Rochester, N.Y.-- It's been going for some time now. And, it's not like we didn't see it coming.
At the very start of this year, January 2, The New York Times warned us of the coming battle with a front-page story, "Public Workers Facing Outrage in Budget Crisis." The Economist, in its January 8 issue, gave us, "The battle ahead: confronting the public-sector unions." And the January Time Magazine, "Public Employees Become Public Enemy No. 1." Or, as if we haven't addressed this topic before on this site, you can revisit any of the 104 previous posts from this year at the Voice Reporter.
So, nobody should have been surprised when public employees became enemy #1 in Wisconsin, whose governor and Republican-dominated legislature are pressing a bill that would eviscerate most of the unions representing that state's employees.
Oklahoma, Tennessee and Ohio are likewise all considering legislation to ban various types of collective bargaining, and in Indiana, almost every Democratic member of the state's House of Representative recently boycotted a legislative session to stop a bill that would weaken collective bargaining.
The bigger picture
What no one is talking about, however, despite the thousands of ink cartridges that have been emptied over this topic, is the underlying motive behind these attacks. Why, exactly, has the Wisconsin governor made destroying public sector unions his main priority? Why are similar efforts being made in numerous other states? Why target public sector workers and their unions? What put this on the top of the hard right's agenda?
Some of the reasons are obvious. For years, its been kind of the "perfect storm" brewing for anti-labor forces. Class envy is everywhere, for sure. Public employees are, on average, better educated and better compensated than other workers; thus, resentment by the latter can always be ginned up against the former.
Tea Party-ish dislike of government in all of its forms, however irrational, can always be used by those with a motive to do so, into a passionate hostility against the government's agents and employees. Plus, there are the conservative deficit hawks who always complain that we spend to much and cry about too many entitlements for poor people. And finally, let's not forget the conscious effort on the part of anti-labor forces to just flat out lie and mislead the American people. In response, the CSEA Voice Reporter joined the STOP THE LIES campaign (see icon on bottom right side of page) several months ago to set the record straight.
On top of this, it's easy to see that the crop of 16 new GOP governors are carrying out the work they promised their big business donors-- you know, the guys who funded their election campaigns under the ludicrous Citizens United v. FEC fiasco. It's painfully obvious that they want to privitize public services and give the bids and work to their cronies for their own financial gain.
But there is something more sophisticated at work here than merely the efforts of talk-show hosts, demagogues and right-wing politicians to stir up an angry, agitated and hostile populace. That is, there is a plan at work here.
According to Dmitri Iglitzin and Carson Glickman-Flora of Truthout.org, big business and their GOP puppets are in cahoots. They explain it this way:
Defund the Democrats. This is perhaps the most transparent of the goals of the plan, because Republicans have not been shy about pointing out how, in various states, labor union contributions of both time and money have supplied Democrats with critical support at election time. The actual numbers can be debated and most of the Republican claims of labor union dominance of the Democratic Party are overblown. The failure of Congress, even when Democrats controlled both the White House and both houses of Congress from 2008-2010, to enact any substantive federal labor law reform, is stark evidence of that. But labor generally comes back to the Democrats and Republicans, and other right-wingers recognize that disabling labor unions now will advance their legislative agenda in the long run.
Delegitimize Government. Once public sector unions are destroyed or damaged and the wages and benefits of public employees are slashed, the ability of government to attract and retain qualified, dedicated employees-- whether teachers, bus drivers, fire fighters or police-- will deteriorate. The more that happens, the greater the pressure to turn over these and all other "public" services to for-profit private companies, a trend that is already in full swing. Public employees should never apologize for what they earn or for negotiating a better life for themselves and their family.
Race to the bottom. The GOP wants to redefine the middle class downward. Above all else, the attack on public employees and their unions is an effort to eliminate the one sub-section of working people who still, to a large extent, maintain a truly "middle-class" existence. This is a life where the rent or mortgage payments may be paid, health coverage is maintained and retirement savings socked away in defined benefit pension plans. We all hope it will actually still be available upon retirement. It is this last motive about which the proponents of the "plan" speak the least, but which is perhaps the most important. As long as some workers, those in the public sector, are still being paid decent salaries and benefits, there is an implicit message to all workers, including those in the private sector, that this type of compensation might be something which an adult worker could reasonably expect to attain.
If the goal of a middle class income for public employees can be painted as a mere utopian fantasy, workers in the private sector will lose that dream as well. You know, the ol' conquer and divide strategy. In the end, it is this race to the bottom on our standard of living that should have all of us worried. It should inspire everyone to stand next to public employees, as we who make up the "98 percent of Americans," cling to whatever notion there is of a better life in the future for you and your family.
The sooner we recognize that there are radical, extreme lawmakers who want to eliminate the middle class and do average folk harm, the more capable we are of protecting our families. Remember, when push comes to shove on Election Day, there are more of us then there are of them-- one person one vote. We have to be ready at the ballot box to save the middle class. It's just that simple.
 |
Rallies like this one on March 17 are cropping up all over the United States. In Rochester, N.Y., hundreds of parents, teachers, students and union members gather at the downtown Liberty Pole Square to voice their frustration over local and state government budgets and their lawmakers' overt, unapologetic attack on the middle-class. (photo: Ove Overmyer) |
Rochester, N.Y.-- It's been going for some time now. And, it's not like we didn't see it coming.
At the very start of this year, January 2, The New York Times warned us of the coming battle with a front-page story, "Public Workers Facing Outrage in Budget Crisis." The Economist, in its January 8 issue, gave us, "The battle ahead: confronting the public-sector unions." And the January Time Magazine, "Public Employees Become Public Enemy No. 1." Or, as if we haven't addressed this topic before on this site, you can revisit any of the 104 previous posts from this year at the Voice Reporter.
So, nobody should have been surprised when public employees became enemy #1 in Wisconsin, whose governor and Republican-dominated legislature are pressing a bill that would eviscerate most of the unions representing that state's employees.
Oklahoma, Tennessee and Ohio are likewise all considering legislation to ban various types of collective bargaining, and in Indiana, almost every Democratic member of the state's House of Representative recently boycotted a legislative session to stop a bill that would weaken collective bargaining.
What no one is talking about, however, despite the thousands of ink cartridges that have been emptied over this topic, is the underlying motive behind these attacks. Why, exactly, has the Wisconsin governor made destroying public sector unions his main priority? Why are similar efforts being made in numerous other states? Why target public sector workers and their unions? What put this on the top of the hard right's agenda?
Some of the reasons are obvious. For years, its been kind of the "perfect storm" brewing for anti-labor forces. Class envy is everywhere, for sure. Public employees are, on average, better educated and better compensated than other workers; thus, resentment by the latter can always be ginned up against the former.
Tea Party-ish dislike of government in all of its forms, however irrational, can always be used by those with a motive to do so, into a passionate hostility against the government's agents and employees. Plus, there are the conservative deficit hawks who always complain that we spend to much and cry about too many entitlements for poor people. And finally, let's not forget the conscious effort on the part of anti-labor forces to just flat out lie and mislead the American people. In response, the CSEA Voice Reporter joined the STOP THE LIES campaign (see icon on bottom right side of page) several months ago to set the record straight.
On top of this, it's easy to see that the crop of 16 new GOP governors are carrying out the work they promised their big business donors-- you know, the guys who funded their election campaigns under the ludicrous Citizens United v. FEC fiasco. It's painfully obvious that they want to privitize public services and give the bids and work to their cronies for their own financial gain.
But there is something more sophisticated at work here than merely the efforts of talk-show hosts, demagogues and right-wing politicians to stir up an angry, agitated and hostile populace. That is, there is a plan at work here.
According to Dmitri Iglitzin and Carson Glickman-Flora of Truthout.org, big business and their GOP puppets are in cahoots. They explain it this way:
Defund the Democrats. This is perhaps the most transparent of the goals of the plan, because Republicans have not been shy about pointing out how, in various states, labor union contributions of both time and money have supplied Democrats with critical support at election time. The actual numbers can be debated and most of the Republican claims of labor union dominance of the Democratic Party are overblown. The failure of Congress, even when Democrats controlled both the White House and both houses of Congress from 2008-2010, to enact any substantive federal labor law reform, is stark evidence of that. But labor generally comes back to the Democrats and Republicans, and other right-wingers recognize that disabling labor unions now will advance their legislative agenda in the long run.
Delegitimize Government. Once public sector unions are destroyed or damaged and the wages and benefits of public employees are slashed, the ability of government to attract and retain qualified, dedicated employees-- whether teachers, bus drivers, fire fighters or police-- will deteriorate. The more that happens, the greater the pressure to turn over these and all other "public" services to for-profit private companies, a trend that is already in full swing. Public employees should never apologize for what they earn or for negotiating a better life for themselves and their family.
 |
| photo: Ove Overmyer |
If the goal of a middle class income for public employees can be painted as a mere utopian fantasy, workers in the private sector will lose that dream as well. You know, the ol' conquer and divide strategy. In the end, it is this race to the bottom on our standard of living that should have all of us worried. It should inspire everyone to stand next to public employees, as we who make up the "98 percent of Americans," cling to whatever notion there is of a better life in the future for you and your family.
The sooner we recognize that there are radical, extreme lawmakers who want to eliminate the middle class and do average folk harm, the more capable we are of protecting our families. Remember, when push comes to shove on Election Day, there are more of us then there are of them-- one person one vote. We have to be ready at the ballot box to save the middle class. It's just that simple.
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