Workers Rights, Voter Intimidation and Governor Romney

Over this past campaign season, a couple of facts related to Governor Mitt Romney personally and his campaign have come to light and should give voters who are employees pause for concern about the way in which Romney coordinates with his supporters who are influential employers and how, together, they treat employees.

In early June, Romney held a conference call with members of the National Federation of Independent Business and he urged the other people in the call to use access to their employees and encourage them to vote their way (1).  And, indeed, pro-Romney employers have been exerting undue political influence on their employees.  Koch Industries sent 45,000 Georgia Pacific employees voter packets saying that the security of their jobs depends upon the outcome of the election and that the company supports Mitt Romney (2).  David Siegel, founder and C.E.O. of Westgate Resorts, sent 8,000 employees an email threatening layoffs if Obama wins (3).

In mid-August, at Murray Energy's Century coal mine in Beallsville, Ohio, owned by Mr. Charles Murray (an influential Republican donor and Romney supporter), mine operations were halted and the miners were told to stop work for a few hours in order to spotlight a Romney appearance for a campaign rally there.  They were not paid during the stoppage and told the company policy was that their appearance in the rally was mandatory.

At the rally, photos and video footage were created to create a political ad for Romney alleging a "war on coal" and promoting his campaign's energy policy.   While surrounded by sooty-looking miners in work clothes and hardhats, Romney was photographed to create a regular, man-of-the-people image.  Some workers afterward called a local radio talk show to complain that they felt intimidated into compliance.  Responding to news media inquiry about the episode, Murray's Chief Operating Officer Robert Moore said, "Attendance was mandatory but no one was forced to attend the event."

Murray said the Romney campaign asked him to do this.  The Romney campaign said it was Murray's idea (4).

The Murray Energy case might be illegal.  One necessarily assumes that telling employees they must quit working and forfeit pay in order to attend a mandatory company event is next to slavery when the declaration that it's required automatically conveys an impression of sanctions.  The other instances of political employer influence on employees are unethical but not technically illegal.

The episodes reveal of pattern of subordinating the rights and interests of employees to the interests of their employers and saying that the two are identical, which isn't true.  Master and servant relationships contain elements of interest convergence and separation, but the power dynamic is always one way: It flows to the master.  Left unchecked by policy and law, situations like the above for those in the employee class will continue to deteriorate over time.

Undue employer influence can easily cross over into outright intimidation where employees will be told how to vote and made to prove their obedience.  In 2004, for example, in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, Chinese voters alleged employer intimidation where employees meeting employer demands to vote their company's political interests were required to prove compliance in the voting booth by providing on-the-spot, mobile phone camera photos of completed ballots before they were submitted (5).  That’s how it can happen. It shouldn't be that way, nor should it even begin to trend in that direction.  Governor Romney skirts dangerously close.  His moves represent an erosion for the freedom of conscience.

The pattern in the above events is clear: Governor Romney, if elected, would be willing to push the rights and interests of workers aside and tell them that those of their employers are theirs instead.  That's not correct.  As a for-instance: The interest of employers is to not have to contribute to employee health care and retirement along with salaries and wages.  The interests of employees is the opposite.  Job-provided benefits have been getting less secure for employees over the past thirty years, with many losing them in part or whole, or else steadily paying an ever-greater percentage of the total.  Moreover, wages have been relatively stagnant while the rise in benefit costs outpaces them.  As a for-instance, according to a 2009 USA Today article, the Kaiser Family Foundation measured a rise of 131 percent in health insurance premiums over a ten year period (6).  The Washington Post reported that 40 percent of employers were passing on the increases to employees (7).

Governor Romney promises reforms in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that many policy experts reasonably believe will decrease benefits for those who'll need them most, while, simultaneously, employer benefits similarly decline as described.  This deliberate movement to minimize the social obligations of the most powerful comes at a price to be paid by the weak, i.e., the “class warfare” that Republicans pretend to deplore.  The interests of workers and their employers can and do diverge.

The decline in workers' situations is a recent historical trend that one president can't reverse overnight.  Governor Romney, however, as the above reveals, will do nothing to stop it.  Conversely, these related instances reveal a pattern suggesting that he'll make it worse.  They show that Governor Romney is not a friend of working people.

President Obama accomplished a major achievement in insurance reform to help secure the benefit of reliable health care for all.  Governor Romney pledges to undo it.  President Obama's policies show that he is committed to maintaining our country's public social benefits at their current levels and improving them for those who'll need them most in the future.

Employees who are under fifty-five have heard what the two men say about Social Security and Medicare.  Romney’s plans would subvert the programs’ intent by reducing benefits while preserving the outer structures for show.  We can tell that he won't protect our interests.

The unions are on their way out.  The only hope most American workers have now is the Democratic Party.  President Obama defends and advances our interests.

America’s employers will be fine.  Reactionary elements in the United States called Roosevelt a socialist, but his New Deal policies preceded an explosion in economic growth that the country never had never seen before.  President Obama is being called a socialist now.  But, as measured by the Dow Jones Industrial indices, the stock market has doubled since very early in his administration, just after he took over and got to work on things.  It bottomed out at 6,469.5 on 6 March 2009, less than six weeks into his presidency (8).  As of this writing in late October 2012, it’s 13343.51.  That’s better than a one hundred percent increase under Obama.

America’s employers need to support their workers more, not less, and not the other way around.  Employees have sacrificed enough already.  Let’s keep our rights, too.  President Obama is in Washington to protect workers from the greed and rapacity of their masters.

  He can't do it all by himself.  We must stand with him.


SOURCES:

(1) In These Times: “In Conference Call, Romney Urged Businesses To Tell Their Employees How to Vote,” http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/14046/romney_instructed_employers_to_tell_employees_how_to_vote_in_conference_cal/

(2) In These Times: “Koch Sends Pro-Romney Mailing to 45,000 Employees While Stifling Workplace Political Speech (Update),” http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/14017/koch_industries_sends_45000_employees_pro_romney_mailing/

(3) Gawker: “The CEO Who Built Himself America’s Largest House Just Threatened to Fire His Employees if Obama’s Elected,” http://gawker.com/5950189/the-ceo-who-built-himself-americas-largest-house-just-threatened-to-fire-his-employees-if-obamas-elected

(4) Chicago Tribune: “Romney ad features miners allegedly forced to attend rally,” http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/la-pn-romney-ad-miners-rally-20120919,0,6066201.story

(5) Washington Post: “Unhappy Anniversary,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16223-2004Jun29.html

(6) USA Today: “Average family health insurance policy: $13,375, up 5%,” http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2009-09-15-insurance-costs_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

(7) Washington Post: “Many Employers to Raise Cost of Health Benefits, Survey Finds,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/15/AR2009091501175.html?hpid=topnews

(8) Politifact: “Rep. Gerry Connolly claims stock market doubles since Obama took oath,” http://www.politifact.com/virginia/statements/2012/mar/08/gerry-connolly/rep-gerry-connolly-claims-stock-market-doubles-oba/