"Lenin's Tomb" mentioned this Financial Times article recently, which previews the attack from Corporate elites against the Employee Free Choice Act (which Obama claims that he supports). Capital is determined to make sure this one never becomes law, and they are willing to spend a lot of money in the process.
Unionization in the private sector in the US is pitifully low, and has been in sharp decline for several decades. Union-busting legislation (like Taft-Hartley, for instance) passed during the reactionary spout of the early 50s has been extremely helpful in pushing that figure as low as possible.
It's unsurprising that Business elites are fretting about the possibility of seeing some of their favorite anti-union bludgeons stricken from the law. They are watching very closely to see what happens on this front:
"The business community is very concerned about the so-called Employee Free Choice Act,” said John Castellani, president of the Business Roundtable, which represents the interest of more than 100 large US companies in Washington.The good folks at Walmart are loading up ammunition to assault the bill's chances:
Wal-Mart, the largest private employer in the US, which has a staunch anti- union record, has already made its opposition clear. Lee Scott, Wal-Mart’s chief executive, told analysts last week that the change would result in “making this country less competitive” and “bringing coercion and force into the workplace”.The more upset these people are with what an Obama Administration might do, the better. But one thing that exuberant Obamaniac liberals might consider is whether in the last instance their uncritical groveling will prove more decisive than the bare-knuckles, multi-million dollar campaign sure to be waged by Capital in order to try to get its way.
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