Unions at Another Crossroads

Back in November I wrote an open letter to Richard Trumka president of the AFof L-CIO urging him to take the lead in a fight to save the Unions from the coming right wing GOP onslaught against Labor. Sorry, but I never got an acknowledgment. Oh well. That part is easy to deal with. If only they had launched some kind of fight to save what is left of the Unions. Sad to say they have done nothing.

Scott Walker the newly elected Republican Governor of Wisconsin has drawn a line in the sand. He is determined to destroy the rights of Public Employee unions to bargain collectively. Incidentally a right won many years ago in Wisconsin.

What I find so appalling is the conservative right wing crowd use to decry the fact that there were not free trade unions in communist controlled countries. This was the ultimate evidence the they were not democratic. They use to say, “there is no democracy without free trade unions.” The GOP just keeps moving further to the right. This is what is going on in Wisconsin.

I must pay tribute to those feisty, brave, determined union supporters who have taken over the Capital Building in Madison. (Must acknowledge, it includes my son.) They have broken through the barrier of silence that has engulfed us since the 2010 election. They have made known the real intent of the right wing GOP crowd which is to destroy what is left of the American labor Movement.

It is precisely because of that simple fact that every Union leader worth their wait in salt ought to be up there in Wisconsin supporting their fellow Brothers and sisters who are out there on the firing line. The President of the National Education Association, Dennis Van Roekel is there. Where is Richard Trumka, Randy Wiengaten President of the Teachers Union. Andy Stein President of the SEIU? Yes and the leaders of the UAW, the Teamsters etc etc. Don’t they understand the very life of what’s left of the Labor Movement is once again being challenged? Don't they remember “Solidarity Forever for the union makes us strong.?”

Need I remind them of the turning points that continues to reduce the relevance of unions? Start with the Taft Hartley Law 1948. I wrote a pamphlet back then, “This Is Aimed At You.” "How the Taft Hartley Law is out to destroy the American labor Movement." The Union leadership with a few exceptions like, John L. Lewis President of the Miners, went along with the new law. (Trumka, Lewis should be your guiding star.)

At the end of the War the employers launched yet another attack on the unions. The Yale & Towne Lock Company decided to cancel its contract with the Machinists Union. The Machinists in NY Conn. and Mass. organized a General Strike in Stamford Conn. We stopped that anti union drive in its tracks. No, that wasn’t the end of the war against the unions. Just one more battle.

Then came the Traffic Controllers Strike in 1981. Reagan fired them and the Labor Movement just slept through the whole episode. Further decline of the unions. Now this frontal attack on the Public Workers right to collective bargaining. There needs to be a united response from every union in the land. This is aimed at all of them. If those folks in Wisconsin lose this fight it may well be the swan song of the Labor movement. That would be a great tragedy for American Democracy. Unions represent a critical countervailing force against employer greed as well as being a great equalizer. Without them we lose a critical part of our Democratic process.

The Wisconsin sit-in, sleep in, fight in, our heartfelt thanks, we are with you all the way.