Vote Now for Grinch of the Year

Vote now for the greedy grinch who has done the most harm to working families this year! For several years, Jobs With Justice coalitions across the country have held local 'Grinch of the Year' elections to determine the most deserving greedy Grinch in their hometowns. This year, national Jobs with Justice will sponsor the fifth annual online Grinch of the Year election to determine the national figure who does the most harm to working families.

The contest seems to be between Verizon Wireless, Donald Rumsfeld, and Wal-Mart.

Verizon Wireless
For more than a decade, Verizon Wireless has shown total disregard for labor law and the rights of workers to a voice in the workplace and to a fair contract. Workers at Verizon Wireless who want a union voice have been fired and laid off, harassed and intimidated by supervisors, required to attend “captive audience” meetings and mandatory anti-union training. Call centers that had a growing number of union supporters were shut down between 2000 and 2004, putting 2,000 people out of work in MA, NY, and NJ. Verizon Wireless has refused to abide by the agreement it made with CWA to remain neutral in union organizing efforts in the Northeast and is instead using endless litigation to prevent employees from making use of the agreement. There are numerous complaints of labor law violations pending against Verizon Wireless.

The contrast between Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless, which supports full employer neutrality and card check, couldn’t be clearer. At Cingular, where there is true neutrality, more than 13,000 workers have joined CWA just since July 2005, when those agreements went into effect at what was AT&T Wireless. It’s clear that when fear and intimidation are removed from the workplace, workers choose a union voice. That’s what is happening at Cingular and that’s exactly what would happen at Verizon Wireless. Nominated by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Donald Rumsfeld
You know him best as the Secretary of Defense but Donald Rumsfeld is also the “Union Buster of the Millenium”. Rumsfeld is proposing to strip over 600,000 federal employees of their collective bargaining rights and voice at work. If he succeeds, it will be the largest denial of union rights in U.S. history.

The targets of Rumsfeld’s union busting plan are hard working union members -- men and women dedicated to serving their country and to the principle that every worker has a democratic right to a job with justice. Many are veterans themselves who know the horror of war, but also realize that it’s their job to make sure that our troops have the support they need to return home safely. In Rummy’s world when you work hard and support your country, your reward is losing the very freedoms you have sworn to protect. As the front man for the Bush Administration’s assault on workers rights, Donald Rumsfeld is indeed the Grinch of the year. Nominated by the American Federation of Government Employees.

Wal-Mart

The largest retailer in the world is also the greediest. Despite its $10 billion in profits, Wal-Mart is leading a global race to the bottom. Wal-Mart is the single biggest threat to the middle class in America, not only driving wages down but jeopardizing the health care of millions of workers. Wal-Mart admits its poverty-level wages can’t support a family, and over 600,000 Wal-Mart workers have no company health care forcing nearly 1 out of every 2 children of Wal-Mart workers to be uninsured or rely on a public program. Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott's compensation is 871 times the average salary of a U.S. Wal-Mart worker and 50,000 times the average salary of a Chinese worker in a Wal-Mart supplier factory. Just this year, Wal-Mart broke child labor laws, exploited undocumented immigrants, forced workers to work in an unsafe environment, and is currently facing the largest gender discrimination lawsuit in history. Wal-Mart is the Grinch of the Century! Nominated by Wake Up Wal-Mart.

You can cast your vote here.