Friday, May 30, 2008

Lt. Governor Insults People Willing to Work

To be fair, people usually ignore Lawton so one can forgive her for assuming that nobody would notice this either. 

The lieutenant governor is apologizing for using the word “scabs” to describe replacement workers at Kewaunee Fabrication.

Barbara Lawton used the word a couple of times while visiting striking union workers outside the Kewaunee plant earlier this week.

Boilermakers Local 487 has been on strike since May 12 over wages and benefits. The company has been operating with temporary workers since May 19.

Some replacement workers told WLUK-TV they’re offended by Lawton’s use of the term. But, Boilermakers say they appreciate Lawton’s blunt words.

Lawton said Wednesday her use of the word “scab” was “an absolutely inexcusable mistake.”

(13) Comments
Posted by Owen at 0756 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. If you look in the dictionary under “liberal nut wack job” Lawton’s picture is there.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on May 30, 2008 at 1021 hrs


  2. Main Entry:
      scab
    Pronunciation:
      \?skab\
    Function:
      noun

    3 a: a contemptible person b (1): a worker who refuses to join a labor union (2): a union member who refuses to strike or returns to work before a strike has ended (3): a worker who accepts employment or replaces a union worker during a strike (4): one who works for less than union wages or on nonunion terms.

    I dunno, seems pretty apt to me.

    Posted by Emily on May 30, 2008 at 1137 hrs


  3. So the people who took jobs that other people abandoned are “contemptible?”  Nice.  Not much for living in the real world, are we?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on May 30, 2008 at 1151 hrs


  4. So I suppose any word or term in the English language is “apt”, so long as it is defined. 

    I’ll keep that in mind the next time I’m labeled a racist, bigot, homophobe, or sexist.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on May 30, 2008 at 1152 hrs


  5. To be “fair”, WHEN did anyone ever pay any attention to Scott McCallum or Margaret Farrow when those two served as Lieutenant Governor?

    Can you even name the Governor who served before Saint Tommy?

    Or is your excuse going to be that that was before you were born, or you were “living” in a foreign country at the time?

    To be fair.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on May 30, 2008 at 1609 hrs


  6. A strike, to be correct, is not an abandonment of a job.

    A strike is a tool at a worker’s disposal to have an impact on their employer. Their employer, God knows, has a lot of tools at its disposal. unless of course you have contempt for workers who are trying to improve their working conditions or compensation.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on May 30, 2008 at 1619 hrs


  7. You’ll take your working conditions and like ‘em.

    Lots of contempt for anything union-related around here.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on May 30, 2008 at 1646 hrs


  8. If you don’t like your job get another one.  I never understood the mentality of working for someone you didn’t think was treating you fairly.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on May 30, 2008 at 1659 hrs


  9. “Lots of contempt for anything union-related around here.”

    You think APC? I don’t know maybe it is because Union and Union Thugs are bad?

    And save your Norma Ray bs APC I grew up in a union house I saw up close what a joke it is

    Unions exist to do only a few things

    Protect those who like to come to work drunk or high or really do not feel like working and to give Union Reps jobs

    People who are willing to work do not need a Union

    Does anyone find it funny that the last place that Unions are really maintaining their stranglehold on is government?  Why because government does not have to actually produce anything or turn a profit.  Unions and their contracts are going to kill the US auto industry but at least those Union officials still have a job.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on May 30, 2008 at 1737 hrs


  10. Yes, Keith, when a person goes on strike, they abandon their job.  It is up to the employer whether to fill their position or not.  The strikers in Kenosha took a chance and decided to strike and they lost.  Too bad for them and good luck finding a new job.  Looks like the union is helping them, doesn’t it?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on May 30, 2008 at 1814 hrs


  11. If unions spent as much time encouraging productivity and culling their ranks of slacking workers as they did lobbying for leverage from legislation and ‘bargaining’ for more pay for less work, they’d be onto something.

    On an individual basis I could never begrudge someone for taking the best job available to them.  But at the same point to not recognize what most unions have done to labor in america is insensate.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on May 30, 2008 at 2008 hrs


  12. Oh yeah - unions are great - just look at how they’ve helped the auto industry in the US. I never understood people who thought someone owed them a job and that their worth to the company was based on how long they were there.

    You are worth what you can do to make the company more profitable - you don’t like that - start your own business and you can hire people on any basis you like.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on May 30, 2008 at 2225 hrs


  13. I like how Lawton forgets she and her husband used “scabs” in their companies in Texas to break the unions.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on June 01, 2008 at 1443 hrs


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