[lbo-talk] Stop Flogging the Dead Donkey and Own the Power of aSpoiler

Nathan Newman nathanne at nathannewman.org
Thu Jan 13 11:00:57 PST 2005


----- Original Message ----- From: "Yoshie Furuhashi" <furuhashi.1 at osu.edu>

-Professional AnybodyButBush ideologues probably never believed their -own hype about George W. Bush -- it was just for the purpose of -guilt-tripping leftists into voting for John Kerry against their own -interests.


>From the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals (via BNA's Daily Labor Report): A
decision decided by Bush appointees to the court that allowed a rank-and-file union leader to be fired for calling his supervisor a racist, despite an NLRB order that the employee be reinstated. Yep, nothing bad about the Bush administration:

BNA Daily Labor Report Thursday, January 13, 2005

(key excerpt)

"Word 'Racist' Not Protected Activity Refusing to enforce NLRB's order, the Fourth Circuit said that "protected action" requires a person showing that he or she was acting for the "purpose of inducing or furthering group action." In this case, Mankins's comments were made when no other union members were present and lacked content that would have helped union members advance their cause. "A reflection of Mankins' words and actions could only lead to one conclusion: his derogatory attacks were merely a manifestation of his personal sentiments towards his supervisor, not an expression of Union opinion," Hudson explained. "Such personal missions are not the sort of concerted activity which the statute protects."

In addition to finding the coarse language was not protected, the Fourth Circuit also found Mankins's calling supervisors "racist" during a meeting was also not protected because the comment lacked meaning without more context. While in some situations the word "racist" may have meaning that conveys concern about the workplace, the court said in this case the word was used merely to provoke his supervisors and to increase employees' hostility toward the supervisors.

"The offensive manner in which Mankins used the word to describe his employers was purely pejorative, and was intended to convey his personal sentiments," Hudson said. "The use of the word 'racist' in this setting and context merely served to stoke the intensity of his disruptive behavior."



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