[lbo-talk] anti-gay marriage amendment in Michigan

Michael Dawson MDawson at pdx.edu
Thu Oct 7 11:59:29 PDT 2004


Amen! Hell, in my union (AFT), there isn't even one person, one vote. The officers are "elected" by conventions, most of the delegates to which are beholden lackeys of one kind or another.

The taproot of this disease is Taft-Hartley. The schwags now at the top actually like it. It's a dream system for dullards and sell-outs looking for sinecures -- lots of rules and complexities, but no true challenges or downward responsibilities.

-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org] On Behalf Of Doug Henwood Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 10:49 AM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] anti-gay marriage amendment in Michigan

Joel Wendland wrote:


>COALITION FOR A FAIR MICHIGAN
>
>SPECIAL UPDATE
>
>October 6, 2004
>
>We have some incredible news to share with you today.
>
>This afternoon, the Michigan AFL-CIO, which represents over 600,000
>union members from 59 different unions, announced its opposition to
>Proposal 2, the so-called "marriage amendment".
>
>Says the AFL-CIO on their website, "This constitutional amendment,
>if passed, would take away some of the bargaining rights of public
>employees... The ballot language is overly broad and this proposed
>constitutional amendment takes benefits off the table."
>
>The AFL-CIO has added a strong and powerful voice to the chorus of
>those opposing to this poorly written and reckless amendment.

I don't agree with Eliot, that the greatest treason is to do the right deed for the wrong reason, but really, this is a weak-ass reason to oppose the amendment. Instead of articulating a broad principle of justice, they reduce the argument to collective bargaining. It's depressing how often unions live up to the criticism of them as narrow interest groups.

Doug ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk



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