My World

What Rights Will We Lose Next?

If we look back we can see that during the time of our parents, our grand parents, and beyond, there were wealthy and poor people. Before capitalism there was feudalism. The wealthy and the poor have been there from the beginning of time. The job of the poor was to make money for the wealthy.

In 1911 there was a terrible fire at the Triangle Waist Company. In all, one hundred and forty-six women died and seventy-six were injured. All of these women were at their sewing machines working when the fire broke out. Many of the women could not escape the burning building because the managers had locked the doors to the stairwells and exits. This was not unusual in fact there were white lines painted around each workstation and stepping over your line was cause for immediate dismissal. There were no breaks except for lunch and that was short. The wages were very low.

Most historians site this as the beginning of the labor movement in America. Workers all over the country began to wonder why they had to suffer so. If they went on strike the police or the army was brought in to end the strike. Yes going on strike was against the law. In fact just organizing was against the law.

This was the case until the 1930’s when F.D.R. began to craft the New Deal. Even after workers had the right to strike it was dangerous. It wasn’t until the late 1940’s that it became OK to go on strike. The owners hated this and did their best to keep workers from organizing. This took place in every industry in every section of the country.

One of the reasons that I know this story is that my grandmother Anna, was a garment worker at the same time and she became a union organizer. She was one of the many people that created the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.

So to make this perfectly clear I was raised in a labor household. I believe in Unions and the right of workers to have a say in what happens to them. I don’t believe in crooked unions such, as the Teamsters were when Jimmy Hoffa was President. Never the less the average worker must have a way to bargain effectively.

Long before this fire there were enough tragedies to let us know that workers were being taken for granted. As far as the owners were concerned they were just like the machines that they operated.

Now there are 26 states that are right to work states and unions have been shrinking. While they have been shrinking real wages have been stagnant as a portion of the cost of living since the 1970’s.

I don’t demand that a worker be a member of a Union to get a job, I do believe that it is in his or her best interest to be a member. Unions have brought us the 8-hour day, the 5-day workweek, the end of child labor, and yes much health care.

By this point you must all realize where I am heading. Yes I am taking us all to Madison, Wisconsin. As many of you know the republicans won the last election. In Wisconsin they control the Governorship, and both State Houses. The State Senate decided to repair the budget. They also decided that if they didn’t get rid of public employee unions they couldn’t accomplish this. Now the Unions went on record saying that they would roll back wages and benefits to meet the budget. The Governor and the Republican Senate said that it wouldn’t work. The only way they could get control of the budget was to disband the Public Employee Unions. For the last three weeks this fight has been going on.

When it first started the Democratic Senators left the state so there couldn’t be a quorum to vote on this new law. In the beginning there were some protesters in front of the State Capitol and as the days went by the crowds grew and grew. There were members of Unions, both public and private, and none union workers. The crowds got bigger and bigger. Most polls showed that the majority of Wisconsin people didn’t want their unions busted. Well last night the State Senate detached the Union Busting part of the bill and didn’t vote on the budget, they voted to end all collective bargaining of public employees.

The citizens of Wisconsin went nuts and began to demonstrate. The crowed grew bigger and bigger. There are petitions going around the state trying to recall the senators and even the governor.

It is time for politicians to represent the people that elected them. They were not elected by the wealthy; the people elected them. Please don’t get me wrong. I am not so sure that the Democratic Party is much more responsive to the people. It is just that they have different interests.

It is happening in state after state. Ohio is next up for the same vote. It is moving across the country. It could be your state next.

If this continues then the right to organize will be lost. Workers will have to take what they can get. Saturday there will be demonstrations in almost every major city in the country. I am hoping that people will make themselves heard.

Thank you, Peace, howie