This clip was originally titled: "Obama's War Against The American People." It's a FoxNews screamfest that obscures more than it reveals about this complex situation.
In two cases, the National Labor Board is suing Arizona and South Dakota over their laws, which protect right of the individual to a secret ballot, in a move that news anchor, Cheryl Casone, says that "the unions hate but that the voters love," as it would make it "harder for labor unions to organize, if it's wiped out."
She then asks John Layfield, CEO of a nutritional supplement company, former football player and pro wrestler, "If labor unions are wiped out, are jobs wiped out? If they overturn these pro-business votes, do they overturn a chance for recovery?" Layfield says there's "Not any chance of hurting a job recovery but yes, it's bad for jobs."
Jonathan Hoenig, fittingly from www.capitalistpig.com launches into several one-dimensional tirades about how appalling he finds the mere concepts of Union rights and Worker's Rights.
In Arizona, 61% voted for an amendment to the secret ballot, as did 79% of the voters did in South Dakota. Fox guest, Wayne Rogers says that the real issue that's under attack is the right to a Secret Vote, which is a right of Voter Freedom. He asks, "If you're really interested in individual freedom, why would you bring this suit? Why? Because you're on the payroll of some special interest group. Who's the special interest group, in this case? The union. Why? Because they deliver votes.
He says that the government is attacking the union-busting, "Right-to-Work" States because unions have been dependably Democrat and that the current Democratic Administration wants to keep it that way. Wayne says that all pro-union activists are being "bribed" by union interests to demonstrate against the "Right-to-Work" laws that are being passed against Collective Bargaining in States with powerful unions. (I would argue that this is unlikely, as those Union members wouldn't need to be bribed to fight for their membership privileges).
It is true, that many unions are horribly corrupt and that they are also poorly-managed by politicians, who have promised them pensions which were not deliverable - pension funds which later, the government actually raided, due to their own budget shortfalls.
John Layfield quickly wraps up the segment saying, "There's a reason why private sector unions have gone down to the single digits from 50% and the public sector has gone exactly the opposite: because the public sector can buy-out politicians and the private sector can't because they've got to make money."
This statement goes against the revelations that the Koch brothers, owners of dozens of businesses and are among the top 5 billionaires in the world have subsidized the Wisconsin Republican Party's successful attack on the unions' right to Collective Bargaining; a remarkable feat, in a State that is so highly-unionized.
So, it's war. The side you're on in this debate most likely depends on if you're a shareholder of stocks, if you are a business owner or if you're a poor, working person, who probably doesn't have any of the entitlements that come with belonging to a worker's union in the US.
