If you belong to a union, read this, make copies, and share it with your co-workers

[viguy007]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The United States is in the middle of an election, but one thing that has not been talked about, is the fact that Mitt Romney is extremely anti-union. My father use to say that everything he and his family had was because of the union, and that is true for each one of us. We might be skilled individuals in our trade, but without our Union, the employers would pay us only what they wanted to. If there is any single issue that determines our vote in this election, it should be the candidates attitude towards organized labor.

Mitt Romney would be a disaster for Unions, if he were elected President. Below this letter, is a quote directly taken from Mitt Romney's website (http://www.mittromney.com/issues/labor) concertinaing his beliefs about Unions. If you or any member of your family has the slightest inclination to vote for Mitt Romney read that quote and think about what he is saying. Every worker has an enormous stake in this election whether they know it or not. Unlike a month ago, it looks very much like Romney may possibly win, especially if we sit on our hands and do nothing.

We must not forget the president appoints members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Supreme Court. Their decisions effect all unions, and indirectly each one of us. Your vote will help determine what kind of environment your Union faces when it tries to organize a new work place, or needs to take a job action to protect our working conditions.

Private sector unions went into a severe decline after President Reagan broke the PATCO strike, by the hiring of permanent replacement workers. The courts allowed this tactic to be used in the private sector, thereby greatly increasing the risk of going on strike. This effectively removed the strike from the employee's collection of weapons in the fight for decent wages and working conditions.

As unions declined, employers no longer worried about the employees joining a union, so they offered less in exchange for a workers labor. This is true for both unionized workers and even more so for non-unionized workers. That is the reason why wages have been stagnant for the last 35 years, while executives have seen their compensation rise by over 300%, and corporations are making record profits.

I have developed a web site which explains why I am voting for Obama. It is aimed primarily at Republicans and Republican leaning independents. But it can be used as a tool to reach a general audience of anyone who is undecided and not committed to President Obama. It is broken down into pages grouped around common subjects and issues.

Each page has social networking buttons (Facebook, Twitter, et cetera) including buttons for generating emails. These will do most of the work for you. They will automatically post the link to the page, the title of the page and a short description of the page. You can add your own introduction if you wish, and I would recommend you do so, since it adds the personal touch. Send your favorite page to at least five of your friends and acquaintances and ask them after they view the site, to use it to send it to five or more other people.

The Web Site is: http://CommonSenseFor.US

There is less then two weeks to the election. We must act now.
Thank You,

===================================================================
Quote below is from Mitt Romney's website (http://www.mittromney.com/issues/labor)
===================================================================
Today, the effects of unionization have changed in ways that need to be recognized. Too often, unions drive up costs and introduce rigidities that harm competitiveness and frustrate innovation.

The statistics tell an unkind story. Studies conducted by non-partisan scholars have shown that labor unions reduce investment and slow job growth. Right-to-Work states have added millions of jobs over the past decade while states with pro-union policies have shed nearly a million jobs. In a recent Gallup poll, a majority of Americans said that labor unions “mostly hurt” the American economy.

Yet as unionization becomes less and less popular—union membership in the private sector has declined from 36 percent in the 1950s to less than 7 percent today—Big Labor is fighting harder and harder to maintain its power. The question is: whose interests should come first, those of workers and businesses or those of organized labor?

OBAMA'S FAILURE
In the midst of an economic crisis, policies that strengthen the hand of labor unions at the expense of both businesses and workers are probably the last thing the country has needed. But President Obama, in political debt to labor leaders who have funneled union funds to the coffers of the Democratic Party and who are vital to his reelection bid, is willing and eager to press forward with Big Labor’s agenda.

He pursued “Card Check” legislation that would have stripped workers of the right to vote by secret ballot on whether to unionize. He issued an order requiring workers on stimulus projects to become union members. He appointed Big Labor cronies to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) where they have wreaked havoc on the law. Perhaps the best known example is the agency’s decision to bring charges against Boeing—the nation’s largest exporter—for opening a billion-dollar manufacturing facility and hiring over 1,000 new workers in a Right-to-Work state.

Far from contributing to economic recovery, the Obama administration’s highly politicized labor policies have instead dampened business investment and made the employment climate worse. Overall, it is a familiar story from the annals of American politics: favors were given and favors were repaid, and the American people lost out in the transaction.

MITT'S PLAN
As president, Mitt Romney’s first step in improving labor policy will be to ensure that our labor laws create a stable and level playing field on which businesses can operate. As they hire, businesses should not have to worry that a politicized federal agency will rewrite the rules of the employment game without warning and without regard for the law.

Appoint to the NLRB experienced individuals with respect for the rule of law.

Amend NLRA to explicitly protect the right of business owners to allocate their capital as they see fit.

Reverse executive orders issued by President Obama that tilt the playing field toward organized labor.

Support states in pursuing Right-to-Work laws.

As matters currently stand, unions can take money directly from the paychecks of American workers and spend it on politicking—each election cycle, unions spend hundreds of millions of dollars. In non-Right-to-Work states, employees have little choice but to watch their money go toward such expenditures, even if they do not support the union and its political agenda. The result is the creation of an enormously powerful interest group whose influence is disproportionate to its actual support and whose priorities are fundamentally misaligned with those of businesses and workers—and thus with the needs of the economy.

Prohibit the use for political purposes of funds automatically deducted from worker paychecks