[Marxism] What sort of "democratic freedom" is this ?

["Jurriaan Bendien" <andromeda246@xxxxxxxxx>]

In his LA Times (6 August) article, Ralph Nader writes:

"The real meddling in our campaign has come not from Republicans but from
Democrats, with, as a Democratic National Committee official told me, the
DNC's approval. This includes:

* Spoiling our ballot access convention in Oregon by filling the auditorium
with Democrats to undermine the convention by swelling the numbers and then
not signing the petitions.

* Hiring corporate law firms to block our ballot efforts with litigation on
frivolous technical grounds. In Arizona, 1,400 signatures were challenged
because the signatories, although giving their complete address, did not
include the name of their county. We could not afford to pay defense counsel
and incur delays.

* Trying to exclude thousands of signatures in Illinois because the
signatories had moved since registering to vote - even though they still
lived in Illinois and even though they were still registered voters.

* Inappropriately using state employees, contractors and interns who work
for Illinois' Democratic speaker of the state House to review and challenge
signatures on our ballot access petitions."

Ralph comments: "Not only are these efforts an attempt to deprive voters of
choices in 2004 but, unless repulsed, they will set a precedent for
undermining future third-party and independent candidates."

Apart from restricting the freedom to vote, freedom of association is also
constantly restricted in the USA. Point is, the same tactics used in
national elections, are also used in labor relations. Cornell University
scholar Kate Bronfenbrenner, who studied 407 union affiliation campaigns,
reports in Uneasy Terrain: The Impact of Capital Mobility on Workers, Wages
and Union Organizing that:

* In 2000, 43% of unorganised workers said they would vote for union
affiliation, if they could.

* Of the 500,000 unorganised workers who try to form a union each year,
fewer than a third succeed in obtaining union representation and a
collective employment contract.

* Nine out of every ten private-sector employers, when faced with employees
who want to join together in a union, require employees to attend
closed-door meetings to hear anti-union propaganda; four out of every five
employers require supervisors to attend training sessions on attacking
unions; and three out of every four employers require that supervisors
deliver anti-union messages to workers they oversee.

* Three out of every four employers hire outside consultants to run
anti-union campaigns, often based on mass psychology and distorting the law.

* Half of the employers threaten to shut down plants or offices partially or
totally, if employees joined together in a union.

* In one out of every four union affiliation campaigns, private-sector
employers illegally fire workers, because they want to form a union.

* Even after workers successfully form a union, in one-third of cases,
employers never negotiate a collective contract.

See http://www.ustdrc.gov/research/bronfenbrenner.pdf

The Human Rights Watch report "Unfair advantage: Workers's Freedom of
Association in the United States under International Human Rights Standards"
additionally notes:

* More than 20,000 workers per year are found to be victims of illegal
discrimination, leading to a back-pay or other remedial order by the
National Labor Relations Board.

See: http://hrw.org/backgrounder/usa/ken-testimony-0602.pdf

According to the BLS, the total number of union affiliation elections has
declined from 3,339 in 1999 to 2,599 in 2002, although unions consistently
win in just over half of the cases.
See: http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cb20030425tb01.htm

Jurriaan






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