So I took the day off to go protest in front of Governor Walker's office in DC. It was a hoot. First protest I've been to in DC in a long time that didn't have a rediculous police pressence. Maybe it had something to do with worker solidarity with the FOP.
Funny exchange between me and the one guy who showed up from Freedom Works.
Freedom Works Guy: "I work! I pay my taxes! I don't get any benefits!"
Me: "Maybe you ought to join a union then."
Of course, this protest was only one of dozens of others that are going on across the country all week long in solidarity with the Wisconsin workers.
Looks like people are fed up with this shit, and have had enough.
As evidenced by the "David Koch punk call". If I had to predict, I'd say he's gonna lose this "union busting battle" but not a sure bet at this point, so I'll save my betting $ for providers-----LOL !
As evidenced by the "David Koch punk call". If I had to predict, I'd say he's gonna lose this "union busting battle" but not a sure bet at this point, so I'll save my betting $ for providers-----LOL !
whenever anyone has brought up the "we must unionize" song, those businesses that aren't already union refuse to become union. We do have some places that have unions (gov't, Safeway, acting and a few other places), but for the most part, Oregonians reject unions.
But if there aren't any bullets flying, its hardly worth mentioning. Wake me if they start getting arrested. That's protesting!
Interesting point about the police, though. "Serve and Protect Union Rules" — a new motto for law enforcement. I have long suspected those people with union cards are treated better, cut more slack, by "their" police.
Not just in Wisconsin but all over the country, police and firemen are valued and conservative members of their communities. In other words, most of them have voted Republican. They also have dangerous jobs and deserve reasonable compensation. So when cops and firemen turn on their TVS and see their brethren protesting a Republican governor's actions -- and then see them being vilified by other Republicans -- they begin to question where their political support should go the next time they vote.
inicky46, from what I've read and heard, the police and firemen union members in Wisconsin are not subject to Gov Walker's cutback plans. Could be wrong though, not much truth in the MSM these days.
...was what was possible when people really do hold worker solidarity as a value. At the protest in DC, which was tiny in comparison to what's happening in many state capitals, was representation not just from government workers, but workers from all kinds of backgrounds. Teamsters, SEIU members, Wobblies, IBEW members, Nurses, you name it. People who weren't even in a union came to support the protest.
As the sign read yesterday, "an attack against one, is an attack against all." You're damned right. And while I also know that the police could not join the protest, we all still stood in support of our FOP brothers and sisters.
The reality is that ALL WORKERS want the same thing. A decent job. Decent benefits. The ability to care for their loved ones in times of illness. The ability to save a little for retirement.
In other words, an income decent enough to, as Teddy Roosevelt put, "make morality possible".
The reality is that the police, and the firefighters collective bargaining rights were not on the chopping block in Wisconsin. They have reacted in complete solidarity with not just the government workers, but with ALL workers, regardless of whether they're in a union or not.
When the police write a Thank You letter to the Wisconsin protesters, lament and apologize for endorcing Walker in the election, and stand in solidarity with what we are doing, then I can, and AM renouncing and apologizing for ever calling a police officer anything other than my brother or sister.
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