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Varney: "Fortunately" private sector unions are retreating, but public sector unions are still a problem

September 04, 2010 1:37 pm ET

From the September 4 edition of Fox Business' Freedom Watch:

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Previously:

Fox News bullies organized labor in run-up to Labor Day

Happy Labor Day weekend: Varney blasts unions as "the antithesis of freedom" and an innovation killer

Discussing State Dept. report, Varney tells union guest: "You've embarrassed us ... you have sided with our enemies"

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    • Author by wolf kotenberg (September 04, 2010 1:44 pm ET)
      9  
      and these moronic experts think it is Labor Day weekend and only diehard neocons are watching. Or they are convinced the GOP will take over the House and Senate in November and they are safe from criticism. Smugness is not a virtue, it is a fleeting thing.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by marco21 (September 04, 2010 1:45 pm ET)
      8  
      The Jungle is porn for the right wing. Disgusting.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by arkange1 (September 05, 2010 9:59 am ET)
           
        I was just thinking of that book when watching the clips of this Varney dbag! Do they have any idea of what it was like for many workers prior to unions being formed??? Maybe if we made the salary and working conditions at Faux "News" for all but the top execs comparable to those for the workers in The Jungle, they might change their tune!

        These people have no shame, blatantly spitting on the average working American!!!
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    • Author by progressiveright (September 04, 2010 1:46 pm ET)
      13  
      Today we have the 8 hour day, the 40 hour week, paid time off, safe working conditions, no child labor, paid over time, a somewhat decent pay and retirement funds (pensions and 401Ks). All of these are due to the efforts of unions.

      Before unions 12+ hour days, 6 days a week, no paid time off, unsafe hazardous working conditions, child labor, no over time, no retirement funds and pay of less than $1 a day.
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    • Author by MilitantMNMan (September 04, 2010 1:53 pm ET)
        10
      To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about public sector unions. It seems weird that workers that are paid on the taxpayers dime (which I'm not against by the way) would actually have unions. Maybe the people should vote on whether or not that should be allowed. Private sector unions I'm perfectly fine with.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by raddave43 (September 04, 2010 7:25 pm ET)
        3  
        I'm in a "public sector" union and ours is pretty weak. Most employees aren't even aware they are in a union and management seems to take advantage of that. Hell, the local union rep is a teabagger.
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    • Author by 1st Republic 14th Star (September 04, 2010 1:53 pm ET)
      9  
      This is another example of what happens when conservatives get to work their lies into their revisionist history.

      Unions are bad?

      I

      Don't

      Think

      So

      In short, Stewart Varney endorses child labor, 90 hour, 7 day work weeks, and unsafe working conditions. Good to know.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by 4teepee (September 04, 2010 2:39 pm ET)
      6  
      It is always odd listening to immigrant Varney lecture U.S. workers -- who built the country -- on what is and is not American. Unions bad, Wall Street bankers good.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by 4teepee (September 04, 2010 2:44 pm ET)
      6  
      Who suffers the most from Wall Street bankers? The taxpayers.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by draftedin68 (September 04, 2010 3:17 pm ET)
      5  
      Probably not just a handshake

      It is so typical for the hypocrites of the FOX NEWS Greed Machine to rant on and on and on about the evils of unions.

      Here are a few questions you will never, ever hear any of the FOX NEWS telepromter readers dare to ask each other:

      - Do you have a contract with FOX NEWS?
      - Did you negotiate with FOX NEWS for any of the terms in that contract?
      - Do you expect FOX NEWS to comply with the terms of the contract?
      - Would you sue FOX NEWS if they violated the terms of their contract?

      and finally...

      - Would you be willing to work for FOX NEWS without a contract?


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      • Author by MiniTru (September 04, 2010 5:07 pm ET)
        4  
        Everyone on Fox News is also a member od a union - AFTRA. Perhaps they would be willing to give up their union membership, but they would also have to give up all the Union help they receive - make up, lighting, camera operators, sound engineers, network transmission engineers, etc. And, they could work without a contract and without AFTRA benefits, as well.
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    • Author by einreb (September 04, 2010 3:45 pm ET)
      4  
      Varney has an agent and works on CNN. Does he belong to either SAG or AFTRA?
      Report Abuse
    • Author by hurricaneyankee52983 (September 04, 2010 4:55 pm ET)
      7  
      VARNEY is just another corporate a$$hole that's rich and doesn't give a darn about the working man, another FOX hero.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by Marker (September 04, 2010 6:59 pm ET)
      6  
      And us public union people will continue to fight for all workers! We'll stay a problem you clown.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by zamfir273114 (September 04, 2010 8:32 pm ET)
      4  
      Unions are a good thing. It should be illegal to fire somebody for "organizing". That, to me, is un-American. Varney is a jerk.
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      • Author by alienofwar (September 04, 2010 9:12 pm ET)
        5  
        I think the reason why modern Conservatives put so much emphasis on the "individual" is because they know that as an individual you have little power. Now if you turn the individual into individuals and they group themselves together, then they will become people....and because there is more people than there is of the power elite in this country, then it will make them all antsy and afraid. This is why they avoid the word people and love the word individual so much. They are afraid of the people.

        This is why unions are so important because there is more of us than there is of them.
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    • Author by papa bear3 (September 04, 2010 11:13 pm ET)
         
      . .and now they are hijacking Labor Day, maybe they will change it to "Corporate Benevolence Day" thank your employer that you have any job at all, now get back to work and don't die or get sick because you will be replaced by someone else that we can exploit just as easy. As you get poorer there will be more of you to chose from.


      HAPPY LABOR DAY folks
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      • Author by John Paradox (September 05, 2010 12:58 am ET)
        2  
        I interviewed for a P/T job about a month ago. The interviewer was excited that I had considerable experience, and shook my hand no less than five times as I left, and gave me his card, etc.
        After he returned from a vacation (left the week after I interviewed, was back just over 2 weeks later) I called to ask about how the interviews were going, he said there were some more first interviews that week. I waited another week, did not get a callback. Finally, I sent off an e-mail asking about the 'second interview' he'd promised, got back a 'form letter' that someone else had the job.
        Oh, he'd also stated in the interview that everyone who applied and was interviewed would be called with a final status.
        He has a great future in Management.
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    • Author by grmce (September 05, 2010 12:36 am ET)
      2  
      The fundamental "political problem" is the competing interests of the individual and the community.

      Margaret Thatcher infamously once said, "There is no such thing as society, only individuals and their families." I suppose we should be grateful that she made a concession to the collective of the family, but as to the denial of society that is the most disturbing comment I have ever encountered from a political leader.

      Whilst the notion of society has on occasions been perverted, sometimes in a most horrifying and cruel manner, the outright rejection of it is, in effect, a denial of one of the key elements of what defines us as homo sapiens - our social structure, or how we organise ourselves as a community.

      Trades unions are one of the major social developments from the Industrial Revolution, along with representative democracy. Both are anathema to the privileged classes as they empower "the great unwashed" to enter into the organisation of their own affairs.

      Whenever labour unions or the electoral franchise are under attack we should ask, "What are they afraid of?" Whenever the voices of privilege put forward a proposition we should remember the words of Cicero and ask, "Qui bono?" - "Who benefits?"
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      • Author by RiffRabbit (September 05, 2010 11:34 am ET)
        1  
        grmce, you hit the nail on the head. If we can't work to resolve this tension between the individual and the community, we have little hope. I realize that people aren't perfect, and so the balance can't be achieved perfectly, but the question is whether we're trying.
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