Earlier today I was listening to one of the better local talk shows, the Armstrong and Getty show when they discussed an e-mail they had received from a listener in Portland, Oregon. The subject of the e-mail was the fact that the union to which the listener belonged had announced to its members that they ‘would be supporting’ the WERC campaign. There was no debate or discussion but simply a declaration that they would support the agenda.
And what an agenda it is, something to make even the most liberal among us blanch a little bit. The web site for WERC can be found here but I thought I’d offer a little summary of what they are proposing.
1. Put a halt to the Wall Street bailout plan.
2. Enact a moratorium on all home foreclosures, utility shut-offs, evictions and rent hikes.
3. Nationalize the mortgage industry, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
4. Enact H.R. 676 — the universal, single-payer health-care plan.
5. Enact the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) so that every worker can have union representation.
6. Stop the layoffs in auto and other industries across the country. Nationalize the Big 3 automakers. Re-tool the auto industry to build rapid mass transit, solar, and wind systems.
7. Stop the scapegoating of immigrant workers. Stop the ICE raids and deportations.
8. End all funding for the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and bring our troops home now.
9.Enact a massive national reconstruction public works program (minimum expenditure needed of $1 trillion).
10. Defend and expand the rights and economic security of those who are unable to work. Grant living-wage benefits to single parents, disabled, seniors, and the unemployed. a workers’ recovery plan.
This is just a thumbnail of what they are proposing and the union members are being forced to support the agenda. As I have discussed before, I am a big supporter of the basic rights of workers but this includes the right of the worker to decide what they do and do not support. This kind of radical agenda is basically Marxism and I don’t think most workers these days support such a policy.