Having received their taxpayer bailout money, a few companies are now turning around and amassing support to give the middle finger to workers.

Three days after receiving $25 billion in federal bailout funds, Bank of America Corp. hosted a conference call with conservative activists and business officials to organize opposition to the U.S. labor community's top legislative priority.

Participants on the October 17 call -- including at least one representative from another bailout recipient, AIG -- were urged to persuade their clients to send "large contributions" to groups working against the Employee Free Trade Act (EFCA), as well as to vulnerable Senate Republicans, who could help block passage of the bill.

It's not just the banks.

Bernie Marcus, the charismatic co-founder of Home Depot, led the call along with Rick Berman, an aggressive EFCA opponent and founder of the Center for Union Facts. Over the course of an hour, the two framed the legislation as an existential threat to American capitalism, or worse.

"This is the demise of a civilization," said Marcus. "This is how a civilization disappears. I am sitting here as an elder statesman and I'm watching this happen and I don't believe it."

I never did like Home Depot...now I really don't like Home Depot.* If Bernie Marcus truly believes that allowing workers to unionize is the demise of civilization then he has no firm grasp of reality.

Rome didn't fall because of labor unions. With all due respect Mr. Marcus...you are a fucking idiot.

The Employee Free Choice Act which Mr. Marcus and his capitalist cronies want to block is a simple thing: it will allow workers to form a union either by
a) holding a traditional election
b) having a majority of employees sign written forms

That's it. Civilization will not fall. The world will not implode. A fucking wormhole will not open up and pull us all into a parallel world where Hitler won WWII.

All is means is that it will be that much harder for people like Mr. Marcus to fuck over his employees. Which is why he wants it blocked.





* UPDATE While Bernie Marcus was one of Home Depot's founders back in 1978, he retired from the company in 2000. As such, his comments shouldn't reflect on the company today.