Page 2 The Skanner Portland & Seattle January 8, 2020
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Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
Looking to 2020 — Put Your Vote to WORK!
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Executive Editor
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2019
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f you work for a living but
are somewhat up in the air
about who to vote for in
2020 or for that matter, if
you should even bother get-
ting to that crowded polling
place, I’d like to ask that you
indulge me for a minute.
Because I’ve got a story
to tell you that might help
with your decision. A story
of working people and pol-
iticians who are working
against all of us — everyday.
I’d like to go back to 1980,
the year that Ronald Reagan
was campaigning to the 40th
president of the United States.
Much of his rhetoric was de-
signed to appeal to labor and
the working men and women
of this country, promising to
protect jobs, to support pol-
icies that would create more
jobs and put unemployed
Americans back to work.
Promises betrayed
The reality of his presiden-
cy and his policies came down
somewhat differently.
In fact, President Reagan’s
eight years in office were
devastating for labor and the
middle class. He was a cham-
pion of deregulation, which
systematically
weakened
workplace safety standards
and record-keeping. He spe-
cifically went after labor by
appointing three manage-
ment-friendly National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB) mem-
bers, causing the NLRB to de-
part from its legal obligation
to actively promote collective
bargaining — the constitu-
tional right and underlying
principle for the existence of
unions. During his presiden-
cy, NLRB caseloads were dras-
tically cut and the cases that
with the status quo.
Ray Curry
Secretary-
Treasurer,
UAW
did go forward went from the
recent 33 percent finding in
favor of employers to 75 per-
cent favoring employers.
His economic policies shift-
ed the tax burden away from
the wealthy and onto the back
of middle-class Americans.
So, why am I bringing up
“
Clearly, it
should serve
as a dire
warning of
what is to
come should
we continue
with the sta-
tus quo
this sad history here in the
last days of 2019?
Because Ronald Reagan,
who turned his back on orga-
nized labor and started Amer-
ica’s middle-class into a tail-
spin from which it has never
recovered, has recently been
voted by this administration’s
hand-picked NLRB into the
Labor Hall of Fame. I think
that speaks volumes. Clearly,
they have taken a page from
the Old Gipper’s playbook.
And clearly, it should serve
as a dire warning of what is
to come should we continue
Stacked against us
Today, an NLRB even more
conservative than President
Reagan’s has moved as fast as
it could to make it more diffi-
cult for unions to organize.
In December of 2017, the
board overturned a rule that
had made it easier to organize
smaller units of workers in
big factories and stores.
Another decision made it
tougher for workers at fast-
food restaurants and other
franchised operations to
unionize. What’s more, this
board is further encroaching
on labor by looking to slow
unionization elections, a
move that, as we all know too
well, would give corporations
more time to pressure work-
ers to vote NO.
Here at the UAW, we saw
those stalling hijinks in ac-
tion in Chattanooga this sum-
mer with the effort to orga-
nize Volkswagen and give its
workers a real say in their
work lives.
This administration hasn’t
stopped at turning the NLRB
into the Chamber of Com-
merce. Let’s look at the Su-
preme Court.
Justice Neil Gorsuch was
confirmed in the first few
months of this administra-
tion and he delivered the
conservative anti-labor edge
to the Janus case almost as
soon as he was installed. Gor-
such, who had close ties with
groups that bankrolled Janus,
cast the deciding vote in a de-
cision that prohibited public
sector unions from collecting
fees from non-members.
This devastating decision
reversed 41 years of prece-
dent and overturned laws
in the 22 states that have not
adopted “Right-to-Work” pol-
icies. And all signs indicate
that, when he is not drinking
beer, the administration’s sec-
ond appointee, Justice Bret
Kavanaugh will be just as aw-
ful.
The Huffington Post in siz-
ing him up as anti-labor, re-
counted the time when a New
York manufacturer created
a new spinoff company to
avoid bargaining with union-
ized workers. Federal regula-
tors and a panel of appellate
judges said the manufacturer
broke the law and violated its
employees’ rights.
There was, however, one
judge who dissented in the
appeals decision and sided
with the employer: Brett Ka-
vanaugh.
Say no more.
Supremely anti-labor
A Legal Aid lawyer put it
this way, “Along with [Justice
Neil] Gorsuch, [Brett Kava-
naugh] is the ideal of a Koch
brothers judge. He’ll be an-
ti-labor and anti-worker.”
Of course, just as disturbing
when it comes to the courts is
this fact: While the Supreme
Court gets the attention, it’s
the lower courts that decide
the bulk of the cases. In lock-
step with the anti-worker
overhaul of our courts, more
pro-management judges have
been appointed to the fed-
eral appeals courts than at
any other time in our recent
history, and one out of every
four circuit court judges have
been installed by the current
administration.
Read the rest of this commentary at
TheSkanner.com
A Sharp Tongue Cuts from the Inside Out
LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS
LOCAL EVENTS
to
y •
Opinion
G
rowing up, I was never
a student of the Bible
even though I grew up
surrounded by the best
kind of Christians there were:
the love-filled family kind.
I believe I am now being
constantly moved by the Holy
Spirit (I hope) to see the sim-
plicity in the scripture I now
study. As such, I am finding
myself gravitating to min-
isters, pastors and saints as
they dissect in sermon and
prayer the incredible power
of the tongue; yes, that small
but dangerously lethal weap-
on housed in one’s mouth.
Without any biblical per-
spective, history confirms
the ability of deceit-filled el-
oquence to entice weak men
to murder, married women
to stray, prideful men to war
and so-called peace-loving
folk to slaughter.
On a daily basis, a reckless
tongue can sear forever the
spirit of an innocent child, a
wanting spouse, a true friend
tongue wields the power of
James A.
life and death. Having been
Washington the target of ill-intended crit-
Publisher,
The Dallas
Weekly
or a caring co-worker. Evil or-
atory moves men and women
to do evil things.
But oh, how powerful, how
wonderful is a well-inten-
“
‘Reckless
words pierce
like a sword
but the tongue
of the wise
brings heal-
ing’
tioned ‘thank you’, a sincere
‘I’m sorry’ or a genuine ‘I be-
lieve in you.’
James 3:10 tells us that the
icism, and out of momentary
anger or hurt having tried
to destroy the souls of many
I held dear, I know first-hand
that James is so right.
I have been trying to correct
this character flaw by being as
deliberately uplifting as pos-
sible, thinking of myself as a
vessel of the living God first
before I speak and remem-
bering that man was made in
God’s own image and curs-
ing any man is tantamount to
cursing God.
Could it be that James 1:26
holds a key to salvation? “…
If anyone considers himself
religious and yet does not
keep a rein on his tongue, he
deceives himself and his reli-
gion is worthless…”
I submit to you that if you
compare the words of Jesus
Christ to any demagogue, you
will find that Jesus’ words re-
pulse with great power all ha-
tred, gossip, rumor and even
innuendo. It is impossible to
claim to love God without lov-
ing Jesus as the living Word
of God. Saying so merely con-
firms the truth in this case
that the spoken Word will in-
deed set one free.
“Reckless words pierce like
a sword but the tongue of the
wise brings healing.” Prov-
erbs 12:14. I’m told God hates
a liar and loves the truth. Re-
member there is no cure for
hurt feelings except an honest
spoken apology. Hurt feelings
fester and infect a person.
Think before you speak.
And please don’t take my
word for it. “He who guards
his lips, guards his life, but he
who speaks rashly will come
to ruin.” Proverbs 12:3.
May God bless and keep you
always.
James A. Washington is a
father, husband, Christian,
writer, entrepreneur and the
owner/publisher of the Dallas
Weekly.
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