Many people are watching to see if the labor unrest in Wisconsin will serve as a spark to reignite progressive activism across the country. While I would really like to see this moment serve as such a catalyst, I must admit that I'm worried it will turn out to be yet another dud.
Since as long as I can remember, I have been pro-union. Relationships in which one side holds considerable power while the other side holds little or no power are rife for abuse. In workplace relationships, unions provide the workers with a partial counterbalance to the immense power yielded by management and ownership. Without it, workers are at the mercy of management/ownership and often end up as nothing more than impotent wage slaves.
Consequently, I embrace the central theoretical underpinnings of the union system. That said, one of my greatest critiques of modern unions is that their vision tends to be far too myopic. Their interest solely is on what provides a better situation for their members and not on what provides a better situation for sister unions and/or society at large.
It is at this juncture that I worry that the situation brewing in Wisconsin might well fizzle out of its own accord. If the public sector unions are able to exact some concessions (even meager ones) from the governor and the GOP-controlled legislature, then they will leave the streets to rush back to work. They will refuse to acknowledge that what's going on in their state is symptomatic of what the elitists and capitalists are attempting to do nationwide: destroy the middle class and bludgeon even further the working class and poor.
Maybe I will turn out to be incorrect. Maybe the Wisconsin protests will be THE spark that causes progressives and leftists across the nation to see that this one effort is part of a wholesale effort to shift ever more power and wealth to those at the very top of the pyramid. Maybe this will lead to citizens from all over to get out into the streets to start the process of genuinely pushing back against the oligarchy.
I have my fingers crossed that my analysis is way off-base.
Since as long as I can remember, I have been pro-union. Relationships in which one side holds considerable power while the other side holds little or no power are rife for abuse. In workplace relationships, unions provide the workers with a partial counterbalance to the immense power yielded by management and ownership. Without it, workers are at the mercy of management/ownership and often end up as nothing more than impotent wage slaves.
Consequently, I embrace the central theoretical underpinnings of the union system. That said, one of my greatest critiques of modern unions is that their vision tends to be far too myopic. Their interest solely is on what provides a better situation for their members and not on what provides a better situation for sister unions and/or society at large.
It is at this juncture that I worry that the situation brewing in Wisconsin might well fizzle out of its own accord. If the public sector unions are able to exact some concessions (even meager ones) from the governor and the GOP-controlled legislature, then they will leave the streets to rush back to work. They will refuse to acknowledge that what's going on in their state is symptomatic of what the elitists and capitalists are attempting to do nationwide: destroy the middle class and bludgeon even further the working class and poor.
Maybe I will turn out to be incorrect. Maybe the Wisconsin protests will be THE spark that causes progressives and leftists across the nation to see that this one effort is part of a wholesale effort to shift ever more power and wealth to those at the very top of the pyramid. Maybe this will lead to citizens from all over to get out into the streets to start the process of genuinely pushing back against the oligarchy.
I have my fingers crossed that my analysis is way off-base.
Well they have an compromise on the table, I think the main issue for the protests is the attack on the very right of collective bargaining.
ReplyDeleteBut basically yeah, I agree with you on this one, and feel the same way