Demonstrations!

I'm not talking about the foreign variety of Islamo-Fascist pro-democracy demonstrations sweeping the Middle East like the latest Justin Bieber single. I'm talking about the labor movement's last stand, taking place right now, as I write this, in Wisconsin. 30,000 people showed up in Madison today to protest the Republican Governor's decisions to not just refuse to negotiate with the state employees unions, but to send a bill to the legislature that would end collective bargaining for public workers in Wisconsin. Effectively outlawing public employee unions within the state of Wisconsin. And he wants that bill voted on by next week.

Today was actually the sixth day of these demonstrations, apparently. The first day, 2,000 people came. By day three, 15,000. Today, day six, as I mentioned earlier, at least 30,000 people came to the capitol to make their voices heard. Everyone needs to follow their example and make themselves heard. Because this is it. This is the big business, anti-labor end game. The American labor movement has been in retreat since Reagan's first term. The public sector is the last bastion of unionization in this country. If the Republicans can break the public unions in Wisconsin, they will break them in Ohio, they will break them in New Jersey. Eventually, the public employees union will go the way of the pink-headed duck and will be a thing of the past.

And we'll all lose. Wages in this country have been effectively stagnant for over 30 years, just barely keeping pace with inflation. Unions and collective bargaining are one of the few upward pressures that exist on wages. Non-union employers have to keep their wages and benefits at least competitive with union employers or else continually lose their most desirable workers to the unionized companies. If that pressure disappears, if the principle of collective bargaining goes away...

Eventually, that pushes a huge group of Americans out of the middle class. Right now, if you're a teacher, or a fire-fighter, or a police officer, or you work at the DMV, or you work for the state in some other capacity, then you are comfortably middle-class; assuming that you're single, or that your spouse is also employed. If public workers are no longer allowed to have unions or bargain collectively it won't be long until these jobs become minimum-wage jobs, simply by virtue of inflationary pressure and the state budget process. It's a lot easier to balance your budget on the backs of your employees when you can make each individual employee a take it or leave it offer, rather than bargaining with your entire labor force collectively.

Of course, once the unions are broken, the corporate interests can turn their attention to eliminating the minimum wage. And the 40 hour work week. And maybe even child labor laws. The point being that the day is coming when your salary will depend, not on your performance, not on established industry standards, not even on some kind of government mandated wage-floor; but instead on the whims of the people at the top. Company have a bad quarter? Five percent salary cuts for everyone below vice-president. Executive bonuses need a little fattening? Shit, fire everyone whose last name starts with "F". This will be the future unless we fight now.

Of course, Governor Scott Walker, and the Republicans in the legislature would argue that the state is in a financial crisis and that this bill offers the only solution. This, it turns out, is not true. Wisconsin's budget crisis was averted prior to Walker's election, in no small part due to sacrifices made by the public employee unions. Furlough days, hiring freezes, etc. Walker's plan, while requiring public employees to essentially give up the right to bargain with their employer; also includes tax breaks for big out of state corporations like McDonalds and Wal-Mart. Corporations that provide mostly minimum or low wage jobs and will take their profits out of state. Meanwhile, state employees foot the bill, a bill made worse by Walker's tax giveaways.

Honestly, it wouldn't matter if Walker was right and the only way for the state to balance its budget was the end of collective bargaining and the Wisconsin labor movement. Some things are simply evil and must be resisted on that basis. I imagine Wisconsin could make its books look fantastic if they simply enslaved half the state to do all the state's work for free. And yet this simple solution is being entirely ignored in the halls of the state capitol. Maybe it's a little too on the nose? Or just too early.

But this is classic Republicanism. Republicanism 101. When the economy's good, it's time for tax cuts to let people keep more of the money they earned. When the economy's bad, it's time for... more tax cuts, especially for the wealthy, to stimulate the economy. The middle class and the working poor can pay for it. And they usually get to use both lines, since Republicans have an amazing facility for turning good times into bad times.

I'm not saying the unions shouldn't make concessions, even on top of the ones they've already made, I'm saying that the governor should negotiate in good faith. I'm saying the unions shouldn't have to be the only ones making concessions and sacrifices. I'm saying the governor and legislature don't, or shouldn't, have the power to wipe away basic human rights and turn the population of Wisconsin into actual, literal wage slaves. This is a democracy and they're elected officials, servants of the people, not their masters. That is all that I am saying.