by Robyn Blumner

Every middle and working class person in this country has a stake in what is happening in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and everywhere else there is a pernicious attempt to strip public-sector workers of their collective bargaining rights. "Solidarity" is a word that has lost much of its vigor, but, without it, American workers are sunk. Either we are all Wisconsin teachers, or we are all on our own against powerful and well-funded forces bent on destroying the last vestige of power that average people have over their working lives.

It's time for Americans to turn off the latest "Real Housewives" and to begin understanding this pivotal moment. The winter of 2011 will either be known as the season when workers finally shook off their torpor to discover that they are under siege by billionaires like Charles and David Koch and their Republican handmaidens, or it will go down as the last gasp of the labor movement.

The alarming number of Americans who have expressed hostility toward the Wisconsin teachers, and public-sector unions in general, reveals that the opposition's divide-and-conquer strategy has worked. The human impulse toward jealously is easily exploited, and Wisconsin's Gov. Scott Walker and other anti-union Republican governors have effectively used it to turn worker against worker.

They're selling the story line that it's not the financial meltdown caused by Wall Street banks that is to blame for our country's tough economic times and states' consequent budget woes, it's teachers making $50,000 who have the gall to expect a decent pension at the end of a long career.

People are lashing out at government workers because they are frustrated with their own job insecurity and lack of retirement benefits. That anger should be directed toward corporate employers who have unilaterally shifted the burden of retirement risk onto workers, and who have held down workers' pay by failing to share corporate profits. But if employees expressed these resentments, they'd be fired, so instead they keep quiet and turn against teachers, garbage collectors and state bureaucrats, who suddenly appear privileged by comparison.

With only 6.9 percent of private-sector workers in unions -- down from about a third at their peak -- there is little appreciation anymore for the value of collective bargaining rights and their essential role in human self-determination. But in international affairs, these rights are well understood. Each year, U.S. embassies compile human rights reports on their respective countries that analyze the state of people's rights to organize and bargain collectively. Ever since the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, we've considered this vital to empowering people and enabling a stable middle class.

The same is true for American workers. In the U.S., the tangible benefits of unionization are incontestable. Workers in unions enjoy a median wage that is 28 percent higher than nonunion workers. Union workers are 50 percent more likely to be covered by employer-provided health insurance, and 209 percent more likely to be covered by a defined-benefit pension. But it's the way in which a union gives workers a voice that adds incalculable value to working life.

You can hear that reflected in the protests of the Wisconsin teachers, who have conceded on the money issues -- agreeing to contribute toward their pensions and health benefits -- but who refuse to give up the right to negotiate working conditions. Contract protections that reward loyal service with added job security are especially important in a climate where school superintendents are told to cut expenses. Otherwise, inevitably, the most expensive -- read experienced -- teachers would be susceptible to layoffs.

If the fight in Wisconsin was about money, Walker would be at the bargaining table solidifying his victory. Instead, Walker is using the budget as a convenient red herring for the real Republican agenda of decimating public-sector unions, which are not only liberal leaning, but also are the last bulwark of middle-class organizing.

Across the country, Republican governors are writing an epitaph for America's middle class. The struggle of Wisconsin teachers to retain their bargaining rights is our fight, too, whether we know it or not.

 

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Wisconsin's Fight for Rights Applies to Everyone | Politics

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