On Unions

3/28/2011: On Triangle fire, Maine mural removal, and squeezing the workers:

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for related material, see, "The Middle Class Fights Back: Wisconsin and more" 
- In Defense of Public Sector Unionism – Part 3 « The Realignment Project (4/7/2010) 

The Middle-Class -- Union Made

• REPORT: The American Middle Class Was Built By Unions And It Will Decline Without Them | ThinkProgress (Sept. 5, 2011) 

Wisconsin Power Play - Paul Krugman on Wisconsin union busting: (2/2011)

It’s not about the budget; it’s about the power. 

> In principle, every American citizen has an equal say in our political process. In practice, of course, some of us are more equal than others. Billionaires can field armies of lobbyists; they can finance think tanks that put the desired spin on policy issues; they can funnel cash to politicians with sympathetic views (as the Koch brothers did in the case of Mr. Walker). On paper, we’re a one-person-one-vote nation; in reality, we’re more than a bit of an oligarchy, in which a handful of wealthy people dominate.

>Given this reality, it’s important to have institutions that can act as counterweights to the power of big money. And unions are among the most important of these institutions.
You don’t have to love unions, you don’t have to believe that their policy positions are always right, to recognize that they’re among the few influential players in our political system representing the interests of middle- and working-class Americans, as opposed to the wealthy. Indeed, if America has become more oligarchic and less democratic over the last 30 years — which it has — that’s to an important extent due to the decline of private-sector unions.

>And now Mr. Walker and his backers are trying to get rid of public-sector unions, too.
There’s a bitter irony here. The fiscal crisis in Wisconsin, as in other states, was largely caused by the increasing power of America’s oligarchy. After all, it was superwealthy players, not the general public, who pushed for financial deregulation and thereby set the stage for the economic crisis of 2008-9, a crisis whose aftermath is the main reason for the current budget crunch. And now the political right is trying to exploit that very crisis, using it to remove one of the few remaining checks on oligarchic influence.

>So will the attack on unions succeed? I don’t know. But anyone who cares about retaining government of the people by the people should hope that it doesn’t.

"Regulations Kill Jobs"

• Not really, but...
• lack of regulations kill people, ya know (workplace safety graphic via SEIU, 3/2011), Triangle Fire

Blaming Unions, Public Employees

• Chart of the Day: Federal Government Pay vs. Private Sector Pay | Mother Jones (1/30/2012) 
• CAP: over the last 20 years, far from spiraling out of control, public employee costs have fallen  as a percentage of state budgets (via Truthout, 3/2011)
• It's not "government money"--it's "MY money" -- good (3/2011)
• Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center "Workforce Characteristics and Wages in the Public and Private Sectors" 3/2011
• Ezra Klein - Are Wisconsin's state and local workers overpaid? (No. 2/2011) 
• Shanker Blog » How To Make A Misleading Public/Private Earnings Gap Disappear (3/2011) 
• Here&Now: History of Unions (3/2011) (audio)
• "Unions never did anything for me" --really? Opinion, Eric Lee, Aggie, 3/2/2011
• Bob Hebert, "Unintended but sound advice," 2/28/2011:  
• "When you talk to the workers who are hurting most in this epic downturn, they are overwhelmingly out there on their own. No one has their back. The corporate community and the politicians who do their bidding know better than anyone else that workers who are not organized are most often helpless. They have no leverage. They cannot demand raises or health and retirement benefits or paid vacations or sick leave. They cannot negotiate shorter hours or better working conditions. It’s the boss’s way or the highway"
• Unions are best chance for middle-class (American Prospect, 2/2011)
• Newt Gingrich suggests states suspend pension payments on firefighters, sanitation workers (NPublish Postation, Conservative Class War, Eric Alterman, 2/21/2011)
• Vilifying Public Employees is Wrong Approach (lansing state journal, 2/2011)
• "But FED employees don't have coll. bargaining--so Obama's a hypocrite" - Politifact on Obama's vow to reverse the ban. 

Public Pensions

• Why employee pensions aren't bankrupting states | McClatchy 3/2011
• the corner tavern: Another Foray Into the Exciting World of Public Pensions  (3/2011)

It's about the democratic campaign donations

• And they're not exactly hiding it (Freedomworks, 3/2011)

Unions and Campaign Funding

• Open Secret: No, Unions were outspent by Conservative orgs. (3/2011)

"We don't need unions (anymore)

• "Right To Work": 
• 1/23/2012: David Orentlicher: No right to be a freeloader | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com (contra the GOP arguments)
• Hypocrisy is no stranger to politics, but Republican officials seem unusually willing to abandon core principles these days. While the GOP traditionally has stressed the importance of personal responsibility, it has recently become the party of the free rider.Consider two cases in point: right to work legislation for Indiana and health-care reform for the country.
• Right to Work—for Less | The Nation (Jan 18, 2012)
• "Does Right-To-Work Create Jobs?" analysis fr OK, Economic Policy Institute, 2/28/2011
• RTW: "Representation without Taxation" - Truthout 2/28/2011
• Letters: Laws diminish workers' rights | Appleton Post Crescent | postcrescent.com (1/29/2012)
• Why are Republican politicians so intent on crippling America's unions? What is it about empowered workers that scare the GOP? The labor movement was instrumental in building our country's middle class. And as union membership has declined, so has the living standard of all middle-class workers.
• Right-to-work laws have nothing to do with growing the economy, balancing budgets or even creating jobs. These laws are just another oppressive tool used by the top 1 percent against the rest of the 99 percent of us.

"RIGHT TO WORK" - good video, 4 minutes:

"Union Thugs" and Lazy Coddled Teachers

• "The Myth of the Worthless Public Employee" (Blog, 3/2011)
• Indiana Prosecutor Carlos Lam urges Gov. Walker to fake an assault by "union thug", resigns. (3/2011)
• The Shannon Files: Cowardly Attacks on Recall Signature gatherers in Wisconsin (3/2011)  

Dirty Tactics

• Tea Partiers Dress Up in Union Gear - Chris Good - The Atlantic (JUNE 2010) 

Anti Union Opinions

• An Open Letter to Union Members Only (Not Bosses) (3/20/2011)  
• Public-Employees Union Is Now Campaign's Big Spender (3/2011) WSJ.com (need to check how they're calculating this as it contradicts opensecrets' numbers)