"To a right-winger, unions are awful. Why do right-wingers hate unions? Because collective bargaining is the power that a worker has against the corporation. Right-wingers hate that." ~ Janeane Garofalo
When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: "Whose?" ~ Don Marquis
"The first thing a dictator does is abolish the free press.
Next he abolishes the right of labor to go on strike." ~ George Seldes
Okay I have been ignoring a HUGE story in the US of A. We complain that Americans are apathetic and lazy about having their rights removed from them, one by one, as they sit about watching sports and drinking beer. Something has changed in the state of Wisconsin. The apathy is gone and the people are moving.
These folks may not be activists for the humanitarian causes I usually present here, but what is happening in Wisconsin is HUGE! Its significance for the working American cannot be underestimated. For decades TPTB have been destabilizing and crushing unions in their rapacious need to have absolute control over their workers and work conditions. As a result they have run roughshod over Americans, each attack leaving them with less. No one sindividual dared speak out for fear of unemployment; they just took it on the chin and were grateful for the work. SLAVERY.
Before the turn of the last century, life for the ordinary person was grim. They worked hard long hours, including the children, under unsafe conditions and were truthfully little more than underpaid slaves, yet happy to at least have a pittance for bare survival wages. Then came unionization. People began to see they had power in large groups. They could slow or stop business and cut into the profit margins of the (usually robber) barons and be heard. There were many wars between the strikers and the PTB who used violent means to put the unionizers down. Many died in extremely violent marches that turned violent when the authorities began shooting and killing.
However, in the long run, with much struggle and determination, unions were formed and circumstances improved for the common worker. No one teaches of these events in school because the current PTB plan is to kill all unions once again so that big business can reap greater profits off the backs of the everyday worker. It is also difficult even on line to find adequate information without some serious digging beyond the negativity. For the past few decades as unions were squashed, people just accepted the loss of their benefits, jobs, hours cut, etc. All part of the cost of keeping a job that has covered less and less in these days of runaway inflation.
It seems the good folk of Wisconsin have had enough! No more union busting. Return of their rights. As I just browsed looking for a cartoon or two on unions to post here, I found that almost all of them were terribly anti union. From the 1800's till today, all warning, in one way or another, of the evil of organized labour. Of course that would be because, as today, propoganda in the media was in full swing. The problem, according to the PTB is simply that unions put power into the hands of the serfs, something they really really realllly don't like. So they did their damndest to ensure this attitude became that of the people. They only divided the populace in one more manner, pro and anti union.
**PTB = Powers That Be
The Understory
From inside the Wisconsin State Capitol, RAN ally Ryan Harvey reports:
“Hundreds of cops have just marched into the Wisconsin state capitol building to protest the anti-Union bill, to massive applause. They now join up to 600 people who are inside.”
Ryan reported on his Facebook page earlier today:
“Police have just announced to the crowds inside the occupied State Capitol of Wisconsin: ‘We have been ordered by the legislature to kick you all out at 4:00 today. But we know what’s right from wrong. We will not be kicking anyone out, in fact, we will be sleeping here with you!’ Unreal.”
Ryan HarveyYou can find more updates from Ryan Harvey on Twitter @ryanharveysongs and his blog Even If Your Voice Shakes.
UPDATE: This video says it all. It makes me proud of my neighbors. “Let me tell you Mr. Walker, this is not your house, this is all our house.”
UPDATE 2-27: I’ve got to say a huge thank you to Ryan Harvey for the incredible on-the-spot reporting from inside the Wisconsin state capitol. Keep ‘em coming Ryan!
In this next video, Ryan interviews Brian Austin of the Madison Professional Police Officers Association, who is featured in the video above.
Not only are police officers on the side of labor inside the capitol, so is the chief of police. Bill Glauber reported this evening from The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
“The people who are in the building will be allowed to stay,” Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs said Sunday night. “There will be no arrests unless people violate the law.”Tubbs…announced the decision to let the protesters stay after he saw how they moved aside while work crews went about cleaning the Capitol, including mopping and polishing floors.“People are very cooperative,” the police chief said. “I appreciate that.”
As this long night comes to a end, I leave you with this final piece of good news from Ryan’s Twitter feed:
“Huge news! Republican senator dale shultz has announced that he is switching sides and opposing the bill!!! 2 more to go!”
Rock on Wisconsin.
Remind the politicians who have forgotten,
and the corporations in denial,
and any folks out there who aren’t sure their voice really counts,
that the true power of these United States
is with The People.
And it’s time to get used to the idea.
Hey Noor,...Excellent post, very uplifting: "Power to the People, Right on"!
ReplyDeleteveritas
Unionized state employees are NOT a counterbalance to a multinational corporation. Unionized state and city employees are an expense to the taxpayer, the real working class. It looks as the union cops are siding with the state and city union employees.
ReplyDeleteUnion Cops want to take your stuff because you have a small amount of marijuana in your garbage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cirDxvuoZ8c