Category Archives: Labor

04.06.16
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Cruz, Sanders, and The Weirdness of Wisconsin

Wisconsin, with its proud progressive tradition, its long history of student activists, farmer/labor axis, its revulsion at organized money and the power it can wield, and its basic Midwest decency, gave Bernie Sanders his biggest win in a long time last night, and keeps his momentum alive long enough to continue to pull Clinton to the left. This is good: she can win from the left. Triangulating isn’t the best strategy this year. Clinton needs to use that sort of historic Wisconsin coalition moving forward, bringing it into the fold of her equally-important base. If she can do that, she can  have a thumping victory regardless of her opponent.

Meanwhile. Wisconsin, with its tradition of right-wing ideological purity and resentment against the liberal coalition, gave Ted Cruz the victory he needed to almost certainly force a contested coalition. This wasn’t a rebuke to Trump being “rude”: in a state where Governor Walker becomes more popular by giving away the environment, destroying labor, and having grandmothers arrested because their singing gives him the vapors, the sneering Cruz is a perfect fit. He speaks the language of overlapping resentments that drive the party, and have found perfect expression in Wisconsin. What a weird state.

 

Really, you have all three? That’s amazing! 

 

I’ve been driving up to Wisconsin for years, and have always gotten a kick out of this sign, but as far as I can remember it is only recently that they put the “open for business” at the bottom. That’s such a Walkerian way to describe one of our most beautiful and lake-filled areas. Business is obviously important, but Walker’s definition of “open” is pretty much the same as Big Bill Thompson’s in Chicago: come on in, boys. The place is yours. Don’t even bother wiping your feet or not polluting the lakes. Clear cut what you want, just kick something back upstairs. (That’s not to insinuate that Walker is getting money out of all this. He just does it because he likes it. Give me Big Bill any day).

If you want to know everything base and venal about Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Republicans, remember that the literally wanted to edit the Wisconsin Idea to remove anything about the human spirit, and put in language about the state’s workforce needs.

The mission of the system is to develop human resources to meet the state’s workforce needs, to discover and disseminate knowledge, to extendknowledge and its application beyond the boundaries of its campuses and toserve and stimulate society by developing develop in students heightened intellectual, cultural, and humane sensitivities, scientific, professional and technological expertise, and a sense of purpose. Inherent in this broad mission are methods of instruction, research, extended training and public service designed to educate people and improve the human condition. Basic to every purpose of the system is the search for truth.

 

(lines are Walkers’ proposed edits)

This is the part of Wisconsin for whom Ted Cruz has the most appeal. This wasn’t a return of Midwest decency or a revolt against Trump’s ill-manners. It was a revolt against the idea that the poor and working class have any purpose other than to make the rich even richer. That’s Walker’s Wisconsin. The only nice thing about this is that it is going to revive Walker’s image as a national player, even though it only confirms, once again, that he is only capable of winning elections in the conservative Milwaukee County suburbs. So seeing him get smacked down again now that his usefulness is up will be gratifying.

 

03.29.16
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Dear #neverhillary Bernie people…

Today, thanks to the timely death of Antonin Scalia, the most brazen assault on public sector unions of our time was killed. Friederichs vs. California Teachers Association couldn’t survive a 4-4 court, which means the lower court ruling was upheld. If Antonin Scalia was still around, it would have won 5-4, and the ability of unions to fund themselves would have been gutted. The public sector- the last great hope of the middle class, which is why it is under constant assault- would have collapsed into a race-to-the-bottom spiral.

This isn’t the last attempt at this. Public sector unions show that unions can still work, which is why they have to be destroyed. A conservative justice will tilt the balance again. It’s why the resistance to Merrick Garland has been so implacable. Conservatives are hoping that they can hold out til next year, when a GOP President will nominate a justice to finally kill off unions (among other things).

But please, remind me why there isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between Hillary and Ted Cruz or Donald Trump.

03.29.16
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The Wisconsinization of Illinois

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“Nice work, Walker!” Image from ChicagoNow

I’ve always loved Wisconsin. It’s fun to make fun of, but I have never once not had a great time in the state, whether camping up north or near Kettle Morain, hanging out by the lake in Milwaukee, relaxing in Door County with my lovely bride, reveling in the weirdness of Madison, or spending time at scenic Lake Ripley, my favorite spot, Wisconsin is always warm and hospitable. It’s got a great drinking culture, which doesn’t so much revolve around experimental cocktails as much as “the more the merrier”, and a great attitude toward eating. If there is one thing over which Scott Walker and I can bond, it’s ham, and the desire to eat more of it, at all hours. Ham for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You can’t go wrong.

But ham is probably the only area in which Walker and I would agree on anything (although we could both confirm that empirical reality that he won’t be President, though I imagine we have different feelings about that). One other thing to love about Wisconsin was its progressive tradition, which came about naturally, from workers and farmers, as a reaction to the power of capital and its corrupting nature. That’s also why the backlash in Wisconsin was always so fierce, whether that was the union hating Herb Kohler Sr or the drunken lout McCarthy. Now, that backlash has reached its apex, as Walker and his pet legislature have turned this great state into their personal Koch-funded experiment, destroying voting rights, the social safety net, corporate accountability, and the environment. In short, trying to wreck everything that is great about Wisconsin.

Continue reading →

03.28.16
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Forrest Claypool Drops The Wallace Bomb on Rauner

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Kind of a jerk, right? Image from Wikimedia Commons

In a Chicago Tonight interview with Carol Marin a few minutes ago, mostly about the CPS teacher’s planned wildcat strike this Friday, CPS CEO Forrest “Les” Claypool had a bit about the budget negotiations with Governor Bruce Rauner, who must be livid he can’t get the same state-wrecking applause that Governors Walker, Snyder, Scott, et al get. I wasn’t taking notes, so this isn’t exact, but Claypool said more than once that Rauner was “standing in the schoolhouse door” blocking student’s education. Considering that African-American students make up 40% of the CPS student body, and Hispanics another 45%, the direct George Wallace reference is an atomic bomb.

(Marin asked if Messers. Cullerton and Madigan were also standing in that door, but Claypool skillfully demurred.)

I don’t know if a wildcat strike with the intention of forcing Governor Rauner’s hand is the best tactic. Claypool argued with some success that despite contract issues, teachers and the board should present a unified front against Rauner, but that’s a line that is always used, especially against teachers. A strike is never right, because of the children. Activism hurts the children. Never mind that CPS teachers are striking to help the children (and yes, themselves, but better-paid teachers and better-funded schools do just that): the bosses can always use the same cudgel.

So yes, while I think Friday’s movement will be ineffective at best, and make the teachers look like the agents of chaos, the truth is they will be blamed no matter what. They’ll be blamed if they sit like docile daffodils, and they’ll be blamed if they stand up and speak. Scott Walker helped break the dam in terms making teachers the vicious and greedy outsiders, but the pressure had been building behind that dam for decades. Once urban areas became schools largely for minorities, the idea of teachers agitating on behalf of their students was lumped into the rest of the culture wars. In this sense, Claypool’s allusion to George Wallace was closer than it initially appeared.