Even with meticulous planning, it’s hard to believe a political party could self destruct this beautifully.

Unionized bank workers from Brazil, England, Chile, Germany, and Uruguay are encouraging American workers to undertake an unprecedented campaign against a common enemy: Grupo Santander,

Stewart Acuff, chief of staff for the Utility Workers Union of America, says in his new book, “Getting America Back to Work,” that increasing employment requires reinvesting in America and its workers. That would mean the banksters and other financial elites get less of the wealth generated by the economy and workers get more. To take wealth from the richest people in the history of the world requires power, he says in this interview.

Until this week, CEOs, union-busters, and conservative Republicans have actively opposed the Employee Free Choice Act, mainly because of a provision they call “card check.” But card check provides exactly what they’ve been saying they want since the National Mediation Board (NMB) decided Monday to permit airline and railroad workers to obtain collective bargaining rights through majority-rule elections. The anti-worker-rights groups contend election rights enjoyed by everyone else in a democracy should be denied workers. Instead, they want collective bargaining determinations made by the majority of all of those qualified to participate – a supermajority. So, clearly, since they’re so upset by the NMB decision to stop requiring supermajority for airline and railroad workers, they’d be happy if Congress now intervened and instituted it for all workers by passing the Employee Free Choice Act.

What the Upper Big Branch disaster really means.

By allowing workers to unionize immediately, EFCA would match, on workers’ behalf, the unilateral power now held exclusively by management. With that possibility looming, poorly managed firms would get a game-changing moment of clarity, an opportunity to truly partner with workers.

The news here isn’t that the US Chamber wants to buy off economists to sabotage legislation. It’s that they got caught this time.

In the last few weeks a diverse group of activist, NGO and labor campaigns have launched to escalate the pressure on the Chamber and its member companies. Here is a brief summary of current efforts:

The Natural Resources Defense Council has been leading the fight. In addition to Pete Altman’s prolific coverage of the story as it develops, they have launched a website — whodoesthechamberrepresent.org — to ask the question: “Who Does the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Really Represent?”

Credo Mobile sent an email to their customers on Thursday with the subject line “Earth to Chamber of Commerce: You’re killing me”:

We can’t let this stand. Help us keep up the momentum and join us in asking every CEO serving on the Chamber of Commerce board to quit the Chamber and renounce its radical stance.

The science is clear. And the Chamber is feeling the heat.

Click here to urge CEOs on the board of the Chamber of Commerce board members quit the Chamber and join the planet.

Kevin Grandia applied pressure directly to Toyota two weeks ago, calling out the company’s inconsistency in a piece at DeSmogBlog:

If Toyota is genuinely committed to sustainability as they say they are, then they can can take their lead from Nike, Exelon and others and stop supporting the US Chamber and their attack on the Obama administration’s clean energy and climate change reforms. If they don’t leave the US Chamber, then we know where their motivations truly lie.

Move On followed up on Grandia’s pressure on Toyota, writing in an email blast to members on Friday:

If Toyota is as “green” as they claim, why are they supporting a massive effort to kill President Obama’s clean energy plans?

Toyota needs to know consumers won’t stand for this. Can you ask Toyota to quit the Chamber of Commerce? If you’ve owned a Toyota, be sure to mention it when you call.

If major companies like Toyota quit the Chamber, members of Congress will be less likely to listen to the Chamber’s lobbyists.

For years, the Chamber of Commerce has pursued a right-wing agenda out of step with the business interests of many of its members. This year, they’ve launched an all-out lobbying blitz to block all of Obama’s goals—from climate to health care to fixing the economy. If the Chamber has less influence in Washington, our country has a real chance for change.

Call on Toyota to quit the Chamber of Commerce:

Toyota
(212) 223-0303

The Service Employees International Union is also running a campaign against the Chamber, petitioning Senators to “Break Up with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce”:

There’s an exodus from the corporate front group over its extreme views. We must use this opportunity to further isolate the U.S. Chamber as an out-of-touch outfit that only serves the interest of a handful of greedy CEOs.

The U.S. Chamber can’t be taken seriously. Your senators need to know this – the corporate front group is in Congress every day, lobbying for its extremist positions. They need to be immediately discredited.

Sign the petition to the Senate now: don’t listen to the extremist U.S. Chamber of Commerce on any issue.

And Brad Johnson at Think Progress has been painstakingly correcting the Chamber’s falsehoods with rapid-response blog items, as they pop up.

We need to express the notion that the Republiklan party over the last 90 years has not practiced capitalism very well. We also need to go on a massive consumer boycott of selected comapanies that give money to conservatives in both the Republiklan and Democratic Parties.

http://democratz.org

The AFL-CIO’s new leadership team isn’t wasting a second. Hours after the close of the AFL-CIO 26th Constitutional Convention, they’re riding the momentum of this week’s high-energy union gathering with a listening tour across the country.

And they’re starting in Ohio, the center of recent political battles and heart of the tough questions the nation faces about our economic future.