Walmart, Lowe's...Others Bankrolling a Nationwide Campaign to Gut Workers' Comp

a reply to: jacobe001

I can agree with you.

My sentiments were spawn years ago when I was involved in a unionisation effort where I worked. A major major union. They won by 50 percent plus one vote. Yup that narrow. I am no longer with them but it decimated that company, destroyed morale, and caused freinds to be enemies. It was that ugly.

The company has now been absorbed away into a larger company and is now just a minor division of the conglomerate.

So my bias is tainted and will likely stay that way.

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
And most of us just sit back and watch the progression of the systematic destruction of the working class and are powerless somehow.

Yup, and as time progresses without any headway, we'll have people like posting things like this:

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
Good. Can we stop talking about this now?

Because we all know that hey, if something isn't resolved within a couple of years we should just stop talking about it!

originally posted by: 2Spooky4Me

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
And most of us just sit back and watch the progression of the systematic destruction of the working class and are powerless somehow.

Yup, and as time progresses without any headway, we'll have people like posting things like this:

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
Good. Can we stop talking about this now?

Because we all know that hey, if something isn't resolved within a couple of years we should just stop talking about it!

What kind of headway? You mean the final blows to a systemic pattern that has been unfolding since the early 1980s?

Stalk and take things out of context much?

Perhaps if 100 articles about ARAWC had beaten this subject to death you'd have a point.

Perhaps if you stalked a little more thoroughly, you would see my previous comments about the other subject.

Just what is your point here on the actual topic, super sleuth?

a reply to: ~Lucidity

It is really messed up now......You basically have to sue to get compensation. They fight you at every turn and try and screw you out of everything they can.



Look around guys the American dream is gone for good. Lower wage earners can not afford food and housing and anyone making under 50,000 a year is basically screwed because of inflation and lowering wages. This cannot continue for much longer without major changes in this country.

a reply to: SubTruth

It's more than messed up. You might find a few interesting different points of view in this article. Chomsky, love him or hate him, he can make a person think,

Noam Chomsky blasts the assault on labor: “‘Right to work’ means ‘right to scrounge’”

Workers do pay a price for right-to-work laws, however. Not only do such measures reduce union coverage by nearly 10 percentage points, but the Economic Policy Institute finds that right-to-work laws are associated with an average $1,500 drop in annual wages.

As workers lose clout, Chomsky said, a well-heeled elite continues to prosper.

Bemoaning a status quo in which political elites cater to the interests of the powerful while stripping rights from ordinary citizens, Chomsky told Nichols, “This is a plutocracy. It’s not a democracy.”

There has definitely been a conspiracy by the plutocrats going on for decades to strip rights, protection, pensions, and almost everything else from workers...a conspiracy that started with destroying the unions. I've seen the conspiring firsthand, And will probably end in the either the reformatioin of a new labor or union movement or something worse.

a reply to: ~Lucidity

I long for the day when the vast majority of people choose self employment and worker cooperatives, and we tell these diabolical creeps to stick it where the sun doesnt shine. One thing that we can do immediately is boycott them. The way to hit corporate America where they live is to lower their bottom line.

I worked for ITT making wire and wiring harnesses for US autos but the greedy Chicago owners shipped the machines to Mexico. Then I managed a Walmart Lawn and Garden Shop and saw that the owners are greedy and they abuse workers; but too many workers are lazy thieves. I then worked for BLS and saw how much Workers Comp and Unemployment Insurance cost owners and how the crooked workers abuse the system but the insurance companies just pay the bills and raise rates; it's more expensive to investigate and prosecute. The more unions and Socialism we have, the fewer jobs. I bet an eight dollar hamburger has $1 ingredients, $1 labor, $1 taxes, $1 utilities and rent, $1 profit and $3 insurance. The more we allow lazy fraudulent workers to abuse the system, the fewer jobs. Socialism, lazy dishonest workers and greedy owners are killing us. Nations do have a kind of Karma and ours went bad about 1965.

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
Stalk and take things out of context much?

Right, because now seeing a post by you and replying to you in a thread which was on the recent posts page is "stalking". And people wonder why the world is in the s**tter.

How is what you wrote and I posted out of context? You wanted people to "quit talking about" the Benghazi issue, something that is yet unresolved and have actually cost people their lives and could possibly have been prevented. So why should we be talking about something as old as union problems? I mean, shouldn't we quit talking about that too? I'm just following your logic.

(I'm actually agreeing with you that this issue regarding how these major chains are treating their workers, it just irks me that you like to pick and choose what we should, or shouldn't be talking about.)

a reply to: 2Spooky4Me

It's your conscience. Live with it. You called out ONE of my posts on the subject. Do your homework and read ALL my posts on the subject or leave that subject out of THIS thread.

a reply to: 2Spooky4Me

Bush wanted people to stop talking about 911. That is still an unsolved mystery in a lot of peoples minds in spite of the cover story we were given. 3000 died that day, but strange, I dont hear right wingers demanding a more thorough investigation of that attack. You guys really like to cherry pick your issues, and if it happens on a republicans watch you dont want to know about it, but if a dem is in charge when it happens you are out for blood. Same with the economy.

And if You will not do the job!
immigrants will....
Now do you see what obama is doing?

workers compensation, healthcare, and ect. could just be solved with a more comprehensive welfare system, one that simply fills the role of the services that labor unions typically provide.

I think that's how(post-ww2, formerly West-) Germany does it.... They've had a very successful economy.

I was injured in an auto accident last year and lost a month of work. I had short term disability but got nothing, it was denied. Sick time... nothing. I could have fought for it I guess but money wasn't an issue and I was just honestly glad to have the time off to recuperate from the surgery and deal with the stress it caused. But I guess I should have been grateful at all the concern the company's insurance company showed me, they noted my cholesterol readings, weight and kept tabs on my ability to return to work.

and, of course, as the number of customers that can afford their products shrinks their profit margins they will cry to washington for help and well we can be expected to shell out more money in welfare and probably have more mandates put on us that force us to buy what we can't afford!
this country is lost!

Workers comp insurance isn't cheap. I know what we spend for our company....i can only imagine what Wal mart pays (if they even bother purchasing insurance with their overall buying power).

that said...its a cost of doing business. you owe it to your workers to provide them a safe work environment. and the best way to do that is to ensure that the employer is liable for on the job injury. I also think that if drug testing is used to exclude claims, then the tests should determine if they were under the influence at the time of incident or not (i.e., better drug tests are needed for many reasons)

I would certainly hope that workers comp doesn't seriouslycome under attack.

originally posted by: Dutchowl
I was injured in an auto accident last year and lost a month of work. I had short term disability but got nothing, it was denied. Sick time... nothing. I could have fought for it I guess but money wasn't an issue and I was just honestly glad to have the time off to recuperate from the surgery and deal with the stress it caused. But I guess I should have been grateful at all the concern the company's insurance company showed me, they noted my cholesterol readings, weight and kept tabs on my ability to return to work.

Please correct me if I am wrong but I thought the short term and long term unemployment insurance was only available if the reason for your injury was that the incident took place while you were at work and on "the clock".

a reply to: Dutchowl

Depending on who's fault the auto accident was, it would be the auto insurance that you would file against. Workman's Comp does not pay for accidents outside of work? Or were you driving or a passenger as part of your job? That would be different.

originally posted by: jacobe001
Tell me, when is it enough profits?
Give me a number

1 Million, 10 Million, a billion?

As much as the owner of the corporation deems appropriate--it's not my business or my place to set profit limits on private companies.

But you tell me: What would be your arbitrary number that (I assume) you base completely on emotional arguments?

Lobbying Group Scrubs Page Listing Corporate Backers After Mother Jones Article


Yeah, nothing to see (hide) here, folks.