Sarah Palin's Complicated Relationship with the Labor Movement

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/08/sarah-palins-complicated-relationship-with-the-labor-movement/62166/

Aug 27 2010, 1:05 PM ET | Comment
Richard Trumka gave a scathing speech to the Alaska AFL-CIO Thursday, lambasting Sarah Palin for a good chunk of it.

Palin has a complicated relationship with the labor movement--her husband, Todd, was employed in a union job until last year, and the former governor often takes issue with union "bosses" in the political realm but praises union workers--and those complications were further fleshed out in her response to Trumka, posted Thursday afternoon on her Facebook page.

She leads off with an appeal to union "brothers and sisters"--the language union people like to use:

Two years ago almost to the day, I was thrilled to meet with union members at the Alaska AFL-CIO Convention in Anchorage to sign important job-creation legislation related to the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act. As a former card-carrying IBEW sister married to a proud former IBEW and later USW member, it was a great moment for all of us. Our Alaska union brothers and sisters helped build our state! Many of them risked their lives to complete our infrastructure, including the Trans-Alaska Pipeline that stretches over treacherous mountain ranges from the North Slope oil fields to Valdez. By signing that job-creation bill surrounded by union members, I was paying tribute to them and acknowledging that they would be valued partners in the construction of Alaska's long awaited natural gas pipeline. I was honored that day to receive a standing ovation from them for signing a bill that provided a Project Labor Agreement to bring good jobs to these good men and women.


And after attacking Tumka as a "career union boss who's spent most of his life in DC"--Trumka, a former mine worker, rose quickly through the ranks of the United Mine Workers Association, first heading its safety committee and then serving on its international board--Palin goes on to praise the historical project of the labor movement while attacking present-day union leaders as corrupt:

In the past there were many great union leaders who courageously defended the rights of workers. Unions were founded for all the right reasons! They were to give working men and women the clout to negotiate fairly with their employers and to fight for decent pay and working conditions. The unions of old would often end up fighting big government on behalf of the little guy. Today's unions seem to be big government's most enthusiastic supporters. It's turned into some nonsense when union bosses back the government takeover of the car industry, and the mortgage industry, and the entire health care sector. And with the help of big government they aim to push through card check legislation that some characterize as being unfair to workers, and even un-American, because of its insistence on stripping workers of their right to privacy with a secret ballot. And that's not just me voicing concern over card check - ask current union members how comfortable they are with what some of their leaders are saying about the legislation.

To my hardworking, patriotic brothers and sisters in the labor movement: you don't have to put up with the scare tactics and the big government agenda of the union bosses. There is a different home for you: the commonsense conservative movement. It cares about the same things you and I care about: a government that doesn't spend beyond its means, an economy focused on creating good jobs with good wages, and a leadership that is proud of America's achievements and doesn't go around apologizing to everyone for who we are.

FULL story at link.

Thoughts?

To find one or two good labor disputes and strikes where the issues are very clear (Corporate excess vs worker rights)

Then to let the leaders of those workers appeal to her to come to their defense against the company who wants to cut their pay or benefits.

If she is really a republican she will turn on the members and side with the company. Then the unions and dems can use her words in your previous quote against her and show her to be a liar.

Perfect!

In Mott’s Strike, More Than Pay at Stake

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/business/18motts.html?src=mv




James Rajotte for The New York Times

Outside the Mott’s apple juice plant in Williamson, N.Y., Mike LeBerth, president of the union local, is picketing against demands for wage and benefit givebacks.
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: August 17, 2010

WILLIAMSON, N.Y. — After nearly 90 days of picketing in the broiling sun outside the sprawling Mott’s apple juice plant here in upstate New York, Michelle Muoio recognizes that the lengthy strike is about far more than whether the 305 hourly workers at the plant get a fatter or slimmer paycheck.

The union movement and many outsiders view the strike as a high-stakes confrontation between a company that wants to cut its labor costs, even as it is earning record profits, and workers who are determined to resist demands for wage and benefit givebacks.

“It’s disgusting, honestly, that they want to take things away from the people who made them profitable,” said Ms. Muoio (pronounced MOY-oh), a $19-an-hour machine operator who has worked at the plant 15 years.


James Rajotte for The New York Times

The stakes are high for unions. If Mott’s workers lose, it could lead other profitable companies to push for big labor concessions.

The company that owns Mott’s, the beverage conglomerate Dr Pepper Snapple Group, counters that the Mott’s workers are overpaid compared with other production workers in the Rochester area, where blue-collar unemployment is high after years of layoffs at employers like Xerox and Kodak.

Chris Barnes, a company spokesman, said Dr Pepper Snapple was seeking a $1.50-an-hour wage cut, a pension freeze and other concessions to bring the plant’s costs in line with “local and industry standards.”

The company, which has 50 brands including 7Up and Hawaiian Punch, reported net income of $555 million in 2009, compared with a loss of $312 million the previous year. Its 2009 sales were $5.5 billion, down 3 percent.

With each passing week, the two sides have dug in deeper, doing their utmost to outmaneuver and undercut each other. Rain or shine, dozens of workers picket outside the plant each day, standing alongside a 15-foot-tall inflatable rat and a mock coffin emblazoned with “R.I.P. Corporate Greed.”

FULL story at link.

She and her handlers are very good at hitting
Very public notes that just keep
Her image, her self out in front.

She does the same thing with feminism - she congratulates
Suffragettes and then lays in her wedge.

Co-opting both messages onto her ground.

own grandmother.
She uses people and discards them when no longer useful to her.