Government can break union contract says court

[Ravi]

Will the right-wing zombies be up in arms about this or do they only care when corporate executives lose their bonuses?

In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts


In the first ruling of its kind, a bankruptcy judge held the city of Vallejo, Calif. has the authority to void its existing union contracts in its effort to reorganize, holding public workers do not enjoy the same protections Congress gave union workers at private companies.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202429132330

 

[DavidS]

Will the right-wing zombies be up in arms about this or do they only care when corporate executives lose their bonuses?

In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts

In the first ruling of its kind, a bankruptcy judge held the city of Vallejo, Calif. has the authority to void its existing union contracts in its effort to reorganize, holding public workers do not enjoy the same protections Congress gave union workers at private companies.
Law.com - In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts

The silence from the right on this article is deafening.

 

[WillowTree]

Will the right-wing zombies be up in arms about this or do they only care when corporate executives lose their bonuses?

In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts


In the first ruling of its kind, a bankruptcy judge held the city of Vallejo, Calif. has the authority to void its existing union contracts in its effort to reorganize, holding public workers do not enjoy the same protections Congress gave union workers at private companies.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202429132330

I suspect some vigorous appeals will be made. Judges are over ruled all the time. Don't bet yer Christmas candy on it.

 

[DiamondDave]

I would say that you can't have 1 without the other...

IF you are going to void one kind of contract in a reorganization effort that is absolutely necessary to save a company, then you have to be able to void the other... You cannot void 1 OR the other... Either both or none..

Now I have seen it with a company that was union (a paper product company) where the owner approached the Union asking them (key word is asking) to take a 10% cut until business picked back up. Along with that the ownership/upper leadership was forgoing their normal profit taking/bonus... The union turned them down.. The owner had another empty factory in another state, and to keep the business alive they decided to shut down the existing plant and get rid of all workers, pack up shop and move to the facility at the other state and hire non-union workers in order to keep the business afloat.... The union, realizing that no work is worse than a cut in pay, THEN decided it was OK to take the cut. But too bad, too sad, it was too late.... And I feel no pity for that union.. What has to be done, has to be done to keep a business afloat... Now I would have some different feelings if a cut in pay was requested and the owners/leadership would still get bonuses etc... But that was not the case

 

[chopcrazy]

Will the right-wing zombies be up in arms about this or do they only care when corporate executives lose their bonuses?

In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts

In the first ruling of its kind, a bankruptcy judge held the city of Vallejo, Calif. has the authority to void its existing union contracts in its effort to reorganize, holding public workers do not enjoy the same protections Congress gave union workers at private companies.
Law.com - In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts

The silence from the right on this article is deafening.

The city government can't just void the contract unless its filed for Chapter 9 protection.
The City Government would find that cost to future bonds would be rise considerably which is normal for an entity that goes through bankruptcy reorg protection.

 

[rayboyusmc]

Companies, corporations, etc. that realize their people are the company, corporation, etc. don't need unions. Too bad today there are so few of these.

 

[Tech_Esq]

Will the right-wing zombies be up in arms about this or do they only care when corporate executives lose their bonuses?

In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts


In the first ruling of its kind, a bankruptcy judge held the city of Vallejo, Calif. has the authority to void its existing union contracts in its effort to reorganize, holding public workers do not enjoy the same protections Congress gave union workers at private companies.
Law.com - In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts

What is there to be "up in arms" about? The muni is in bankruptcy. You would expect that its contracts would be subject to change. If they weren't, what would be the point of entering bankruptcy if nothing could change?

I'm sure AFSCME is all pissed off that the Dems forgot to protect them when they passed that Union protection law in the 1990s, but aside from that, I don't see why anyone has bitching rights here.

If they had allowed the financials to fail and they were in bankruptcy all their contracts would be fair game too. Except, as the story relates, unions who have some kind of "sacred cow" status with this protection they got in the 1990s.

 

[sealybobo]

Will the right-wing zombies be up in arms about this or do they only care when corporate executives lose their bonuses?

In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts


In the first ruling of its kind, a bankruptcy judge held the city of Vallejo, Calif. has the authority to void its existing union contracts in its effort to reorganize, holding public workers do not enjoy the same protections Congress gave union workers at private companies.
Law.com - In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts

What did Ronald Reagan do in the 80's? He broke the unions and fired all the air traffic controllers.

He said they were messing with commerce.

Well what is AIG doing?

And I wish this was only AIG.

AIG is just exposing what us Democrats have been saying for years. CEO's are worried more about their bonus' than they are about the long term success of the company.

Thom Hartmann explained it well yesterday. In the past, there were 3 kinds of people in a company. The workers, stock holders and the corporation itself. The corporation never worried about its success this year or next. They only focused on 10 years down the road.

But in the last few years, the CEO's are fucking with the company to make the short term investors happy, and they are screwing the long term success of the corporation.

And who gets hurt? Labor.

The ceo and short sellers walk away with all the money.

And the company goes bankrupt and puts the pension on the American tax payer.

Unacceptable.

 

[Tech_Esq]

Will the right-wing zombies be up in arms about this or do they only care when corporate executives lose their bonuses?

In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts


In the first ruling of its kind, a bankruptcy judge held the city of Vallejo, Calif. has the authority to void its existing union contracts in its effort to reorganize, holding public workers do not enjoy the same protections Congress gave union workers at private companies.
Law.com - In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts

What did Ronald Reagan do in the 80's? He broke the unions and fired all the air traffic controllers.

He said they were messing with commerce.

Well what is AIG doing?

And I wish this was only AIG.

AIG is just exposing what us Democrats have been saying for years. CEO's are worried more about their bonus' than they are about the long term success of the company.

Thom Hartmann explained it well yesterday. In the past, there were 3 kinds of people in a company. The workers, stock holders and the corporation itself. The corporation never worried about its success this year or next. They only focused on 10 years down the road.

But in the last few years, the CEO's are fucking with the company to make the short term investors happy, and they are screwing the long term success of the corporation.

And who gets hurt? Labor.

The ceo and short sellers walk away with all the money.

And the company goes bankrupt and puts the pension on the American tax payer.

Unacceptable.

I'm going to give you that point Sealy. I do believe that corps over the last 20 or so years have been overly focused on making the next quarterly statement look good instead of ensure long-term health and profitability. That is probably because these guys are making so much money they realize they only have to make it look good for a couple of years and they are on easy street for the rest of their lives.

 

[sealybobo]

Companies, corporations, etc. that realize their people are the company, corporation, etc. don't need unions. Too bad today there are so few of these.

Holy crap! I just read that PATCO, the union for air traffic controllers, backed Reagan, and later he fucked them. Gotta love it. They won't make that mistake again.

People act like union workers and black people are dumb for always voting DEM. I don't think so. I think they know who works harder for their causes.

On August 3, 1981 the union declared a strike, seeking better working conditions, better pay and a 32-hour workweek. In doing so, the union violated a law {5 U.S.C. (Supp. III 1956) 118p.} that banned strikes by government unions. However, several government unions (including one representing employees of the Postal Service) had declared strikes in the intervening period without penalties. Ronald Reagan, however, declared the PATCO strike a "peril to national safety" and ordered them back to work under the terms of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. Only 1,500 of the more than 13,000 of the controllers returned to work[citation needed]. However, Reagan gave the remaining union members 48 hours to return, telling them not returning would mean they were giving up their jobs, knowing that Transportation Secretary Drew Lewis had secretly trained replacements. The airplanes kept flying at 80% of normal[citation needed].

On August 5, following their refusal and effective resignation, Reagan fired the 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored the order,[3][4] and banned them from federal service for life (which was later rescinded by the President). They were replaced initially with nonparticipating controllers, supervisors, staff personnel, some nonrated personnel, and in some cases by controllers transferred temporarily from other facilities. Some military controllers were also used until replacements could be trained. The union was decertified on October 22, 1981.[2]

 

[sealybobo]

Will the right-wing zombies be up in arms about this or do they only care when corporate executives lose their bonuses?

In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts


In the first ruling of its kind, a bankruptcy judge held the city of Vallejo, Calif. has the authority to void its existing union contracts in its effort to reorganize, holding public workers do not enjoy the same protections Congress gave union workers at private companies.
Law.com - In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts

What did Ronald Reagan do in the 80's? He broke the unions and fired all the air traffic controllers.

He said they were messing with commerce.

Well what is AIG doing?

And I wish this was only AIG.

AIG is just exposing what us Democrats have been saying for years. CEO's are worried more about their bonus' than they are about the long term success of the company.

Thom Hartmann explained it well yesterday. In the past, there were 3 kinds of people in a company. The workers, stock holders and the corporation itself. The corporation never worried about its success this year or next. They only focused on 10 years down the road.

But in the last few years, the CEO's are fucking with the company to make the short term investors happy, and they are screwing the long term success of the corporation.

And who gets hurt? Labor.

The ceo and short sellers walk away with all the money.

And the company goes bankrupt and puts the pension on the American tax payer.

Unacceptable.

I'm going to give you that point Sealy. I do believe that corps over the last 20 or so years have been overly focused on making the next quarterly statement look good instead of ensure long-term health and profitability. That is probably because these guys are making so much money they realize they only have to make it look good for a couple of years and they are on easy street for the rest of their lives.

My brothers is a vp. He says rule number one is FEED THE GENERALS FIRST. Rule number two is to never forget rule number one.

So before my brother was a VP, lets say he was 5 guys below the VP at his last company. And lets say there are 10 guys below him.

They all spend most of their day/week/month/year arguing over their bonus'.

Forget about performance. Performance has nothing to do with it.

If a guy on your salary level got a bonus, you want the same bonus. And everyone gets what they want, because no one wants their bonus denied, so they don't deny anyone elses bonus either.

People in Pension & Benefits, HR, Sales, Marketing, Finance, IT, labor relations, etc. Depending on the company, there could be literally hundreds of white collar men and women at each company. They're all taking home $100K or more.

You guys know what a flaming liberal I am. When my brother tells me these stories, he loves to see me get all mad. LOL.

 

[Ravi]

What is there to be "up in arms" about? The muni is in bankruptcy.

Because they are up in arms about the bonuses paid to AIG execs.

 

[Tech_Esq]

What is there to be "up in arms" about? The muni is in bankruptcy.

Because they are up in arms about the bonuses paid to AIG execs.

I don't mean to be thick, but the Municipality is in bankruptcy and AIG is not, so where is the parallel?

Yes, I understand they are both in financial trouble, but there is a complete difference between being in bankruptcy and not being in bankruptcy.

 

[sealybobo]

Will the right-wing zombies be up in arms about this or do they only care when corporate executives lose their bonuses?

In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts


In the first ruling of its kind, a bankruptcy judge held the city of Vallejo, Calif. has the authority to void its existing union contracts in its effort to reorganize, holding public workers do not enjoy the same protections Congress gave union workers at private companies.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202429132330

I asked everyone at my work and the consensus is this. Government shouldn't be able to break contracts. BUT, when they are receiving our tax dollars or they would go bankrupt, this should be the exception to the rule.

So all the people trying to make excuses for why these executives should be able to keep their bonus', remember, AIG is too big to fail, so we can't let them go bankrupt. If we could, we would, and then those people would be out of work AND we could renig on those bonus'.

So, in light of the sitution we are in, I think we can make a one time exception and TAKE BACK THOSE BONUS'.

I'm sick of right wingers telling us why we can't. YES WE CAN!!!

And we should too.