Episode 144: Wal-Mart’s Guns In Teachers’ Sights; Boeing Breaks Labor Law; Nurses Fight Retaliation Firings

Sometimes CEOs and the economic elites do stuff that is so transparently absurd that it sort of makes me laugh. Add to that list the letter, “A statement on the purpose of a corporation”, released this past week by the Business Roundtable, signed by a couple of hundred CEOs, promising to be, well, nice to us—better wages, better treatment, better community efforts, all done with the help of the glorious free market. I could go down that list and point to, one after the other, all the horrendous policies those CEOs make happen—not to mention the huge riches they pay themselves at the expense of shareholders and workers, none of which they offered in the letter to cut back on for the betterment of human kind. But, better yet, this week’s episode features two of those hypocritical companies. Wal-Mart arms many people with guns—and teachers are ramping up a campaign to empty Wal-Mart’s shelves of the weapons that could end up being used in mass school shootings. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, is back on the show to talk about the union’s demand that Wal-Mart stop selling guns and cease giving money to politicians who carry the water for the National Rifle Association. Boeing, another signer of the bogus Business Roundtable letter that promises to “foster diversity and inclusion, dignity and respect”, is so respectful of the basic democratic right to organize a union that the company spent millions of dollars and used every dirty trick in the book to crush a union organizing drive by the International Association of Machinists back in 2017 in South Carolina. This week, Boeing was charged with illegally firing six workers who organized a smaller unit—a charge made public, in a delicious irony, the very day of the Business Roundtable. I talk with IAM National Organizing Direct Vinny Addeo to dig into Boeing’s illegal actions. I wrap with the story of the sleazy behavior by the University Cincinnati Medical Center (UCMC), which, like Boeing, concocted fraudulent reasons to fire two high-ranking union leaders. Their crime? Winning a much better contract and improving the livelihood of nurses and medical personnel who have been part of the union for almost half a century. That tale comes in my conversation with Bob Cousins, the deputy executive officer of labor relations for the Ohio Nurses Association. Please become a financial supporter of the podcast here so we can continue to bring you unique content . In today's Working Life Podcast: Ep 144: Wal-Mart Guns In Teachers’ Sights; Boeing Breaks Labor Law; Nurses Fight Retaliation Firings Episode 144: Sometimes CEOs and the economic elites do stuff that is so transparently absurd that it sort of makes me laugh. Add to that list the letter, “A statement on the purpose of a corporation”, released this past week by the Business Roundtable, signed by a couple of hundred CEOs, promising to be, well, nice to us—better wages, better treatment, better community efforts, all done with the help of the glorious free market. I could go down that list and point to, one after the other, all the horrendous policies those CEOs make happen—not to mention the huge riches they pay themselves at the expense of shareholders and workers, none of which they offered in the letter to cut back on for the betterment of human kind. Support the podcast here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast But, better yet, this week’s episode features two of those hypocritical companies. Wal-Mart arms many people with guns—and teachers are ramping up a campaign to empty Wal-Mart’s shelves of the weapons that could end up being used in mass school shootings. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, is back on the show to talk about the union’s demand that Wal-Mart stop selling guns and cease giving money to politicians who carry the water for the National Rifle Association. Support the podcast here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast Boeing, another signer of the bogus Business Roundtable letter that promises to “foster diversity and inclusion, dignity and respect”, is so respectful of the basic democratic right to organize a union that the company spent millions of dollars and used every dirty trick in the book to crush a union organizing drive by the International Association of Machinists back in 2017 in South Carolina. This week, Boeing was charged with illegally firing six workers who organized a smaller unit—a charge made public, in a delicious irony, the very day of the Business Roundtable. I talk with IAM National Organizing Direct Vinny Addeo to dig into Boeing’s illegal actions. Support the podcast here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast I wrap with the story of the sleazy behavior by the University Cincinnati Medical Center (UCMC), which, like Boeing, concocted fraudulent reasons to fire two high-ranking union leaders. Their crime? Winning a much better contract and improving the livelihood of nurses and medical personnel who have been part of the union for almost half a century. That tale comes in my conversation with Bob Cousins, the deputy executive officer of labor relations for the Ohio Nurses Association. Support the podcast here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast -- Jonathan Tasini Follow me on Twitter @jonathantasini Sign up for The Working Life Podcast at: www.workinglife.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.tasini.3 LISTEN NOW Support the Working Life Podcast on DONATE NOW

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