Why I'm Going to Trenton

Great diary (0.00 / 0)

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by: 12mileseastofTrenton @ Mon Feb 21, 2011 at 17:34:16 PM UTC

I'll See You There (0.00 / 0)

As a small business owner, I have seen, first hand, the damage that anti-unionism and the chipping away of benefits and pensions does to my business and the small businesses around me.

As these union folks lose benefts and have to cut back on even the basics, they stop spending with small business and start depending more and more on cheap, imported and anti-union businesses like Walmart for their daily needs.

This is not the environment I want my children to grow up so I will be in trenton on Friday to add my voice to the shout of "HELL NO!"

The red herring of "Jobs Killing expenses" is, in fact, wrong. When jobs provide living wages and affordable benefits, then more gets spent in the local economy and feeds other families.

Support economic recovery and stand with those fighting for their acces to fair and equitable rights!  

If we don't stand together, we fall alone
That didn't last long.

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by: Couch Potato Politics @ Mon Feb 21, 2011 at 17:56:43 PM UTC

It comes down to MONEY! (0.00 / 0)

Look...While I agree that something needs to be done, I am sick of having to pick up the bill for everyone else. And you should be too! I work in the private sector. I don't have a pension, I cannot bargain over benefits such as healthcare, and I cannot bargain how much I pay in taxes. I LIVE IN TRENTON. I see first hand what the raping of the middle class has done, and I, for one, am tired of having my pocket picked!

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by: AVITWeb @ Mon Feb 21, 2011 at 18:38:53 PM UTC

You're right! (0.00 / 0)

And if you look at what is going on, you'll see that while the middle class suffers under an oppressive economy, you might want to notice who ISN'T struggling.

The folks that are creating the "Monster" out of unions are the same folks that have been attacking and disbanding unions through every tactic they can for the the last 30 years.

As private sector unions decreased from 36% of the working middle class to just 6%, did your life get better or worse? Probably not.

Did things get better for Chris Christie supporters in business and finance? Absolutley.

So who has "Union Busting" benefitted? Not you and not me. Just those blaming us and our neighbors.

It sounds like you are doing exactly what the GOP and their corporate interests in finance, health insurance and manufacturing want... buying into the lie.

The answers are right there for you to read in the stock market and business section of the Wall Street Journal.

How can the country be so broke if the top 1% are making record profits?

The lie is poison and we have been fed that poison for long enough.

If we don't stand together, we fall alone
That didn't last long.

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by: Couch Potato Politics @ Mon Feb 21, 2011 at 18:49:39 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Stand Up NJ - for Middle Class Jobs (0.00 / 0)

deciminyan is so right!  "We must defend the nation from the greed and selfishness that permeates Republican ideology and their union-busting ambitions."

We must protect collective bargaining and the right of workers to act in their own interests.

We must demand that the wealthiest 1% pay their fair share.

Wear Red Friday!
We are all Wisconsin Workers!

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by: Hetty Rosenstein @ Tue Feb 22, 2011 at 00:38:46 AM UTC

See you there (4.00 / 1)

Even though I am retired from a private company I will be there to lend my support to union brothers and sisters. All of this would not be neccesary If the criminals on Wall St. didn't ruin the US economy with their greed. We as Americans lose sight of this fact. To date not one of those criminals have seen any jail time. I guess it is easy to just blame the little guy and make him give concessions while the head of Goldman makes 17 million a year plus bonuses.

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by: bluescat1 @ Tue Feb 22, 2011 at 13:12:31 PM UTC

You are confusing... (0.00 / 0)

cause and effect there.

Yes, Americas brightest times were when unions were the strongest.

But one has nothing to do with the other. Americas best times were when we enjoyed a significant competitive advantage with the rest of the planet. Most of what we consumed was produced domestically. At that time, costs of union labor could be built into the price of goods.

The fact of the matter today is that we are competing with the whole planet. Through the internet and other advances, the world has access to our technology and education (save a few industries) with a much lower cost of labor.

China is an excellent example. Although their daily labor wage is pitiful. It has doubled/tripled in the last 10 years. China today produces more millionaires than the United States. All while wages domestically have stagnated.

What you are seeing today is the planet 'leveling out', sort of like thermodynamics and the flow of heat from higher temperatures to lower, high wages will flow as well. China/India will see significant gains in wages while we will see our stagnate and/or drop as we compete against the world.

This is middle class reality. You can argue that the rich are behind these calls for concessions from public unions (who are insulated from global competition), but the rich do not make up much of the electorate. If you read the polls, the majority of voters favor union concessions. It's not because they are all ignorant and have fallen for 'Chrisite spin' either. It's because they are middle class workers competing in the global economy and see first hand how this competition has eroded their earning power.

Right or wrong, they now see public employees insulated from the forces driving down their compensation and are supporting adjustments to achieve what they believe is parity.

"Where ever you go, there you are." - Buckaroo Bonzai

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by: William Weber (WjcW) @ Tue Feb 22, 2011 at 13:21:46 PM UTC

Your Argument is Biased and Blind (4.00 / 2)

Corporate interests started going after private sector unions 35 years ago, led by mega-law firms focused on finding ways to break contracts, decertify unions and cut the middle-class access to benefits and fair bargaining.

Now that they have driven private sector unions from 36% to 6% of the workforce, they are going after the public sector unions.

Final goal? NO UNIONS. They want to destroy the unions for 2 primary reasons:
Weaken the worker and finish off the Democratic party by destroying their last major support structure.

This has NOTHING to do with budgets because the Unions in Wisconsin are ready to concede financial matters but Walker doesn't want that, he wants to take away their bargaining rights. THEIR UNION RIGHTS.

Stop buying the lies and look at the dollars and cents.
Wisconsin wasn't in a financial crisis until Walker started cutting taxes.
And the crisis IS in the FUTURE because of his cuts. The cuts HE CREATED for the Koch brothers and corporate interests.

Unions in New Jersey have sat down with previous state leaders and made concessions. Now you have a governor who isn't interested in negotiating, just dictating and smothering unions.

Follow the numbers. The decimation of unions have preceded the free-fall of the middle class, not resulted in.

Your " planet 'leveling out', sort of like thermodynamics and the flow of heat from higher temperatures to lower, high wages will flow as well. " argument is a joke.
The economy has nothing to do with thermodynamics and the anaology is ludicrous.

If we don't stand together, we fall alone
That didn't last long.

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by: Couch Potato Politics @ Tue Feb 22, 2011 at 13:32:45 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I can't even respond. (0.00 / 0)

It's like you aren't living on the same planet.

Read 'The World is Flat' by Thomas Friedman.

"Where ever you go, there you are." - Buckaroo Bonzai

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by: William Weber (WjcW) @ Tue Feb 22, 2011 at 15:27:42 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Read Disaster Capitalism (0.00 / 0)

by Naomi Klein.  

Even Friedman has repudiated some of his foolishness in the book since the financial collapse.

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by: 12mileseastofTrenton @ Tue Feb 22, 2011 at 15:48:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Voters (0.00 / 0)

When they've been exposed to years and years of demonization and scapegoating of public employees in the media, particularly on "talk radio," it's not a surprise that a plurality, or a majority, may feel that way.  Instead of wanting to be raised up to the level of benefits public employees and unionized workers receive, they want to drag them down.  It's the race to the bottom that the corporations and super wealthy have been seeking as part of their class war.

And your mistaken in believing that this "levelling out," as you call it, is something that just happened.  There has been an active effort on the part of large corporations, with the aid of government policy in terms of tax and so-called "trade" agreements, to eliminate good paying jobs and benefits in this country in order to fatten their bottom lines by seeking out cheap labor.  We need an international mechanism to restrain them as we did domestically the last century.

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by: 12mileseastofTrenton @ Tue Feb 22, 2011 at 14:11:58 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Not just happened... (0.00 / 0)

for the last 15 years... significantly.

But you are correct it is the free trade policy, supported by both parties, that is causing the disintergration of American wages. I just think Pandora's box is opened now and I'm not sure how you close it, short of starting trade wars.

"Where ever you go, there you are." - Buckaroo Bonzai

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by: William Weber (WjcW) @ Tue Feb 22, 2011 at 15:32:39 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

The last 30+ years (0.00 / 0)

Can be dates 1979 which, not coincidentally, was the peak in numbers of workers in unions in the U.S.

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by: 12mileseastofTrenton @ Tue Feb 22, 2011 at 15:50:21 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Maybe... (0.00 / 0)

it started 30 years ago. But it didn't really take off, and hit high tech white collar industries, accounting, IT, etc, until the advent of the internet.

But exactly my point, the 'scab' worker is now typically a foreigner, in a foreign country.


"Where ever you go, there you are." - Buckaroo Bonzai

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by: William Weber (WjcW) @ Tue Feb 22, 2011 at 15:58:29 PM UTC

[ Parent ]