I’ve been watching the protesting going on in Madison, Wisconsin with great concern. Many believe, just as I do, that Madison is a test case for the rest of us. I believe there has been a constant push to divide workers in our country and around the world. All people that work for someone else need to pay attention to what is happening in Madison.
Unions have become the target of business and we, the American people, have been duped by the corporate propaganda machine. Unions have been blamed for everything from the current economic condition to why businesses are choosing to manufacture goods in other countries. However, what most people should be thinking about is how workers are being treated around the globe. We were lead to believe that NAFTA and opening up normal trade relations with China would help raise the standard of living around the world. http://articles.cnn.com/2000-10-10/politics/clinton.pntr_1_wto-membership-china-global-trade-regime?_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS
What is really happening is a growing divide between the very wealthy and the rest of us. We, the American people, the real laborers of our country, have not understood how we should all be banding together in solidarity. We should be insisting on good and fair working conditions and benefits for everyone from the person that sweeps the floor in the factory to teachers, doctors, waitresses and anyone else that is an employee in this country. Instead we sit back thinking only of ourselves and our particular circumstance.
Some look at teachers and think they deserve this. Part of this is because this whole past year there has been systematic propaganda put out by the corporate media about how bad teachers are because the American student is so poorly educated. We have heard the drumbeat from the president on down through Michele Rhea in Washington D.C. and the video, “Waiting for Superman.” If you are to believe the corporate media, then you would have to think that your own child is getting a poor education. I’m not saying that all students are getting a great education. What I am saying is that the corporate run media has been pushing hard for the demise of the teacher’s unions for the past several years. This should come as no surprise for anyone that can think back over the last few years and especially this past year. The corporate run media wants people to think this group in Madison is just a bunch of cry baby teachers that don’t care about anything but their cushy jobs with summers off. The corporate run Republicans have been taking our government from the federal level on down to the state level and privatizing anything they can get their hands on. This is another area that we have been lead to believe is a better choice. Private companies can do a better job than the government, or so we have been told. This is just another way that politicians have been rewarding those companies that have been giving charitably to their campaign coffers.
Looking around the world this year there have been protests all over the globe. While the banks have been rewarded because they were too big to fail, the citizens of the world have been taken down a notch through the decimation of benefits, pensions, health care, and college education. I remember distinctly this video of students protesting in England and some of them shouting, “Off with their heads.” This video doesn’t play the sound but it did happen. This was in reference to Prince Phillip and his wife. Unions have been protesting around Europe as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zptklj49AYs&feature=related
As a country we need to stop pitting the old with pensions against the young, the union employees against those non union workers, as well as government workers pitted against private employed workers. The workers of the world need to unite in solidarity or they will continue to lose benefits and wages while the wealthy will continue to rake in the money, get all the tax breaks and the CEO of these big corporations will continue to receive unbelievable bonuses. The truth is what is happening in Madison, Wisconsin is the destruction of bargaining. If unions across this county cannot have true bargaining rights, you won’t have them either. If they lose benefits, you will surely lose benefits as well. If they have no strength, neither will you!
If you are my age or older you will remember the saying, “As the Dow Goes, so Goes the Country.” Today as a worker and a teacher I can honestly say I believe as Madison goes, so goes the country. If they lose, so will we! There is a concerted effort by the Republican governors across this country to destroy union’s rights to collectively bargain. Here is a piece from Ohio. http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/02/overhaul_of_states_collective.html
I want to play a video from last week that really explains what is going on in Madison. It really is about busting the union and nothing else. It’s a longer video but you should watch the whole thing and listen to John Nichols at the end when he talks about what is happening around the world.
Ed Schultz has done a great job of covering Madison this whole past week. His show is on at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time on MSNBC and he has been spending time there. I found this video of Ed talking to the teachers just before his show the other night. It really is good. Ed understands what’s really going on. It is as he says about what is morally right and fair.
As a teacher I want to add some information that most people don’t realize. Young teachers here in Michigan have to take classes for the rest of their lives. The cost of this comes out of their pockets. I’m currently taking courses and it’s not cheap. The teacher qualifications and licensing has changed drastically over the last twenty years. Teachers used to get a life certificate. I have a continuing certificate. I don’t have to renew my certificate any more. I’m taking my courses to reach a higher level of pay and expertise, not because I have to do so. Younger teachers have to take courses in order to keep their license updated. They also have to pay for renewing that license. I’ve been taking courses throughout the school year, so I don’t have a lot of “free” time. Many teachers take courses in the summer time as well. Curriculum planning is also done in the summer time. I think some people just don’t have a clue how much planning goes into creating a good classroom atmosphere and education for the children of our country. I know what my commitment is as a teacher. I give my all to my students. I know other teachers that do the same. We are dedicated professionals that care about the well being of our students. We go out of our way to do our best to help students reach their full potential. We even buy things to bring into our classrooms and donate for good causes that will likely benefit some of our students and their families. We are not the enemy. We, the American workers, should all stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Madison, Wisconsin.
I would also like to thank the brave Democratic state senators that have chosen to leave the state of Wisconsin so a quorum could not be met to pass this vote. They are true heroes for the working people of America. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/02/19/wisconsin_protests_in_images
Additional food for thought:
Here in Michigan our Republican governor has proposed a budget that would mean a $470 funding cut for each and every child being educated in our K-12 public schools. http://www.michiganpolicy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1018:a-comprehensive-analysis-of-governer-snyders-budget-proposal-for-k-12-education&catid=75:k-12-education-blog&Itemid=132
I’m sure he’ll be looking to see what happens in Wisconsin. We have already faced some changes in bargaining rights based on the Race to the Top program instituted by President Obama. http://www.michiganpolicy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=840:hb-6331-collective-bargaining-agreements-and-performance-based-initiatives&catid=35:k-12-education-policy-briefs&Itemid=117
By the way we haven’t won any “Race to the Top” money.
Here is a good op-ed piece from the Washington Post. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2011/02/scrooge-ism_in_wisconsins_unio.html
This is an interesting website to look at union membership across the nation. The numbers here in Michigan and in Wisconsin have gone down.
http://www.bls.gov/ro3/mdunion.htm
This is good if you like to look at statistics from the Census Bureau.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/
This blogger has written about wage stagnation and how we have coped. This is interesting.
http://bonddad.blogspot.com/2010/05/wage-stagnation-biggest-threat-to.html
Also if you think this isn’t going on around the world, just look at these pieces and think.
