Spizzo
Sep 30, 2004, 12:23 PM
As a Union Worker, I am scared for my job. Bush has made it known that he is against unions, and has been trying to limit workers rights. He cut federal workers right to a collective bargining agreement, and has tried to take our overtime away. He's given tax breaks to company's who ship their jobs over seas, and given tax breaks to company's who dont pay taxes. (source (http://www.aflcio.org/corporateamerica/ns09222004.cfm))
Why do we sit and do nothing while our president takes away what makes us Americans??? He wages wars to keep us distracted, all while filling his family's and friend's pockets full of cash. I think this needs to stop. Here are the facts (from a non-partisan site).
GOOD JOBS
John Kerry has developed a plan to create millions of new jobs by the end of his first four-year term. The plan includes a new jobs tax credit to help create manufacturing jobs and a proposal to end tax breaks that encourage companies to move jobs overseas and invest in the nation’s infrastructure to create good jobs building and repairing the nation’s roads, transit and water systems, schools and other vital projects. Kerry also pledged to restore confidence and boost the American manufacturing sector by cutting the nation’s record budget deficit of more than $400 billion in half while investing in health care and education. Kerry will fight for America’s workers by enforcing U.S. trade agreements. (www.johnkery.com)
George W. Bush has presided over the worst loss of U.S. jobs since Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression. He has supported tax breaks for companies that move jobs overseas and refused to enforce U.S. trade agreements to protect American jobs. (Economic Report of the President, 2004)
FREEDOM TO JOIN A UNION
John Kerry supports the rights of workers to join a union, free from employer intimidation, harassment and threats. He is a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would ensure that when a majority of employees in a workplace decides to form a union, they can do so without the debilitating obstacles employers now use to block their free choice. It allows workers to freely choose whether to form a union by signing cards authorizing union representation, provides mediation and arbitration for first contract negotiations and sets stronger penalties for employers that violate workers’ rights to form a union. (S. 1925, 2003)
George W. Bush does not support the Employee Free Choice Act, which allows workers to join a union free from employer intimidation, harassment and threats. During his presidency, he has taken away the collective bargaining rights of 170,000 workers in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 60,000 Transportation Security Administration airport screeners, 1,300 workers in the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, since renamed the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and several hundred more in various U.S. Department of Justice agencies and offices. (www.GovExec.com, 11/12/03; The Washington Post, 1/20/02)
EXPORTING AMERICA
John Kerry will fight to keep good jobs in America. He will stop tax breaks to companies that send U.S. jobs overseas and create tax incentives to keep good U.S. jobs at home. Kerry will ensure companies that move offshore do not receive government contracts. (Associated Press, 3/25/04; www.johnkerry.com)
George W. Bush supports giving $60 billion in tax breaks to companies that lay off workers and move overseas. Since taking office, each of Bush's federal budget proposals included tax breaks for companies that export jobs overseas. Says exporting jobs is good for America. According to The Economic Report of the President, 2004, "When a good or service is produced more cheaply abroad, it makes more sense to import it than to provide it domestically." (H.R. 2896, 2004; The Washington Post, 10/23/03; Bush fiscal years 2002-2005 budget proposals; Economic Report of the President, 2004)
OVERTIME PAY
John Kerry co-sponsored legislation to stop the Bush administration from issuing new regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act that could take away overtime pay rights for millions of workers. (Sen. Amendment 1580, 2003)
George W. Bush’s Department of Labor published new rules governing workers’ overtime pay eligibility that could take away overtime pay rights for millions of workers. Those changes in the Fair Labor Standards Act affect workers in a wide range of occupations, including accounting, insurance, advertising, safety and health, human resources, public relations, computer work, financial services and “team leaders.” Workers making as little as $23,600 could lose overtime pay. (The Federal Register, 4/23/04; www.epinet.org)
THE 40-HOUR WORKWEEK
John Kerry opposed legislation that would take away a workers’ right to overtime pay and replace it with unpaid compensatory time off. The legislation would allow employers to schedule more hours for workers without having to pay any extra wages.Without the additional cost of overtime pay, employers would have an incentive to load workers with more and more work hours, keeping workers from their families longer, lowering employment demand nationally and lowering wages. (Senate roll call vote 93 on S. 4, 6/497)
George W. Bush, supports taking away workers’ right to overtime pay and allowing employers to replace overtime pay with nonpaid compensatory time off, which would weaken the 40-hour workweek by allowing employers to schedule more hours for workers without paying extra wages. (Chicago Tribune, 10/6/00; The Federal Register, 4/23/04)
MINIMUM WAGE
John Kerry supports increasing the minimum wage for the nation’s lowest income workers. The minimum wage has fallen to a 30-year-low in buying power and Kerry believes the minimum wage must be indexed for inflation to keep low-income workers from falling even further behind. If the minimum wage had kept pace with inflation since 1968, when it was a $1.60 an hour, it would have reached $8.46 an hour in 2003. (www.johnkerry.com)
George W. Bush has opposed increasing the minimum wage since he took office. He sides with Big Business groups that oppose a minimum wage increase. He has supported allowing states to opt out of the federal minimum wage law and backed creation of a sub-minimum wage for some workers. (The Associated Press, 3/11/04)
RIGHT TO WORK FOR LESS*
John Kerry opposes so-called right to work laws that cut wages and benefits, weaken collective bargaining rights and hurt working families. In the 21 states with such laws, wages are lower, poverty levels higher, people are more likely to lack health insurance and education spending per pupil is lower. Such “right to work for less” laws forbid workers and their unions from negotiating union security clauses into their collective bargaining agreements. Simply put, a union security clause means that all workers who receive the economic benefits of union representation share the costs of maintaining their union. (Senate roll call vote 188 on S. 1788, 7/10/96; AFL-CIO questionnaire 2003)
George W. Bush, supports “right-to-work-for-less” laws, such as the one he helped enforce during his two terms as governor of Texas. During his 2000 campaign, he told a group of business leaders, “I can tell you why you’re poor—you don’t have right-to-work.”(Chicago Sun Times, 10/6/00)
http://www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/politics/kerry_compare.cfm
I'm not really a big fan of Kerry, but he does have America's best intrests in mind, and not Big Business. American Can't afford to be raped by Bush for four more years.
Picture contains some bad language, but it's the truth:
http://www.activeopposition.com/images/Picture%20Archive/Copy%20of%20corporate%20america.jpg
Why do we sit and do nothing while our president takes away what makes us Americans??? He wages wars to keep us distracted, all while filling his family's and friend's pockets full of cash. I think this needs to stop. Here are the facts (from a non-partisan site).
GOOD JOBS
John Kerry has developed a plan to create millions of new jobs by the end of his first four-year term. The plan includes a new jobs tax credit to help create manufacturing jobs and a proposal to end tax breaks that encourage companies to move jobs overseas and invest in the nation’s infrastructure to create good jobs building and repairing the nation’s roads, transit and water systems, schools and other vital projects. Kerry also pledged to restore confidence and boost the American manufacturing sector by cutting the nation’s record budget deficit of more than $400 billion in half while investing in health care and education. Kerry will fight for America’s workers by enforcing U.S. trade agreements. (www.johnkery.com)
George W. Bush has presided over the worst loss of U.S. jobs since Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression. He has supported tax breaks for companies that move jobs overseas and refused to enforce U.S. trade agreements to protect American jobs. (Economic Report of the President, 2004)
FREEDOM TO JOIN A UNION
John Kerry supports the rights of workers to join a union, free from employer intimidation, harassment and threats. He is a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would ensure that when a majority of employees in a workplace decides to form a union, they can do so without the debilitating obstacles employers now use to block their free choice. It allows workers to freely choose whether to form a union by signing cards authorizing union representation, provides mediation and arbitration for first contract negotiations and sets stronger penalties for employers that violate workers’ rights to form a union. (S. 1925, 2003)
George W. Bush does not support the Employee Free Choice Act, which allows workers to join a union free from employer intimidation, harassment and threats. During his presidency, he has taken away the collective bargaining rights of 170,000 workers in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 60,000 Transportation Security Administration airport screeners, 1,300 workers in the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, since renamed the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and several hundred more in various U.S. Department of Justice agencies and offices. (www.GovExec.com, 11/12/03; The Washington Post, 1/20/02)
EXPORTING AMERICA
John Kerry will fight to keep good jobs in America. He will stop tax breaks to companies that send U.S. jobs overseas and create tax incentives to keep good U.S. jobs at home. Kerry will ensure companies that move offshore do not receive government contracts. (Associated Press, 3/25/04; www.johnkerry.com)
George W. Bush supports giving $60 billion in tax breaks to companies that lay off workers and move overseas. Since taking office, each of Bush's federal budget proposals included tax breaks for companies that export jobs overseas. Says exporting jobs is good for America. According to The Economic Report of the President, 2004, "When a good or service is produced more cheaply abroad, it makes more sense to import it than to provide it domestically." (H.R. 2896, 2004; The Washington Post, 10/23/03; Bush fiscal years 2002-2005 budget proposals; Economic Report of the President, 2004)
OVERTIME PAY
John Kerry co-sponsored legislation to stop the Bush administration from issuing new regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act that could take away overtime pay rights for millions of workers. (Sen. Amendment 1580, 2003)
George W. Bush’s Department of Labor published new rules governing workers’ overtime pay eligibility that could take away overtime pay rights for millions of workers. Those changes in the Fair Labor Standards Act affect workers in a wide range of occupations, including accounting, insurance, advertising, safety and health, human resources, public relations, computer work, financial services and “team leaders.” Workers making as little as $23,600 could lose overtime pay. (The Federal Register, 4/23/04; www.epinet.org)
THE 40-HOUR WORKWEEK
John Kerry opposed legislation that would take away a workers’ right to overtime pay and replace it with unpaid compensatory time off. The legislation would allow employers to schedule more hours for workers without having to pay any extra wages.Without the additional cost of overtime pay, employers would have an incentive to load workers with more and more work hours, keeping workers from their families longer, lowering employment demand nationally and lowering wages. (Senate roll call vote 93 on S. 4, 6/497)
George W. Bush, supports taking away workers’ right to overtime pay and allowing employers to replace overtime pay with nonpaid compensatory time off, which would weaken the 40-hour workweek by allowing employers to schedule more hours for workers without paying extra wages. (Chicago Tribune, 10/6/00; The Federal Register, 4/23/04)
MINIMUM WAGE
John Kerry supports increasing the minimum wage for the nation’s lowest income workers. The minimum wage has fallen to a 30-year-low in buying power and Kerry believes the minimum wage must be indexed for inflation to keep low-income workers from falling even further behind. If the minimum wage had kept pace with inflation since 1968, when it was a $1.60 an hour, it would have reached $8.46 an hour in 2003. (www.johnkerry.com)
George W. Bush has opposed increasing the minimum wage since he took office. He sides with Big Business groups that oppose a minimum wage increase. He has supported allowing states to opt out of the federal minimum wage law and backed creation of a sub-minimum wage for some workers. (The Associated Press, 3/11/04)
RIGHT TO WORK FOR LESS*
John Kerry opposes so-called right to work laws that cut wages and benefits, weaken collective bargaining rights and hurt working families. In the 21 states with such laws, wages are lower, poverty levels higher, people are more likely to lack health insurance and education spending per pupil is lower. Such “right to work for less” laws forbid workers and their unions from negotiating union security clauses into their collective bargaining agreements. Simply put, a union security clause means that all workers who receive the economic benefits of union representation share the costs of maintaining their union. (Senate roll call vote 188 on S. 1788, 7/10/96; AFL-CIO questionnaire 2003)
George W. Bush, supports “right-to-work-for-less” laws, such as the one he helped enforce during his two terms as governor of Texas. During his 2000 campaign, he told a group of business leaders, “I can tell you why you’re poor—you don’t have right-to-work.”(Chicago Sun Times, 10/6/00)
http://www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/politics/kerry_compare.cfm
I'm not really a big fan of Kerry, but he does have America's best intrests in mind, and not Big Business. American Can't afford to be raped by Bush for four more years.
Picture contains some bad language, but it's the truth:
http://www.activeopposition.com/images/Picture%20Archive/Copy%20of%20corporate%20america.jpg
