I am a community organizer in Arizona. Translated that means that yes: I am a masochist by trade.
During the 2008 cycle I was the Maricopa County field lead for the SEIU for Obama campaign. I loved my job, I love SEIU, but following the election chose not to accept the job organizing the Arizona state employees. The door was open and I kept thinking well if we go after the home and health care workers: I'm in, janitors: hell yeah, my kind of guys! But the state campaign just left me cold, the workers have some sort of misguided loyalty to the State Legislature which I truly don't understand. Bottom line: not all but many are really are way behind the curve and largely Republican to boot and I just felt I would not be of service to either SEIU or the workers -- but it was okay.
Really, it was.
I had some savings.
We increased the Democratic Congressional regulations at both the state and federal level.
Barack Obama was elected
Remember that? I have begun to refer to them fondly as the good old days.
Back when we thought EFCA was just around the corner and workers rights to organize for living wages was an important value to our democratically elected Democrats.
And so began my slow journey to hell (read about it in graphic detail at http://deepinthedebthole.blogspot.co... I have been living and dying everyday with news out of Washington about the status of the Employee Free Choice Act and today according to Thomas Frank from the Wall Street Journal
Card Check Is Dead
Some Democrats only care about labor's money.
It's comforting to know there are a few Op-Ed writers that actually care about this. Right. Wait there's this one. The rest are playing for the other team and heretofore know as Those That Not Be Read.
Hell, it's barely making news. The 'stimulus' package. The health care debate. The Sotomayor hearings. Whatever. Everything except that behind closed door Democrats have been slowly chipping away at EFCA into a shadow of it's former self and workers all across the country not to put too fine a point on it - being screwed.
Something will surely be passed - the question now seems to be just how watered down will it wind up being - and at what cost to the workers?