nader

[Christine Petersen]

The statement or post that Tim S. made here several weeks ago about 
Multinational Monitor and Nader has been circulating around. It's been 
forwarded to my email at least 2-3 times.

I think that anyone that can achieve that level of prominence in politics 
must by default have some real problems as a person. In a country with 270 
million people, there are thousands and thousands of quite brilliant people. 
I would be that some of you all could easily make a fool of W. Bush in a 
debate for instance. So why does one person get ahead of others in a field 
where there are many many capable people. There are very few politicians I 
can think of that don't have a lot wrong with them, and they're usually at 
the local level. That isn't a function of 'everyone is human, and anyone put 
under the spotlight would have skeletons in their closet'. Really, 
politicians are worse people than average citizens, on average, and that is 
why they can get ahead. You'd at least have to be a megalomaniac, if nothing 
else, to run for president. I think that business tends to be the same way. 
The majority of the public wants to get rich and spends some time scoping 
out what their best choices would be, and what opportunities there are. Why 
do some people do so much better than others - especially in areas where 
there is no true entrepreneurship involved, marketing a truly new product or 
service. I met a law student whose father managed to accumulate 2000+ 
apartment units in S. Cal within 15 years of immigrating here. How could he 
have done that in a location where millions of people are trying to also 
become wealthy - was it really by just intelligence and wits alone?





TLehman makes some incorrect assumptions (below).


In the organizing campaign at MM, there were 3 of us involved, and it came 
after many confrontations with Nader over workplace issues that were 
impossible to resolve because there was no structure, only Nader's final 
decisions. We DID consult with several unions, but none had the time to work 
with a workplace of 3 people. So we simply went down to the NLRB and asked 
to be recognized as a collective bargaining unit - all it takes is two. It 
was the day after this request was made that our locks were changed and I 
was thrown out. And its true I was the editor but I didn't have the power to 
hire or fire - all power was in the hands of the Great Ralph. He certainly 
got some 'professional' advice, because before I was finally axed, he 
'transferred' control of MM to his underlings and let them do the dirty 
work.
As for Sawicky's earlier comments on card-check - I think it would make a 
very interesting test. Someone should ask Nader, would you agree to 
unionization of Public Citizen if a majority of its employees wanted it? I 
think that's a pretty good indication of someone's convictions on unions. 
I'm surprised that a representative of the Economic Policy Institute, which 
is so pro-labor, wouldn't see this as a rather important litmus test. Would 
Jeff Faux would have the same reaction as Nader if presented with a 
unionization drive, Sawicky?
TShorrock



TLehman wrote: Max---Anyone even the least familiar with organizing would 
see where Tim went wrong. First, when you are about to be shown the door is 
the wrong
time to attempt to get cards signed. If getting cards signed was ever 
attempted? And it doesn't sound like an attempt to get cards signed was ever 
made prior to Tim getting the boot.. This unfortunatley sounds
like an after the fact or sour grapes charge---not that Tim didn't have good 
intentions. I'm sure he did. Tim should have consulted with a union 
organizer and planned a little organizing campaign in advance.
This would have strengthened his position in case things went sour and he 
would have had professional help with his campaign.


Also, there is the little problem of Tim as editor being management for
the magazine? Which might have been a bone of contention in a real
organizing campaign.


TL



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