RK ARCHIVE - Why This W (Webb) Is For Workers

By its nature, tech jobs are easily transferable from one area, region, state or nation to another. By stripping tech workers of their ability to organize the value and satisfaction of their jobs is undermined. Mr. Miller+óGé¼Gäós industry could have created millions of jobs in Virginia, but if they are the equivalent of modern-day sweat shops, please spare us from further misery.

Mr. Webb painted a more realistic picture of the lives of those of us who work for a living. Reminiscent of a LBJ Democrat, Mr. Webb discussed the hemorrhaging of our middle class. Describing the dangerous encroachment of a growing +óGé¼+ôcorporate culture,+óGé¼-¥ where the powers that be derive tremendous personal gains by exploiting their self-established rules as they concurrently help drive up corporate profits, Mr. Webb accurately stated that under this misdirected system ordinary workers lose ground. Empirically we can all see rising energy, health, and education costs, as instruments already eating away at our tenuous incomes.

Now some of my friends have questioned Mr. Webb+óGé¼Gäós support of gay and lesbian issues. Last night Mr. Webb emphatically stated that he opposes the Virginia constitutional amendment on November+óGé¼Gäós ballot and he also stated that he supports civil unions for gays and lesbians. Few people are more supportive and committed to the notion of universal human rights than I am. However, I also consider labor rights as a basic human right, and here is why Mr. Webb is the only logical choice for Senate: even under the most generous light, Mr. Miller is negative on basic labor rights and positive on rights for others; whereas, Mr. Webb is positive on labor rights and positive on rights for others.

Yet I am not so provincial as to think that a candidate+óGé¼Gäós position on any one issue should determine who I support +óGé¼GÇ£ even if such an issue is near and dear to my heart. Mr. Webb is a fresh break from the status quo and our party+óGé¼Gäós old way of thinking. We need to constantly expand our appeal to all voters and not be constrained by the small and stubborn suicidal wing of the Party which is holding us all back.

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Miller on tech unions (TurnVirginiaBlue - 6/6/2006 1:11:34 PM)

Of course he's against them. That would impede corporations from demanding 80+ hours on salary with no overtime, being fired for no reason and with no severance, and stop institutionalized age discrimination.

They would hate that.

I doubt the tech corporations would be happy until they can get a MIT PhD working for 10 bucks an hour with no benefits.

And believe it or not, there are job posting right now that want people to work for free, "project bid" so they are working for about 7 dollars an hour and jobs for 10 dollars an hour requiring technical skills.

Pretty frighting and this letter is right on!

Thank you!

Miller opposes IT worker unions across ALL corporations... (Info_Tech_Guy - 6/6/2006 7:55:13 PM)

Although Harris Miller's clients, the ITAA lobby member corporations, are predominantly "high tech" companies -- the "tech industry", keep in mind that ALL corporations employ an IT staff.

The offshore outsourcing and H-1b "business visa" programs championed by Harris Miller and his organisations (the ITAA and WITSA) attack the ability of unions (such as the Communications Workers of America or "CWA") to organise, represent and defend American IT workers in far more than just the "tech sector".

I dare say that banks, financial institutions, telecommunications, the auto industry and most of the Fortune 500 are among the companies which have American IT staff who might be willing to unionise if the threat of summary firing and replacement with an H-1b foreign worker weren't an ever-present worry. Harris Miller's lobbying efforts have placed all the power in the hands of corporations and put a knife to the throat of American IT workers.

Harris for women ? (loboforestal - 6/6/2006 1:43:10 PM)

Even Miller's own pro big business lobbying puff piece in the press admits that Harris Miller has been a disaster for women :

http://techexecadvisor.com/doc/16752

The percentage of women in the IT workforce declined from a high of 41 percent in 1996 to 32.4 percent in 2004. Meanwhile, the percentage of women in the overall workforce remained largely unchanged, from 46 to 46.5 percent, during the same period.

Don't forget Deibold (Loudoun County Dem - 6/6/2006 7:04:13 PM)

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2006/1/6/23532/17147

"We oppose the idea of a voter-verified paper trail," says Harris Miller, president of the trade group Information Technology Association of America. Introducing paper into the mix, he says, defeats the improved efficiency and reliability e-voting promises. "There was never a golden age when paper ballots were accurately counted," Miller says. Adding paper to e-voting will only make the process of administering elections more costly and time-consuming without improving accuracy, opponents assert.

Response to an Un-named Miller Supporter (after my Webb piece) (Matt H - 6/7/2006 11:13:38 AM)

Dear G_.
I would never take your words as any kind of attack and always appreciate open discussion. I would only hope that the IBEW & UTU locals engaged in a similar degree of debate. Incidentially I also ignored the fact that local Unions have also supported Webb. I place ideology and what's right over pandering any day of the week. Miller is a company operative dead-set on destroying our middle class, exporting good jobs and wrecking our rights to bargain with our employers. He has said this - you know it, I know it, and labor knows this.
Let me ask you this: a few months ago Gov. Kaine on the record stated that he "strongly supports" Virginia's right-to-work law. As a fellow Unionist, can you ever excuse such a comment, even if you get to sit next to him at a local JJ dinner? This is what drives people out of politics, two-faced people who lack spines but still like to be patted on their backs by politicians who pretend to know them personally.
I assume that you weren't at last night's ADC meeting. Of course Harris Miller made a "better" presentation: Miller is a slick man. I'm only looking for an honest leader, not a smooth talker. I value Webb's ideas over Miller's talk any day of the week.
Finally on the issue of party unity, last night Webb said that if he loses on Tuesday, he'll be totally behind Harris Miller. Miller did not make a similar comment. Although I too will be supporting Miller if Webb loses, he can expect no money from me and my stomach will churn as I pull the lever with his name on it.
Neither candidate is perfect and I don't idolize Webb, but in my labor-oriented view he's a lot better than Miller. The status quo is not working, and as Howard Dean said, "the first rule when you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging." It's time for the sychophants to leave so the real people can lead.
Respectfully,
-Matt Harris

Why This W (Webb) Is For Workers - by Matt Harris

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