Activist Hub Radio 3/13/11:The Media's problem with Labor & NPR Punked by James O'Keefe's Lies

Adam and I discussed the mainstream media's poor coverage of the 4000+ pro-Labor rally in St. Louis, particularly the St. Louis Post Dispatch, and KMOV. We moved on to NPR getting punked by James O'Keefe's deceitful video editing, and ended the show discussing the Obama administration's maltreatment of Pfc. Bradley Manning.



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Activist Hub Radio 3/6/2011

This week Adam and I continued our on going discussion of the assault on workers in Wisconsin. We also critiqued the media coverage of the events in Wisconsin, looked at John Stewart's segment on the teachers/the Bush Tax Cut, and KMOV's reporting on the stimulus package. Due to technical difficulties part of the show was deleted, therefore our interview with Brian K. Massey will be in a separate post



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The Wisconsin Revolution Continued: Activist Hub Radio 2/27/10

Adam and I continue our discussion on Wisconsin and the labor movement's efforts to block Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker plan to destroy collective bargaining rights for public workers and tackle the media blackout from the mainstream media. We also look at the St. Louis Tea Party's paranoia over the New Black Panther Party and the Muslim Brotherhood.



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Why The Fight For Unions Matters

A couple of great articles today about the fight in Wisconsin and the broader implications.

Ezra Klein at Newsweek discussions the importance of unions in general terms:

But unions still have a crucial role to play in America. First, they give workers a voice within—and, when necessary, leverage against—their employer. That means higher wages, but it also means that workers can go to their managers with safety concerns or ideas to improve efficiency and know that they’ll not only get a hearing, they’ll be protected from possible reprisals. Second, unions are a powerful, sophisticated player concerned with more than just the next quarter’s profit reports—what economist John Kenneth Galbraith called a “countervailing power” in an economy dominated by large corporations. They participate in shareholder meetings, where they’re focused on things like job quality and resisting outsourcing. They push back on business models that they don’t consider sustainable for their workers or, increasingly, for the environment. In an economy with a tendency toward bigness—where big producers are negotiating with big retailers and big distributors—workers need a big advocate of their own. Finally, unions bring some semblance of balance to the political system. A lot of what happens in politics is, unfortunately, the result of moneyed, organized interests who lobby strategically and patiently to get their way. Most of that money is coming from various business interests. One of the few lobbies pushing for the other side is organized labor—and it plays a strikingly broad role. The Civil Rights Act, the weekend, and the Affordable Care Act are all examples of organized labor fighting for laws that benefited not just the unionized. That’s money and political capital it could’ve spent on reforming the nation’s labor laws.

And he ends with a great kicker:

But to paraphrase Tolstoy’s insight about families, all institutions are broken in their own unique ways. Corporations and governments have their flaws, too. Like labor, they’re necessary participants in a balanced economy. A world without organized labor is a world where workers have less voice and corporations are even more dominant and unchecked across both the economy and the political system. That isn’t healthy—not for workers and, in the long run, not even for corporations. But to change it, labor has to do more than cheat death. It has to find a new lease on life nationally.

E.J. Dionne Jr at the Washington Post talks about Wisconsin specifically

"The game goes like this," according to one pro-union political consultant I spoke with. "Destroy private-sector unions, reduce private-sector health and retirement benefits, then say 'Hey, how come those public employees get such [relatively] good benefits? That's not fair.' " He scoffed at those now insisting that they like private but not public-sector unions: "Private-sector unions are only 'okay' once they are completely emasculated."

And:

How do we know this is about power, not budgets? Even as they go after the unions, Walker and his Republican allies in the legislature are also trying to change the makeup of future Wisconsin electorates in their favor. They are pushing to end same-day voter registration (which currently empowers younger voters, who are more liberal than their elders and move around more) and to pass onerous voter ID laws that would especially burden those with lower incomes.

Last week Walker signed into law a bill that will require a two-thirds supermajority in the legislature, or a statewide referendum, to raise income, sales or corporate franchise taxes. Imagine if President Obama had insisted that a two-thirds majority be required to repeal his health-care law? This is an anti-democratic effort to lock in the policies of what could prove to be a temporary conservative majority.

h/t to Greg Sargent for an excellent roundup of analyses.

Rally Against Attacks on the Middle Class

Yesterday, I attended a rally with the AFL-CIO, SEIU, St. Louis Jobs with Justice, and other awesome local groups in St. Louis. The rally was in solidarity with Wisconsin, and about 70 people attended and then went on to canvass and make phone calls. Some firefighters also made an appearance to show their solidarity. The focus in Missouri is a little different than in Wisconsin, but the differences and similarities are instructive.

First, since almost everyone realizes that unions were responsible for creating the American middle class (giving us weekends and overtime pay and ending child labor practices), one argument the anti-worker pro-corporate forces often give is that "unions were once valuable, but now they're no longer needed because we have laws protecting workers." This is laughable not only because current laws are much more friendly to corporations than to workers, but also because it ignores what would happen if unions were destroyed by the Right. All one has to do is look at Missouri, where certain groups are organizing to try to roll back the minimum wage law passed by a 3 to 1 margin by Missouri voters only a few years ago, to roll back child labor laws, and to end protections against discrimination, to see what the ultimate agenda is. If unions are destroyed or significantly weakened, the Right will waste no time in rolling back every single step of progress the unions have fought so hard for, including weekends, overtime, etc. In fact, they are doing so already.

This is why it's so important to stand with workers in Wisconsin, Missouri, and all across the United States. The end game for the corporate right is the complete destruction of worker's rights, where nothing will stand in the way of maximizing corporate profits and increasing the wealth of a very small group.

So with that in mind, it was heartening to see the rallies yesterday. MoveOn.org out-organized the anti-worker groups in Jefferson City while unions were hard at work in Kansas City and St. Louis. The people are on the side of the workers, and the more they are educated about what's really going on, the stronger their support will be.

Anyway, here's a nice press release from yesterday's St. Louis rally that explains what the rally was all about:

Working Missourians Stand Together as One Against Attacks on the Middle Class

Unity rally for solidarity with workers in Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio and canvass to save our minimum wage

On Saturday, February 26, working Missourians held a rally and canvass in St. Louis to stand in solidarity with the people of Wisconsin defending against attacks on the middle class. All across the country, working people facing these types of attacks are standing together in solidarity with Wisconsin families and to protect their own basic rights being threatened by the politics as usual.

“Working people voted to create jobs, but politicians bankrolled by corporate CEOs are up to the same old tired politics. Instead of focusing on jobs, they’re trying to weaken or eliminate workers’ freedom to join unions so they can’t serve as a check on corporate greed to restore balance. What’s going on in Wisconsin is not an isolated event--these attacks are sweeping the nation. In Missouri, voters approved raising the minimum wage by a 3 to 1 margin, but politicians are set to give the lowest paid workers in the state a pay cut.

Rather than creating jobs, too many of our elected officials are pushing a laundry list of attacks on working people. Minimum wage, a push to repeal child labor laws and “right to work for less legislation” are legislative priorities of out of control Wall Street banks and corporate CEOs, not Missouri voters.

Jobs with Justice and community groups, small business owners and workers who provide vital services to local communities will share their stories and concerns about the partisan political assault on working families in Missouri and demand our elected officials instead focus on creating good jobs.

And here's some coverage from Fox 2 News:
 


Update: Looks like the tea party rallies were even worse than reported. From the photos, it looks like they had less than 50 people.

The Wisconsin Revolution? Activist Hub Radio 2/20/11

This week Adam and I talk with Cathy Sherwin, the communications director for the Missouri AFL-CIO, about the unfolding mass movement in the state of Wisconsin. We talk about why the Republican bill would damage working families across the country, the misinformation from the media, and how the efforts like Republican Governor Scott Walker's are being replicated in Missouri and across the nation by wealthy conservative groups and the Koch Brothers.



Sadly the audio cut off for the last few minutes so i will post all of the contact information here:

Missouri AFL-CIO

Stop Right to Work for Less (Missouri)

Stop Child Labor in Missouri

moaflcio.org (Missouri AFL-CIO website)
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