Conghaileach
21st December 2004, 18:23
Counter Punch
December 20, 2004
Elaine Chao, the Rumsfeld of the Labor Dept
Media Blackout on Bush's War Against Labor
By DAVID SWANSON
The AFL-CIO will be 50 years old in 2005. Its leaders have sat down and met with every U.S. President during those 50 years, except one, George W. Bush. The compassionate conservative will not talk to the representatives of organized workers. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney made this point in a speech on Labor Day of 2003, in which he called Bush's refusal to meet "a travesty."
Sweeney also referred to Bush's as "the most anti-worker Administration in decades," and ran through a partial list of Bush's attacks on labor. The situation has only grown more extreme including attacks on overtime pay, Social Security, and the rights of various categories of workers to organize. And Bush still hasn't met with Sweeney.
It would be difficult to prove that most of the corporate media has noticed any of this. There was a little coverage of the government of China's recent refusal to meet with labor leaders from the United States, but no corporate media outlets placed this in the context of the U.S. government's own on-going refusal.
The media continues to refer to Elaine Chao as the "Secretary of Labor," although she has little contact with labor and is generally known for repealing an ergonomics rule that had been 10 years in the making, and eliminating the right to overtime pay for millions of Americans. Chao is one of only six cabinet secretaries staying on for another term (or five if Rumsfeld departs). On December 16, Chao moderated a panel discussion on "Preparing for Jobs in the 21st Century." Labor was not represented on the panel, other than in the name of the department that is part of Chao's job title.
Substantive comments on Chao's performance for the past four years aren't part of most media accounts of her re-appointment. Agence France Press on December 10th noted that she was an immigrant. Susan Page at USA Today on December 10th marveled at the diversity of Bush's cabinet, noting that Chao is an Asian-American woman, as did Joe Klein 17 days later in Time.
No one offered similar praise for the Bush Administration's rampant nepotism, but many accounts noted that Chao is married to Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, the second-highest ranking majority senator. Some accounts noted nothing else about her. John Mercurio of CNN on December 19th offered Chao as an example of a "safe nomination," because she's the wife of "a very popular Republican senator."
Full Story
December 20, 2004
Elaine Chao, the Rumsfeld of the Labor Dept
Media Blackout on Bush's War Against Labor
By DAVID SWANSON
The AFL-CIO will be 50 years old in 2005. Its leaders have sat down and met with every U.S. President during those 50 years, except one, George W. Bush. The compassionate conservative will not talk to the representatives of organized workers. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney made this point in a speech on Labor Day of 2003, in which he called Bush's refusal to meet "a travesty."
Sweeney also referred to Bush's as "the most anti-worker Administration in decades," and ran through a partial list of Bush's attacks on labor. The situation has only grown more extreme including attacks on overtime pay, Social Security, and the rights of various categories of workers to organize. And Bush still hasn't met with Sweeney.
It would be difficult to prove that most of the corporate media has noticed any of this. There was a little coverage of the government of China's recent refusal to meet with labor leaders from the United States, but no corporate media outlets placed this in the context of the U.S. government's own on-going refusal.
The media continues to refer to Elaine Chao as the "Secretary of Labor," although she has little contact with labor and is generally known for repealing an ergonomics rule that had been 10 years in the making, and eliminating the right to overtime pay for millions of Americans. Chao is one of only six cabinet secretaries staying on for another term (or five if Rumsfeld departs). On December 16, Chao moderated a panel discussion on "Preparing for Jobs in the 21st Century." Labor was not represented on the panel, other than in the name of the department that is part of Chao's job title.
Substantive comments on Chao's performance for the past four years aren't part of most media accounts of her re-appointment. Agence France Press on December 10th noted that she was an immigrant. Susan Page at USA Today on December 10th marveled at the diversity of Bush's cabinet, noting that Chao is an Asian-American woman, as did Joe Klein 17 days later in Time.
No one offered similar praise for the Bush Administration's rampant nepotism, but many accounts noted that Chao is married to Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, the second-highest ranking majority senator. Some accounts noted nothing else about her. John Mercurio of CNN on December 19th offered Chao as an example of a "safe nomination," because she's the wife of "a very popular Republican senator."
Full Story