(Written by an American expat living in the European Union)
Clearly the Tea Party in Wisconsin has tipped their hand as to what their roadmap is for America, which is a concentrated campaign of nationwide union busting. As an American MBA living in the European Union, I am keenly aware of the fact that America's weak social safety net and lack of universal medical care is directly attributable to the fact that in America essentially has the lowest rate of unionization already of virtually any major industrialized country in the world, which concurrently has extremely weak labor laws which makes high rates of unionization imperative as the only real form of worker protection in America. And so it is that France for example doesn't have to have a high rate of unionization because strong labor laws provide for worker protection outside of the union system, but not so with America which stands alone in not mandating worker protection for paid leave and medical care.
The GOP's position is that it's unfair to beat up on America's low rate of unionization given the economic crisis. However the OECD chart below prior to the crisis reveals America's historic low rate of unionization, even in economic good times.
Right out of the history book of labor union repression, Wisconsin's tea party governor Scott Walker threatens to call out the National Guard. As such is decried as an international pariah by the progressive European media.
This is reported with shock and scornful disdain by the European Press corp. who look on in what can only be described as a state of disbelief at the pariah actions of the American tea party, whose agenda it is to roll back worker's rights in America, which is a country that already has 59 million Americans without health insurance; 132 million who don't have dental insurance; 60 million who don't have any paid sick leave; 40 million who are on food stamps.
Let's please remember that by contrast in the European dream, everyone in the European Union has cradle to grave access to medical care and dental care, irrespective of whether they are employed or not. Let's also remember that they have access to paid sick leave, paid annual leave and paid maternity leave, even for low wage workers, who likewise have access to full medical and dental as do their family members. So it is from this vantage point that the progressive European press corp looks at the Tea Party Governor Scott Walker's actions as those of a pariah bent on destroying the working class dream, even to the point of threatening to call out the National Guard as reported widely by the European press corps as seen in the example of the quote below.
(guardian.co.uk) Wisconsin's Tea Party takeover
by Paul Harris - Wednesday 16 February 2011 19.40 GMT
Led by Governor Scott Walker, Republicans are using the midwest state as a testbed for radical right policies. It's not pretty
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Wisconsin is rapidly becoming a disturbing showcase of where America as a whole is headed, as Tea Party political ideas takeover the Republican party. What began as a ragtag scattering of conservative activists two years ago is now starting to have real political power and putting its anti-government, slash-and-burn ideas into practice in ways that impact millions of Americans. ............... First up is an astonishing attack on unions. As part of spending cuts ostensibly aimed at digging Wisconsin out of a budgetary mess, Walker wants to brutally strip-mine state workers' benefits and pensions. He has also launched a full-frontal attack on the collective bargaining rights of 175,000 state and local employees, allowing workers instead to negotiate only over salary. It is a shocking attempt at union-busting that has caused outrage – and scores of demonstrations across the state.
Yet, in the face of that, Walker threatened to call out the state's national guard. But union-busting is only the beginning.
Walker is also aiming at a massive extension of power over the state's health programmes, covering more than 1 million residents.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
The quote below is from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics' annual report on union membership
Friday, January 21, 2011
In 2010, the union membership rate--the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of a union--was 11.9 percent, down from 12.3 percent a year earlier, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of wage and salary workers be-longing to unions declined by 612,000 to 14.7 million. In 1983, the first year for
which comparable union data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 per-cent, and there were 17.7 million union workers.
http://www.bls.gov/...
As America has one of the lowest rates of unionization of any major industralized country in the world which as a corollary has the weakest social safety net as it applies to America's jobless, as we see from the chart below.
As it turns out as America has become eviscerated as a strong union nation, this has transcribed to a lack of power and influence that unions have in the halls of Congress for their unemployed members. So it is that America is one of the least generous countries in the world when it comes to providing for jobless benefits. All of this is of course to say nothing of the fact that America's jobless aren't provided with health care access for themselves and their families; whereas all the OECD countries listed and all of the countries in the European Union provide for access to medical care for jobless persons and their family members as a human right.
British Guardian newspaper
The state's Republican governor, Scott Walker, has threatened to bring in the National Guard if services are disrupted............
Union leaders are pouring resources into Wisconsin but are also planning for
battles in Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, Indiana, Michigan and
other states facing budget crises. They have put aside $30m for the campaigns.
Union leaders are pouring resources into Wisconsin but are also planning for battles in Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, Indiana, Michigan and other states facing budget crises. They have put aside $30m for the campaigns.
"Plans are being put into place to silence workers, lower their wages, cut their benefits and increase the likelihood that they will suffer injuries and fatalities at work," said Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which has 1.6 million members, said. "It is happening at a breakneck pace."
Republicans in the state senate in Ohio are also proposing legislation to end collective bargaining, a move that prompted thousands to protest on Thursday.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
The Tea party led class warfare against the progressive working class American communities is shocking. Their intent is to strip collective bargaining power of working people to roll back earned pensions and medical care. This is yet one more reason why working class American progressives have to circle the wagons around the idea that America's working class has to have a European style social safety net with universal medical as a human right at its centerpiece in order to protect the American working class dream. The plutocracy and their Tea Party minions are intent in turning America into a low benefit or no benefit de-industrialized nation of low wage service employees who are permanently kept vulnerable and therewith permanently kept compliant for the plutocracy which will spell nothing less than the permanent death of the working class American dream. By contrast, in the European Union where I live everyone is provided access to cradle-to-grave universal medical care, dental care and basic worker protections wherein labor laws mandate paid sick leave, paid maternity leave, paid annual leave. Even the jobless are provided with medical care, as are their families in the European Union. While we can all be proud Americans, surely we don't have to be proud of America's weak social safety net or of the union busting Tea Party agenda.
Is Wisconsin where the rest of the country could be heading? Perhaps. Certainly, the White House is concerned that the state's change from blue to red could presage a threatening shift across the midwest and beyond that might upset Democratic plans for 2012's presidential election. After his state of the union address in January, President Barack Obama headed straight to Wisconsin to try and sell his new message of unity. As NBC's Chuck Todd recently said, Wisconsin is set to be a "petri dish" for the next election's key battlegrounds. If that is right, expect a fight marked by ideologically motivated budget cuts, union-bashing, anti-government rhetoric and the threat of the national guard.
The future picture of America emerging from Wisconsin is a grim one indeed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
The simple truth is that the Tea Party led class warfare that we are seeing emerge in Wisconsin has nationwide implications and Tea Party aspirations. This fact must alarm persons of conscience around the globe, as is in evidence of the British newspaper Guardian's readership. These readers view this phenomenon with disbelief. How could progressive America allow this to happen? More to the point in a separate article the British newspaper the Guardian publishes a very thoughtful opinion by University of Washington Professor James Gregory who presents an important caveat as to what this means for the working class American dream. Clearly the American working class has become the subject of Tea Party led class warfare whose intent it is to change the face of America for a very long time to come, by killing the American working class dream for an entire generation.
(British Guardian newspaper quote)
James Gregory, a professor of history specialising in labour studies at the University of Washington, said the consequences could be felt for years to come.
"This is a threat not just to unions but to American democratic institutions. The past century has seen a significant expansion of civil rights, including workplace rights, and democratic institutions, including the principle that employees have the right to negotiate terms of employment and be represented by unions.
" For a state government to take away these rights long after they have been established is probably unprecedented and is deeply troubling."
Gregory added: "I can't think of any previous anti-union legislation that represented the same kind of threat. The Taft-Hartley Act passed in 1947 placed restrictions on how unions could operate. Some states passed so-called Right to Work laws beginning in the 1950s."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
Let's remember that its unions that gave America the 40 hour work week and stopped the exploitation of child labor in America and provided for worker compension for on the job injuries. Unions are what built the working class American dream. Without unions the American working class dream is dead. So I ask you to support our union brothers and sisters in Wisconsin. Workers of the world unite! Long live America's unions!
PS: As a related note I'd like to invite you to join us at Global expats in furtherance of our discussion here. For anyone who is interested in joining Global expats please send me email at: democratsramshield@yahoo.com