Do call it a comeback -- U.S. support for unions grows!

Americans' views of unions are on the upswing, according to a new Gallup poll, with nearly six in 10 now saying they see the worker organizations in a positive light. Those supporting unions grew five percent over the year before, and reached the highest level since 2008.

The news is particularly encouraging when digging deeper into the numbers. In particular. young adults polled are the strongest union backers, with 66 percent of those aged 18-to-34 supporting them. The message is coming through -- union membership equals better pay, better benefits and a better retirement!

As part of the report, Gallup stated:

With the economy continuing to do better than it did during the recession and the 2008 government bailout of two of the Big Three American auto companies -- for which unions' image may have suffered -- fading further into history, Americans' views of unions are largely restored to what they were six years ago. The solid majority approve of unions, and most would like to see unions' power strengthened, or at least maintained.

The poll was released as the labor movement continues its campaign to turn itself into a mass movement of workers, especially for workers – port truck drivers, fast food workers, retail workers, cabdrivers, “independent contractors” and more – most in need of workplace protection. Millions of those workers are unorganized, or, under current law, unorganizable.

Federal data shows 11 percent of U.S. workers are unionists, including one of every 14 in private industry. Press Associates reports that adding in the “free riders” -- workers whom right-to-work (RTW) laws order unions to represent without requiring payment for their services -- unions cover one of every eight U.S. workers. Some 17 percent of households have unionists in them, the Gallup poll says.

But there are still real concerns for workers. One is the continued push by some elected officials to get so-called RTW legislation through at the state and even county levels. These corporate apologists will stop at nothing to pay back their biggest supporters.

The Teamsters and other unions must continue to push out that truth -- that union jobs pay a better wage that allows workers to support their families. RTW, meanwhile, just further fills the wallets of big business.

Today's Teamster News 05.02.13

Tom Morello Offers Free 'Union Town' Tracks for May Day  Rolling Stone   ...Tom Morello has partnered with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to give away tracks from Union Town, the 2011 album from the guitarist's Nightwatchman project. Fans can simply head to the Teamsters website and submit their email addresses for the tracks...
Bangladesh building collapse: Death toll passes 400  BBC News   ...The number of people killed in the collapse of a building in Bangladesh which housed garment factories last week has passed 400, officials say...
Tell Walmart and Other Retailers: Ensure basic safety and human rights for workers in Bangladesh  CREDO Action Alert   ...Urge these companies to take immediate steps to deploy safety improvements in their supplier factories and pay the compensation owed to injured workers and the families of workers killed while sewing their clothing in Bangladesh…
CEO-To-Worker Pay Ratio Ballooned 1,000 Percent Since 1950: Report  Huffington Post   ...We’ve made progress on a lot of things since the 1950s and so have CEOs -- in their quest for more money that is. The ratio of CEO-to-worker pay has increased 1,000 percent since 1950, according to data from Bloomberg...
Bill Moyers documentary examines 'United States of ALEC'  Sacramento Bee   ...Ever wonder how it is that the same bill pops up simultaneously in statehouses across the country? One way is through the work of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group that promotes business-friendly model legislation for state lawmakers to introduce in their respective Capitols.
Michigan bill would make stores online charge 6% sales tax  Detroit Free Press   ...Dan Marshall knows he can comfortably compete with the Internet on the prices of instruments he sells at seven Marshall Music stores across the state. But where the president of the Lansing-based, family-owned business can’t compete is the 6% sales tax he has to charge customers who make purchases in his store.
Poll: Plurality Wants One Party To Control White House, Congress  Talking Points Memo   ...A national poll from Quinnipiac University released Wednesday suggested that Americans have had their fill of divided government...
GOP puts 'right-to-work' on agenda  Cincinnati.com  ...Republicans waded back into choppy political waters Tuesday when two lawmakers – including one from Lebanon – vowed to make Ohio a “right-to-work” state...
Secret “Free Trade” Negotiations Will Gut Regulations, Further Enrich Multinationals and Big Financial Firms  Naked Capitalism   ...It’s a sign of the times that a reputable economist, Dean Baker, can use the word “corruption” in the headline of an article describing two major trade deals under negotiation and no one bats an eye...
American job prospects make for dim May Day celebration  MSNBC   ...For working America, the trend over the last few decades has been toward lower wages, fewer workplace rights, and diminished voice in the public sphere...
How to ease economic anxiety (opinion)  Washington Post   ...The American public knows it’s downwardly mobile. What it doesn’t know is what it can do to arrest, much less reverse, that trend...
Koch Brothers Plan More Political Involvement for Their Conservative Network  New York Times   ...As the country’s leading conservative donors finished off plates of roast lamb and spaetzle in a Palm Springs, Calif., hotel ballroom on Monday, Charles G. Koch delivered a pep talk...
Corbett's liquor privatization plan on life support  The Morning Call   ...First came the cops. Then came the drug-and-alcohol counselors. Next up was the moms. And finally, the kids. All of them told a state Senate committee they oppose a plan to privatize wine and spirits sales and make beer more readily available under a House-approved bill supported by Gov. Tom Corbett...
Florida State pension reform issue dies in the Senate  The Miami Herald   ...After months of calling pension reform a top priority in his inaugural year as Florida House speaker, Will Weatherford could do nothing Tuesday as his plan went down to defeat in the Senate...
Blistering audit faults Wis. job creation agency  The Republic   ...A blistering audit released Wednesday said Republican Gov. Scott Walker's premier job creation agency repeatedly broke state law in its first year of operation, failed to adequately track money it awarded for economic development projects and sometimes gave money to ineligible recipients...

Bogus poll influences RTW4Less battle in Michigan

One of the reasons Michigan lawmakers may be emboldened to consider an anti-worker, pro-poverty measure like right-to-work-for-less is that the Detroit News published a poll showing Michiganders support it.

There are two things to consider:

1. Many people don't know what "right to work" is. Remember, it was cleverly named to sound as if it's pro-worker. It's not. It forces unions to bear the cost of representing everyone in a bargaining unit, but relieves the workers of the responsibility of paying dues.

All that fairy dust they sprinkle around about "freedom" and "choice"? Right-to-work in fact is government interference in a contract between an employer and employees.

2. The polling company hired to conduct the Detroit News is -- well, not credible. The firm, Mitchell Research and Communications, Inc., was one of a few firms to show Romney ahead or even in Michigan.  Mitchell's final poll was wildly off base, showing Obama leading by five points. Obama's final margin in Michigan was 9.5 percent.

Nate Silver is the most credible and accurate pollster around. Silver called "troubling" the poll's assumption that African Americans would make up only 8 percent of Michigan's turnout. That's much, much lower than their turnout in previous elections, according to exit polls conducted since 2000. Silver wrote that the head of Mitchell Research, Steve Mitchell, said he simply didn't believe that black turnout ever exceeded 9 percent, but presented no evidence to back up that claim.

Here's what Silver wrote about Mitchell:

I've never heard of a pollster treating the demographic makeup of a state as essentially a matter of opinion.

Bottom line: Michigan state lawmakers take up the right-to-work-for-less measure at their peril.

Great anti-Walker turnout in LaCrosse



Looks like an energetic anti-Koch whore Walker crowd showed up on short notice in LaCrosse this afternoon. They weren't even sure when he'd be there. Walker was to tour the City Brewery, and we understand there was no public notice of his visit. People just showed up hoping he'd arrive when they were there.

We'll learn more later from our Brother Rob Moss, business agent for local 695. He's busy protesting right now. Right now we're relying on @emd10s tweets and tweetpics. Here's what we learned:

Protesters line the streets outside la crosse with lots of of honks to accompany chants #wearewi

and

Chants fill air in opposition to walker as he tours local brewery in La Crosse #wiunion

And here's what @emd10s shows us:


Meanwhile, even a Fox News poll shows the public is on our side. Though Fox tried to spin the results differently, here's what the nationwide poll says:

60% say "unions are still necessary to protect workers"

Over two-thirds say states should allow public employees to negotiate over wages (69%) and pensions (68%).

And here's an amazing result. Even though the question was designed to get the result that "these debates are better described as serious attempts to address budget deficits," a plurality gave the answer Fox didn't want:

44% say these debates are better described as "political attacks to try to kill unions," with 38% saying they're "serious attempts to address budget deficits." 

Including the 8% who say "both," that means 52% agree this is an attack to try to "kill unions."

Stay tuned for more bad news for Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker.

It's the Jobs, Stupid: Part II

Jon Walker has a great post over at firedoglake pointing out that Americans OVERWHELMINGLY care more about jobs than the deficit.

The disconnect between the Washington elites, who have been swept up in deficit hysteria, and the rest of the country couldn’t be more stark.

He couldn't be more right.

Here's the poll.