Tag Archives: unions

D.C. Circuit Court Of Appeals Puts Employers Speech Above Workers Rights

  By Matt Murray | May 10, 2013 - 2:14 pm | , ,
Comments
NLRA Poster

NLRB Employee Rights Poster

How many times have you seen this poster? This is the ‘Employee Rights’ poster that was mandated by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to be prominently displayed in over 6 million worksites.   That was until a Circuit Court of Appeals Judge decided the ‘freedom of speech’ of the employer is more important than rights of workers.

The poster was created to inform the workers of their right to organize, and collectively bargain.  A right that is guaranteed to millions of workers, however they do not know it.   This poster was specifically designed to inform workers of all of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

Employers have balked at this mandate since it was instituted because they do not want workers to know they have the right to collectively bargain with them.  While some think that unions are bad, polling shows overwhelming support for collective bargaining.  Employers do not want employees to organize and form unions because it is well known that union workers make more money than non-union workers.  When employees make more money, business owners see a reduction in profits.

The other part of this poster that is extremely important is the fact that it is illegal for an employer to question you or take adverse actions against you for union activities.  Companies violate this part of the NLRA over and over because many of the workers do not know their rights.    I remember when I was 19, I got a summer job with the evil empire (Wal-Mart, before I knew how evil they were).  In their basic orientation they forced me to watch a video that basically told me that unions were terrible, money grubbing, organizations that force you to pay due and then do nothing for you.  You know, the complete opposite of what unions are all about.  At the time, I was also taking a college class on Labor/Management relations.  I asked, actually begged, for them to let me borrow the video to use for my class project.  They immediately shut me down, and would never let me view the movie again.  I think they knew they were skirting the NLRA anti-union regulations with their video and did not want anyone outside of Wal-Mart to see it.

The video I remember was very similar to the one that Gawker obtained from the Target.   I am serious, check it out.  See if you think it follows the law.

Once again the corporations right to free speech beats out the workers rights to organize.    Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO responded to this ruling in a written statement.

“In today’s workplace, employers are required to display posters explaining wage and hour rights, health and safety and discrimination laws, even emergency escape routes. The D.C. Circuit ruling suggests that courts should strike down hundreds of notice requirements, not only those that inform workers about their rights and warn them of hazards, but also those on cigarette packages, in home mortgages and many other areas. The Court’s twisted logic finds that “freedom of speech” precludes the government from requiring employers to provide certain information to employees. This is absurd: when workers know their rights, the laws work as intended.“

Here, here President Trumka, you nailed it.  The goal of these posters, to inform the workers of their rights.  The fact that they cannot be disciplined, fired, admonished, or any other adverse actions by their employer for activities in forming/joining a union.   This is just another absurd ruling in favor of ‘corporate people’  over the actual people who work for these corporations.   The good news is that President Obama plans to take this case to the Supreme Court if he needs to.

Barry Goldwater explains: why Chained-CPI is such a big, hairy deal

  By Liz Iacobucci | April 14, 2013 - 8:35 pm | , ,
Comments
Camel by Just_Chaos via flikr

Bactrian Camel by Just_Chaos via flikrBack in 1958, Barry Goldwater explained his opposition to a bill this way:   “If the camel once gets his nose in the tent, his body will soon follow.”

In other words: a tremendous – unwanted – change can be started by a little tiny encroachment… and then the rest of the change will come right along behind it.

Those of us in the union movement have seen this strategy in action, too many times to count.

Recognize this scenario?  Workers used to have fully-paid health insurance.  Then management insisted on a small “contribution” toward the cost.  Then premiums were “shared”.  Now, in too many workplaces, there is no health insurance at all.

How about this one?  Workers used to have employer-sponsored pension plans.  Then employers insisted on moving to 401(k) plans.  Now, very few jobs (other than at the CEO level) offer any type of retirement plan at all.

Or this one?  Union workers used to have job security.  Then employers insisted on contract amendments so they could hire part-timers or contractors “in emergencies”.  Now, some worksites are staffed entirely by part-timers or contract employees, and job security is very, very hard to find.

As Barry Goldwater described things: It’s the camel’s nose, creeping in… and the rest of the camel soon follows.

And that’s why union leaders are reacting so strongly to proposals that would change Social Security benefits by tying Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) to “chained CPI” (rather than the usual Consumer Price Index).

Union members have had enough experience with this strategy; by now, we recognize a camel’s nose when we see one.

The idea of “privatizing” Social Security has been rattling around the Republican Party since Barry Goldwater ran for President.

But it hasn’t happened yet – despite the recent best efforts of George W. Bush and Paul Ryan.

So during debt limit negotiations in the summer of 2011, the Republicans took a different tack.  Rather than trying to get the camel in through the tent door… they just asked for a little, tiny change to the way that Social Security COLAs are calculated.  Just one little, tiny change.

That debt limit crisis was resolved – with the camel’s nose still outside the tent – by the deal we all know as “sequestration”.  And since that time, the Fiscal Cliff has passed and a possible government shutdown has been avoided.  But that one little tiny change to Social Security has remained a Republican priority.

The White House held a press briefing the day before President Obama’s budget was filed.  One important point from that briefing was never covered by the mainstream press:

[S]enior administration officials characterized the official adoption of Chained CPI as both a recognition that rounding out a grand bargain will require making concessions to the GOP, and as a final gesture of good faith to Republicans in Congress… But the officials also stressed that Chained CPI will never become law unless Republicans respond (in unlikely fashion) by agreeing to limit tax expenditures benefiting high-income earners.  If they don’t, it will mark the end of Obama’s two-year quest to secure trillions of dollars in deficit reduction on a bipartisan basis.

In other words, don’t believe new National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Greg Walden when he talks about chained CPI as “a shocking attack on seniors.”

How can it possibly be “shocking”, Rep. Walden?

Republicans have been trying to “reform” Social Security since Barry Goldwater ran for President, almost half a century ago.

And Barry Goldwater knew full well how to get a camel into the tent.

 

Catholic Latino Should Be Natural Allies With The GOP? Yeah, Not So Much

  By Matt Murray | April 3, 2013 - 12:00 pm | , , ,
Comments
Catholic church

Catholic church

The other day I was listening to “the Exchange” with Laura Knoy, and they were discussing the new GOP ‘Autopsy’ (read my full post on this show). One of the guests, Steve Duprey (RNC Executive Council), said something that really offended me.

Duprey was talking about how the GOP needs to do better to reach out to Latino voters.  He said that Latino voters should be natural allies with the GOP.

“…They tend to be Catholic. They tend to be faithful. They tend to have strong family units…”

This is not the first time I have heard this line.  It was very similar to the line that Senator Rand Paul proclaimed at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce a few weeks ago.

Being raised Catholic, I take great offense to this.  The idea that because I am Catholic, I should automatically have supported Mitt Romney and his policies in the last election?  This is the most ironic thing I have ever heard from the GOP.

Catholicism is based on the teaching of the Bible.  The Bible is full of stories of how Jesus cared for the poor, and urged his followers to do the same.  The Bible teaches us to be selfless, and to care for those who cannot care for themselves.  Does this sound like the message that the GOP is pushing right now?

The Catholic Church has always been there for the working and lower class: helping to feed the hungry, provide shelter to those who have none and teaching millions of Catholics to do the same in their lives.

The Catholic Church has always been supportive of those who work, and recognizes the need for labor unions.

In the first place, the worker must be paid a wage sufficient to support him and his family.  – Pope Pius XI, 1931

Yet the workers’ rights cannot be doomed to be the mere result of economic systems aimed at maximum profits. The thing that must shape the whole economy is respect for the workers’ rights within each country and all through the world’s economy. – Pope John Paul II, 1981

Pope after Pope has rejected the idea that companies should put profits over people. In fact, “the dignity of work and the rights of workers” is one of the Church’s fundamental teachings.

Contrast that with what Mitt Romney did as a vulture capitalist: selling companies and jobs overseas, and raking in millions of dollars at the same time.

Paul Ryan received the most flak as a Catholic.  There is an old saying, show me your budget and I will show you what you value.  This was exactly the case when you look at the budget pushed by the Romney/Ryan campaign.  The Ryan plan was torn apart by Catholics throughout the country.

This budget, frankly, acts like a schoolyard bully. It kicks those who are already down. It punches holes in vital social safety net programs, including food assistance for struggling families. It shoves aside the Medicare guarantee for seniors who deserve quality health care. It tramples Medicaid for low-income Americans by proposing inadequate state block grants at a time when most states are barely able to pay their bills.

For good reason, Ryan’s proposals have been strongly criticized by social justice leaders, evangelicals and many Catholics. Why? Because we know that budgets reflect stark moral choices about our priorities and values. (Public Theology)

The Ryan plan even pushed a group of Catholic nuns to travel around the country telling people that the Ryan plan was against what the Catholic Church preaches.  After a few stops, Sister Simone Campbell and her group were aptly named ‘the nuns on a bus’.

“Paul Ryan claims this budget reflects the principles of our shared faith,” Campbell said, as she took direct aim at Mitt Romney’s running mate, who has often cited his Catholic faith as the underpinning of his fiscal policies. “But the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that the Ryan budget failed a basic moral test, because it would harm families living in poverty,” she said. (On Faith, Washington Post)

Catholics throughout the country rejected the GOP budget and rejected Paul Ryan for his part in creating it.  And yet the RNC wonders why Catholic Latinos are not lining up to join the Grand Ole Party.

 

There Are No Free-Rides, The Fight Against Right To Work (For Less)

  By Matt Murray | March 28, 2013 - 2:01 pm |
Comments
Union Video Image

The ‘Right To Work’ for less argument has been going on all across the country for many, many years.  The proponents say it will create jobs and give workers a choice.  These are great message points for them because they mean nothing and there is no basis in reality.

The fact is that, unions fought, worked, and died for the rights and privileges that many workers take for granted now.  The fact that we have weekends or vacations are just two of thedozens of examples (image here) of how unions fought for better working conditions for all.

Now unions are fighting back against anti-worker legislation and policies that are destroying the American (and Canadian) labor markets.  They are shipping good paying manufacturing jobs overseas and then blaming the workers for not having jobs.  They are creating policies that have one thing in mind, smash the unions!

This is the case with ‘right to work’ laws. This idea of a ‘right to work’ is inappropriately named.   It should be called the right to freeload.

Unions have always maintained that if you are covered by a collective bargaining agreement, and that you benefit from that agreement, that you should have to pay for the representation provided to you by the union.  In non-’right to work’ states, unions are allowed to negotiated a clause in the contract to include an ‘agency fee’ or non-member fee for representation.  This fee is not used to better the union, it is only to cover the costs of drafting and maintaining the collective bargaining agreement.   In ‘right to work’ states unions are forbidden from incorporating this clause into an agreement, allowing non-members to benefit from the union without have to pay for it, aka freeload.

Right to work for less has been a national fight in the United States for many years, now the unions in Canada are starting to see it popping up in legislation in their country.  Many of the unions in Canada are part of U.S. Internationals like the UAW, IAFF or USW.    One of these unions took a moment to create a short video to explain that there are no ‘free rides’ when it comes to union representation.

The video is created by award winning Canadian director Bruce MacDonald and the Ontario Public Service Employee Union to send a message to the “Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak about that party’s plans for the province’s unions“.

Right to work is more that just a free ride for non-members.  It weakens the entire union process.  It weakens the unions collective bargaining rights, and that eventually hurts all workers.  Do you not see the correlation between the decline in union membership and the decline of workers wages?

If you want to see wages on the rise again, join a union.  If you want to see companies offering good healthcare options again, join a union.  If there is no union for your job, help to organize one, because there is always a union to fit your job.

President Obama Can Do So Much More For Labor Unions

  By Bill Brickley | February 22, 2013 - 7:00 am |
Comments
President Obama at factory (WH Photo Pete Souza)

President Obama followed up his omission of labor unions during his Inaugural Address by doing the same at his State of The Union speech.Senator Tom Harkin, a long time advocate of working people summed up the feelings of many in the labor movement during an interview with “The Hill”.

“Not one word in there about, if you want to rebuild the middle class, you’ve got to make it easier and better for people to organize and bargain collectively for their wages and for their conditions of their employment,” Harkin continued. “Not one word about that. And to me, that is the crux of their problem — is that people don’t have any power. They don’t have any power when they’re out there on the job. And you’ve got to have a balance. You’ve got to give workers more of a power to be able to bargain for things like their wages, for pensions, for family and medical leave, and paid sick leave and things like that.

“People just are powerless, and so I was just kind of upset and really saddened that he didn’t even give a nod to labor unions.”

“And you know what?” Harkin added. “He wouldn’t be there without labor unions, and neither would half of our Democrats in the Senate, I’ll tell you that.”

President Obama is not stepping up to the plate to protect unions at any level. He would not be in the oval office today without the work of unions but he for some reason refuses to acknowledge them.

The Postal Service is the largest collection of union workers in this country and they are being decimated by congressional mandates. Congress is silently watching as Saturday mail delivery is eliminated and this will further serve to accelerate a death spiral for the Postal Service. A blow to the American people and the Labor Movement. Not one mention by our President.

Its time for President Obama to take actions that will make life better for working Americans on Main St.  The Republicans are already the party representing Wall St. We do not need another political party doing that.

President Obama, when you needed help from labor unions we were there for you. Just like unions step up and protect millions of Americans every day. It’s now time that you stand up for us.

Unions, The One Thing Missing From The State of the Union

  By New Hampshire Labor News | February 21, 2013 - 6:00 am | ,
Comments
(Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

Everyone had something to say about the State of the Union address.  Some loved it, other hated it.  The President talked about a wide range of issues, like gun control and  minimum wage.

Senator Harkin from Iowa, made one comment to THE HILL, that really caught my attention.

“… The president should have mentioned labor unions in his speech, explained Harkin, who has made labor one of his signature topics as chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

“And not one word in there about, if you want to rebuild the middle class, you’ve got to make it easier and better for people to organize and bargain collectively for their wages and for their conditions of their employment,” Harkin continued. “Not one word about that. And to me, that is the crux of their problem — is that people don’t have any power. They don’t have any power when they’re out there on the job. And you’ve got to have a balance. You’ve got to give workers more of a power to be able to bargain for things like their wages, for pensions, for family and medical leave, and paid sick leave and things like that.

“People just are powerless, and so I was just kind of upset and really saddened that he didn’t even give a nod to labor unions.”

“And you know what?” Harkin added. “He wouldn’t be there without labor unions, and neither would half of our Democrats in the Senate, I’ll tell you that.”

I am glad to know that I am not alone in thinking that workers rights laws need to be strengthen.  It is becoming hard and hard to organize, not because people do not want to be part of a union, but because the laws are so restrictive.

I also agree with Senator Harkin that a thank you would have been nice.  I am not asking for an invitation to the White House, just a simple thanks to all of the labor unions members who devoted hundreds of volunteer hours to help the Obama campaign and hundreds others.  In New Hampshire we made a huge lift.  We helped re-elect President Obama. We won back both seats in Congress from anti-union republicans.  We helped to elect Governor Maggie Hassan.  And most of all we completely flipped the NH House from the control of the TEA party extremists.

Like many things that unions have done, it does not go unnoticed, just unrecognized. Either way, I will be there next campaign to work to elect the people who respect workers and their rights to organize, happily.

AFL-CIO President Trumka’s Statement on State of the Union Address

  By New Hampshire Labor News | February 13, 2013 - 11:11 am | ,
Comments
From WIKIPedia

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka released the following statement in response to President Obama’s 2013 State of the Union address:

From WIKIPediaTonight President Obama sent a clear message to the world that he will stand and fight for working America’s values and priorities. And with the foundation he laid, working families will fight by his side to build an economy that works for all.

President Obama rightly put rising wages and good jobs as his top priority, and we fully support him. We applaud the President for expressing support for raising the minimum wage and tying it to the cost of living, ensuring the right to vote and promoting early childhood education. President Obama—and the Congress— need to end the destructive obstructionism and wrong-headed austerity that weaken our economic recovery. As the President said tonight, creating good jobs requires a deep commitment to building our economy for the next generation, including investments in infrastructure, manufacturing and high-quality education and public services.

We need an immediate solution to growth-killing sequestration cuts and a balanced approach to deficit reduction, including steps such as closing tax loopholes, including the carried interest loophole and tax subsidies for offshoring jobs. And together, we must protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from benefit cuts.

We share the President’s urgent belief in the importance of a path to citizenship for 11 million aspiring Americans who call this country home, and we are fully committed to making that a reality. Reform of our immigration laws must reflect America’s values as a democratic society, and not create a second class of workers, whether through a temporary worker program or by restricting the ability of the undocumented to someday attain citizenship. Strong protections for worker standards and worker rights are essential to the economic future of all working people.

Today’s economic challenges result directly from decades of inadequate job growth, wage stagnation and growing inequality. If there is one tool workers need to succeed, it is the right to organize and bargain collectively. Throughout his public service, the President has been a proud and strong voice for the rights of workers and we call on him to use his voice more consistently and more powerfully going forward. Working people need his leadership more than ever. More important, our country needs to empower workers if we hope to achieve real, sustainable, broadly shared economic growth.

In the end, the President’s words are meaningless if they do not produce action—and it is our responsibility to fight for the President’s vision and the policies outlined tonight. We ask all our country’s elected leaders to join with President Obama in confronting the most pressing issues of our time with courage, humanity, and unity .

Once Again Former Speaker Bill O’Brien Spews Hate Filled Anti-Union Propaganda

  By Matt Murray | February 13, 2013 - 9:50 am | ,
Comments
Bill O'brien

Bill O'brienOver the last two years Bill O’Brien has never ceased to amaze when it comes to the garbage that he spews.  Do you remember when he blamed the ‘Union Thugs’ at the USPS for delaying his mail?  O’Brien used his facebook account to attack the hard working men and women at the USPS for what turned out to be his own mistake.

Once again the TEA Party leader used his Facebook account to go after another respected profession, Teaching.

From O’Brien’s Facebook page:

Screen shot 2013-02-12 at 6.54.42 PM“Government schools are failing in NH and throughout the country for one fundamental reason: teacher unions. 

Teacher unions maintain incompetence and inefficiency on the local level through collective bargaining and school district-based political activism. They don’t bargain for the children. Like any union they bargain for more pay for less work.

Teacher unions constantly fight to structure our state laws to obtain funding for their jobs and monopolistic control of our children.”

It is obvious that O’Brien is already pushing back against the possible repeal of the School Voucher program that he forced through.

O’Brien continues….

“Who would not, if they could afford it, get their child out of a government school so he can obtain a useful education?

The mantra of the teacher union bosses and lobbyists is that it is all for the children; but that claim as a lie is personified in Maggie Hassan, who opposes a tax credit funded charitable scholarship program for the poor….”

He is using this statement as a way to get himself media attention and bring he opposition of voucher repeal to the front page.

The truth is that vouchers are wrong for NH schools and the different teachers unions throughout the state have been opposed to it from the beginning.  Schools need to be properly funded, yet the legislature continues to cut funding forcing towns to cut programs like art and music and staff increasing class sizes.  This is not a result of teacher bargaining, in many cases the collective bargaining has helped teachers and schools.  Teacher bargain for such outrageous things as like solid professional evaluations, professional development programs to help create effective teachers, class sizes, aside from pay, healthcare and other items.

It has also been proven that state with collective bargaining for teachers have a higher graduation rate than those who are “Right To Work States” and not support collective bargaining.

Vouchers take money away from the state through a tax credit.  Those credits result in a loss to local schools only making it harder for schools to pay their bills.  What O’Brien also omitted is that vouchers (or tax credits as he calls them) take public money to pay for private religious schools.

O’Brien and others like to say that Charter Schools provide a better or “useful education.” This is another fundamental flaw in O’Brien’s rant, there is no real evidence that charter schools are better than public schools.  Actually Diane Ravitch, a well known education advocate, reports that in Milwaukee public schools fare better than private schools.

Teachers unions are not to blame for O’Brien’s idea that education in New Hampshire is failing.  I wonder what changes would have been made in NH education if instead of making massive cuts he would have pushed more money to public education?

Senator Rand Paul Submits A National Right To Work Bill

  By Matt Murray | February 3, 2013 - 4:38 pm | ,
Comments
Senator Rand Paul

The battle over Right To Work States just took a monumental leap as Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) introduces a National Right to Work (for less) Act.

From Sen Paul’s Press Release:

Senator Rand Paul “Sen. Rand Paul this week introduced the National Right to Work Act, S. 204, which seeks to preserve and protect the free choice of individual employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, or to refrain from such activities.

“Every American worker deserves the right to freedom of association – and I am concerned that the 26 states that allow forced union membership and dues infringes on these workers’ rights,” Sen. Paul said. “Right to work laws ensure that all Americans are given the choice to refrain from joining or paying dues to a union as a condition for employment. Nearly 80 percent of all Americans support the principles and so I have introduced a national Right to Work Act that will require all states to give their workers the freedom to choose.”

Sen. Paul’s Right to Work Act does not add a single word to existing federal law, it simply deletes forced unionism provisions in federal law.”

This completely changes the conversation that surrounds Right To Work.  Before they always said was about jobs.  Specifically stealing jobs from neighboring Non-RTW states. This is how they forced it through in Indiana.   I love the way that Rick Smith describes it on his show, “Beggar they neighbor”. If we are a RTW for less nation who are we going to beg jobs from?

Now it seems it is that it is about Freedom.  This is a complete joke since it is already illegal to force someone into a union.  They already have the freedom to pay the representation fee instead of joining.

This is exactly the opposite to everything we are taught to believe in the democratic process.  We can have all the debate we want but in the end, the majority rules.  Now they are taking the minority and placing them ahead of the majority.

This is an ideological and blatantly  anti-union piece of legislation.  It has no benefit to our nation as a whole.  It will reduce the collective bargaining rights of millions of union workers and it turn will reduce the pay and benefits of the other 200 million workers in the US.

The national race to bottom has begun, soon Rand Paul will probably try to repeal all collective bargaining in the country!

Is it any surprise that the National Right To Work committee made a nice donation to the Rand Paul for Senate campaign. Does it surprise you that the National RTW Committee spent over $2.2 Million dollars ‘lobbying’ in Washington D.C.?  I am not surprised considering that there were no less than five Right To Work for less bills submitted in the 112 Congress.

While I do not expect this bill to go very far in the US Senate, it is obvious that these officials care more about their campaign contributions that the majority of workers.

Senator Chris Murphy Pushes ‘BUY AMERICA’ Campaign Into The Senate

  By Matt Murray | January 30, 2013 - 8:30 pm | , ,
Comments
senator chris murphy

senator chris murphy

For decades now vulture capitalist like Mitt Romney have been taking good American jobs and shipping them overseas.  Bain Capitol was well known for this and this could have been one of the reasons he ultimately lost the Presidential election.

People overwhelmingly agree that we should increase manufacturing throughout the United States.  During the campaign President Obama said he want to create one million new manufacturing jobs right here at home.

With over 20 million still out of work, bringing jobs back and rebuilding the greatness that once was American Manufacturing should be a top priority.  For Senator Chris Murphy, it is.  He actually ran his campaign for Senate on this very principle.  As a Congressional Representative from Connecticut, Murphy created the “Buy America” Caucus whose sole purpose was to push for policy changes to boost American Manufacturing. 

“I believe our economy cannot recover without a strong manufacturing base” Senator Chris Murphy 

Senator Murphy in partnership with the Alliance for American Manufacturing highlighted four areas that need to be changed that will bring jobs back to the US and help create new long-term jobs

1. Stop the currency manipulation from China by passing Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act. China continues to manipulate their currency to ensure that their costs are cheaper.  Senator Murphy said “We’re already in a trade war with China, we’re just not fighting it. We need to get more serious.”

2. Tax Reform.  Provide incentives for companies who bring jobs back from overseas and stop subsidizing companies who are outsourcing jobs.

3. Invest in our infrastructure.  One of the issues with American manufacturing is the ability to products to our trade ports.  By building better roads, bridges and trains, manufactures can quickly and easily move their products across the country or around the world.

4. The United States Government needs to practice what it preaches by buying American made products.   Currently the ‘Buy America’ law states that 50% products bought with taxpayer money be made domestically. Senator Murphy says that number should be at a minimum 60% but would like to see it closer to 75%.

Senator Murphy also pointed out that the current ‘Buy America’ law has one very large loophole that must be closed.  If the government buys a product, lets say a gun, but that product is not going to be used within the United States, the law says that it does not have to be made in the USA.   This loophole has been exploited by defense contractors and the DOD. Think of how much money the US Government spent over the last decade fighting two wars.  What would that have done for our economy if we made all of those guns and ammunitions right here at home?  If you remember weapons manufacturing during World War II was one of the way we pulled ourselves out of the Great Depression.

To fight back against this stagnant economy we must start by investing in America, and American Manufacturing.  We need to start building more products and selling them throughout the world.  We need to show that products made right here at home are better quality and economical.  The Alliance for American Manufacturing just opened their new office in Washington D.C. that was built and furnished with American Made products.

Labor unions have taken a beating in the media recently over reduced membership numbers.  Do you want to see unions growing stronger again? If so then we must all start to insist on American Made products.  When American Manufacturing once again flourishes the membership numbers will grow with it.  Oh and that thing that the Republicans are always screaming about, the national debt, that will go away on its own when we increase our GDP.

So if you want to reduce the debt, put millions of people back to work and support labor across the country the answer is simple, BUY AMERICAN!