Employers are eliminating jobs by the dozens as they bring in this new machinery from Germany. They just built a new plant in Toledo that is not going to have nearly the number of workers that a plant of that size would have had just two years ago. We're working our rear ends off, but not making much progress, because people are scared to death. And they're scared because the laws are stacked against them. The smaller the labor movement gets, the easier it is for the employers to walk all over us.
People are scared for good reason.
In an organizing drive, if a person gets fired, you can tell them it's against the law - fine and dandy. Five years from now, you'll get back to work. So I'm pushing the idea that we need our own political voice because neither the Democrats nor the Republicans adhere to any coherent program. They're not representing us. One of the people who was one of my hardest sells just sent in a Labor Party membership for one of his friends.