In the modern version of
American warfare, there are as many government contractors in the field as
there are military personnel. That
wasn’t always true. When I was
drafted back in ’68, I was worried about my chances of survival until I learned
that only 1 in 11 military personnel in Vietnam were actually engaged in
combat. The rest were in support
positions. I decided the odds were
in my favor.
When the decision was made
to go all volunteer, it was also decided to privatize a lot of those support
jobs. The military would need
fewer enlistees and those it recruited would not be burdened with KP and other
unpopular duties. And then, look
at all those contracts that could be issued to companies who show their
appreciation with campaign contributions.
What a windfall for legislators.
End the unpopular draft and create a goldmine.
The government has yet to
figure out how to properly manage contractors. The official who signs the contracts must be of high rank,
but the person who oversees the contractor is not. Any time the overseer has a dispute with the contractor, he
must send his complaint up the chain of command. That means that a series of managers have to champion the
cause of an underling to their superiors with sufficient vigor that each
succeeding superior will champion the cause to his boss. Meanwhile, the contractor goes directly
to the top of the chain with his complaints about the lowly overseer. Who do you think wins?
Aside from the general
inefficiency of such a system, it accounts for a series of abuses, including
contracts with contractor employees that include a clause prohibiting the
employee from suing the contractor for anything. All disputes are to go to arbitration.
In a union shop, this is
not a terrible thing. The
arbitrator must be agreed to by both sides. And, even though the company pays the arbitrator, he knows
that if he leans too much toward the company’s side, the union will never agree
to use him again. In the non-union
world, the arbitrator knows that the company will use him again and again,
while the hapless employee will not.
No wonder that companies love arbitrators.
That’s why I can’t
understand the people who say unions are unnecessary today. They say that if a worker is wronged he
can run to a lawyer and sue. The
big corporations with arbitration clauses encourage this argument.
Of course, we assume that a
really dreadful wrong would still be righted in the courts somehow. Try telling that to Jamie Leigh Jones
who was gang raped by her Halliburton/KBR colleagues in Iraq. The Department of Defense under
Bush/Cheney leadership denied that they had jurisdiction to prosecute, although
they did. The Justice Department
did not prosecute either. And, Ms
Jones could not even sue for damages because of the arbitration clause in her
contract.
Was this a case of one
exception slipping through the system?
No, according to a story last
year in The Nation, there
have been 742 sexual assaults against military and civilians serving in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
Of the cases against
civilians, the Department of Justice had prosecuted 4—or maybe 6. The DOJ spokesperson who testified
before Congress wasn’t sure of the exact number.
It is news now because the
fledgling Senator from Minnesota, Al Franken--inspired by Ms Jones plight--has proposed his first
legislation. It’s not a whole
bill, just an amendment to a Defense spending bill. His amendment [S.Amdt. 2588 to H.R. 3326 (Department of
Defense Appropriations Act, 2010)] reads:
To prohibit the use of
funds for any Federal contract with Halliburton Company, KBR, Inc., any of
their subsidiaries or affiliates, or any other contracting party if such
contractor or a subcontractor at any tier under such contract requires that
employees or independent contractors sign mandatory arbitration clauses
regarding certain claims.
Of course the amendment
passed overwhelmingly with bipartisan support, 68 to 30 with two not voting.
I was interested in the 30
pro-rape Senators who voted against the amendment. They are all Republicans. Men who voted to cut off funding to Acorn for counseling pseudo-pimps
and prostitutes, which is apparently a worse offense than the sexual assault of
women in war zones by their colleagues.
I checked the U.S. Senate
web site and found that these are the pro-rape Senators. I hope their opponents remember this
vote the next time they come up for re-election.
From Alabama: both Jeff
Sessions and Richard Shelby
From Arizona: both Jon Kyl
and John McCain
From Georgia: both Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson
From Idaho: both Mike Crapo
and James Risch
From Kansas: both Sam
Brownback and Pat Roberts
From Kentucky: both Jim Bunning
and Mitch McConnell
From Louisiana: David
Vitter
From Mississippi: both Thad
Cochran and Roger Wicker
From Missouri: Christopher
Bond
From Nebraska: Mike Johanns
From Nevada: John Ensign
From New Hampshire: Judd
Gregg
From North Carolina:
Richard Burr
From Oklahoma: both Tom
Coburn and James Inhofe
From South Carolina: both Jim
DeMint and Lindsey Graham
From South Dakota: John
Thune
From Tennessee: both Lamar
Alexander and Bob Corker
From Texas: John Cornyn
From Wyoming: both John
Barrasso and Michael Enzi