(1 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
This video needs little comment. I post it because some people think that public service unions, such as the WI teachers’ union, should get supported by American workers, no strings attached, even though (by my reckoning), American unions are quite selfish. See, e.g., my discussion in Solidarity With Wisconsin’s Union Workers. See also my diary Why are there no MLK’s of Labor?
Also, there’s been no accountability of Democrats (who are more or less equally to blame, as are the Republicans) for the financial mess that led to the recession, that led to decreased revenues by state and local governments.
The unions, apparently, don’t care. Not enough, anyway, and AFAIK, to call for throwing a single Democrat under the bus, who voted to end Glass Steagall and still holds office.
Apparently, unions don’t do cause and effect, being too busy being cuddly “housecats” for the Democrats. These “housecats” are members of the “veal pen”.
2 comments
I guess I’m the “some people.” And I stand by that. American public employee unions need our support now, without holding back. And they need it because without our support they will be crushed. Repeals of collective bargaining will flow across the US, and workers and their families will be injured. And as I’ve said before this isn’t the time to negotiate with the unions about what they have to do to gain our (whoever “our” might be) or public support. If we don’t support them now, there won’t be unions, good or bad, to negotiate with later on. That’s my opinion.
I was initially going to attack the poster and this post for its high level of purity trolling. The sources for this essay are the essayist’s former comments in my essay, and his own essay. The video comes from RTAmerica. I’ve decided not to pursue that. Instead, I’d like to point out that if organizations (and unions) are not supported because they’re not sufficiently [fill in the blank], we find ourselves split. Split between the present battle and withholding our support. Split between what we wish there could be and what there actually is. Split between whether we’re for or against either or both sides. This leads to dissension and weakness on what I hope is our side of the fight for labor. This argument sews dissension. And it’s insidious because it attacks us from within.
Author
You wouldn’t want Sarah Palin for President, would you?
Where I live (a 3 minute walk from the train station), you can see the homeless and not-much-better-off-than-homeless line up for a ‘meal’ of dubious nutritional value on Sunday mornings. Some of these guys are hard core (meaning, I doubt they really want to work), but they all aren’t.
Also, I listen to Gary Null (progressiveradionetwork.com) who recently returned from a road trip filming the “new poor”, and the suffering from homelessness – including homeless vets who have to worry about being ticketed by cops for sitting on a park bench (doubtless with raggedy clothes) or even being lit on fire by psychopathic teens – is very real.
If the teachers’ unions can’t be bothered now, at this late date, to commit to lifting a finger for working people in general, then I’d say that they’re not really all that concerned about collective bargaining, in general, or much of anything else, beyond their own narrow concerns. Reciprocity is a human norm, yet you don’t think this should apply to unions.
Well, good luck with that one! You’re going to need it.
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BTW, I just read a nytimes article about Chris Christie, where it says that NJ underfunded its pension plans for 17 straight years. Why weren’t the unions raising holy hell about that? I can’t help but wonder if the unions even care about themselves. What did they think would happen, eventually?