Boiled down, is this battle about more than the unions' right to keep collecting dues and the Dem politicians' ability to get a piece of that action?
The poor workers are giving up everything material. I'm certainly not an advocate of mere benefit-based unionism. That's what took over in this country as early as the 30s, and it's been a big failure. On the other hand, I can smell an elite finally showing up to protect its cut, and this could easily turn out to be the case here.
I wasn't always so cynical about Establishment unions. In my youth, I worked in the GC office of one of the unions involved in this fight. I was thinking Norma Rae and Woody Guthrie organizing workers and fighting off the goons. What I got was bureaucracy and games one would expect in a corporate environment.
The most egregious example was a coveted assignment I was given. The GC's office reported annually to the union's convention. I was briefed on the goal by a couple of friendly partners who had done it before. "Feature the cases with good outcomes," they said, "and make it look like the GC was involved even if he wasn't. Don't talk much about the bad outcomes."
Now this was the mid 70s. Almost everything coming out of the courts, from the Supremes and National League of Cities vs. Usery to the state courts was bad, even disastrous. I diligently researched the cases and wrote a report that said that our legal situation had deteriorated badly and that a call to arms was necessary.
I was fired for that report. My attitude was a factor as well; I won't deny it. But what I had written with all sincerity was viewed by the people that ran the GC's office as an outrage and an offense.
The DC-based unions have consistently lost membership and sold out their remaining membership for the past 35 years. They betrayed the broader Left going back as far as Meany and his support for the Vietnam War and even Richard Nixon in '72.
Those unions are dead in my view. If what is happening in Wisconsin turns out to be about nothing more than preserving the public employees' unions excuse for collecting dues and the Democratic Party's claim to some portion of those dues, that will be the end of the "bureaucratic union" movement in the U. S.
But real unionism may be enjoying a rebirth here and elsewhere. Real unionism is not bureaucratic. No one should expect to make a living as a union rep or climb a bureaucratic ladder in a real union. No real union expects some politician to help them win a dispute with the boss. And real unions work. Such unions have enjoyed great success historically from the IWW in the U. S. to the CNT in Spain.
"Solidarity unionism" is the only form of unionism gaining in this country. It is the only form of unionism that can survive in this world of part-time and contractor labor. It is the only form of unionism that can gain the confidence of young people.
I hope the workers in Wisconsin are wary enough to not be used by the DC union bureaucrats and the Dem politicians, both of whom will happily sell them down the river to maintain their power and income. They should be demanding control over their own demands. This current stance serves the union bureaucrats and the Dem politicians well. Give up everything but your right to pay union dues and contribute to the Democratic Party. How well does this bargaining position serve the workers themselves? Not so much.
The workers in Wisconsin should be deciding what the bargaining position is. They should be determining what strategies and tactics they employ to achieve those goals. Sure, they're confronting a national Capitalist strategy, but I hope they recognize that they're also facing a good cop/bad cop strategy when it comes to the Democratic and Republican parties. The Dems in the Wisconsin legislature were ready to impose these same give-backs, but when they realized they were going to lose their majority in November, 2010, they tabled everything to let the Republicans take the blame. Don't kid yourselves. The Kochs and their ilk find ways to give money to Dems as well and disguise it.
What is happening among the workers in Wisconsin is real. Their courage and persistence is admirable. But to this point, the bureaucratic unions in DC and the Democratic Party politicians have been in control. Give up everything the workers and their families need, they say, but preserve our right to be their spokesman and collect their dues.
My hope is that this exercise in real democracy will awaken the Wisconsin state workers to assert their power on their own behalf, not that of some DC union officials and Dems. I hope they adjust their demands to reflect their own interests and those of the people of Wisconsin. If they do this, they'll have a better chance of scoring a real win for themselves and working people throughout the country.