In the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act, we've seen some crazed talk from CEOs and their front groups opposed to the legislation.
They have thrown around tired stereotypes, including actors from the Sopranos, bad "24"-style parodies, and photoshopped pictures in GOP election mail. But next time anyone asks about "union intimidation," tell them to watch out for Home Depot founder and ex-CEO Bernie Marcus.
Thomas Frank, writing in the WSJ, recounts the words of the billionaire Home Depot Founder saying any CEO that doesn't contribute to Republicans opposed to Employee Free Choice "should be shot."
"This is the demise of a civilization," moaned Bernie Marcus, cofounder and former CEO of The Home Depot, during an Oct. 17 conference call about card check. "This is how a civilization disappears. I'm sitting here as an elder statesman, and I'm watching this happen, and I don't believe it."
Mr. Marcus sketched out the doomsday scenario for his listeners, with unions going after what he called the "low hanging fruit" and proceeding to organize workers in industry after industry. He had taken it upon himself to notify the nation's CEOs of the danger, but they were not yet grabbing their guns. "This is as important as anything that's ever happened to these companies. And they're not reacting, and they're not fighting. The old time fighters are gone."
But in the class war, as in the real deal, there are always ways of motivating the yellow. "If a retailer has not gotten involved with this, if he has not spent money on this election, if he has not sent money to Norm Coleman and these other guys," Mr. Marcus said, apparently referring to Republican senators facing tough re-election fights, then those retailers "should be shot; should be thrown out of their goddamn jobs."
Marcus has been at the forefront of CEOs' fight against Employee Free Choice, trotting himself out as the representative of business groups' opposition to the bill. He's debated the bill on CNBC, penned a WSJ op-ed warning of "economic ruin, and defended the status quo in the pages of Business Week.
Also, Frank trots out a quote from Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott that very clearly illustrates what all CEOs opposed to free choice actually think:
"We like driving the car and we're not going to give the steering wheel to anybody but us."