The bad news about what’s going in Wisconsin is that, if Scott Walker succeeds in busting the unions, it could be a template for the corporate funded right-wing to cripple labor across the country, leading to a further consolidation of political power in corporate interests and accelerating the growing gap between rich and poor. The good news is that, while the fight is going, people who recognize that these consequences are not a good thing are writing really great stuff about the importance of unions.
One point I’m happy to see people — specifically Ezra Klein and Kevin Drum — making is that unions are held to an absurdly high standard that no other institution is held to. When I was a door-to-door organizer for the AFL-CIO, or just in casual conversations with friends, I’ve been disheartened by how quick people are to dismiss unions as being corrupt or write them off because of one bad experience someone they know had with their union. Of course the labor movement has warts, but, as Drum points out, so does every institution comprised of, you know, human beings.
The analogy I use on this point is police. Everyone recognizes that abuse of authority by police officers is a widespread problem, whether it’s Rodney King level brutality or just someone throwing his weight around and showing a little too much attitude while writing a speeding ticket. But almost nobody would use this as an excuse to do away with having police. I contend that the labor movement plays as important a role in protecting our economic security as police forces do in protecting our physical security. Obviously, not everyone agrees on this point, but the fact that there are and have been corrupt union leaders doesn’t settle the argument.
-AR
Every American can trace many of the privileges we hold, or held, to labor unions. How quickly people forget that people died to ensure that workers had to be treated with basic human decency.
Fight the good fight with all thy might…