Union-Busting As Stated Policy of the American Government

I just concluded a paper on labor law, especially focused on the agenda-setting and policy-making processes of labor law reform, keying in on legislative and administrative changes to its application in terms of majority sign-up and the makeup of the NLRB. One thing I kept coming across was the nature and degree of change in applied policy from the federal government toward workers, unions, and collective bargaining. In short, we now have a labor law regime that is tilted against these concepts and toward their diametric opposites, management, business, and union-busting; the original intent as per the 1935 Wagner Act and for a while after its codification (even after Taft-Hartley in many respects, although that is subject to interpretation) was to prioritize and favor unionization of workers and collective bargaining as matters of good economic policy and justice for workers.

Now, we have the Bob Corkers (R-Foreign Autos, Jackson Hewitt) and Richard Shelby (R-Union Busting) talking about "getting unions off the backs" of business. There you have it, explicit confirmation that the objective of American economic and labor law policy, at least for one part and one slice of the political pie, is union-busting and anti-worker notions.

This auto industry debate has laid bare the contours, as if 50 years of politics did not do so, of how Republicans and conservatives approach workers, worker rights, and economic prosperity. Bear in mind that the favorability rating of unions stands at 68% favorable to 28% unfavorable. Find me a politician with those numbers and I'll show you a sure re-elect. Further, 53% of the American public as workers would choose unionization today. And the number keep on coming like that, if you look at opinion research from the likes of Pew, Gallup, ANES, and the like.

These folks are just wrong, and they're proving yet again how out-of-touch they are with the American people.

But don't get me started on the false equivalencies of the media, arguably worse, given their supposed role in a democracy, than the Republicans whose frames of approach they adopt. Disgusting. Just not as disgusting as the intent to codify into law and policy the union-busting and anti-worker approach of Republicans.