Solidarity!

I just want to say that I, for one, do not take the decision to participate in what amounts to a strike lightly. For a teacher of young children it's pretty painful and I would much rather be teaching my class tomorrow. But the stakes are so high, not just for me or my fellow teachers, but for so many other workers, for both the poor and what we still quaintly refer to as "the middle class", and a quality of life here in Wisconsin. In a very short time Gov. Wanker has turned Wisconsin into a "pay to play" state. If you donated the bucks to his campaign you get favors, or at least he won't go after you … yet. If not, you're a big old ZERO to him. This is nothing less than class warfare of the kind we've been witnessing for some time now, but ramped up to a new level. It's redistributing wealth, upwards into the pockets of the already rich. THAT'S why I feel compelled to participate.

Making the Case for Manual Labor

I just finished reading the book Shop Class As Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work by Matthew B. Crawford. I have to say, I knew nothing about this book when I first opened it. I selected it purely because of the title. In fact, I thought it might have something to do with the sort of projects you find in the magazines Readymade or Make. Silly me. But, boy, was I glad that I read it.

Matthew Crawford holds a PhD in Philosophy, and now supports himself doing motorcycle repair. Shop Class is a difficult book to classify. Part autobiography, part pornography for motorcycle geeks, Crawford makes a very strong case for manual labor. He begins the book by talking about the history of "shop class" in the twentieth century and the dismantling of most high school shop programs in the eighties and nineties, as everyone was supposed to become "knowledge workers." He shows how disastrous this trend has been for American workers as more and more jobs have been shipped overseas where labor costs less, and points out that your x-rays can be read by a technician in India while plumbers, on the other hand, must be local.

Crawford discusses the disconnect that so many workers feel in white collar "knowledge" jobs where they never see the results of their work, compared to jobs in the trades where there is a very clear connection between the work and the results. (I was pleased that he included teachers in that second category.)

Yet the trend continues, where high school students are steered toward 4-year colleges, 2-year technical colleges are offering more "college prep", and the trades -- some of the most stable professions around -- are stigmatized. (This is personal for me as I watch my daughter struggle to pay off the $30,ooo loan she accrued in just one year of college, and people don't understand why she "dropped out" to work in a restaurant.) I found it curious when I watched President Obama address the nation's schoolchildren, that he encouraged them to go on to college, to become doctors, lawyers, teachers, join the military … and he did not say a word about entering the trades!

My one criticism of this book is that the writing was fairly dense -- or maybe just too geared toward gearheads. I am neither a motorcycle mechanic nor a rider, and there were points where my eyes glazed over and I skipped whole chunks of the text. But the overall theme resonated so strongly with me, and I had a hard time putting it down. In fact, I will be buying this book to re-read and mark certain passages. This is a very important book -- highly recommended.

Pass the EFCA!

I don't care how "decent" your employer is ... you still need a union.

Michael Moore's website has a link to this article about the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) from the Washington Monthly. It offers a cautionary tale.

Here is our personal cautionary tale:

Mr. Ether worked for a small upscale remodeling firm. The owner and his family became friends of ours. They contributed to the local community radio station as well as to a community children's theater group. Nearly everyone who worked there was politically progressive. They ate (and grew) organic food. Our kids socialized with each other when they were younger. And when people in the company experienced hard times, we jumped in and helped out, because that's what we do.

Mr. Ether used to joke that he should begin an effort to unionize. And then he'd say, "Nah, it's a small business and they're good, decent people. We don't need a union." And they were/are good decent people. Except when the recession really started to hit a year and a half ago, they looked at the bottom line and only at the bottom line when they laid off Mr. Ether.

When work picked up briefly last summer, rather than hiring Mr. Ether back, they hired another younger woodworker at less pay. They have expanded the physical plant of the business, building 2 new buildings on the grounds. It makes me wonder if they were truly in financial trouble, or just experiencing diminished profits -- a different thing entirely, in my opinion.

Oh yeah, and few of these "friends" has bothered to call and see how things are going. When I see someone from the company they don't ask me how Ed is doing. I think the answer makes them uncomfortable. We could have lost our house and they wouldn't know.

Ask me if you need a union. Hell, yes!

(The image that illustrates this post is available as a poster from the wonderful, labor-friendly Northland Poster Collective. Please give them your business when you can.)

Adventures in Grocery Shopping

My stepfather is in his eighties and lives by himself in an apartment not far from my home. A few weeks ago he had a car accident that made him decide to stop driving, and he sold his car. That leaves him in the position of needing rides to the grocery store. Now, I am the world's most sporadic housekeeper, and that includes grocery shopping. I usually go by how empty the fridge is, and even then it takes me a few more days to summon the energy to get myself to the store.

(Thank heavens we have that guinea pig in the freezer -- at least we won't starve! And it's a great deterrent that keeps the teenagers from eating up the ice cream ...)

We have a wonderful grocery co-op about a mile from home, which is where I do a good share of my shopping, especially now that the big-box warehouse supermarket has hired big guns to try to bust their employees' union. The co-op also offers a shop-online, home delivery service that would be great for my stepdad when I'm not available to take him shopping.

Yesterday I took him to the co-op for the first time, so he could scope out what they have. I love my stepdad, but frankly he is a bit of a curmudgeon. And he was really irritated by all of the organic food. "I don't buy organic. I can't afford it!" he kept saying. He grumbled about the bananas and he picked up a gallon of conventional milk, although he informed me that it was a concession because the dairy that bottled it was the only non-union dairy in Milwaukee when he was growing up. He is passionate about labor issues, and I wanted to point out that buying organic is a workers' health and wellbeing issue too.

Well, in the end he joined the co-op and got information about the delivery service. Necessity made him a convert, I guess.

But is all organic food created equal? Our co-op tries to sell locally grown/produced food as much as possible. Unfortunately, the flooding last summer and this spring here in the Midwest has, quite literally, put a damper on a lot of locally grown produce, but they carry what they can.

Meanwhile, in the bowels of the evil west side of town is the archenemy Trader Joe's. When the site whereon it squats (in a self-satisfied, smug way) was being developed, a decision had to be made: a sister grocery co-op or Trader Joe's, that purveyor of ultra-cheap organic foods? Not surprisingly, the developer went with Trader Joe's, and I made one of my famously rash vows that wild horses could not drag me into that store, ever.

This week, Quaker Dave had a post that made me renew my vow. Read it, then write to Trader Joe's and ask them to do the right thing. If you are a Trader Joe's customer (and I understand that some people don't have alternatives) use your clout as a consumer. Organic products should be healthier for everyone. If they are being sold super-cheap, look for the hidden costs.
Si, se puede!

Talks to Squirrels

Here is an interesting tidbit about Bob "It's Not My Fault" Murray, owner of both the Utah mine where 6 miners are currently trapped and the Sago mine where 12 miners died in 2006.

Ask most of the miners working at the Maple Creek or Powhatan No. 6 mines to tell you owner/operator Robert Murray's squirrel story and you're in for a treat.

The way Murray tells it, he had just been let go in 1987 as CEO of North American Coal Company and was feeling extremely down about the whole situation. At home one day, Murray was sitting on his back porch, contemplating his future, when he was approached by a squirrel. Murray says the squirrel hopped up next to him, looked him square in the eye and said "Bob Murray, you should be operating your very own mines." Unfortunately for UMWA miners, this seemingly intelligent rodent wasn't too keen on fairness, so it neglected to add the words "and make sure you treat your workers the way you would want to be treated."

Well, you'd think someone who talks to squirrels would be some kind of a humanitarian. Maybe care about his employees. Here's what one of them has said:

"Bob Murray is so anti-union that he wants to bust us even after we kept him in business. He has exploited his workers. We must stop his efforts to cut our members out of work."

And finally, this quote which describes the Bob Murray the public has been seeing this week:

"Sometimes it's like watching Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

Read the article here. Then remember which presidential candidate is staunchly pro-union. (Hint: It's not Hillary, Obama, or Edwards. Can't guess? Check my sidebar.)

Labor unions -- the folks who brought you the weekend.

One question: Why is this company allowed to mine in a national forest? BushCo:Degradation -R-Us.

Labor Unions -- The Folks Who Brought You the Weekend

Thanks to Quaker Dave (on hiatus,) who passed this on to me:

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked a bill that would have allowed labor organizations to unionize workplaces without secret ballot elections. Democrats were unable to get the 60 votes needed to force consideration of the Employee Free Choice Act, ending labor's chance to win its top legislative priority from Congress. (read more)

This bill would have amended the National Labor Relations Act to establish an efficient system to enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts, and for other purposes. The Employee Free Choice Act would

require employers to recognize unions after being presented union cards signed by a majority of eligible workers on their payrolls. Under current labor law, a company can demand a secret ballot election supervised by the federal government after being presented the union cards.

The vote broke down along predictable Dimocrat/Rethuglican party lines, with independents Bernie Sanders and (surprise) Joe Liebermann siding with the Dims.

Unionized labor has been under direct attack in this country for the past 25 years, since the air traffic controllers' strike was broken by the Insane Anglo War Lord (that's an anagram for Ronald Wilson Reagan -- neat, huh?) One of my favorite musicians, Steve Earle (whose dad was one of those fired air traffic controllers,) likes to point out that strong labor unions are an essential part of a strong democracy. Without the one, we will not have the other.

Legislation such as this is one part of the solution, and I hope it will continue to come up again and again, as the Dimocrats promise it will. The other pieces of this puzzle involve campaign finance reform, so that legislators cannot be so easily bought by anti-labor corporate lobbyists and, perhaps more importantly, education in labor history for the younger members of the work force who seem to lack an understanding of what unions have done/can do for them.

Oh yes, and jobs.

I also want to point out, that this is one more key piece of the Democrats' agenda which would have been vetoed by the branch of government formally known as "the Executive Branch," had it reached the required 60 votes. This is why I find it specious when the Dims say that "Impeachment is off the table" because they want to "focus on furthering their agenda." Until they get more of a majority, their agenda is going nowhere. Really fast.