Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Talk of the Bay
Colbert has fun with Tampa work rally
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
Published August 7, 2006
When workers gathered in Tampa last month for a protest, little did they realize their plight would be taken up by Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. The workers were protesting pending decisions by the National Labor Relations Board that many expect to broadly define when a worker is a supervisor ineligible to join a union. Not long afterward, Colbert opened a nightly segment by saying, "That brings us to tonight's word: Solidarity. As in me and all my management buddies are in solidarity about hating unions. I mean, what has a union ever done ... anyway?" As he spoke, scrolling across the screen were a few words suggesting otherwise: "End child labor, worker safety, 40-hour workweek, increased pay and benefits, Norma Rae, bowling leagues." At one point, the show displayed a St. Petersburg Times article about the Tampa protest, along with an article from another city where a similar protest took place. Colbert, a satirist who enjoys poking fun at the political right, ended his report by saying, "Folks, it is time for management and labor to put aside its differences to come together as management to exploit labor."
[Last modified August 7, 2006, 06:00:54]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
