Focused Read in 3-4 minutes,
more if you go deeper into the story
(You can find the toolkit in full in the Guardian article
in the link at the end of the following excerpts)
"Exclusive: how rightwing groups wield secret 'toolkit' to plot against US unions
Internal documents obtained by the Guardian reveal a nationwide drive to persuade union members to quit and stop paying dues
(By Ed Pilkington)
Rightwing activists are launching a nationwide drive to persuade public-sector trade union members to tear up their membership cards and stop paying dues, posing a direct threat to the progressive movement in America.
Documents obtained by the Guardian reveal that a network of radical conservative thinktanks spanning all 50 states is planning direct marketing campaigns targeted personally at union members to encourage them to quit.
The secret push, the group hopes, could cost unions up to a fifth of their 7 million members ...
... The anti-union marketing drive is the brainchild of the State Policy Network (SPN), a coast-to-coast alliance of 66 rightwing thinktanks that has an $80m war chest to promote Donald Trump-friendly regressive policies such as low taxes and small government.
The group is funded by such billionaire conservative donors as the Koch brothers and the Walton Family Foundation that stems from the Walmart fortune.
(Emphasis is mine.)
... The goal, the group said, was “permanently depriving the left from access to millions of dollars in dues extracted from unwilling union members every election cycle”.
The Guardian has now obtained what SPN is calling a “toolkit” of advice to its followers on how to go about fomenting “union reform”
– a euphemism for draining unions of members and cash.
The “toolkit” sets out four “tactics” for depleting their power – “effective union reform”, in its language.
One of those tactics is the opt-out campaign.
“To get employees to opt-out of their union,” the documents say, “they first need to know they have a choice. A direct marketing campaign to union represented public employees that combines mail and digital outreach helps raise awareness and raise opt-out rates.”
The SPN blueprint sets out how to acquire the private details of union members through state freedom of information laws so that opt-out propaganda can be targeted directly at them.
It says: “Access to lists of union members is essential to this project. The most common means of obtaining lists is through requests made under state public records laws.”
The toolkit is being circulated at a vital moment for public sector trade unions. The wave of school teachers’ strikes...has reinvigorated the labor movement as a key part of the resistance to stagnating wages, waning resources and a hostile White House.
More perilously, the US supreme court is poised to deliver its ruling any day in Janus v AFSCME, one of the most important trade union cases in recent times.
If the five conservative justices on the highest court vote in favor of the anti-union plaintiff, as many expect, they would deal a severe blow to organized labor by giving employees the right to opt-out of paying their share of the costs of collective bargaining even though they benefit from negotiated higher wages and improved conditions.
That in turn would give the green light to conservative groups like SPN to step up their efforts to encourage mass resignations of union members.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the Guardian documents revealed the extent of secret planning by rightwing groups in advance of the supreme court’s Janus ruling.
“These documents make clear that Janus v AFSCME is not a case brought by individuals trying to have a voice, it’s a case brought by wealthy forces to eliminate worker voice and power.”
She added that rightwing billionaires such as the Kochs “know working families only have power through their unity as a union, and they will stop at nothing to destroy that. ...
One of the SPN thinktanks, the Freedom Foundation in Olympia, Washington state, has already begun campaigning and fundraising on the back of a Janus ruling that goes against the unions. It has been mailing out to supporters in which it says “we are gearing up in a major way to launch an extensive education and activation campaign to take full advantage of a favorable ruling in this historic case”.
The foundation goes on to say: “The consequences of a favorable ruling are huge. Imagine tens, even hundreds, of millions of dollars currently used to push damaging leftwing causes and candidates … vanishing.”
In 2016 the Freedom Foundation ran a brazen campaign in Washington and Oregon in which it went knocking on the doors of more than 10,000 childcare and home care workers telling them that under a previous US supreme court ruling they could opt out of paying union dues.
In the document obtained by the Guardian, SPN boasts that the foundation’s operation cost the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in those states $8.8m in lost dues and legal fees."
You can read more and find links to go deeper into the story here
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Focused Point of Interest,
Perhaps for the nerdiest among us, time spent depends on how far one chooses to go.
Iran-Contra, the Reagan Administration political scandal, saw Oliver North, former deputy-director of the National Security Council who has made a very public comeback as the current NRA president, convicted of three charges -- which were overturned in 1990.
( A point of interest: It seems the complexity of congressional hearings being conducted at the same time an independent investigation was being conducted was the ultimate cause of the overturning of the charges against North. )
"About the Project
This project evolved from an applied ethics and public policy course at Brown University called Good Government.
How to cover the Iran-Contra Affairs has posed a serious challenge. The most comprehensive book...is out of print. There is not a single website devoted exclusively to this subject ...
This website is intended to fill that gap and provide an educational resource with extensive materials about the issue. ...
The well-organized "Timeline Gallery" includes:
"Hearings
(Spring, 1987)
Iran
Legal Aftermath
Nicaragua
Nicaragua and Iran"
.
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→ Direct sources for Democrats:
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The Democratic Party Website
Also, NOT exactly a Democratic Party specific source but a good place for to hear and to watch speeches & hearings directly C-SPAN
An "organizing project that advocates for the agenda of former U.S. President Barack Obama" here
→ Fact checking organizations courtesy of the Society of Professional Journalists
in alphabetical order...
→ Some of my favorite, most informative
follows on Twitter include:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ US Intelligence | Author | Navy Senior Chief | NBC/MSNBC
⭐⭐⭐ Federal Government Operations | Vanity Fair | Newsweek | MSNBC Contributor | Author
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Voting Rights/Voter Suppression | Author | Mother Jones
→ Some of my favorite, highly credible media -- at the moment:
📰📰📰 Mother Jones
📰📰📰📰 The Washington Post
→ Some of my favorite Talking Heads -- at the moment -- and their Twitter handles:
→ Some of my favorite media/panelists -- at the moment -- and their Twitter handles:
✅✅✅ Heidi Przybyla USA TODAY Senior Political Reporter
✅✅✅ Jennifer Rubin Conservative blogger at @ WashingtonPost's Right Turn, MSNBC contributor
✅✅✅ Natasha Bertrand Staff writer @ TheAtlantic covering national security & the intel community. @ NBCNews/@ MSNBC contributor
( 📎 Interesting to note: Wallace, a former Republican (or an inactive Republican I believe she calls herself) is new to the job but for right now she has clearly put country over party and her work on Trump GOP has been credible, IMO... )
...for Networking for Democrats today!
g. (Unapologetic Democrat)
g. (Unapologetic Democrat)
📎 Note: I rarely get involved in primary races -- outside of those in my own area. And, unless there is a glaring reason that can not be ignored, I support Democratic Party nominees winning in general elections.
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(Linked) "...is our 2016 platform...a declaration of how we plan to move America forward. Democrats believe that cooperation is better than conflict, unity is better than division, empowerment is better than resentment, and bridges are better than walls.
It’s a simple but powerful idea: We are stronger together."
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Curated by Gail Mountain, this blog is often gently edited and/or excerpted for quick reading, with occasional personal commentary in the form of the written word and/or in the form of emphasis noted. Network For #StrongerTogether ! is not affiliated with The Democratic Party in any capacity. This is an independent blog and the hope is you will, at a glance, learn more about the Party and you will, with a click or two, also take action on its behalf as it is provided!
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g., aka Focused Democrat
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