"The layoffs took place just after the head of the janitor union announced that they were organizing a strike last Monday. Musk and his staff have figuratively cleaned house since taking over Twitter by firing more than half of the company’s engineers."
Could be. One thing that usually happens when a company changes hands is that all existing labor agreements do not have to honored since they were made with the previous owners. Seen this happen over and over again over the years. Union will not work with a company, they sell to a new owner who has the ability to start from scratch with new labor arrangements. New owner takes over and jobs are eliminated wholesale, usually getting rid of the deadwood that has been protected by labor agreements first. The workers do it to themselves.
I watched this scenario play out with a front row seat to the demise of the domestic steel industry here in Cleveland which gave birth to The Rust Belt.
I say YFL because Trump had involvement with financing as POTUS during Covid. He tried to get them federal funds to keep them afloat as they represented a large group of essential workers. Being directly involved in the industry as a CDL driver and having run a truck stop on the Ohio Turnpike and Yellow having a huge terminal adjacent to the Turnpike and nearby it was also a local issue. I have a pretty good working knowledge of the events. I was also a card carrying Teamster in the 70's.
The company asked the Teamsters repeatedly to try and renegotiate the labor agreement to keep the company from closing. The Teamster leadership said no, as in no way in hell. The employees were pawns in this. The majority of drivers were willing to hear a discussion, but the union said no. The union's power and clout was at stake. They said that they had already given up enough and would cede no more regardless. Management said have it your way. The job loss is on you (The Teamsters) not us. And it was.
This is why I said Trump. Currently though, the Teamsters have no beef with Trump that I am aware of. Trump even had the current Teamster president speak at the RNC. Musk does have Tesla which is at odds with the UAW. I'm trying to think of how the UAW has standing which is necessary to succeed in this kind of lawsuit. They would have no involvement with Twitter as far as I can tell.
I guess we shall see. One thing for sure is that both are huge targets and if they can be brought down together that is a huge win for the usual suspects and worth every effort for them to succeed.
"The layoffs took place just after the head of the janitor union announced that they were organizing a strike last Monday. Musk and his staff have figuratively cleaned house since taking over Twitter by firing more than half of the companyâs engineers."
"The charges of unfair labor practices that the autoworkers union filed with the National Labor Relations Board allege that, during their conversation, Trump and Musk illegally threatened and intimidated workers who engage in protected labor activity, such as strikes.
“I mean, I look at what you do,” Trump told Musk during the rambling interview on X. “You walk in, you say, ‘You want to quit?’ They go on strike. I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike, and you say, ‘That’s okay. You’re all gone. You’re all gone. So, every one of you is gone.’”
Perhaps they were speaking about Yellow Freight Lines. Just AWAG. The Teamsters refused to renegotiate their contract in order to prevent the company from going under which would effectively put 30,000 including 20,000 Teamsters out of work instantly. Instead they threatened to strike. That was it. Bankruptcy was forced and Yellow closed abruptly. I did follow this closely as it went down in real time. Management said that if you are not willing to work with us on this, we will close. And they did.
There are other possibilities I am sure, but this was one of the biggest unionized companies to say eff it and close in recent times, during the Covid event.
I do not think this law suit will get very far. But it would be going through The Labor Department which grinds big axes for the unions and has unlimited resources and can defeat anyone regardless of wealth.
"The charges of unfair labor practices that the autoworkers union filed with the National Labor Relations Board allege that, during their conversation, Trump and Musk illegally threatened and intimidated workers who engage in protected labor activity, such as strikes.
âI mean, I look at what you do,â Trump told Musk during the rambling interview on X. âYou walk in, you say, âYou want to quit?â They go on strike. I wonât mention the name of the company, but they go on strike, and you say, âThatâs okay. Youâre all gone. Youâre all gone. So, every one of you is gone.ââ
Donald Trumpâs obsession with the size of the crowds turning out for the Harris-Walz ticket speaks volumes about the waning momentum behind his third presidential runâbut not in the way that many commentators have suggested. This weekendâs Truth Social outburst claiming that the crowd that greeted Kamala Harris and Tim Walz at the Detroit airport were conjured by artificial intelligence represents an early effort to discredit the presidential balloting in advance, writes Washington Post analyst Philip Bumpâa prelude to another January 6 insurrection should Trump once again lose. Trump detractors on social media, meanwhile, have suggested that the candidateâs evidence-free attack on the reality of Democratic rallies represents his ongoing slide into dementia and delusion, with some likening the candidate to Captain Queeg, the unhinged Naval officer played by Humphrey Bogart in The Caine Mutiny.
Itâs true that Trump is exhibiting even greater signs of mental decline than usualâjust as itâs true that the Trump campaignâs plans to delegitimize and overturn an adverse election result are distressingly advanced in comparison to the January 6 putsch. Yet neither the candidateâs losing battle with dotage nor the prospect of another post-election coup attempt accounts for the depth of Trumpâs fixation with crowd numbers. The brand of delusion Trump is now indulging has been integral to his character from the outset of his tabloid-fueled rise to public prominence. Far from representing a new detour into paranoid fantasies, it marks the most coherent belief system that the 45th president endorses: the gospel of positive thinking.
For all his prophesying about national decline, Trump is an apostle of Norman Vincent Pealeâs theology of modern self-improvement, as laid out in the Protestant clericâs best-selling 1952 tract, The Power of Positive Thinking. As a child, Trump regularly attended Pealeâs weekly sermons at the Marble Collegiate congregation in Manhattan. Peale officiated over Trumpâs first wedding in 1977, and Trump has cited the foundational influence of Pealeâs teachings throughout his life. (...)
