KIOSK HELLO

It’s looking like the current Automaker Bailout is not going to make it as the Senate rejected the bill… I’m not the most informed person on the situation but this makes me really mad:

“The Republicans senators emerged from their meeting an hour later having decided they would not agree to a deal. Several blamed the autoworkers union.

“It sounds like the U.A.W. blew it up,” said Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana”

and another tidbit:

“The automakers would also have been required to cut wages and benefits to match the average hourly wage and benefits of Nissan, Toyota and Honda employees in the United States.”

Wow, interesting how the union is getting blamed for the fall out, sounds like another capitalist spin on things. Can you really blame the workers union for not agreeing with the notion of their workers taking on the cuts to support the bailout? How about if for the next two years each white collar worker in the industry takes a big old cut of 30% of their salary and the unionized workers keep their salaries at the same rates for the period, we’d at least see wages coming closer together.

I find this outrageous, just the fact alone the CEO’s first flew in on private jets and then drove to Washington in their hybrids is stupid enough! Jesus, we can’t get our shit together here. We need a workers revolution. Here you can see, it can work, we can come together! 

One more thing, Bank of America received $25 billion in bailout money and just announced today they are cutting 35,000 jobs over 3 years “as it digests its acquisition of Merrill Lynch.” Yeah digests the aquisition deal they did with money from our government. Brilliant, get the funds, get even bigger and then dump 35,000 people. What exactly are these companies  getting our money for? Each of us needs to start asking. Take time to read the news, business section too!

Image caption:

“During the Great Depression, unemployment was high. Many employers tried to get as much work as possible from their employees for the lowest possible wage. Workers were upset with the speedup of assembly lines, working conditions and the lack of job security. Seeking strength in unity, they formed unions. Automobile workers organized the U.A.W. (United Automobile Workers of America) in 1935. General Motors would not recognize the U.A.W. as the workers’ bargaining representative. Hearing rumors that G.M. was moving work to factories where the union was not as strong, workers in Flint began a sit-down strike on December 30, 1936. The sit-down was an effective way to strike. When workers walked off the job and picketed a plant, management could bring in new workers to break the strike. If the workers stayed in the plant, management could not replace them with other workers. This photograph shows the broken windows at General Motors’ Flint Fisher Body Plant during the Flint sit-down strike of 1936-37.”