On May 1st and 2nd, the magazine The Progressive is holding its 100th Anniversary Conference in Madison, Wisconsin. All of the All-Stars from the left will be there including Amy Goodman, Jim Hightower, Naomi Klein, Robert Redford, Dolores Huerta, and Former Senator George McGovern.
George McGovern? You mean the guy that sold out the American worker by speaking out against the Employee Free Choice Act? The man who bought the phony argument about EFCA taking away the right to a secret ballot?
Yes, that George McGovern.
McGovern's betrayal of the labor movement is not something that should be easily forgotten by The Progressive or progressives in general. As years of hard work on the most important piece of labor law reform start to unravel because the corporate media has spun worker protections into a ruse to force unionism on workers we should be picketing, not celebrating, their willing accomplices. Wall Street board rooms and right wing "think tanks" cheered when McGovern broke ranks. Just recently in Providence, Rhode Island, the members of the Chamber of Commerce cheered when pro-EFCA Senator Sheldon Whitehouse told them that there weren't enough votes in the Senate.
They cheered not because they care about workers' rights. The cheered because their power was secure. And they have George McGovern to thank for it.
I hope The Progressive rethinks its list of invitees. If not, I hope folks in the labor movement in Madison show up to remind the former Senator of his betrayal.
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