What's In A Name? (Part II)

William Safire in the NY Times Magazine last Sunday has more to say about the name change at my future employer, the House Education and Labor Committee:

Who says the 110th House of Representatives, with Democrats in the majority, will be no different from the G.O.P.-dominated 109th? The names, they are a-changin’: the word Labor is back, with a capital L. In 1995, when the Republicans took over after 40 years — 14,610 interminable days — in the minority wilderness, they changed the name of the Education and Labor Committee to “the Committee on Education and the Workforce.”

Why? Because the word Labor, capitalized, was taken to be “Big Labor” — unions almost monolithically support Democrats — and here was a way to go over the union bosses’ heads. The idea was to spread the committee’s jurisdiction over the needs of all workers, especially the majority, who are not union members. (A bit of history: When President Nixon accepted George Meany’s invitation to attend the annual A.F.L.-C.I.O. convention in Bal Harbour, Fla., Meany sat the president in the third row on the platform — an unprecedented snub. Charles Colson, the White House counsel, came up with a fighting slogan afterward: “Remember Bal Harbour!”)

If Labor was to be replaced, then with what? Not workers; that word is associated with socialism (International Workers of the World (sic), or “wobblies”) and communism (in its manifesto, “Workers of the World — Unite”). But there was another term, coined in 1931, during what revisionist Republicans considered the unfairly maligned Hoover administration: workforce. Most dictionaries gave it two senses (and make it two words): “all employees collectively, or those doing work in a particular firm or industry.”

Therefore, one of the first actions in what Speaker Nancy Pelosi dubbed “the first 100 hours” of the newly Democratic House was to vote that “Clause 1(e) of Rule 10 is amended by striking ‘Committee on Education and the Workforce’ and inserting ‘Committee on Education and Labor.’ ”

Change Is In The Air; And In The House

Yes, it's true, the House of Representatives is doing some real things for the American worker, like passing a minimum wage bill. But real accomplishments are so boring. In these heady days, now the the Dems are back in control, it's the symbolic changes that most stir the spirit.

For example, when the Republicans took power in 1995, they changed the name of the House "Committee on Education and Labor" to

"Workforce?" Ugh! Can you get any more sterile and bureacratic?

But now a new day has (re)dawned on Capitol Hill:

Of course, the National Association of Manufacturers isn't very happy. According to their "Shopfloor" blog, they kind of liked the word "workforce,"

a long-overdue modernization of the name to reflect the lexicon of the modern-day work place.

Uh, right.

"What's in a name?" NAM asks.

In this case, it is a great leap backward and a clear sign to anyone who may have doubted it that the unions are firmly back in charge of the committee's agenda.

"Backward" to the future, that is.

I say Hallelujah; it's about time.

"This is Bullshit!" The Aborted Mine Safety Hearing

When I reported last week about the about Congressman Charlie Norwood shutting off a hearing on mine safety before a second round of questions, I somehow missed the link to a video of the hearing on Mine Safety Watch

It's an epic battle between one of the best Congressmen (George Miller D-CA) vs. one of the worst, (Charlie Norwood R-GA).

Excerpt:

Miller, after Norwood told him there would be no second round of questions: "This is bullshit!"

Norwood's response: "When you get in charge, you get to run the damn thing."

List to the whole thing if you have time. But if you just want the fireworks, fast-forward to 1:22:40.