobs, lower capital gains taxes, corporate taxes".


With the lobbying standing against the bill, it's easy to see where the big money is behind. These videos are actually hilarious and even scary to the extent they are stupid and deceitful.



Also how can you take anyone seriously who threatens the bill of turning the US into "France", the country with 6% of the people below poverty line compared to the 12% of the US. And loss of a civilization? I would reserve that for the trillions used to bailout a bankrupt banking sector.

We're here today because the american consumer absolutely collapsed, unless you get money to people who DESERVE it, this economy is finished. And there are a lot of hard working americans who are exploited or paid much less than their work because of a "tight labor market" and the 50 other reasons we're all aware.

Allowing union formation will slowly bring this country back on track, we're not arguing for a Wall Street Bonus act here. It's amazing how short sighted business is to think they can come out of this mess without giving more income to their consumers, that or they have no intention of continuing capitalism.
 
Quote from Renegen:

Reality check, this "secret ballot" has been disastrous for union representation. Since the 1970s, union membership has decreased by at least 75%.
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Reality check indeed. Union membership has collapsed since the 1970's, as their inefficient work rules and excessive compensation/benefit plans have forced their companies out of business. It's tough for a parasite, for once they kill their host, they have to find a new one to suck off of, or die.

This has happened in one industry after the next. Take a look at the steel companies, the airlines, and now the automakers. In fact, I would challenge anyone to name a single <i>successful</i> major U.S. industry that is unionized. This is the reason why union representation is not heavily slanted towards public sector employees, as there is no competition there for their 'services'.

The so-called 'free choice act' would be a huge mistake for the United States.
 
I dont seem to recall a TARP provision that removed free speech from the rights of funds recipients. Furthermore the last time I checked lobbying was legal, only the Huffington would post this as if this was some kind of tragedy.
 
If you think about this the reason the huffington post thinks this is a bad thing is because they have an ideology of 'since the government gave you money you lose your rights to have an opinion and ought push and agree with our particular government agenda' following this logic every government employee need to change their views on abortion everytime the party of the president changes
 
Right, unions are discusting and business need not be burdened by outsiders. Why should we share the wealth with the "HELP"?

Unions do not understand or care about the owners of the company, they actually think just because they were hired as "HELP" to produce profits for the company that they should be included in sharing those profits over and above what the wise owners dole out. How silly is that?

Unions actually want to impose work rules that diminish profits by making the workplace safer for the grunts. What a joke.

Just like the banks imploded by thinking there will always be a greater fool around the corner to accept the risk they pawn off, business greed in the executive toilet is going to have a day of reckoning.

What the world is witnessing is a DECLINE in the standard of living for many previous beatoffs that made their money by screwing someone else.

Workers with or without unions will be less coroporative in the new environment. There will be more and more worker unrest in the world with far less tolerance of the fat cats screwing everyone else.

Bob Dylan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWkWSLEW-Ds&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vou4qUu5YY

Jimi Hendrix : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqqaw9iN0Js&feature=related

Bring back rebellious youth and make some new changes. :D
 
If unions continue to lose ground under a secret ballot system, doesn't that mean that workers, voting secretly without peer pressure, don't want them?

Adding peer pressure from the worker crowd will make this more fair?

Companies are profit driven & don't give a crap about workers, but crowds are just plain nuts (hence bubbles in markets, republic instead of a pure democracy, etc).

Thanks,
smitty
 
Quote from bighog:

Right, unions are discusting and business need not be burdened by outsiders. Why should we share the wealth with the "HELP"?

Unions do not understand or care about the owners of the company, they actually think just because they were hired as "HELP" to produce profits for the company that they should be included in sharing those profits over and above what the wise owners dole out. How silly is that?

Unions actually want to impose work rules that diminish profits by making the workplace safer for the grunts. What a joke.

Just like the banks imploded by thinking there will always be a greater fool around the corner to accept the risk they pawn off, business greed in the executive toilet is going to have a day of reckoning.

What the world is witnessing is a DECLINE in the standard of living for many previous beatoffs that made their money by screwing someone else.

Workers with or without unions will be less coroporative in the new environment. There will be more and more worker unrest in the world with far less tolerance of the fat cats screwing everyone else.
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Seems like a few brilliant like-minded folks like yourself should band together and start your own company, a worker utopia, no doubt. Once bankrupted by the union, you might see things in a new light.

I'm still waiting for shining examples of <i>successful</i> unionized industries. The big union industries have gone broke (steel, airlines, autos), and the fat-cat union members have found their fat pensions dropped or cut when their bankrupted firms could no longer pay. Fair justice, IMO.

As another poster pointed out, perhaps you have a reason why union membership has plummented under 'secret ballot' rules? Could it be that the non-unionized workers don't want to be forced into the union? Maybe they realize that a strong and healthy company leads to strong and secure jobs?

I've spent years working in both unionized and non-unionized manufacturing plants and have seen the problems first-hand. Unions are NOT a solution for the problems in this country, either for the worker or the company. Instead of being useful, they breed dependence. Workers feel justified in continuously slacking off, as the 'union will protect my job.' Otherwise good employees are poisoned by the process, as their fellow employee barely works at all and gets equal pay. Eventually, productively of the entire workplace falls, even as compensation continues to escalate under the thread of a company destroying strike. Ultimately, everyone loses, as the company is bankrupted, the owners lose their investment, and the workers lose their jobs and pensions.
 
Unions are principally for people who are paid minimum wage and work in low skilled, always existent jobs. Wal Mart will never go away, but we can all make due without the predatory labor practices they follow.


What is all this hypothetical talk about strong and healthy companies providing employment and the best reward setc. As far as I see the economy is in complete shambles, these "solid companies" are getting rarer by the day.


And how are these multi nationals repaying the americans? By lobbying to outsource jobs. It's great to talk about strong companies taking on global competition and maybe it's true they can better do it without unions, but for actual JOBS that won't be outsourced or laid off to double everyone's else workload, unions help a lot.

There are 2 issues we're discussing here, having solid companies and having a solid economy. As companies get too big and too successful they begin to have to much influence and screw over everyone else, unions just tips the balance of scales back.

Also the card carrying system will not bring intimidation and peer pressure, this is just the ads that show that! I mean common, put 2 brain cells together to realize that's whats on TV is 100% LIES. When you have bullshit in, you will get bullshit out. You're fed lies, you will only reason using those lies and come to a false conclusion. You still have the option of the old system for anyone who wants it. How can it possibly be a bad law when you have the same option as before and you are given more choices?


I gave it to you, I put the links right there, showed the scumbags politicians were lobbying against, and you just went along and ignored it. That's not too bright folks. Keep doing the same things and you will get the same results.


Btw:

Airlines : Global problem, horrible industry returns unions or no unions.

Steel : Hard to be a Steel producer when you don't have any fucking steel NEEDS. The manufacturing base was outsourced and so was the steel industry. Duh.

Auto : Japanese, Germans also have unions. Wow, you guys can listen to CNBC and FOX and come to your own "conclusions" that why the big 3 failed was solely unions! Ok!

Are the UAW stupid? Sure, but no one is perfect.
AIG fails, does that means that Insurance companies should be outlawed? No.
Unions shops at Big 3 fail, does that mean unions should be outlawed? According to you yes.
 
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