Republican Platform Outlines Union-Busting Agenda - (UE Political Action Update)

http://www.ueunion.org/ueactionupdates.html?news=705

Republican Platform Outlines Union-Busting Agenda

by Al Hart, UE News Managing Editor

The platform adopted at the Republican National Convention in Tampa shows how far the leaders of the GOP have gone in embracing the corporate agenda of destroying unions and giving unrestricted power to employers. It also reveals their legislative program for getting rid of workers' unions - including two pieces of legislation that could wipe out unions in private industry.



The section of the GOP platform dealing with labor does not have the word "labor" or "union" in its title. Instead, it's entitled "Freedom in the Workplace." But once you begin reading, it's clear that the party is not interested in liberating workers from oppressive bosses or low wages, but rather in freeing bosses from having to negotiate with workers, answer grievances, and respect employees' rights. (With a Google search, you can find and read the entire 31,000-word Republican platform online. At the end of this article, we attach the labor section of the GOP platform.)

In the space of just three paragraphs and 360 words, the Republican platform's labor plank endorses a wide range of anti-worker measures. They "salute" the Republican governors who have "reformed" their states by taking away public employees' bargaining rights, and the "urge elected officials across the country to follow their lead." They say a Republican president will push legislation to make it illegal to spend union funds for political purposes. They hope to dry up the treasuries of public sector unions by abolishing union dues check-off everywhere: "...no government at any level should act as the dues collector for unions."

As expected, the platform attacks unions and decent wages in the construction industry by demanding an end to project labor agreements and repeal of the Davis-Bacon Act. The Republicans also renew their attacks on the National Labor Relations Board, with the laughable charge that the NLRB is "a partisan advocate for Big Labor."

FULL story at link.