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WASHINGTON - October 7- A group of professors and scholars specializing in management,
business, and economics have banded together to express their
dismay at the Bush Administration's economic and labor policies.
The group of nearly 30 academics have signed the petition included
below:
THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS THE ALLY OF UNION-BUSTERS AND THE ENEMY OF
WORKING AMERICANS
America needs a change at the top. As professors and scholars of
management, we are charged with educating the next generation of
leaders. As citizens in a democracy, we take seriously our
responsibility
to speak out on matters of public policy, especially
when the common good and the long term viability of the economy are at
stake.
We cannot be silent while the Administration of
George W. Bush attacks the gains of working people over the past
hundred
years. It would be bad enough if the Bush administration
were merely trying to turn the clock back to the "good old days" of
untrammeled managerial prerogatives and unfettered markets.
In
reality, however, this administration is forging an ever more noxious
mix
of private economic interests and covert public power.
Our economic, social, health, and environmental security is threatened
as
never before.
The Bush majority on the National Labor Relations Board has stripped
rights from health care workers, denied protection to a
significant fraction of private university employees, weakened
penalties
for egregious labor law violators, and challenged state
laws banning the use of taxpayers' money in anti-union drives.
The
NLRB is
supposed to enforce workers' rights, but the Bush
administration seeks to make it the ally of union-busters. There is a
gaping and expanding hole in American democracy.
The Bush administration has issued a regulation that denies millions
of
workers their right to overtime pay. The formation of the
Department of Homeland Security has carried a huge price tag in
compromised civil liberties, including the abolition of all
collective bargaining rights for the 170,000 federal workers
transferred
into that huge department. Rules to limit the spread of
tuberculosis have been dropped to please big business. The
Occupational
Safety and Health Administration has become more "business
friendly," which means that standards to protect workers from toxic
chemicals are killed before they can help.
Ten years of
research on ergonomics were trashed because the Administration does
not
feel the pain of carpal tunnel syndrome. Bush's chief
economist sees outsourcing as good as long as his job is secure.
We cannot remain silent as the Administration harnesses the power of
government to serve the special interests of the super-rich
at the expense of ordinary, working Americans. Most of our students
stand
to lose as their workplaces become more dangerous, their
jobs less secure, their freedom of expression more constrained. Even
an
MBA degree cannot save you when the most powerful state on
earth wages class war on its working people.
Paul Adler, U. of Southern California
Rose Batt, Cornell U.
Laurie DiPadova-Stocks, Park U.
Frank Dubois, American U.
Dale Fitzgibbons, Illinois State U.
Bernard Goitein, Bradley U.
Davydd J. Greenwood, Cornell University
Vanessa Hill, U. of Louisiana, Lafayette
Ray Hogler, Colorado State U.
David Jacobs, Hood College
Milton Jacobs, emeritus, SUNY-New Paltz
Anita Jose, Hood College
David Kolb, Case Western Reserve U.
Satish Kolluri, Pace University
David Levy, U. of Mass.-Boston
Sharon Livesey, Fordham U.
John Luhman, New Mexico State U.
Richard Marens, Cal.State U.-Sacramento
Biju Mathew, Rider U.
Ali Mir, William Patterson U.
Raza Mir, William Patterson U.
Ralph Stablein, Massey U.
Sarah Stookey, U. of Mass.-Amherst
Judy Strauss, Cal. State U.-Long Beach
John Truty, Northern Illinois U.
Ray Vegso, Canisius College
Vamsi Vakulabharanam, Queens College
Maxim Voronov, Columbia U.
Dvora Yanow, Cal. State U.-Hayward
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