Recall This!
"...People voted with their feet in 2010 because of the refusal by Obama to deliver the “change” he had promised. They were angry that Obama and the Democrats essentially carried out the policies of Bush, bailing out Wall Street and the banks at the expense of Main Street. [See back articles in The Organizer newspaper on this question.]
In Wisconsin, the Democratic majority in the lame-duck session last December refused to pass a budget that recognized state workers’ full bargaining rights. The situation in Wisconsin would not be what it is today if key Democratic state legislators had not caved in to the blackmail of then Governor-elect Walker in the first place.
On Dec. 15, 2010, before the Republicans took over the legislature, the 17 contracts running from July 2009 to June 2011 for tens of thousands of workers -- all of which did not include the union-busting provisions pushed by Walker -- were stalled in the state legislature when Democratic legislators voted with the Republicans against the contracts.
And though many of these same Democrats were compelled by the mass movement to oppose the attacks on collective-bargaining rights, they have been up front about the supposed need to impose Draconian budget cuts to address the state’s deficit -- something that should have been strongly opposed by the top leaders of the labor movement, but was not.
Instead of pulling out all the stops to push back the assault on trade union rights, the top trade union officialdom spent most of their time and energy pleading with the Wisconsin legislators to remove the union-busting attacks in exchange for which the unions would accept hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts. AFT President Randi Weingarten actually flew to Wisconsin to offer $100 million in givebacks to try to secure this rotten deal with the Democrats.
The main role of the Democrats in Wisconsin and beyond is precisely to co-opt the labor movement into accepting the cuts. Likewise, throughout the country, Democratic governors such as Jerry Brown in California and Andrew Cuomo in New York are directly taking the offensive in pushing for devastating austerity cuts. That is why the very existence of public services and a fighting labor movement requires that the unions and their allies immediately end their subordination to the Democrats...
-- The Organizer, 3/18/11
The bolds are mine.
main link
A friendly, and welcome reminder here. "More and better Democrats" got us backed into this austerity shithole in the first place. If American Labor wants to be anything but a patsy for these clowns, the points in this article are exactly the kind of thing it should do a better job of recalling. [snerk] As often as possible.
Installing "more and better Democrats" only enriches the people who make their living off the pathetic joke that is two-party politics-- and a few high-paid suits in the mainstream Unions. It hasn't done squat to actually improve American Labor's lot. And it won't do squat this time, either.
Just saying.
Also, I wish I could be wittier for you today, but it's now been about two months since I was laid off, and the State can't seem to think of anything to do about it apart from dick me around non-stop. You'd be amazed at what that does to a person's sense of humor.
In Wisconsin, the Democratic majority in the lame-duck session last December refused to pass a budget that recognized state workers’ full bargaining rights. The situation in Wisconsin would not be what it is today if key Democratic state legislators had not caved in to the blackmail of then Governor-elect Walker in the first place.
On Dec. 15, 2010, before the Republicans took over the legislature, the 17 contracts running from July 2009 to June 2011 for tens of thousands of workers -- all of which did not include the union-busting provisions pushed by Walker -- were stalled in the state legislature when Democratic legislators voted with the Republicans against the contracts.
And though many of these same Democrats were compelled by the mass movement to oppose the attacks on collective-bargaining rights, they have been up front about the supposed need to impose Draconian budget cuts to address the state’s deficit -- something that should have been strongly opposed by the top leaders of the labor movement, but was not.
Instead of pulling out all the stops to push back the assault on trade union rights, the top trade union officialdom spent most of their time and energy pleading with the Wisconsin legislators to remove the union-busting attacks in exchange for which the unions would accept hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts. AFT President Randi Weingarten actually flew to Wisconsin to offer $100 million in givebacks to try to secure this rotten deal with the Democrats.
The main role of the Democrats in Wisconsin and beyond is precisely to co-opt the labor movement into accepting the cuts. Likewise, throughout the country, Democratic governors such as Jerry Brown in California and Andrew Cuomo in New York are directly taking the offensive in pushing for devastating austerity cuts. That is why the very existence of public services and a fighting labor movement requires that the unions and their allies immediately end their subordination to the Democrats...
-- The Organizer, 3/18/11
The bolds are mine.
main link
A friendly, and welcome reminder here. "More and better Democrats" got us backed into this austerity shithole in the first place. If American Labor wants to be anything but a patsy for these clowns, the points in this article are exactly the kind of thing it should do a better job of recalling. [snerk] As often as possible.
Installing "more and better Democrats" only enriches the people who make their living off the pathetic joke that is two-party politics-- and a few high-paid suits in the mainstream Unions. It hasn't done squat to actually improve American Labor's lot. And it won't do squat this time, either.
Just saying.
Also, I wish I could be wittier for you today, but it's now been about two months since I was laid off, and the State can't seem to think of anything to do about it apart from dick me around non-stop. You'd be amazed at what that does to a person's sense of humor.