Gnashing of Teeth

There has been lots of analysis, a boatload of finger pointing, of course way too much wailing and gnashing of teeth. For those of you still sitting on the curb moping about getting your butt handed to you on June 5th, take heart.

What we did here at the state Capitol in Madison sparked the Arab Spring. Millions of people are now free in Egypt, Libya and Yemen; inspired by our example. The Occupy Movement and the 99%ers would not have happened if public employees and their supporters in Wisconsin had not stood up to overlords of Fitzwalkerstan.

More than 100,000 students are protesting in Quebec for lower tuition and fair student loans because they saw students at UW Madison stand up to be counted. Those students this week inspired thousands of other students in Mexico City to do likewise.

Abused and exploited workers at Palermo Frozen Foods defied their bosses and risked INS harassment, formed a union are walking the picket line in Milwaukee as I am writing this.

Good does not always triumph over evil. Workers at Manitowoc Crane and Ashland Industries were stripped of their union security rights by bosses bent on dominating their workers like the plantation planters in slavery times. The battle for freedom continues as thousands are slaughtered in Syria by their leader; a man whose arrogant power madness those workers in Ashland and Manitowoc know all too well.

Yes, sometimes we win. When we do, it feels great. Sometimes we lose, as we did against Walker, Kleefisch and Fitzgerald on June 5th. Circular firing squads, depression and catharsis only make the evil people stronger. It is time to pull up our big girl and big boy pants and head off to work.

There is plenty to be done. Remember the support we enjoyed in March, 2011. People were putting up We Support Public Employee signs in their yards. Small businesses put the signs up in their windows. The media was buzzing with story and we for once controlled the narrative. A single misstep; a lapse in judgment resulted in sending out a letter to local southeastern Wisconsin businesses. That letter, which took an unfortunately hard line was seized upon by evil republic mouthpieces. Public opinion though broad was only an inch deep and quick as you can say “Jack Sprat” the old boogie man narrative of union bosses and greedy public employees re-asserted its dominance.

It is time for the long game. We must not only focus on the next election, in order to be successful, it is time to fashion and drive our own narrative statewide. It is difficult to do and our enemies will look for every opportunity to drive us out of the town square. Teachers, county and municipal workers and their families will be on the frontline of this battle.

We need to increase visibility and debunk the negative stereotypes pushed by the right wing. How? Show the flag in positive ways. Teachers in low income neighborhoods in Madison have for years organized neighborhood picnics, provided tutoring services and made their presence really felt in the community. Folks in those neighborhoods knew their teachers were not the overpaid greedy people the right was trying portray. Public employees across Wisconsin can learn from their example. We control the narrative by showing people in their everyday lives the truth; unionized public employees are dedicated public servants who are part of their communities and fight everyday to make those communities a better place to live.

Next, workers still control most of the spending that fuels our economy. While the 1% control 80+% of the wealth, working families still account to the vast majority of economic activity. That is because we spend pretty much every dollar we earn. When we earn a buck, we pump it back into the economy within days or weeks of getting paid. That increases the velocity of economic activity, a fancy word for sales. Any business school or economics graduate will tell you that the single metric that business uses to decide when to hire new employees is SALES.

The 1% their profits to buy up other companies, combine operations and lay-off more workers. That is why tax breaks for the rich do little to stimulate the economy. Give a rich guy a tax break and he is more likely to use that additional money to buy up other businesses. Why, because that is the shortest route to increased profits.

If a business used tax breaks to hire new employees without additional sales, the products that new employee made would just go into the warehouse, filling it with unsold inventory. The business would then need to discount the inventory to move it out of the warehouse, which would depress future sales. The picture is even worse in the service sector. Tax break driven hiring would result in new employees with nothing to do. With no additional sales, those idle workers would have little to do but surf the web or play cards. That is why tax breaks don’t increase employment. Businesses might use the additional money to improve plant and equipment, but even there productivity would go up, but without additional sales going out the front door, bosses won’t hire. More profits but not more jobs.

How can we help? BUY UNION, BUY LOCAL, BUY AMERICAN. When workers spend their hard earned paychecks wisely, we can make a difference. Buy less stuff, especially things made overseas. Think when you pull out your wallet or checkbook, “Where will these dollars go?” We can make a huge difference by redirecting just 10% of the money we spend. Make a difference!

Finally, take an active role in your local union. If you haven’t yet signed up to be a dues paying member, do it now. Lots of folks worked with United Wisconsin, We Are Wisconsin and other campaign organizations. Now is the time to direct some of that energy inward. Find out how you can use your time to build a stronger union. Offer to get information out to your co-workers, post information on the bulletin board, or organize shop meetings over lunch. Your union really wants to talk with its members and those who have not yet signed up.

If you are now pretty comfortable knocking doors and making phone calls, try putting those skills to work for your local as a volunteer organizer. We have been bloodied, but we are only beaten if we give up. One day longer, one day stronger; SOLIDARITY!