For years now the only commodity where the buyer sets the price of the commodity instead of the seller is work. This would be like going into Wal-Mart and picking up an item priced at $4.00 and telling the cashier I’m only going to pay $3.00.

The Republicans would like you to believe that any increase in the wages of Middle Class America would make American business non competitive in the Global economy. Forget for a moment that the slave wage model is not the only model of globalization, there are two ways you can talk about this. Thefirst way is to point out with weak unions and declining wages for thirty years since Ronald Reagan broke PATCO the air traffic controllers union, we have been losing jobs like a cut artery loses blood with some estimates of 9 million jobs lost by the end of this year Maybe what we need is another model of competition not more wage cuts.

The second way to look at it is that while CEO’s deny the right to a contract to employee’s not a one of them would work without a contract specifying terms and conditions of employment. So why is it tantamount to Socialist evil when workers want an employment contract but the only way to do business when it is the rich. In short it is not about anything but control.

And if you want to talk about rights you do not have a number of rights in the workplace that you have as a citizen. One is free speech, and if you think you do tell your employer you would like to utilize your right to organize. In the case of some people I have worked with it all boiled down to they held political views that their bosses didn’t like. In a right to work state you can be fired at the will of your employer for any reason.

You also do not have the right to freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures because they can check your e-mails. You will also find you do not have the right of free association in some work places.

Full story: http://www.examiner.com/x-3629-Philadelphia-Progressive-Examiner~y2009m3d5-The-Employee-Free-Choice-ActEnding-the-banana-republic-dictatorship-called-work