The legacy of Cesar Chavez and the economic crisis of 2011

Cesar Chavez and Duane Campbell,1972

 César Chávez:

By  Duane E. Campbell

On March 31, 2011, California and ten  other states will celebrate the life and work of labor organizer Cesar Chavez.  State workers will have the day off.  Ironically, however, farm workers will not.  It is interesting that these states take a day off to recognize the contributions of a labor leader while cutting vital services for poor people.   Meanwhile the spirit of Cesar Chavez lives on in the struggle for union rights and justice in the fields of California, Ohio, and Florida as well as  in the struggles for union rights and workers dignity in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania.  What can we learn from the creation of the UFW that is useful today?

 Along with Dolores Huerta, Philip Vera Cruz, and others, César created the United Farm Workers  (UFW) the first successful union of farm workers in  U.S. history.  There had been more than ten prior attempts to build a farm workers union.

            Each of the prior attempts to organize farm worker unions were destroyed by racism and corporate power. Chávez chose to build a union that incorporated the strategies of social movements and community organizing  and allied itself  with the churches, students,  and organized labor.  The successful creation of the UFW changed the nature of labor organizing  in the Southwest  and contributed significantly to the growth  of Latino politics in the U.S. The UFW has shown unions that immigrants can  and must be organized.   

        César Chavez, Dolores Huerta,  Philip Vera Cruz, and others deliberately created a multiracial organization, Mexican immigrants,  Mexican American, Filipino, African-American, Dominican, Puerto Rican and Arab workers, among others, have been part of the UFW.  This cross racial organizing  was necessary in order to combat the  prior divisions and exploitations of workers based upon race and language. Dividing the workers on racial, language lines and immigration status  always left the corporations the winners.

            In the 60's Chávez became the pre-eminent civil rights leader for the Mexican and Chicano workers, helping with local union struggles throughout the nation.  He worked tirelessly to make people aware of the struggles of farm workers for better pay and safer working conditions. It is a testament to Cesar Chavez's skills and courage that the UFW even survived. Workers were  fired, beaten, threatened and even killed in pursuit of union benefits . Non union  farm workers today  continue to live on  sub-poverty wages while producing the abundant crops in the richest valley, in the richest state in the richest nation in the world. 

             In response to corporate power, Cesar developed new strategies, such as the boycott, based upon  his personal   commitment to  non-violence in the tradition of Ghandi and  Martin Luther King Jr.  César  Chavez died in his sleep on April 23, 1993 near Yuma, Arizona.

           

The organizing of the UFW by Chavez, Huerta, Vera Cruz and others was a milestone in union organizing.  So, where are we today?

The UFW is down from its peak of 80,000 potential members to less than 15,000.  Farm labor is largely no longer unionized. Similar declines have occurred in many other industries.  The once mighty United Auto Workers have been reduced from 1,500,000 member to less than 350,000 as corporations moved their production over seas and their  plants to non union states.  Working families suffer in an economy where unions are weak.

        The nation  including California continues to  suffer a severe recession and lack of jobs.  Twenty Six million  are unemployed and under employed. This crisis was created by finance capital and banking, mostly on Wall Street ,ie. Chase Banks, Bank of America, AIG, and others.   Finance capital received a $ 2 trillion bailout from the federal government.   Capital stole the future of many young people and, with the Republican victories in the November elections, launched a new assault on organized labor.

The  current economic decline has had a devastating impact on the  budgets- of 42  states as well as cities, school districts, and other public services.    Revenues have continued to plunge and  legislatures  made  a series of deep cuts to virtually all of the state's programs, including education, police protection, and the university systems. In Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana ( among others) Republican governors and legislators have sought to limit the right of workers to build their own unions.

This fiscal crisis in the state and the assault on unions  did not fall from the sky; it resulted from the Great Recession and the looting of our economy by Wall Street and Corporate America.  The current  budget cuts will only lengthen and deepen the recession.  Some politicians claim that we can’t afford union wages, pensions,  public education and good universities.  However, there is plenty of money  if we go where the money is; the rich who have gamed the system and accumulated vast wealth in the last three decades.

      While  working people  are loosing their jobs in budget cuts, major corporations continue to use the rigged tax code to avoid paying any federal taxes at all.  Last year GE, ExxonMobil, Citibank, and Bank of America paid no taxes while the government made certain they made great profits.

            What can we apply from the creation of the UFW to the current struggles for union rights during this recession ?  Solidarity works.  Workers need to cooperate and stick together. You get worker solidarity by asking for it.  The first step to winning a battle, is to get into the fight.

             Today Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano,  and Puerto Rican union leadership is common  in our major cities and in several  industries.  U.S. labor has differing perspectives on immigration and these positions reflect who they are organizing.

             For myself  and others, the UFW was a school for organizing.  Hundreds of activists in labor and community organizations owe their skills to UFW training and experience.    Along with improved working conditions, salaries, and benefits,  training this cadre of organizers remains a major legacy of the UFW.

            César taught us that all organizations have problems, that all organizations are imperfect. But, if you wait for the perfect organization, nothing gets done. Building popular organizations builds people's power, and democracy.

In creating the UFW Chavez organized thousands into a union  and inspired millions.    The organizing effort  changed the Southwest and changed  organized labor.

            The movement led by Cesar  created a union and reduced the oppression of farm workers.  Many people,  descendents of earlier generations of farm workers, learned to take a stand for justice.  We learned to not accept poor jobs, poor pay,  unsafe working conditions as natural or inevitable.  Rather, these are social creations which can be changed through organizing for economic and political power.  Dolores Huerta continues her important education and  training of young organizers through her foundation http://www.doloreshuerta.org/

                        Today, under the leadership of UFW president Arturo Rodriguez, over 15,000 farm workers enjoy benefits on the job. They are incorporated into California's educational, health and civic communities- and they too will suffer from the state imposed budget cuts.

      Thousands of new immigrants , many indigenous people from Mexico, harvest the crops.  Since NAFTA the exploitation of farm labor has increased.  Only a small portion are in unions. These  new generations of immigrants and migrant labor hardly know Chavez’ name nor his contributions.  Yet, in other regions  immigrants are being organized into unions such as Justice for Janitors, by activists who learned their organizing skills working with the UFW.  Latino political leaders often made their first commitments on a UFW picket line. Latino politics is changing the nation and impacts the creation of unions.

            The generation that created the UFW is passing. A new generation of political activists,  have emerged since the Chavez generations.  In the 2006 massive immigrant rights movements,  several new organizing efforts and leaders  emerged.   The organizing of these demonstrations was significantly assisted by persons trained within the UFW.  A new, significant Latino  union and political base has been created that is reshaping U.S. politics.

Chavez' legacy to popular struggles, to  Chicano/Mexicano self determination and to unions for the immigrant workers is beyond measure.  The union taught us how to organize for power and for justice. My generation created a movement for social justice.  Now, it is up to the next  generation to build upon that history.   Individually we are significantly at the mercy of the corporate state.  With union solidarity we can stand together and resist.  

 Chavez  is present in all of our work.  You can find our more about this remarkable leader at www.ufw.org , http://www.chavezfoundation.org/

and, http://www.farmworkermovement.org/ 

            Good books on Chavez and the UFW include:

Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW, and the Struggle for Justice in the 21^st. Century,  Randy Shaw. (2008)

Why David Sometimes Wins: Leadership, Organization, and Strategy in the California Farm Worker  Movement,  Marshall Ganz. (2009)

Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants.

David Bacon. 2008.

Duane Campbell is a Professor (emeritus)  of Bilingual/Multicultural Education at Calif. State University-Sacramento and the author of Choosing Democracy; a practical guide to multicultural education.  2010.

Also see: https://sites.google.com/site/democracyandeducationorg/chicano-mexican-american-digital-history-project

Things you can do.

We Are One rallies.  Around the nation.  April 4.

http://www.we-r-1.org/

National Teach In against austerity, union busting, and budget cuts.  April 5.

 www.fightbackteachin.org

California.  Take Class Action- Demand Quality Education.  Statewide demonstrations on CSU campuses.  April 13.  http://www.calfac.org/april-13-class-action

And. Actions also planned around week of April 13 at U. of California, Calif. Community Colleges and in many states including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania & Vermont


Teachers can get a video of Viva La Causa, the Story of Cesar Chavez free for use in classrooms  from Teaching Tolerance. www.TeachingTolerance.org

Rep. Kucinich Fires Up Madison Workers' Rights Rally

Trumka on Wisconsin moment

Oppose attacks on union workers - Wisconsin and California

Brothers and sisters, 

Last night in Madison, Wis., in the dead of night, Senate Republicans rammed through a bill that strips Wisconsinites of the collective bargaining rights their parents and grandparents bargained for, marched for, went on strike for and sometimes even died for. 

This assault on workers' freedom will not stand.

As the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO said last night: 

"Scott Walker and the Republicans' ideological war on the middle class and working families is now indisputable, and their willingness to shred 50 years of labor peace, bipartisanship and Wisconsin's democratic process to pass a bill that 74 percent of Wisconsinites oppose is beyond reprehensible." 

What we saw in the dead of night in Wisconsin wasn't democracy. It was back-door deal-making, partisan politics taken to the limit. That isn't worthy of America. And working Americans simply won't stand for it. Not in Wisconsin, and not anywhere.

Brothers and sisters, it's time to turn outrage into action. 

Take action now: Tell your CA state legislators that what happened in Wisconsin last night is unacceptable in any state: [http://act.aflcio.org/c/18/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1691 ].


Last night, Gov. Walker and his rubber-stamp Republican senators showed us they will do just about anything to pay back corporate donors by stripping workers of their right to bargain for good, middle-class jobs.

First, they claimed Walker's bill was aimed at balancing Wisconsin's budget. But that was exposed as an outright lie last night. Their true motives were exposed when they robbed hundreds of thousands of nurses, teachers, snowplow drivers and EMTs of their collective bargaining rights--without even a dime of savings to Wisconsin taxpayers. And they thumbed their noses at their state's open meeting laws to do it.

This was the second time in a week that Republican state legislators showed they are willing to sacrifice democracy for their partisan political agenda. First it happened in Ohio, where the Senate Republican leader threw a senator off a committee to ensure the body would vote to end bargaining rights. Now it's Wisconsin. 

Act now: Tell your CA state legislators: Not in my state! We won't allow attacks on collective bargaining to spread here: [http://act.aflcio.org/c/18/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1691 ].

This morning, tens of thousands of workers are gathering at the Statehouse in Madison. Their fight is only beginning. They're already getting organized, working tirelessly to recall the politicians who did this and win back the collective bargaining rights that were taken away in the dead of night.

It's time for us all to follow their example in our own states. We need to give it our all and show that like the Wisconsonites who have inspired us all, we don't give up.

Start today: Stand with those at the Wisconsin state capitol by e-mailing your state legislators now: [ http://act.aflcio.org/c/18/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1691 ].

We've never seen the incredible solidarity that we're seeing right now, and I have never been more proud of this movement than I am today. 

Last night's travesty in Wisconsin will not stand. Today's a new day--and we're even stronger and more committed. It's time for action and we are ready. 

In Solidarity,

Richard L. Trumka
President, AFL-CIO

P.S. It's time for politicians to pay attention to the people they represent. Workers in Wisconsin and in Ohio and across America have had enough. If these attacks continue in statehouses across America, we will be even stronger and bigger, with more of the public--ordinary Americans who are being attacked--joining us to balance out-of-control corporate greed.

Tell your CA legislators to keep attacks on collective bargaining out of this state--because politicians who ignore the will of the people will pay the price at the ballot box: [ http://act.aflcio.org/c/18/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1691 ].

*****

Public employees pensions

Pulitzer Prize winning tax reporter, David Cay Johnston, has written a brilliant piece for tax.comexposing the truth about who really pays for the pension and benefits for public employees in Wisconsin.

Gov. Scott Walker says he wants state workers covered by collective bargaining agreements to “contribute more” to their pension and health insurance plans. Accepting Gov. Walker’ s assertions as fact, and failing to check, creates the impression that somehow the workers are getting something extra, a gift from taxpayers. They are not. Out of every dollar that funds Wisconsin’ s pension and health insurance plans for state workers, 100 cents comes from the state workers.

http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/02/25/the-wisconsin-lie-exposed-taxpayers-actually-contribute-nothing-to-public-employee-pensions

Support Teachers in Wisconsin

As NEA members, we all have a big stake in stopping Governor Scott Walker's attempt to slash the benefits and take away the labor rights of teachers here in Wisconsin. He's made it clear that he hopes to be in the vanguard of a national movement to undermine collective bargaining.

For my wife Heather and me, the stakes are as personal as they can get. We're both teachers here in Sun Prairie, and, if Walker's plan doesn't get blocked, we'll be looking at a $13,200 pay cut. I don’t have to tell you how scary and disheartening that is for a family with two young children.

But what galls me the most is that this attack comes specifically because we are teachers. Our out-of-control governor is going after K-12 teachers, higher education faculty and staff, nurses, and public service workers. We all have to band together – because if it succeeds in Wisconsin, Governor Walker's strategy will be repeated in state after state. Already, the governors of Ohio, Indiana, Idaho, Florida and New Jersey are going after teachers. That's why we need your immediate PAC support to keep the pressure on.
Help the NEA Fund fight to protect public education and defend our right to collective bargaining.
Heather and I are doing our part to take a stand against Governor Walker’s dangerous proposals. I've been working the phones, mobilizing colleagues in the Wisconsin Education Association Council to call and email their legislators, and to attend rallies at the statehouse.


The sad thing is, with a little decency and common sense, we could resolve this crisis. Everyone understands that we're in a financial crisis in our country. And we're all willing to do our part to help solve it. But instead of pulling people together to find a collective solution, Governor Walker has chosen to single out and vilify one group of people - teachers, nurses, and other middle class workers.

That's because his real agenda is not just to slash our benefits, but to permanently dismantle our right to collective bargaining. You and I can't let that happen – not in Wisconsin, not anywhere.
Donate now to help the NEA fight to defend our hard-earned right to collective bargaining in Wisconsin and beyond.
The last thing I will tell you is this: All of us here in Wisconsin recognize how crucial this battle is not only for our own jobs and families, but for NEA members all across the country. It lifts our spirits every day to know that you and other NEA members across the country are standing with us.

https://www.neafund.org/solidarity


Thanks for all you do,

Brad Lutes, NEA Member
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
NYT. On Scorning Teachers
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/education/03teacher.html?_r=1

100,000 Strong in Wisconsin

The Battle in Wisconsin and Rage Among Teachers

 Diane Ravitch 

Thousands of teachers, nurses, firefighters and other public sector workers have camped out at the Wisconsin Capitol, protesting Republican Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to reduce their take-home pay -- by increasing their contribution to their pension plans and health care benefits -- and restrict their collective bargaining rights.

Republicans control the state Legislature, and initially it seemed certain that Walker's proposal would pass easily. But then the Democrats in the Legislature went into hiding, leaving that body one vote shy of a quorum. As of this writing, the Legislature was at a standstill as state police searched high and low for the missing lawmakers.

Like other conservative Republican governors, including Chris Christie of New Jersey, John Kasich of Ohio, Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Rick Scott of Florida, the Wisconsin governor wants to sap the power of public employee unions, especially the teachers' union, since public education is the single biggest expenditure for every state.

Public schools in Madison and a dozen other districts in Wisconsin closed as teachers joined the protest. Although Walker claims he was forced to impose cutbacks because the state is broke, teachers noticed that he offered generous tax breaks to businesses that were equivalent to the value of their givebacks.

The uprising in Madison is symptomatic of a simmering rage among the nation's teachers. They have grown angry and demoralized over the past two years as attacks on their profession escalated.

The much-publicized film "Waiting for Superman" made the specious claim that "bad teachers" caused low student test scores. A Newsweek cover last year proposed that the key to saving American education was firing bad teachers.

Teachers across the nation reacted with alarm when the leaders of the Central Falls district in Rhode Island threatened to fire the entire staff of the small town's only high school. What got their attention was that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and President Obama thought this was a fine idea, even though no one at the high school had been evaluated.

The Obama administration's Race to the Top program intensified the demonizing of teachers, because it encouraged states to evaluate teachers in relation to student scores. There are many reasons why students do well or poorly on tests, and teachers felt they were being unfairly blamed when students got low scores, while the crucial role of families and the students themselves was overlooked.

Diane Ravitch.

Thanks to a reader for suggesting this post. 

1,500 in Sacramento Rally for Wisconsin Workers

Over 1500  union members and supporters rallied again  at the State Capitol in Sacramento  on Feb.26,  called by Move- on.com, and Jobs with Justice to support the working people in Wisconsin in their struggle to defend their  union rights.  Speakers described the financial crisis that began  2007  as  an assault on organized  labor, working people, and our democracy.   A retired teacher from Wisconsin detailed many of the events occurring in Madison in an effort to end the demonstrations by public employees and families there.  For example, Wisconsin teachers and public employees have agree to all of the demanded salary and benefit cuts, but insist that their union rights to negotiate be protected.  This defense of union rights is not acceptable to Governor Walker and the Koch Brothers who fund him.

 Several speakers, and several signs noted that the assault in Wisconsin is class war- by the rich against working people.

While Wall Street has recovered and returned to profitability, working people continue to suffer  15 million unemployed with at least 10 million more under employed.   It is more than a crisis - the reality is that the financial class has looted the U.S. economy.  The Oligarchs  took 13 trillion dollars  out of the economy and caused 4 million people to lose their homes and  another 4.5 million to fall into foreclosure.   Now they want you and I to pay for their greed by forcing budget cuts on the states. 

            In 2010-2011 the crisis is hitting state and local governments hard.  The AFL-CIO is tracking this assault at http://www.aflcio.org/issues/states/.   

In November of 2010 Republicans and the Tea Party  won a majority in the House of Representatives, took control of several state houses including Wisconsin , elected governors, and now dominate the main steam media with their messages.  Conservative forces, the Republicans, the Tea Party, and others use the economic  crisis in the states to launch aggressive campaigns against public sector unions and the salaries and pensions of public sector workers.

            The Sacramento response, like rallies in other states condemned the anti union campaigns of Republican governors and legislators.  In Wisconsin Governor Walker's immediate attack is aimed directly at some 200,000 public workers in Wisconsin.

As Rose Ann DeMoro Executive Director,  California Nurses Association said in a well distributed letter,

“Working people did not create the recession or the budgetary crisis facing federal, state and local governments, and there can be no more concessions, period.

It should be apparent that the right wants to scapegoat workers and their unions, and is trying to exploit the economic crisis for an all-out assault on unions, public employees, and all working people in a campaign that is funded by right-wing, corporate billionaires like the Koch brothers.

Who caused the economic crisis? Banks, Wall Street speculators, mortgage lenders, global corporations shifting jobs from the U.S. overseas.

Who is profiting in the recession? Corporate profits, third quarter of 2010, were $1.6 trillion, 28 percent higher than the year before, the biggest one-year jump in history.”

         At the Saturday rally in Sacramento Jim Hard of SEIU 1000 said that if the Republicans are able to break unions in Wisconsin and the Mid West, next they will be attacking social security.

         John Reiger of Veterans for Peace said that over 50% of the federal budget went to war and defense.  If we had these billions here, we could hire the teachers, fire fighters, police, nurses and social workers we need to take care of our own communities.

            The Sacramento rally was organized by Move-on.com as one of over 50 rallies nationwide today, one in each of the state capitols plus rallies in major cities including Chicago and New York City.  Each rally united unions and citizens groups to  oppose the attacks on union rights  of  Wisconsin Governor  Walker  and the Republican majorities in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and other states.  

     The turn out on Saturday was impressive since labor had held a similar rally on Tues and turned out over 2,500 on the same issues.  Some 75 Tea Party supporters rallied  to support Governor Walker and state budget cuts at the other end of the Capitol Plaza.
The Sacramento Bee has  a photo essay on their web page.

Reported by Duane Campbell .

The fight in Wisconsin is just downstream from the Wall Street swindle. It isn’t really about deficits. And it certainly isn’t about teachers or civil servants being too well paid! It’s about power. The corporate right is trying to exploit the economic crisis to make the rich still richer. It’s time to say “No” -- time to make Wall Street pay its fair share.

With taxes on corporations and the wealthy falling, they expect the rest of us to make up the difference -- from Wisconsin to Ohio to the nation as a whole. It’s time to flip the script.

We have a modest proposal:  Pass a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street traders.

• A tiny tax on Wall Street transactions would raise $100 billion per year in revenue and $1 trillion in ten years.
• This “Financial Transaction Tax” would rein in the footloose market speculators.
• It would put Wall Street to work for Main Street.

Please sign our petition demanding that Congress pass a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street traders.

The super-rich players played us when they pushed to deregulate Wall Street. They caused the global economic collapse with their “greed is good” ethic. The financial crisis in the states is a direct result of these Wall Street manipulations.

Is it any surprise that before he became Ohio’s anti-union governor, John Kasich was a high-paid executive at the now-defunct Lehman Brothers pushing Ohio’s pension fund into the kinds of risky investments that nearly tanked our nation’s economy?

There’s plenty of wealth in Wisconsin, in Ohio, in our country. The problem? Most of it is at the top. We can’t have democracy when the top one percent in our nation have more assets than the bottom 95 percent.  And we can’t allow state deficits to become a conversation about which group of workers gets cut the most.

We call on Congress to pass a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street now. It’s time Wall Street paid for for the mess they made.

And it’s time for the Congressional Progressive Caucus to boldly promote this powerful legislation.

Sign here and we will deliver your message loud and clear to the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which has the potential to be a major force for flipping the script on Capitol Hill.

Signed,

Aimee, Sarah and the RootsAction team

           

Thousands rally in Sacramento in support of Wisconsin workers

Sacramento Rally
Updated 2/23/2011

Over 2500 union members and supporters rallied at the State Capitol in Sacramento  on Feb. 22,2011, in a candle light vigil to support the working people in Wisconsin in their struggle to defend their  union rights. The financial crisis that began  2007  is an assault on organized  labor, working people, and our democracy.  To date the corporate class is winning. 

While Wall Street has recovered and returned to profitability, working people continue to suffer  15 million unemployed with at least 10 million more under employed.   It is more than a crisis - the reality is that the financial class has looted the U.S. economy.  The Oligarchs  took 13 trillion dollars  out of the economy and caused 4 million people to lose their homes and  another 4.5 million to fall into foreclosure.   Now they want you and I to pay for their greed by forcing budget cuts on the states. 

            In 2010-2011 the crisis is hitting state and local governments hard.  The AFL-CIO is tracking this assault at http://www.aflcio.org/issues/states/.    Responding the  messaging of the Right many liberals stayed home on election day. Republicans and the Tea Party  won a majority in the House, took control of several state houses, elected governors, and now dominate the main steam media with their messages.  Conservative forces, the Republicans, the Tea Party, and others use the crisis in the states to launch aggressive campaigns against public sector unions and the salaries and pensions of public sector workers.

            The Sacramento response, like rallies in other states condemned the anti union campaigns of Republican governors and legislators.  In Wisconsin Governor Walker's immediate attack is aimed directly at some 200,000 public workers in Wisconsin.

As Rose Ann DeMoro Executive Director,  California Nurses Association said in a well distributed letter,

“Working people did not create the recession or the budgetary crisis facing federal, state and local governments, and there can be no more concessions, period.

It should be apparent that the right wants to scapegoat workers and their unions, and is trying to exploit the economic crisis for an all-out assault on unions, public employees, and all working people in a campaign that is funded by right-wing, corporate billionaires like the Koch brothers.

Who caused the economic crisis? Banks, Wall Street speculators, mortgage lenders, global corporations shifting jobs from the U.S. overseas.

Who is profiting in the recession? Corporate profits, third quarter of 2010, were $1.6 trillion, 28 percent higher than the year before, the biggest one-year jump in history.”

“This fight is about far more than cutting salaries and benefits of dedicated public servants," said CTA President David Sanchez about the Sacramento vigil.  " It is about fighting Governor Scott Walker's cynical attempt to undermine the rights of teachers and public sector workers to have a say in their professions."

   In the  Sacramento response on Tuesday,  union teachers, public service workers as well as local unions such as ILGWU and the Steelworkers, the Sheet Metal Workers, were  united to oppose the attacks on union rights  of  Wisconsin Governor  Walker  and the Republican majorities in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and other states.  

Reported by Duane Campbell .

           

Spreading the Wisconsin Struggle

Lessons for Wisconsin From the Flint Sit Down Strikes of 1936-37
Dr Mark Naison
Fordham University
 
   With the state legislature in Wisconsion occupied and surrounded by thousands of state workers and their supporters, and with schools closed throughout the state because of teachers calling in sick, I cannot help but think of the greatest strike and building occupation in the history of the American labor movement- the Flint Sit Down Strikes of 1936-37.  Though the Wisconsin struggle is being led by government workers, and the Flint Strikes involved workers involved in automobile production, both movements took place during the worst economic crisis of their era and were fighting for the same goal- collective bargaining rights for working people through a union of their own choosing- and were much more about dignity and respect than about income.   
 
      The Flint Strike, which involved the occupation of 9 General Motors automobile plants over a  six week period, transformed the history of the industrial labor movement.  During December of 1936, when the first GM plant was seized and occupied, the entire automobile and steel industries in the United States were union free. When the strike was finally settled, both General Motors and United States Steel agreed to bargain collectively with the CIO ( Congress of Industrial Organizations) unions seeking to organize their industries.   
 
      The Flint Strike , though it was precipitated by local conditions- a fierce unrelenting speed up on the GM assembly line , the involvement of a Ku Klux Klan like organization called the Black Legion in suppressing labor unrest in GM plants- was part of a national movement to win bargaining rights for industrial workers. As a result, the Flint workers were supported by the national leadership of the CIO-led by the formidable John L Lewis- as well as their own national union, and numerous leftwing organizations including the Communist Party.  Though only GM workers actually occupied the factories, at key points in the strike, thousands of union workers  were mobilized to come down from other cities to make sure that right wing Citizens Committees were unable to storm the plants, and that food and medical supplies were delivered to the striking workers.  There were also doctors, nurses, lawyers, and journalists who came from all over the country to help the strikers.    By the second week of the sit-down strikes, it was clear to everyone involved that this had become a truly national movement
 
    The same dynamic must operate if the Wisconsin movement is to achieve its main goal- removal from the governor’s legislative program of any effort to weaken the bargaining rights of public workers in the state.  Unions around the nation who face similar initiatives ( in Ohio, Tennessee and New Jersey) must send delegations to join the occupation and the protests and give whatever financial and legal support is necessary to teachers who are keeping the local schools closed.  National union leaders who have a high public profile, people like Richard Trumka and Randy Weingarten, must not only come to Madison to offer their support of the movement, they must head straight to the White House to demand that President Obama and Democratic Congressional leaders come out aggressively in support of the Madison movement. Student social justice organizations must send delegations to Madison to join the thousands of students at the state’s public universities who have been a central part of this movement from the beginning.

 
  This movement has to be approached as the single most important labor struggle in the United States in the 21st Century. If the governor destroys collective bargaining for public workers in Wisconsin, you can be sure that similar initiatives will succeed in other states. If he
Is forced to take attacks on collective bargaining off the table by the strength of the protest,  it will reinvigorate not only the entire labor movement in the United States, but the movement  to prevent Congress and state legislatures from destroying what little of a safety net we have in the United States of America
 
 The stakes could not be higher. So if you are in a union or part of a progressive  organization, press your leadership to send people to Wisconsin. Insist your elected representatives pass resolutions in support of the Wisconsin movement.  And get ready to fight the same battle in your own state when the time comes
 
Solidarity Foreover!
 
Mark Naison
February 18, 2011

Mark Naison is a labor historian

Join the Wisconsin uprising

Stand With Wisconsin Workers

WISCONSIN WORKERS ARE UNDER ATTACK! 

TUESDAY, FEB. 22, 2011 STATE CAPITOL, SACRAMENTO 5:30 PM

Support Workers’ Rights!Join us for a Candlelight Vigil in solidarity with Wisconsin workers.

Date: TUESDAY, FEB. 22, 2011

Time:Meet at 5:30 pm 

Vigil at 6:00 pm

Location:

WEST STEPS 
STATE CAPITOL
SACRAMENTO, CA

Class War in Wisconsin

by Don Taylor

Don Taylor

As I write this, we are in our fourth day of demonstrations against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s “budget repair” bill and its’ provisions to effectively eliminate public sector collective bargaining. Today, the Democrats in the senate have fled the state, leaving the Republicans one vote short of a quorum to pass the bill. The Democrats say they will not return until the anti-union provisions are off the table.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edt3rjqghg4&feature=player_embedded]
Disguised as a bill to fix a shortfall in the current budget, this bill would:

• Abolish public sector collective bargaining on all topics except wages. There would be no more negotiating leaves of absence, health and safety, discipline for just cause, or anything else. Negotiated wage increases would be capped at CPI; in other words, no real negotiation could occur.
• Prohibit public employers from deducting union dues via payroll deduction. This measure is one of several that demonstrate the bill’s true intent, because it represents no savings whatsoever for the taxpayer.
• Require all unionized units to hold annual decertification elections. Again, this relates to the budget in no way whatsoever, and is the most blatant example of the ideological agenda behind this bill.
• Impose higher employee costs for health care and pensions for state employees.
• Institute “right to work” for public employees.

In other words, an existing unionized unit would have to collect hand dues, would be unable to collect payment from free riders, and would be prohibited from negotiating anything except wages at some level below the rate of inflation. Then, as employee discontent grows over a perception that “the union can’t do anything,” along would come the state-mandated annual decertification vote.


The basis for this clearly is not the budget, although that’s the spin put on it by the GOP and the media. “We have to do this,” they cry, “the state is broke!” Just last month, Walker and the Republicans spent $140 million on the establishment of Health Savings Accounts and other special interest expenditures. Now, they say the state is broke, by a coincidental amount of $137 million.
Clearly, the backlash from working families has been enormous. Madison has not seen demonstrations of this size since the Vietnam War. Schools are closed. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is effectively shut down. Every day this week, thousands have converged on Madison, and have held demonstrations around the state. Firefighters and law enforcement officers, although exempt from the bill, have come in massive numbers.
There is no question that this is a coordinated frontal attack; the class war in action. With private sector union density squashed by technological change, globalization, and a rigged legal system, we’ve been warning for years that soon, they’d be coming after the public sector. The day of reckoning has come. Using the economic crisis as a pretext, they are seeking to eradicate the final barrier to the evisceration of the middle class.
The economic impact of passing this bill will be serious. Thousands of public employees across the state (all of whom are willing to “share the pain” in a fair manner) will see immediate reductions in their compensation (which, according to the Economic Policy Institute, is already 8.2% lower than in the private sector). Permanently eliminating employees’ ability to negotiate – even for a future time when the economy is doing well – will permanently reduce the pay of hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin working families.  These people will spend less money in their communities as a result – they won’t buy new cars at the local dealership, they won’t take their families out to local restaurants, and they won’t have work done on their homes by local handymen. The economic impact of this bill will be massive, and it will hurt businesses and communities statewide.  More than just a “nuclear option” for public sector unions, this bill is a bomb for the Wisconsin economy.
Much more than dealing with our current economic situation, this dismantles employees’ rightsforever.  It is a permanent, far-reaching attack in response to a temporary – and overstated – problem.
But alas, facts and reality take a back seat to ideology and eliminating political enemies. If Walker and his friends get their way, more than fifty years of stable public sector collective bargaining will be undone in just five days.
If the law passes, what comes next? Will resignation and despair set in? I don’t think so. People on the ground in Madison are living through something transformative right now; this is a struggle and a fight-back unlike anything most folks have ever seen. Transformational learning takes place in lived experience. By being in the streets every day and sleeping in the capitol building every night, people in Wisconsin are re-learning that we have power.
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Don Taylor is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin’s School for Workers.

Wisconsin University Students ready to roll and vote