Mar 30, 2011

Mother Jones Weeps. Good.

An appreciative nod to The Associated Press this morning for this lede on the Wisconsin saga:

"Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his fellow Republicans face a new hurdle in their campaign to curb public sector unions' power."




Reporter Todd Richmond and his editor rate compliments for the final five words.  The construction recognizes that there is more to the debate than the shrieks of public titters frightened at the thought that their grip on your wallet may be slipping, ergo diminishing their "rights."




News guys from the outset wore out the phrase "strip unions of bargaining rights." as though they had never run across the concept of "at will" relationships between the person who writes the paycheck and the one who cashes it.


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The mass of U.S. labor law is daunting, but anyone interested might start with the Clayton Act.  The union provision, stripped to its essentials,  prohibited a trucking company from obtaining enough power  to shut down American motor transport  but ceded the right to do just that to, for instance, Jimmy Hoffa. 


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