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I really, really wish I were not so consistently correct about just how little Barack Obama and his corporatist cronies care about the working class.
Walmart workers protest in October. More worker walkouts and protests are expected on Black Friday.
Alas, as I foreshadowed in the comments here yesterday, it’s looking more today as if the Obama-appointed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is trying to give itself room to grant an injunction to Walmart, stopping (theoretically, at least) what any scholar of the American Labor Movement (yes, boys and girls, there actually was one, once upon a time…) - which is exactly what members of the NLRB claim to be – can instantly recognize as the completely legal (and quite necessary) job actions planned for Friday (you know, the BLACK one) at Wals across the country.
ABC News is now reporting that the NLRB is calling a decision on Walmart’s request “complex”:
“The legal issues — including questions about what constitutes picketing and whether the activity was aimed at gaining recognition for the union — are complex,” the labor board said. “Also, there are many distinct factual circumstances at stores across the country to consider.”
While the rose-colored-glasses, in-the-tank-for-Barack set will doubtless try to put a positive spin on this clearly negative turn of events, I’ve seen this M.O. too often in the past four years. Barack makes a statement favoring something (say, a public health insurance option), even as (or worse, after) he is engineering a result he considers much more favorable to “the economy.” (Read: the rich.)
Walmart’s request should have already been tossed based on the principles of the NLRB’s founding: To investigate and settle charges of unfair labor practice.
Few decisions in life are starkly black and white, but this is one of those decisions. The fact that the NLRB is claiming otherwise does not bode well for Walmart’s clearly victimized workforce.
Anthony Noel is a facilitator of the New Progressive Alliance.
Photo by Neon Tommy under a Creative Commons Share-Alike License.
18 Comments
Kind of ironic that the principles of the NLRB’s founding are not being applied to Walmart itself. Would be nice to see the tables turned on ‘em about now!
You are correct, of course – Obama governs (and I use the term “governs” loosely…) strictly for the rich and Walmart, well, they’re the rich! The rest of us working peons can just go and eat cake.
Highly rec’d!
Just to play devil’s advocate, “complex” could also be code for “we can’t do anything about this until after Friday.”
While I agree there’s plenty of reason for skepticism and the request should’ve already been rejected, I’m not sure the verdict is in on this one yet.
I hear ya, Jane, but when I read the linked report from ABC my sense was that a decision will come late today or early tomorrow. I think if an announcement is made pre-Friday it will be a “positive” one (for Walmart’s shoppers and its apologists).
I’ll be very surprised (and elated) if the WH is not pushing for an announcement that there’ll be “shopping as usual” on Black Friday.
We’re going to quickly find out just how far, if any, Obama moves from corporatist to semi-corporatist, brushing a few crumbs off the table to the working class. I have my doubts, but would not mind a pleasant surprise.
“Complex” is akin to a word one of my former v.p.’s used whenever he was about to hose us – “complicated”.
Whenever I would try to pin an answer down from him, “that’s complicated.” After about three rounds, I asked him, “So, is it too complicated for you to explain, or too complicated for me to understand?”
That would work just as well for “complex”.
I think this is just another umpteenth case of Obama acting as if anything that upsets the private sector will be deadly to the economy. He doesn’t have the faintest idea how maceoeconomics works, which is why he is well past being the worst presodent in this regard since Hoover. I don’t think he has ant particular animus against the labor movement; he just thinks that anything that upsets shoppers (and bankers) is going to wreck the recovery. Well, we’ve been recovery now for four and a half years, so I think wr know how that will work out.
Hoping against hope the NLRB will deny the injunction.
I thought WalMart opposed government intervention into business matters.
“Yes” and “Well of course they do!/s” to your comments 4 and 6 respectively.
If the NLRB planned on granting an injunction to stop the protests tomorrow and Friday they would have done so by now. Even the rabidly anti-union business press is no longer (@4:40 p.m. EST today) holding out any hope that the injunction will be issued!
Nothing the NLRB or indeed Wal-Mart can do changes the fact that the corporate juggernaut cannot function without its employees willful participation and consent. If those employees knew how powerful they are collectively, the Waltons would be reduced to complete helplessness. Obviously the same goes for other corporate entities, but the sheer shittiness of Wal-Mart’s conditions of employment mean the employees have less to fear. Ironically if you treat people badly enough you lose leverage and actually empower them. If we aren’t there yet, it’s coming.
How can you know when the NLRB “would have” issued an injunction, Anti? You can’t, as sure my conjecture that the decision “should have” been swift and easy is just that: conjecture. But neither of our takes should mean we assume anything, let alone grant this two-timing president a pass. If his visions of what constitutes health insurance reform, or “ending the wars,” or “closing Guantanamo” have taught us nothing else, they should have taught us that much.
Nor do I find any links to anything anywhere saying anything other than the decision will likely come down tomorrow…
http://www.gazette.com/articles/nlrb-147574-wal-dispute.html
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-11-20/business/chi-nlrb-ruling-on-walmart-protests-unlikely-before-thursday-20121120_1_wal-mart-stores-walmart-employees-largest-retailer
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/20/3106853/labor-board-still-investigating.html
…each of which is either the original AP story from Tuesday or a rewrite of same. ABC’s coverage from today is the newest info I’ve seen, and the “complex” nonsense is a perfectly reasonable reason for skepticism. Given that you cite a time (4:40 today) and say even the business press isn’t expecting a decision favorable to Walmart, it seems you have seen something I haven’t. If so, please share the link(s).
All of that being said, the point of this diary and yesterday’s is to raise consciousness about this pending decision and encourage citizens to contact the NLRB to let it know what they believe to be the only proper decision.
I hope you assume correctly that the NLRB will issue that proper decision. But speaking purely for myself, I am waaaay past trusting this president or his minions to do the right thing, especially when we’re talking about an entity that has more money than God.
The best antidote for the behavior this sold-out UniParty has established over the past twelve years is to be very clear about what the right thing is – before, during, and after decisions are made.
Looks like O doesn’t own a pair of comfortable shoes.
All I have to say is, I’m reminded of when, exactly, the NDAA was signed by Obama. Cynicism is usually warranted when dealing with neoliberals.
Also, recommended.
And thanks once again, if belatedly, moderator person, for adding the art!
I always expect bad things from President Zero, and the only time I am surprised is when he is even worse than I expected.
You are right. It’s coming. This may be at least the end of the beginning.
Well, time is running out. Obama had a lot on his plate today. The Israel-Gaza thingie, the fiscal cliff, looking good coming back from Asia, pardoning the turkey, etc.
All he needs to do about the Black Friday Walkout is nothing. If he or his administration does or says anything at all to encourage Wal-Mart and its evil minions(I mean the people who shop there when they don’t have to), he just proves everything I’ve been saying about him for the last three years. (Yeah, I voted for him in 2008, so shoot me.)
If he does nothing it really means nothing. If he spoke out in some sympathy for the Wal-Mart workers, I’d be shocked. That won’t happen, of course.
“The best antidote for the behavior this sold-out UniParty has established over the past twelve years is to be very clear about what the right thing is – before, during, and after decisions are made.”
The right thing for the NLRB to do, legalistically, in accord with its actual jurisdiction over disputes between management and unionized labor, is to say it has no jurisdiction over this issue since the Wal-Mart workers are not members of a union.
ANY move they make in support of Wal-Mart’s position just shows how fascist our government has become. By “fascist” I mean Mussolini’s definition, and he knew what fascism was better than any Democratic apologist.
Exactly right, OB, and that’s why the “it’s complex” shit worries me. It would be soooo in line with this administration’s MO to make an announcement Thursday (to)night issuing a “temporary injunction” and saying a “cooling off period” is the best course for now.
That being said, allow me to shout: NOTHING WOULD MAKE ME HAPPIER THAN BEING WRONG ON THIS ONE. But the NLRB needs to know we’re watching, and that any support of this thieving, lying, wage-killing behemoth will be met with still-larger protests – not grudging acceptance.