WRS Presentation

Nothing to Celebrate in Rural WI Schools

Make no mistake, the decision by republicans in the 2011-2013 WI budget were designed to make punish poor school districts. Of the $792 million in school aids cut over two years, $749 million came from equalizing funds. That means that rich and predominantly republican school districts in places like Waukesha saw only a very small reductions, while poor districts got hammered.

According to the Wisconsin Budget Project, "the deep cuts to school equalization aid are widening the rift between rich and poor school districts. The findings from a UW analysis by James Shaw and Carolyn Kelley make us worry that there will be a wider achievement gap for students as well. For example, they found that:

- High-poverty districts had their state aid reduced by $703 per student in the 2011-12 school year, while low poverty districts lost just $319 per student.

- Public school staffing was reduced by 5.7% in high-poverty districts in 2011-12, compared to 1.1% in low-poverty districts."

Rural school districts are especially hard hit. State school aid cuts are compounded by falling property values to cripple schools already fighting falling enrollment. While suburban schools escape with little impact, kids outside Dane and Waukesha counties bear the brunt of the republican cuts.

CELEBRATE INDEPENDENCE - BUY UNION

Getting ready to celebrate the 4th of July? Remember to BUY UNION! The choices you make with your dollars mean good paying jobs here in America.

Check out this handy buyers guide to shopping union on Indpendence Day. Made in America: July 4 Shopping List, Fire up the Grill, Union Style has everything you need to celebrate the holiday while making our economy more secure for working families.

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!

Let's Make History Today

The last sixteen months have been frustrating and angering. The overlords of Fitzwalkerstan have ignored our voice. They behaved as though we did not matter. Today is the day those of us who live and work in Wisconsin get our say. Voters like you and me, speaking together through the ballot box will defeat the big money. We will turn back the lies. We will make history. There were 60,000 plus more votes cast in Dane County in 2008 than in 2010. That is more than enough additional votes today to defeat Scott Walker, just here in Dane County. When you cast your vote today, know that tens of thousands of volunteers have been actively working the past two weeks, knocking doors and making phone calls. This community is mobilized like never before. Polls open at 7:00 am and stay open until 8:00 pm tonight, but why wait. Vote early and savor your revenge that much sooner. If you took advantage of early voting, congratulations and thank you. Log onto the Wisconsion Government Accountability website to find your polling place. Wisconsin same day registration is still in effect. So, even if you have never voted before in Wisconsin, just bring along a current utility bill or something that shows you have lived in the neighborhood for 28 days and you can register on the spot. It’s easy. Here are a few other things you can do to help even more. Every one of these will make a difference in the outcome. 1) Remind three co-workers to vote. 2) Call your relatives in Rhinelander and Appleton and remind them to vote. 3) Check with the folks who live around you to see whether they have made it to the polls. Offer to give them a ride. 4) Pull out your cell phone or address book and dial friends, acquaintances; folks you haven’t talked with for a while and ask them to vote for Tom Barrett. 5) Head down to the Labor Temple at 1609 S. Park St and volunteer to make phone calls or knock doors. Shifts will run all day until the polls close. Vote for Tom Barrett and Mahlon Mitchell today. Make your voice heard in the mighty chorus that is saying, “Your pink slip has arrived.”

Take Control of Your Life - Step 1

Working families that raise at least some of their own food reap some pretty impressive benefits. First and most obvious, food you grow yourself is fresher. Many foods taste really different when prepared immediately or eaten fresh from the garden. Sweet corn comes to mind, but then again, truly fresh herbs are completely different than their dried bottled cousins.

Second, you know how it was grown. No wondering exactly what the USDA Certified Organic label means. You know exactly how it was grown, because you did it. Because the food is healthier, so are you.

Third, you get exercise and have the satisfaction of eating what you raised. I really enjoy gardening – even weeding. Community gardens allow apartment dwellers, condo owners and even those who cannot afford any permanent housing to have a garden. If you choose to rent a community garden space, you get the added advantage of making friends with fellow gardens.

Fourth, you save money. The biggest reason poor and working families in Wisconsin consume so much junk food is because it is relative cheap calories. Fresh and nutritious food costs money.

The big bonus to you and your family is that instead of forking over money at the grocery store, you have a little left to help pay those rising health insurance premiums, or the higher utility bills you get to pay for subsidizing the 5% utility bill discount Walker gave to big corporations last year. Yes, the 1% has unbounded greed and they could care less what you eat. Raising at least some of your own food returns to you a measure of control over this very important aspect of your life.

Resources

Community Action Coalition - Community Gardens

City of Madison - Community Gardens

Eagle Heights Community Gardens

Community GroundWorks (Troy Gardens)

Video Provides Smoking Gun

By now, most of you have seen the “divide and conquer” video clip. This is the smoking gun that provides definitive proof about the motives of Walker and the evil republicans in Wisconsin’s GOP. In case you missed some of the dialog between Scott Walker and billionaire Diane Hendricks, was a transcript made by JSOnline.

This video shows first that Walker lied when he said that destroying public sector collective bargaining was about balancing the budget. It is clear that it was about destroying unions themselves. Second, public sector employees are not the end game. The stated purpose of the overlords of Fitzwalkerstan is to destroy ALL unions, public and private sector.

Why is this such a big deal? All of the common benefits most of us take for granted; weekends, sick time, vacations, health insurance, workers compensation, health and safety regulation; were won by unions. Corporate profits were up in the past two years. In 2010, a whopping 97% of all wage increase dollars went to the top 1% of American workers. Union workers fared better than non-union workers. Clearly, there is money to pay workers more. It is the unbounded greed of billionaires, like the one featured in this video, which drives their desire to crush the only voice for working folks.

The code word “right-to-work” is their means of destroying the voice of working people. When unions win collective bargaining rights, they typically demand that contracts include a “union shop” clause. Once an employee, who is covered by the contract, is hired, he or she must join the union and pay dues. This is fair for three reasons: 1) a majority of coworkers have voted to say they want to be part of the union; 2) all employees get the same wages, benefits and working conditions which are better than non-union workers at other employers; and 3) federal law requires that a certified union represent all of those in the bargaining unit, regardless of whether they are members of not.

So-called “right-to-work” language says that employees are not required to join the union. However, because federal law says that the union is still required to represent them. Likewise, they are entitled to the same wages, benefits and working conditions as their dues paying union brothers and sisters. This means that employees are allowed to freeload on their union coworkers.

Many states in the south have “right-to-work” laws that prohibit union shop language and thus permit freeloading. The result of this open shop language is that membership in begins to fall. As the number of union members at a company declines, so does their ability to negotiate wage increases and strong benefits. The ultimate aim of the employer is to erode union membership to the point where they can instigate a decertification election and get rid of the union completely. Barring they, the company can weaken the union to the point where it no longer has any effective power. Wages in “right-to-work” states are lower and benefits are weaker than in union shop states. Just as important, workers in union shops have an effective advocate when the boss disregards the contract. The boss cannot hand out overtime to his buddies, deny vacation requests to those he doesn’t like or insult workers in front of their co-workers. These dignity and justice issues are just as important as wages and benefits, and they unions are the only way workers can have a voice.

The “divide and conquer” video was shot several weeks before Walker dropped the bomb in February, 2011. The timing of his remarks make it clear that Walker and the Fitzgerald brothers calculated their actions to attack all working families, regardless of whether they work in the public or private sector. Okay, it is clear why the likes of Diane Hendricks wants to kill unions; greed. What is in it for evil republicans? The answer there is the other word; power. Unions are major contributors to Democratic candidates. Since business outspends unions $12 to $1, however, contributions cannot be to reason. The real value that unions bring to the political arena is volunteers. Union members volunteer their time in huge numbers; making phone calls, knocking on doors, putting up yard signs, and helping folks get to the polls on Election Day. Let’s be clear, other than a handful of paid coordinators, union campaign workers are rank and file members who freely give of their time to help with campaigns. Those big unions bosses that the media holds up as evil demons cannot compel their members to give up their free time, workers do it because they want to elect politicians who will stand up for them.

Private sector workers found out in November just how what Diane Hendricks and the Wisconsin Manufactures and Commerce (WMC) overlords have in store for them. CEO of Manitowoc Crane, and former Chair of WMC, demanded his union machinists accept "right-to-work" language in their contract. International Association of Machinist (IAM) members and Manitowoc crane voted 180-2 against that contract and went out on strike. After two months, Manitowoc Crane brought in scab strike breakers and force IAM workers to accept open shop language.

Encouraged by Manitowoc Crane, management at Ashland Industries made the same demands of their workers. There too, IAM members voted 40-0 against open shop language and went out on strike. Ashland Industries bosses then brought in strike breakers of their own. The pattern is set and clear as a bell for all who have eyes to see. This is the final push by the 1% to kill unions and the voice of workers forever.

On June 5th, Wisconsin voters will decide which vision of our state will prevail. Electing Tom Barrett and Mahlon Mitchell will restore balance to state government and say “yes, ‘elections have consequences;’ so do lies and deception.”