A few weeks ago, commenting on the democratic uprising in Egypt, Juan Cole said:
[T]he uprising in Egypt is largely a labor uprising. It is an alliance of blue collar workers with white collar workers, all of them supported by a progressive youth movement and college students.
When I read that, I thought: That's exactly what this country needs. I had no way of knowing that a few days later, just such an uprising would erupt in Wisconsin: labor led, youth supported. It has also has the support, the strong support, of people of color. Here D-Day digs inside the numbers and finds the future: "a youth-labor alliance of color."
The Pew Research Center’s topline stats show Wisconsinites favoring the public employee unions over Governor Walker by 42-31. But dig deeper. Among the 18-29 set, a vanishing small number of which belong to unions, the number expands to 46-13. Among nonwhites, it expands to 51-19. Among those who make less than $75,000 a year, it’s roughly 48-25 (I had to add a couple numbers together there). The future of the country is strongly on the side of workers in this struggle, forming the backbone of a new progressive alliance, a youth-labor alliance of color.
(I'd be interested to see the level of support among women -- the other key progressive constituency.)
Mike Elk's been doing some great stuff on Wisconsin for In These Times, but the Elk piece most pertinent to this diary appeared in the American Prospect. Elk discusses the bonds that are forming between union workers and young people.
Among many young people, the most popular profile image on Facebook has been a map of Wisconsin overlaid with a solidarity fist; some have gone so far as to tattoo the symbol on their bodies, a symbol of their lifelong commitment to the labor movement. At night, you can spot veteran union organizers in the state Capitol sharing stories about workplace struggles with students who a week before had never considered being involved in a labor struggle.
Along with many of you, I've long thought that a progressive resurgence would be impossible without the revival of the labor movement. It's no coincidence that the ascendance of conservatism accompanied a steep decline in the power of unions. As Elk points out, a third of work force was unionized in 1952, compared to 12 percent in 2010.
But the strength of the labor movement is measured not just by members but by supporters, by the number of people who make union battles their own. When it has the public on its side, labor can be much bolder in its tactics. Another stat from Elk: in 1952, there were 470 major strikes involving at least 1000 workers; in 2010, 11. Elk discusses the possibility of a general strike in Wisconsin.
A general strike would surely bring Walker to his knees. It would also be the first attempt to hold one since 1934 in San Francisco. Many private-sector unions might avoid signing on to avoid being sued by their employers -- striking in support of other unions is illegal under the Taft-Hartley Act -- but the fact that it has entered the discussion shows how serious the fight has become.
In Egypt, the April 6 Youth Movement, which helped to organized the protests that changed the world, formed two years ago on Facebook to show solidarity with striking workers. That was their purpose. Imagine if more young people in the United States, and more people of all ages, began to make union battles their own. That's suddenly much easier to imagine in light of Wisconsin, although as Joe Strummer said, the future is unwritten. Elk:
While polls showing that young people -- the bellwether for the future of the labor movement -- are more supportive of organized labor than they were just a few months ago, the real question will be whether organized labor can use the current momentum to create sustainable alliances among young people who have grown up largely without the presence of a vibrant labor movement.
We can do our part by publicizing and organizing around labor issues and battles, which, let's fact it, have sometimes gotten short shrift here. In this new Wisconsin-inspired environment, let's hope struggles like the lockout at Honeywell get more attention. Speaking of the lockout, in another post, Elk has he story of locked out Honeywell workers who went to Wisconsin.
Last Friday, two van loads of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 7-669 members, who have been locked out of the Honeywell uranium facility in Metropolis, Ill., for nine months, traveled through the night to join the ongoing protest in the Wisconsin State Capitol.
“After all the support we have seen from around the country, it would be a disservice not to join our brothers and sisters in Wisconsin and give some of that support back,” said Darrell Lillie, president of the USW local. “Without collective bargaining rights, workers in both the public and private sector would be devastated and lose their voice in the workplace.”
The future is getting written.