WKOW-TV in Madison Offers GOP Line on Small-d Democracy

Worker from Fitchburg, Wisconsin -
Image from Citizen Action of Wisconsin

One hopes Wisconsin citizens film and record every action of the untrained and unrestrained GOP Capitol Police today

Since when is petitioning our government a threat?

WKOW-TV (Madison, Wisconsin) keeps up its breathless reports on citizens protesting the Senate Bill 44 [Right to Work bill].

"Capitol police will be ready for them," referring to Wisconsin citizens coming to the state capitol, a "public forum that has been at the center of public discourse in the State of Wisconsin since its completion in 1917." (U.S. District Judge Conley, Opinion and Order in Kissick v. Huebsch and Erwin (July 2013))

Continues Conley in his preliminary injunction stopping Scott Walker's palace guard, aka the Capitol police from preventing free speech: "As explained in its official nomination for designation as a National Historic Landmark, which was granted on January 3, [2013] 'The soaring rotunda of the Wisconsin State Capitol is designed to induce Whereas some statehouses are maintained apart from the urban fabric, the Wisconsin Capitol Rotunda functions, both literally and symbolically, as a city center and is fully utilized as a public space to which all have claim.'"

Not only are Scott Walker and the Republicans trashing labor rights and private contracts in service to the Koch brothers, they are trying to trash the First Amendment in the process, again, and local broadcast 'news' like WKOW-TV is buying in.

One hopes Wisconsin citizens film and record every action of the untrained and unrestrained GOP capitol guard.

Wisconsin Says 'No' to Anti-worker Law; GOP Says 'Yes'

Scott Walker and Republicans are following the out-of-state rightwing moneyed interests, ignoring Wisconsin.

Worker from Fitchburg, Wisconsin - Image from Citizen Action of Wisconsin

Fitchburg Mayor Blasts GOP Anti-worker Legislation, SB 44

Fitchburg Mayor Shawn Pfaff joined a united front of progressives and other working-family groups to oppose the GOP's free-rider legislation, known as the right to work bill being pushed by Scott Walker.

The bill is called Senate Bill 44.

"I am deeply concerned about the state legislature considering right to work legislation this week. This measure will have a lasting and detrimental impact on Fitchburg's working families. Throughout our nation’s history, unions have made our nation stronger by empowering middle class families," said Pfaff in a statement. "As a former member of two public employee unions, I personally know the positive economic impacts they bring. Instead of taking up this controversial measure, I encourage lawmakers to focus on legislation that will make key investments that help working families like raise the minimum wage, expand worker training programs and restore funding to the University of Wisconsin system."

Rallies are planned at the state capitol today at Noon, as civil rights and working families groups pressure GOP legislators.

The Wisconsin Senate Committee on Labor and Government Reform is holding a public hearing today at 10:00 a.m. on SB 44.

The right to work legislation is supported only by Wisconsin Republicans and is unanimously opposed by Wisconsin Democrats.

For years, Scott Walker said publicly he had no interest in supporting right to work legislation, (WPR) while behind closed doors was taped saying he would "divide and conquer" Wisconsin working families and support so-called right to work as he discussed his political future with billionaire, Diane Hendricks in 2011. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) Video is below:

Wisconsin AFL-CIO: Statement regarding the call for an extraordinary session of the Legislature to take up "Right to Work" legislation.

"Right to Work rings a false promise for Wisconsin. Right to Work will not create jobs and will lower wages for all workers," said Phil Neuenfeldt, President of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO. “Every worker suffers when states enact anti-worker Right to Work laws. Rushing this legislation through in an extraordinary session is a slap in the face to our democracy.” “Right to Work is wrong for all workers and the entire middle class. Right to Work cripples the fundamental right of every American to join together, stick together and have a meaningful voice in the workplace,” said Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO. “The Republican leadership has decided to pursue an ideology over the needs of Wisconsin families. Right to Work legislation is part of a national anti-worker agenda that won’t bring one job to our state or help a single family put food on the table. Instead, it’s an attempt to end unions as we know them. It’s time for the Republicans to close the ALEC playbook, say no to out-of-state extremists and start thinking about the people they’ve been elected to serve—Wisconsin’s working families.”

Mitt Romney Slams Saving Auto Industry Jobs

Growing Manufacturing with the
Auto Industry Turnaround - A good thing

By Phil Scarr

It nearly slipped by, but Mitt Romney [GOP frontrunner this week] bashed the Obama administration for the wildly successful bailout of the auto industry.

[[W]e decided to do more than rescue this industry from a crisis. We decided to help it retool for a new age, and that’s what we’re doing all across the country – we’re making sure America can out-build, out-innovate, and out-compete the rest of the world.
- Remarks of President Barack Obama; Saturday, June 4, 2011 Toledo, Ohio

As Jonathan Alter points out, if he’s the nominee, he can kiss Michigan goodbye. The Dems will use that clip over and over and over to hammer him.

Franklin Roosevelt's Statement on Signing the Social Security Act

Paul Ryan, Rick Perry and the GOP possess a shameful incapacity to appreciate that seniors see Social Security as benefits accrued over a lifetime of working. And that seniors' work, their labor, is honorable and sacred.

By President Franklin Roosevelt

Statement on Signing the Social Security Act on August 14 , 1935

Today a hope of many years' standing is in large part fulfilled. The civilization of the past hundred years, with its startling industrial changes, has tended more and more to make life insecure. Young people have come to wonder what would be their lot when they came to old age. The man with a job has wondered how long the job would last.

This social security measure gives at least some protection to thirty millions of our citizens who will reap direct benefits through unemployment compensation, through old-age pensions and through increased services for the protection of children and the prevention of ill health.

We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age.

This law, too, represents a cornerstone in a structure which is being built but is by no means complete. It is a structure intended to lessen the force of possible future depressions. It will act as a protection to future Administrations against the necessity of going deeply into debt to furnish relief to the needy. The law will flatten out the peaks and valleys of deflation and of inflation. It is, in short, a law that will take care of human needs and at the same time provide for the United States an economic structure of vastly greater soundness.

I congratulate all of you ladies and gentlemen, all of you in the Congress, in the executive departments and all of you who come from private life, and I thank you for your splendid efforts in behalf of this sound, needed and patriotic legislation.

If the Senate and the House of Representatives in this long and arduous session had done nothing more than pass this Bill, the session would be regarded as historic for all time.

This Labor Day, As Unions Face Historic Attacks, It's Time to Stand Together

Paul Robeson with shipyard workers in Oakland, 1942
Photo Credit: NARA via pingnews

Americans' labor product, hard work, made this country grow. Securing the liberty to produce and sell our labor by organizing and freely associating with our fellows made our country grow. Now, labor is under attack ... again, in a manner that would have made 20-century fascists proud.

By Sarah Jaffe

If there was ever a year to think about the meaning of Labor Day, this would be it.

Organized labor has rocketed to the forefront of America's political consciousness, with conservative governors attacking the right to form a union, historic strikes, and a few unexpected victories along the way.

Woody Guthrie

And while the right attacks unions and labor organizes to fight back, unemployment remains high, jobs tenuous, wages depressed and the economy slumping. No new jobs were created in August—that's right, none. The overall unemployment rate held steady, but the labor department also revised downward its jobs growth numbers for the previous two months, so the economy has actually been worse than we thought for most of the summer. Dean Baker also points out that the number of people underemployed, or “involuntarily working part-time jumped up by 430,000, to 8.8 million.”

Continued high unemployment leaves even workers who have jobs feeling desperate, and gives the bosses the upper hand to demand more work, lower wages, and givebacks from employees, while austerity politics has led to public sector layoffs across the country.

As Mike Konczal notes, “Average weekly earnings and average weekly hours both dropped slightly. We need these numbers to be taking off, not holding steady or declining. So the economy isn’t working even for those with a job.”

He continues:

Meanwhile, the average duration of unemployment has dropped while the median has increased. It’s too early to tell, but that’s a troubling sign with weak job growth — it means that we are likely seeing more and more unemployed people simply dropping out of the labor force instead of finding a job. This will continue to make the unemployment rate a less important indicator than the employment-to-population ratio.

The picture is desperate and it's not getting any better. Many Labor Day barbecues this year will be overshadowed by grim economic realities. Many people are experiencing the pressure of being out of work or living in fear that their jobs will evaporate, having to put in longer hours or take a job that pays less, or being forced to take cuts in pensions or health benefits.

There is Power in a Union

Yet, this year has been exciting as well. While the economic picture remains bad, working people thrilled to the sight of Wisconsin's public workers, teachers and progressives occupying the capitol building in protest at Governor Scott Walker's attempt to take away union's rights to collective bargaining. As firefighters marched in solidarity and national labor leaders and rock stars descended on the city, Americans saw a mass, spontaneous pro-labor action that reminded us all of the real power of collective action.

Matt Stoller wrote at the time:

Striking just isn’t in the collective memory of the American public anymore. This kind of highly politicized hybrid political protest/strike walks like an Egyptian these days, which is why Egyptians were sending Wisconsinites pizza and Madison protesters were holding signs lauding teachers, workers, and the new Egyptian flag. In fact, Madison may represent a new kind of American labor model, the melding of old school unions, Howard Dean-style internet-based organizing, Anonymous-style serious pranking, and social media reporting on protests and policy. There’s an anti-bailout class-based fervor here as well, with a simmering anger at Wall Street as subtext. It’s headless and global, though there is leadership. The most powerful moment so far in the Wisconsin conflict didn’t come from the actions of a labor leader, but from a prank call by alt-weekly 'Buffalo Beast' editor Ian Murphy, who pretended to be billionaire American oligarch David Koch and had a frank 20 minute conversation with Governor Scott Walker. Murphy originally wanted to pose as Hosni Mubarak, but couldn’t pull off the accent.

See Sarah Jaffe.

Value of Work-Labor-Sweat—Wisconsin Recall Elections



Madison, Wisconsin State Capitol; February 26, 2011
President Lincoln on Labor

Common ground.

There is honor and dignity in labor. We have that in common.

There is honor choosing our public servants in this republic; its our right in a democracy and we have that in common.

There is innovation in organizing to sell our work, a sacred product protected by the right to freely associate and organize. We all share this right.

Republicans today disagree with these propositions; revering the emissions of Ayn Rand over the vision of civil rights activists Fannie Lou Hamer, Aaron Henry of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (1964), President Lincoln and FDR.

Wisconsin citizens find common ground in protecting the rights of our neighbors, our fellow citizens: To vote, to work, to exercise our liberty.

And that is what the Wisconsin recall elections are about.



Human being

"Many were lost in the struggle for the right to vote: Jimmy Lee Jackson, a young student, gave his life; Viola Liuzzo, a White mother from Detroit, called 'nigger lover,' and brains blown out at point blank range; [Michael] Schwerner, [Andrew] Goodman and [James] Chaney -- two Jews and a Black -- found in a common grave, bodies riddled with bullets in Mississippi; the four darling little girls in a church in Birmingham, Alabama. They died that we might have a right to live."

When we divide, we cannot win. We must find common ground as the basis for survival and development and change and growth. ... We stand at the end of a long dark night of reaction. We stand tonight united in the commitment to a new direction. For almost eight years we've been led by those who view social good coming from private interest, who view public life as a means to increase private wealth. They have been prepared to sacrifice the common good of the many to satisfy the private interests and the wealth of a few. ... We are a better nation than that."
- Rev. Jesse Jackson, 1988 Democratic National Convention Address;
July 19, 1988. Omni Coliseum; Atlanta, Georgia

Robert Reich: Why the Republican War on Workers’ Rights Undermines the American Economy

Workers’ share of national income

Update: See also Workers’ share of national income plummets to record low.

By Robert Reich

The battle has resumed in Wisconsin. The state supreme court has allowed Governor Scott Walker to strip bargaining rights from state workers. ...

This war on workers’ rights is an assault on the middle class, and it is undermining the American economy.

The American economy can’t get out of neutral until American workers have more money in their pockets to buy what they produce. And unions are the best way to give them the bargaining power to get better pay.

For three decades after World War II – I call it the "Great Prosperity" – wages rose in tandem with productivity. Americans shared the gains of growth, and had enough money to buy what they produced.

That’s largely due to the role of labor unions. In 1955, over a third of American workers in the private sector were unionized. Today, fewer than 7 percent are.

With the decline of unions has come the stagnation of American wages. More and more of the total income and wealth of America has gone to the very top. The middle class’s purchasing power has depended on mothers going into paid work, everyone working longer hours, and, finally, the middle class going deep into debt, using their homes as collateral.

But now all these coping mechanisms are exhausted — and we’re living with the consequence.

Some say the Great Prosperity was an anomaly. America’s major competitors lay in ruins. We had the world to ourselves. According to this view, there’s no going back.

But this view is wrong. If you want to see the same basic bargain we had then, take a look at Germany now.

Germany is growing much faster than the United States. Its unemployment rate is now only 6.1 percent (we’re now at 9.1 percent).

What’s Germany’s secret? In sharp contrast to the decades of stagnant wages in America, real average hourly pay has risen almost 30 percent there since 1985. Germany has been investing substantially in education and infrastructure.

How did German workers do it? A big part of the story is German labor unions are still powerful enough to insist that German workers get their fair share of the economy’s gains.

That’s why pay at the top in Germany hasn’t risen any faster than pay in the middle. As David Leonhardt reported in the New York Times recently, the top 1 percent of German households earns about 11 percent of all income – a percent that hasn’t changed in four decades. ...

The current Republican assault on workers’ rights continues a thirty-year war on American workers’ wages. That long-term war has finally taken its toll on the American economy.

It’s time to fight back.

Koch Bros and Walker: Open War on Workers

Koch Industries, the private company of the billionaire Koch brothers Charles and David, is an oil and gas, chemicals, cattle, forestry, and synthetics giant -- and also a major force for punishing Main Street Americans. Charles and David Koch (pronounced "coke") have directed many millions of their shared $43 billion net worth into a vast propaganda machine that's corrupting American politics in order to reward their pollution-based enterprise. The Koch brothers have played an integral role in provoking Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) notorious attempt to crush Wisconsin's public sector unions. Koch Industries contributed $43,000 to Walker's gubernatorial campaign, and Koch political operatives encouraged the newly elected governor to take on the unions. Koch Industries is a major player in Wisconsin: Koch owns a coal company subsidiary with facilities in Green Bay, Manitowoc, Ashland and Sheboygan; six timber plants throughout the state; and a large network of pipelines. Since the showdown began two weeks ago, Koch-funded front groups like Americans for Prosperity (AFP) -- which is chaired by David Koch -- and the American Legislative Exchange Council have organized counter-protests, prepped GOP lawmakers with anti-labor legislative talking points and even announced an anti-union advertising campaign. For now, however, the AFP message doesn't appear to be resonating: Koch-backed pro-Walker demonstrations have had low attendance and were dwarfed by pro-union supporters in Madison this week.

Feb. 26, 2011; Photo by Al Rodgers

By Faiz Shakir, Benjamin Armbruster, George Zornick, Zaid Jilani, Alex Seitz-Wald, Brad Johnson, and Tanya Somanader at ThinkProgress

KNEE-CAPPING UNIONS: In a speech earlier this month at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Americans For Prosperity-Michigan Executive Director Scott Hagerstrom revealed the true goal of his group and allies like Walker. Speaking at CPAC's "Panel for Labor Policy," Hagerstrom said that even more than cutting taxes and regulations, AFP really wants to "take the unions out at the knees." Knee-capping free labor has long been a goal of the Koch brothers and their many front groups. In the run-up to the 2010 elections, the Kochs worked with other anti-labor billionaires, corporations and activists to fund conservative candidates and groups across the country. Now after viciously opposing pro-middle class policies for years, Koch Industries is trying to eliminate the only organizations which serve as a counterweight to its well-oiled corporate machine. Believing he was talking with David Koch, Walker told a prankster his plans to crush the unions. Koch's AFP operatives are now working with "state officials in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania to urge them to duplicate Walker's crusade in Wisconsin."

PUSHING POISON: According to EPA databases, Koch businesses are huge polluters, emitting thousands of pounds of toxic pollutants. As soon as he got into office, Walker started cutting environmental regulations and appointed a Republican known for her disregard for environmental regulations to lead the Department of Natural Resources. In addition, Walker has stated his opposition to clean energy jobs policies that might draw workers away from Koch-owned interests. The Koch political poison has spread across the nation. Robocalls from Koch's Americans for Prosperity group flooded New Hampshire in support of a bill that would repeal participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which has cut greenhouse pollution and created 1,130 jobs as a result of energy efficiency benefits. AFP climate deniers in New Jersey are trying to kill RGGI there as well. Koch's main man in Congress, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS), inserted an amendment to slash EPA funding in the House GOP's already wildly anti-environment budget. Koch's many subsidiaries have filed challenges against health and environmental rules from toxic chemical disclosure to dumping in streams.


LABOR The Kochs Versus Main Street

Koch Industries, the private company of the billionaire Koch brothers Charles and David, is an oil and gas, chemicals, cattle, forestry, and synthetics giant -- and also a major force for punishing Main Street Americans. Charles and David Koch (pronounced "coke") have directed many millions of their shared $43 billion net worth into a vast propaganda machine that's corrupting American politics in order to reward their pollution-based enterprise. The Koch brothers have played an integral role in provoking Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) notorious attempt to crush Wisconsin's public sector unions. Koch Industries contributed $43,000 to Walker's gubernatorial campaign, and Koch political operatives encouraged the newly elected governor to take on the unions. Koch Industries is a major player in Wisconsin: Koch owns a coal company subsidiary with facilities in Green Bay, Manitowoc, Ashland and Sheboygan; six timber plants throughout the state; and a large network of pipelines. Since the showdown began two weeks ago, Koch-funded front groups like Americans for Prosperity (AFP) -- which is chaired by David Koch -- and the American Legislative Exchange Council have organized counter-protests, prepped GOP lawmakers with anti-labor legislative talking points and even announced an anti-union advertising campaign. For now, however, the AFP message doesn't appear to be resonating: Koch-backed pro-Walker demonstrations have had low attendance and were dwarfed by pro-union supporters in Madison this week.

KNEE-CAPPING UNIONS: In a speech earlier this month at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Americans For Prosperity-Michigan Executive Director Scott Hagerstrom revealed the true goal of his group and allies like Walker. Speaking at CPAC's "Panel for Labor Policy," Hagerstrom said that even more than cutting taxes and regulations, AFP really wants to "take the unions out at the knees." Knee-capping free labor has long been a goal of the Koch brothers and their many front groups. In the run-up to the 2010 elections, the Kochs worked with other anti-labor billionaires, corporations and activists to fund conservative candidates and groups across the country. Now after viciously opposing pro-middle class policies for years, Koch Industries is trying to eliminate the only organizations which serve as a counterweight to its well-oiled corporate machine. Believing he was talking with David Koch, Walker told a prankster his plans to crush the unions. Koch's AFP operatives are now working with "state officials in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania to urge them to duplicate Walker's crusade in Wisconsin."

PUSHING POISON: According to EPA databases, Koch businesses are huge polluters, emitting thousands of pounds of toxic pollutants. As soon as he got into office, Walker started cutting environmental regulations and appointed a Republican known for her disregard for environmental regulations to lead the Department of Natural Resources. In addition, Walker has stated his opposition to clean energy jobs policies that might draw workers away from Koch-owned interests. The Koch political poison has spread across the nation. Robocalls from Koch's Americans for Prosperity group flooded New Hampshire in support of a bill that would repeal participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which has cut greenhouse pollution and created 1,130 jobs as a result of energy efficiency benefits. AFP climate deniers in New Jersey are trying to kill RGGI there as well. Koch's main man in Congress, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS), inserted an amendment to slash EPA funding in the House GOP's already wildly anti-environment budget. Koch's many subsidiaries have filed challenges against health and environmental rules from toxic chemical disclosure to dumping in streams.

RICH FINK DEFENDS KOCHS: Even while local business leaders have called for Walker to end his assault on Wisconsin unions, Koch executives have said that they "will not step back at all" and pointed to the importance of their "grassroots" group, saying, "it is good to have them on the ground, in the battle, trying to help out." Rich Fink, the executive vice president of Koch Industries who oversees their ideological campaigns, defended the billionaire brothers in an interview with the National Review Online by blaming "the Left." "With the Left trying to intimidate the Koch brothers to back off of their support for freedom and signaling to others that this is what happens if you oppose the administration and its allies, we have no choice but to continue to fight." The Koch brothers, who have been increasing their personal wealth by billions even as they have fired thousands of workers, are really just victims of a vast left-wing conspiracy, Fink claims. "This is part of an orchestrated campaign that has been going on for many months. It involves the Obama administration, the Center for American Progress, aligned left-wing groups, and their friends in the media. This is just the latest salvo in their attacks on the Koch brothers and Koch Industries. But it is an escalation -- they're now bringing in some labor groups, which they have not done before." Somehow, Rich Fink seems unaware that his own operatives have declared open war on American workers.

There's something happening here ...

Millwright among crowd on the square

Madison, Wisconsin—The rally to protect working Wisconsin families surged to an estimated 100,000 people as the coalition opposing Gov. Scott Walker and his budget bill appears to have broadened into a movement that has the governor desperate and Republican legislators on the defensive.



One characteristic of the crowd and those from the preceding days is the relatively apolitical and casual attitude toward politics that those interviewed demonstrated.

One woman, interviewed as she warmed-up in a bus shelter on State Street near the Capitol square, drove down from Rhinelander and is typical of  rally attendees from small Wisconsin cities, towns, and villages.

"No, I'm not real political. But Walker is hurting a lot of people and I had to do something."



Looking down East Washington Ave from the Capitol

Make no mistake, this is a highly charged political battle and professional political operatives in Wisconsin are uniting to defeat a governor they view as having created a critical mass of opposition that will see his recall in 2012.

For Walker's part, the Walker-Koch tapes (audio and text) alone may have damaged the good faith and confidence of mainstream Wisconsin citizens.

Massive Madison Rally Saturday for Working Families

- Live video coverage of rally -

Update: The Walker-Koch tapes (audio and text), and Citizen's Criminal Complaint Against Gov. Scott Walker. 

There is a constant presence at the Capital, inside and out. Crowds could swell to over 100,000 people.

Labor tents are sprawled around the capital square.

Would-be attendees can come at any time during day and night.

Some highlights and happenings

10:30 am  Protest at Koch Bros. Lobby Office; 10 East Doty St.
11:00 am SEIU meet-up at the UW-Madison Memorial Union.
11:00 LGBTQA Rally and march in support of Wisconsin families
12:00 pm TAA Teach-in: The Politics of the Wisconsin Labor Struggle
1:00 pm NAACP Rally at the State Capitol-Hilton Morona Terrace Hotel
1:00 pm Concert at the Capitol – performances by Tom Morello, Bascom Hill, Michael O'Brien, UW Alumni Band, Sam Frederic, Peter Yarrow
1:30 pm SEIU march from the Inn on the Park on the Square (22 S Carroll Street in Madison) to the rally
3:00 pm Rally to Save The American Way – Master of Ceremonies Brad Whitford

Some Rally Info and News Resources

• United Wisconsin
• Dem Party of Wisconsin   
• AFSCME
• SEIU WI
• Labor Notes
• Defend Wisconsin
• AFL-CIO WI
• Mark Pocan
• Progressives United
• Tammy Baldwin Solidarity Site
• Solidarity Wisconsin
• The Political Environment
• One Wisconsin Now
• The Daily Page - Isthmus
• Dane 101
• Uppity Wisconsin
• Madison.com
• WisPolitics

United with the Teamsters and All Labor

Gov. Scott Walker and his billionaire friends will lose, period.


Teamsters and I



Politicalization of Wisconsin Families Will Hurt GOP

The fight to strip public unions of the right to bargain is obviously far from over.

One result is certain. The depoliticalization that allowed Gov. Walker to be elected by some 26 percent of the Wisconsin eletorate in 2010 is over.

The politicalization of Wisconsin citizens caused by this corrupt, mean-spirited weapon used against Wisconsin families and the resulting massive demonstrations and action is a phenomena not seen here since the civil rights and peace demonstrations of the 1960s-70s.

Republicans are having second thoughts now. They should.

The people speak against Gov. Walker

Keeping Merc

Mercury Marine (a division of Brunswick Corp.) wants to ditch Fond du Lac and the Fox Valley.

Merc says it needs to scrap its contract with the Machinists union, (IAM) Local 1947.

So how about Fond du Lac, Fond du Lac County, surrounding communities and Wisconsin pony up on a capital project paying Merc the difference in wages and benefits that Merc says it cannot afford on the existing contract?

Sounds reasonable to me.

Call it "economic protection fees" for the good of the neighborhood.

Union Says 'No', Mercury Marine Is Typical Anti-American Corp

Update II: FDL Reporter: "Mercury union workers have voted down a contract proposal that company officials say would have kept Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac."

Update: See the Fond du Lac Reporter coverage for updates.

I come from down in the valley
where mister, when you’re young,
they bring you to do
as your daddy done.
- Bruce Springsteen, The River

The vote happens today. And an American corporation, Mercury Marine (a division of Brunswick Corp.) has made clear it is prepared to unleash an economic hurricane on Wisconsin communities with no regret.

Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, is the focus of press coverage universally stating the 1,000s of jobs and millions of dollars depend on the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) union vote today.

It's up to the union, they say with no mention of the deranged character of the Brunswick Corp. that would devastate a community with premeditation and in cold blood.

The company has eroded the number of workers and the union at its Fond du Lac site for the past several years. Now, it's time to really kill.

This union vote could sound the death knell for some 800 union workers left at Mercury Marine and for the local union that has fought for its rights and benefits.

Just like NewPage and GM before it, Mercury Marine is putting corporate greed before the good of the Wisconsin community in which it has resided for lifetimes.

Everyone in Fond du Lac knows someone or even generations of families who have worked at Merc. But that doesn't seem to count for much nowadays.

Fondy will see a signal moment in its life today but please note that it is corporate greed and betrayal that ought to be on trial and not the union members of (IAM) Local 1947.

It is Mercury Marine that has given the workers an untenable choice. It is the company that wants to move all its operations to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to be in a non-union state, even though the city of Fond du Lac and the state of Wisconsin have been loyal and faithful partners.

You see, Mercury Marine has announced in effect that workers, Fond du Lac, the Fox Valley, and Wisconsin can all go to hell if Merc doesn't get the union vote they want on a new contract.

If Merc abandons the state of Wisconsin and its workers, no one will be surprised: And Fondy will be just another devastated community where hard-working people are tossed aside by corporate America with no sense of loyalty or decency.

If, as seems likely, the union votes for a contract at the point of a gun [right], Merc should be remembered for its deranged character displayed.

A lot of sweat is being poured into this union vote today--from the workers, the city, the county, the State but the company has made up its mind already.

It doesn't care--it will stay or go dependent solely on where labor will be cheapest and the hell with the people and community loyalty.

Contemplating economic genocide is pathological and make no mistake, if Merc moves out of Fond du Lac, many in the community will be destroyed, left to face bankruptcy and worse.

But don't expect many to bring up the moral obligations that industries owe the American public.

Employee Free Choice Act Now

What’s the worth of an American’s work?

If you believe that America ought to resemble feudalistic serfdom—not very much.

But since the later part of the ninetieth century when workers began organizing with fellow workers during the industrial revolution, the social and economic value of work, its worth, has been acclaimed as a valuable commodity.

Yet many through history, including the contemporary GOP, persist in believing that America's labor is not worth all that much and have endlessly fought, often violently, against the attempts of Americans to organize to sell their labor product at a reasonable price.

As the late Sidney Lens, the great labor activist and historian, pointed out: Thousands of corpses and cracked skulls litter the battle to organize and sell American labor.

The pro-labor view, held in today's Democratic Party and organized labor, is that labor is sacred and ought to command a price sufficient to raise a family.

The right to organize to sell the American labor product was enshrined in the Wagner Act of 1935, singed into law by FDR.

Wrote FDR in his statement signing the Wagner Act:

This Act defines, as a part of our substantive law, the right of self-organization of employees in industry for the purpose of collective bargaining, and provides methods by which the Government can safeguard that legal right.

In the spirit of the Wagner Act, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) now under consideration in Congress continues the legacy of the American labor movement, FDR and the belief that one's work is sacred.

Look for the Republicans to do their worst to stop it.

As the AFL-CIO points out, the Employee Free Choice Act would help workers join "together in a union to bargain for health care, pensions, fair wages and better working conditions is the best opportunity working people have to get ahead" in the face of corporate intimidation and a broken regulatory system.

It's really simple, the Employee Free Choice Act guarantees "that if a majority of workers wants a union, they can have one, allowing them to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation."

Now will come GOP and corporate lies to halt this needed labor reform.

As former Rep. Newt Gingrich says, “This bill is a mortal threat to American freedom and we will never forgive somebody who votes for cloture or for passage.”

Right, Newt. Read more corporate and rightwing fear mongering here.

Ditch the Filibuster by Spring

Robert L. Borosage, Co-Director of the Campaign for America’s Future, surveying the fights to come writes of the Employee Free Choice Act that the "business lobby promises Armageddon if the Employee Free Choice Act moves forward."

And you can bet that the Employee Free Choice Act will get filibustered.

After all, we elected Obama and a Democratic congress so that this once-in-a generation shot at labor reform and other major initiatives can be decided by the whims of Sen. Mitch McConell (R-Kentucky). Right?

Right.

Here's a prediction, McConell backs down or we blow up the filibuster all together or at least lower the number of senators needed for a cloture vote to 55 votes.

AFL-CIO to Hit McCain in Wisconsin, Swing States

John McCain's hostile voting record against veterans will be the topic of a major media buy by the AFL-CIO.

The ad blasts McCain for his close political commitments to George W. Bush on veterans issues.

From the AFL-CIO's Union Veterans Council:

The AFL-CIO also is launching a TV ad today featuring Jim Wasser, a Vietnam-era veteran and retired Electrical Workers (IBEW) member.

In the ad, Wasser speaks about McCain, whose military service is honorable but whose Senate voting record hasn’t supported veterans and their families. The ad will run in communities around the country hard-hit by the nation’s economic crisis.

In the ad, Wasser praises McCain’s military service and discusses his concerns about McCain’s political agenda.

"Every vet respects John McCain’s war record. It’s his record in the Senate that I have a problem with," said Wasser.

Wasser says McCain supports continuing to spend billions in Iraq, yet he repeatedly voted against increased funding for veterans health care.

"People should let McCain know that his agenda is not what we need. Not now," said Wasser.

According to the Washington Post, "The ads will run on stations in Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin for the next three weeks."

Watch the video:

In Light of the GM Closings

Update: McCain-Bush Big Oil Giveaway Cost 2,600 Janesville Jobs

G.M. Closing 4 Plants in Shift From Trucks Toward Cars reads the NYT headline.

Do you think that the government picking up employee health care costs and gearing our economy into a sustainable-energy, alternative-fuel realm are good ideas now?

Dick Cheney and George Bush has their way, and it's not working.