Loading ...
RICE, BEDINGFIELD WORK FOR WORKERS RIGHTS
So far this week, the buzz at the Statehouse has focused on the Senate with Robert Ford’s pitch for School Choice and David Thomas’ call for the Senate to roll up their sleeves ans support Gov. Mark Sanford’s opposition to the stimulus package.
Meanwhile, State Representatives like Eric Bedingfield and Rex Rice went to work for South Carolina’s workforce.
Bedingfield, who has been beating up on unions and the Democrat’s idiotic card check bill, scored a major win today as his bill to allow for secret ballots passed the House by a vote of 88-25.
His work has now moved us one step closer to seeing a 2010 ballot question to amend the Constitution and protect workers’ rights to privacy when it comes to union organizing.
While Bedingfield will no doubt earn some major headlines tomorrow, legislation introduced by Rice on Tuesday actually takes protecting South Carolina’s Right to Work status one step further. Rice’s bill, H. 3736, protects South Carolina’s workers and their right to full compensation.
“This legislation would make it unlawful for union dues to be deducted from an employee’s paycheck and protects South Carolinians from being intimidated by union bosses into automatically giving up part of their hard earned wages,” Rice said. “In this economy, we must do everything we can to protect South Carolina’s jobs and our right to work.”
Rice stated collectively his legislation and Bedingfield’s two pieces of legislation in response to the Employee Free Choice Act — which Rich co-sponsored — “Draw a clear line in the sand stating South Carolina has chosen freedom over fear, employees over Unions, and free markets over government regulation.”
Both Rice and Bedingfield have also been using the social networking tool Twitter in their push to secure South Carolina’s Right to Work status.
Right to Work has been a hot topic on the internet with former Michigan GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis leading the way to gather over 172,000 signatures for Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions: Freedom not Fear.
I’m guessing that both Rice and Bedingield have signed that petition along with many South Carolinians. Now, all that I ask is that both @rexrice and @ebedingfield tweet this story and share the news with their constituents.
Rice, has the right idea. If we could get that type of legislation on a national basis we could finally get rid unions. The kind of people they represent are going spend their pay checks on drinking and gambling long before unions will ever get a chance to collect dues. If we can get that past the unions will go broke.
“This legislation would make it unlawful for union dues to be deducted from an employee’s paycheck and protects South Carolinians from being intimidated by union bosses into automatically giving up part of their hard earned wages,” Rice said.
It’s not surprising that a former slave state is looking to bring plantation economics back, and put all of it’s workers in wage slavery.
I can’t understand why South Carolina would want to continue RTW laws, even after the Labor Department showd they give SC NO ADVANTAGE in today’s economy, and released the following info earlier in March:
In an article titled Four States Unemployment Rates above, 10%, Federal Department of Labor statistics show that after Michigan, the number two state for unemployment in the nation is South Carolina – low and behold a Right to Work for Less state!
But the Federal numbers are even more damning. Two of the top three states when it comes to one month job loss are indeed Right to Work states:
South Carolina tied with North Carolina and Oregon for the largest month-over-month rate increase.
RTW doesn’t work at all, it just continues to lower our standard of living – and if I wanted to live in Mississippi, I’d move there.
Well Abe, if Michigan had right to work laws GM, Chrysler and Ford would not be going broke, and we would not have that bunch in Washington trying to take our money and give it to bunch of over paid factory workers who never created a job.
Employees have to learn that if they want people to put up money and give them work to do, they have to take what those people are willing to pay and on the terms they are willing to pay it. If a Chinese guy is willing to work for $1.00 per hour with no benefits, then US workers are going to have to work for $1.00 per hour and no benefits plus the cost of getting the goods over here. That’s the best investors can do. We aren’t there mommas and daddies. We can’t pay for their health care and their retirement. This country’s got to get back to economic reality. Yea its a tough life, but survival of the fittest is what makes capitalism work and unions make people think they are worth more than they are. Every time Unions want to strike they should be thinking, well maybe we will just open that southern border and hire those guys willing to work for $5.00 per hour. That will let them know what their real bargaining position is.
The government has no business being involved in how much company owners pay their employees. If you don’t like the pay don’t take the job and let the business owner find someone who will.
Let’s also think about the ups and down of the market. Maybe the reason why SC has such a high unemployment rate isn’t because it is a Right to Work state but rather because we have lost our industry: textiles. However, the beautiful thing about capitalism is that states, countries, what have you are able to specialize and specialization allow for economies who have lost their industries to find something else that they are good at and competitive with.
Why have we lost our textile industry? Well, if I had to guess, I’d go straight to the budget that is being thrown around up in Washington. Why would a company trying to make a profit every stay in an area that taxes every last penny out of them? Companies see no advantage in staying in the US because we love to blame the big bad businesses (i.e.:the people who create the jobs that we are bitching about losing) for all of the poor people in America and punish them with taxes, because they can afford it….right?….right?
Wrong….
Companies are here to make a profit and expand their business and if we allow them to do that then they will get bigger and bigger, thus creating more jobs. (Remember jobs, those are the things we used to have before politicians starting putting the entitlement bug in everyones ear.) Now Americans have this idea that because companies have a large profit, they should have a large tax percentage to match…ever heard the expression “bite the hand that feeds.” So when it cost a company…say a company that produces cars, maybe somewhere up North….two, three, maybe four or more times to pay their workers what it would in a free market, what happens? well….a couple of options, either the government protects the exploitation and allows the company to pay competitive wages and expand creating more jobs or the company gives in to the unions and eventually goes bankrupt…….sound familiar?
I say we put in a bill that requires every American to read an econ book before every election….
What if employers are horrible to their workers. A union might protect them. I think this view does not present the problem clearly and in a way most people might understand. My friend works at a company that takes advantage of the “at will” work status and they treat him like a slave with the caveat “you should just be happy you have a job.” Very uncool and very little recourse. May we hear more about the pros and cons of unions?
Check out this story in the GVille News http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20090327/OPINION/903270310/1008