[img]583|left|Eric L. Wattree||no_popup[/img]Do you know the names of any of the 29 coal miners who died in West Virginia on April 5, or what has happened to their families since that needless tragedy?
Can you tell me the names or condition of the families of the 11 oil workers who were vaporized during the explosion of the oil rig in the Gulf on April 20?
Can you give me one name of the many innocent postal workers who have been killed, maimed, or disabled due to irresponsible postal management over the past several years?
Of course you can't.
The limitless greed of the corporate community, including the corporate press, has relegated these poor and middle-class workers to the wastebin of “unfortunate collateral damage” in their blind pursuit of the dollar. As a direct result, a citizen action group has been proposed to address the diminishing quality of life of America's poor and middle class workers.
Hope for the Hopeless?
It is clear unions, civil rights activists and even our government are unwilling to become involved. An umbrella group would encompass a coalition of human rights organizations. Tentatively named “Citizens Against Reckless Managerial Action,” CARMA, it is a play on the Buddhist term karma, or action.
Lewis Maltby, founder and president of the National Workrights Institute, may be the leader. He also founded the National Workplace Rights Office of the American Civil Liberties Union. He holds a juris doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Maltby is a nationally recognized expert and prolific writer on human rights in the workplace. He's also the author of “Can They Do That?: Retaking Our Fundamental Rights in the Workplace.” Until 1988, he was a senior executive in the corporate community, so he brings extensive knowledge of the mindset of corporate executives. “Human rights and corporate efficiency not only are compatible, but mutually reinforcing, he says. His final decision is currently pending.
With 600,000 employees, the Postal Service is the second largest employer in the country, after Wal-martTT. The service will be a natural target of the new organization also because of its long history of time fraud, abuse and intimidation of employees. What makes the service an inviting target is that, as a government agency, it should be in the forefront of the fight for workers' rights.
Infractions Are Routine
For decades, presidents have gone all over the globe lecturing world leaders on human rights. Yet our own Postal Service is among the worst abusers.
The Postal Service's policy of forcing employees to work four to six hours without pay, falsifying clock rings and deleting hours of employees who were gainfully employed, then intimidating the employees to prevent them from reporting the matter is routine business, according to employees. One postal supervisor even reported to this writer that she personally witnessed a manager forge an employee's resignation. This is unconscionable.
On Thursday, April 22, President Obama went to Cooper Union in New York City and lectured the financial community on the need to curb its corrupt business practices. He pointed out that their business model led directly to this nation's financial crisis and caused severe hardship to millions. Ironically, his words condemn the business practices of his very own postal service.
The corporate assault on the middle class is blatant. In the West Virginia tragedy, the Massey Energy C. ignored 1,342 safety violations, back to 2005. That led directly to the death of 29 coal miners. BP platform-worker Tyrone Benton said his company ignored several safety concerns on the oil rig 24 hours before the explosion. That saved them $500,000 a day in down time, but it led to the death of 11employees, and the worst oil spill disaster in United States history. Meanwhile, the Postal Service commits felonies against employees with complete impunity on a daily basis.
The trend is clear. Corporate America has set a policy of ignoring the safety, rights and financial interests of the American poor and middle-class in their blind pursuit of ever more wealth. The government has no intention of doing anything. In fact, Republican congressman Joe Barton of Texas apologized to BP for having to take responsibility for the spill.
If we want America to remain America, that's got to change.
Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think and act like me. It’s just that God does.
