Labor Supports The Occupy Wall Street Movement

Labor is extending support to the Occupy Wall Street Movement. With arrest of hundreds of the protesters and their release, the protesters’ uninterrupted brave presence, increasing support to them from wider society, and spread of the movement to other parts of the US the Occupy Movement is facilitating widen public space in political life. The time, it seems, is vibrant with movements, and democratic spirits and aspiration.

Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO president said: “Wall Street’s out of control”. On the Occupy Wall Street Movement he said: “[I]t’s a […] valid tactic to call attention to a problem.” (John Nichols, The Nation, Sept. 30, 2011) Leo W. Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers (USW) extended support to the Occupy Wall Street Movement. The USW is North America’s largest industrial union representing workers employed in metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining, atomic energy, airline, health care, service and public sectors with 1.2 million active and retired members in the US, Canada, and the Caribbean. In a statement on September 30, Leo W. Gerard said:

The United Steelworkers union stands in solidarity with and strongly supports Occupy Wall Street. The brave men and women, many of them young people without jobs, who have been demonstrating around-the-clock for nearly two weeks in New York City are speaking out for the many in our world. We are fed up with the corporate greed, corruption and arrogance that have inflicted pain on far too many for far too long.

Our union has been standing up and fighting these captains of finance who promote Wall Street over Main Street. We know firsthand the devastation caused by a global economy where workers, their families, the environment and our futures are sacrificed so that a privileged few can make more money on everyone’s labor but their own.

Wall Street and its counterparts on Bay Street (Toronto), The City (London) and across the world tanked our economy in 2008. They caused a crisis that we’re still suffering from - record job losses, home foreclosures, cuts to schools, public services, police, fire and so much more. They’ve gambled with our pension funds and our futures for far too long.

They should have gone to jail. Instead, they got bailed out, while we got left out. And now they want us to go down the same path.

The Occupy Wall Street Movement represents what most Americans believe: Enough is enough! It’s time to hold those who caused our economic crisis accountable, to ensure they don’t get away with it again, and to demand that everyone pay their fair share. It’s time to stand and fight for the creation of real wealth by focusing on making real things and creating family- and community-supporting jobs.

The USW is proud to join with the brothers and sisters of the Occupy Wall Street Movement as we continue this important fight for a more just economy and a brighter tomorrow.

According to Village Voice, the historically militant Transport Workers Union that primarily represents workers in the public transportation system and at some private bus lines in the New York City metropolitan area has unanimously voted to back, and provide food and services to the Occupy Wall Street Movement. The TWU plans to assemble on October 5 and march to Zuccotti Park, the place the protesters are staying. The union counts 38,000 active members and covers 26,000 retirees.

In a statement the union applauded the courage of the young people on Wall Street, and said: “the shared sacrifice preached by government officials looks awfully like a one-way street. Workers and ordinary citizens are putting up all the sacrifice, and the financiers who imploded our economy are getting away scot-free, increasing their holdings and bonuses. Young people face a bleak future with high unemployment, and minimum wage jobs. Public sector workers face Mayors and Governors who demand massive wage and benefits givebacks or face thousands of layoffs. That’s not bargaining. That’s blackmail.”

The statement said that the union’s Executive Board is united in their “determination that this state of affairs is dangerous for America and destructive to its citizenry. We support the Wall Street protesters and their goal to reduce inequality and support every American’s right to a decent job, health care, and retirement security.”

The TWU’s October 5-March is being co-sponsored by eight labor and community outreach organizations having a total membership of over 1 million. These are United NY, Strong Economy for All Coalition, Working Families Party, VOCAL-NY, Community Voices Heard, Alliance for Quality Education, New York Communities for Change and Coalition for the Homeless.

Terry O’Sullivan, General President of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), on September 30 in a statement on Occupy Wall Street said: “The workers who build America – the half-million men and women of LIUNA – are united behind the fight against corporate tyranny and for economic prosperity for all and stand with the Occupy Wall Street Movement in New York City and across the United States.” It should be mentioned that the half-million members of LIUNA are on the forefront of the construction industry, a powerhouse of workers.

He said:

The most valuable asset in America isn’t Wall Street, it is working people. Yet in America today, millions of working people are jobless and are losing their homes, their hopes and their dreams. Meanwhile, corporations are making record profits and the most profitable among them pay no taxes, shifting more wealth from the working and middle class to the rich. This ill-gotten wealth is being used to finance an unprecedented assault on working people and unions in states across the country and in Washington, D.C. Wall Street caused our economic crisis, and yet corporations are attempting to force working people to pay for it. The only way to turn back the assault is to strengthen unions and build movements, such as Occupy Wall Street.

Professors at the City University of New York affiliated with the Professional Staff Congress union have taken a number of labor-oriented solidarity actions. Their group, Solidarity with OWS, is organizing demonstration against police abuse. Their academic allies include Frances Fox Piven, Christian Parenti, and Stanley Aronowitz. (Michelle Chen, “Labor Movement Rolls Into Wall Street Occupation”, In These Times, September 30, 2011)

Huffington Post informed: the trade union representing doormen, security guards and maintenance workers with about 70,000 members (New York Metro SEIU 32BJ) was “re-purposing a previously planned rally on Oct. 12 to express solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protesters”. Kwame Patterson, the 32BJ spokesperson said: “The call went out over a month ago, before actually the occupancy of Wall Street took place.” Now, “we’re all coming under one cause, even though we have our different initiatives.”

Crain's New York Business informed: local unions are collaborating with community-based groups that include Make the Road New York, Coalition for the Homeless and Community Voices Heard. These organizations are involved with the struggles of the poor and working-class.

The movement is spreading. The main stream media (MSM) now inform this fact. ABC News said: “The protests have spread across the country, with events popping up in Boston and Chicago in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. … [E]vents in Boston will continue with a ‘Take Back the Block’ festival. At least 1,500 have registered for the festival. Along with New York and Boston, an Occupy Chicago movement has emerged, with nearly 100 people gathering in front of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank. The protests have been peaceful and no arrests have been reported. Occupy Los Angeles protests which have also been small in numbers, has called for a march today ...” (Oct 1, 2011) The Telegraph/UK carried news with the headline “Occupy Wall Street Protests Spread across US”. It said: “Inspired by the events in New York City, protesters begin assembling in several cities across the U.S. … [M]ore demonstrations began to spring up across the U.S. In Los Angeles, protesters gathered in front of City Hall and danced on buses with ‘peace’ emblazoned on the side. A smaller protest was held in Chicago’s financial district where protesters held placards demanding ‘Jobs Not Cuts’. Protesters also turned out in Denver, gathering downtown before marching into the city chanting, ‘Occupy the streets’.” (Oct. 2, 2011)

The protest organizers/sympathetic websites claimed that many events, demonstrations, and assemblies were held around the US including in Atlanta, San Diego, and San Jose in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Around 200 protesters in Boston took to the streets. An Occupy Chicago event also began on Sept. 23. At least 52 cities in America are occupied or organizing as the protesters claimed. Web sites are cropping up in increasing number that reflects the expansion of the movement. Occupy Together is playing a role of broader banner.

Sister campaigns with names like Occupy Chicago, the protesters claimed, have emerged in Albuquerque, Arkansas, Austin, Binghamton, Birmingham, Boise, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Clarksville, Cleveland, Columbus, Colorado Springs, Columbus, D.C., Dallas, Daytona Beach, Durham, Eugene, Hartford, Houston, Indiana, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Knoxville, Las Vegas, Lexington, Los Angeles, Louisville, Maine, Memphis, Miami, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nashville, New Jersey, New Orleans, OKC, Orlando, Olympia, Omaha, OSU (Stillwater), Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Providence, Richmond, Rochester, St. Louis, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Seattle, Spokane, Tulsa, Tampa, Tallahassee, Tucson, Vermont, Winston Salem, Wisconsin.

San Francisco: Occupy the San Francisco Financial District kicked off outside the Bank of America (BoA) building, also known as the “Wall Street of the West.” Approximately 150 people including members of US Uncut and the Revolutionary Poets Brigade, as well as people of all ages and students participated in the opening rally. After a couple of hours, one group marched through a street while the other met in a public assembly. Then, a small group of campers formed and stayed the night. A small camp came up. The camp is growing. There are now daily meetings at the camp and General Assemblies every Saturday.

Huffington Post reported Mayoral candidate and city Supervisor John Avalos initiated the San Francisco march with a speech: “[T]his [BoA] building right here is a symbol of the incredible greed and wealth that has accumulated into fewer and fewer hands. And how do they stay wealthy? They took our tax dollars. They got bailed out.” He urged the crowd to withdraw their money from national banks and invest in small, community-like banks. The demonstrators marched down to Charles Schwab, surrounding the building and chanting, “Charles Schwab, give us our money back”. The San Francisco protesters ended the day at Chase Bank. Six demonstrators walked into the branch and staged a sit-in in the lobby. They were arrested, and eventually released, after they refused requests to leave. (International Business Times, Sept. 30, 2011)

Portland: Occupy Portland, a nonviolent movement for accountability in the US government plans to assemble on October 6, 2011. The assembly will be in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street, and the increasing “number of cities whose people will no longer sit back watching corporate and special interests run their government.”

Berkley: An AP news report datelined Berkeley, Sept. 22, 2011 said: Students occupied a building on the University of California, Berkeley campus to protest tuition hikes and state budget cuts. There was a confrontation between police and protestors. Later, the student demonstration dispersed. One protester was arrested. “Resistance Social,” a group, organized the protest. “Protesters say”, the news report cited, “the University of California is becoming increasingly unaffordable as the 10-campus UC system raises tuition in response to state cuts to higher education.” (“UC Berkeley Classrooms Occupied By Tuition Hike Protesters”)

Global: The Wall Street protesters pronounce: “This is really a global movement.” According to their claim there were more than 35 events around the world in solidarity of the movement. These include Occupy Brisbane, Occupy Frankfurt, Occupy Hamburg, Occupy Manchester, Occupy Melbourne, Occupy Perth, Occupy the London Stock Exchange, Occupy Toronto Market Exchange, and Occupy Vancouver.

Horizontally connected, broader coalitions are coming up through the movement. The coalitions include community, environment, youth and rights organizations. Organizations against predatory lending, and elder persons’ organizations are also joining.

Movement’s Media: The MSM tried to black out news of the movement. The protest was ignored. But the MSM-silence could not be sustained. Now, MSM is giving up space to the Occupy Movement. At the same time, the MSM’s unwillingness to accommodate the movement led the movement participants to devise their medium to communicate. Now, there is The Occupied Wall Street Journal. “It debuted on [October 1] with a print run of 50,000, after two independent journalists in New York started a campaign using the online fund-raising platform Kickstarter. The four-page broadsheet includes a story […] headlined ‘The Revolution Begins at Home’, an essay by the former New York Times war correspondent Chris Hedges urging people to participate in the protests, and a ‘Declaration of the Occupation’ approved at a meeting of protesters on Sept. 29.” The initiators of the newspaper raised more than $12,000 within eight hours. (New York Times, Oct. 3, 2011)

Communiqué: Communiqués of the protesters are disseminating hard facts. In their Fifth Communiqué the 99 percent cited the following information:

On September 21, 2011, the richest 400 Americans owned more wealth than half of the country’s population; about 80% of Americans thought the country was on the wrong track; about one-sixth of Americans did not have work; the same ratio lived in poverty; about 50 million Americans were without health insurance; the US had military bases in around 130 out of 165 countries; and the US was at war with the world.

With this background, the movement demands end of wealth inequality, poverty, joblessness, health-profiteering, political corruption, corporate censorship, modern gilded age, American imperialism and war.

It is true, the movement, a very smaller one in terms of number, is in its formative stage. It is also true, there are a lot of weaknesses and weak connections. Many factors are yet to be identified. It will be an illusion that the movement will provide people a full fledged public space, and compel capital’s greed to compromise within a short time. But it’s part of a learning process, which is essential for expanding people’s scopes. Already it has produced important lessons and learning “materials”. Even, societies far away can learn from the movement. Socially and politically, the movement is significant. Even, its mistakes will be valuable assets as these will act as teacher. The voice of the section of labor, a part of broader society, extending its support to the movement is significant also.

“The movements suggest”, Michelle Chen writes, “a general trajectory of grassroots organizing: a spark of protest led by younger activists, followed by the support of labor organizations, bringing up the rear and then moving to the fore.” “[T]he movement is organically structured, with no formal ‘list of demands’ yet […] Not everyone came to Wall Street knowing exactly what they wanted, but everyone there today knows they’ve had enough, and that they’re not the only ones. […] After decades of a one-sided class war, the fightback has begun.” (“Labor Movement Rolls Into Wall Street Occupation”, In These Times, September 30, 2011)

The Wall Street Protest

Hundreds of protesters are occupying the Wall Street for the last few days while the global economy enters a dangerous new phase. The protesters are voicing against corporate greed. Police guarded the Bull, the symbol of Wall Street, said caption of a photograph accompanying a news report. Occupy Wall Street, an online group, called upon people to “flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months.”

“The global economy has entered a dangerous new phase,” said Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s chief economist. “Markets have clearly become more skeptical about the ability of many countries to stabilize their public debt. Fear of the unknown is high.” As a result, the IMF “has sharply downgraded its economic outlook for the United States and Europe through the end of next year. The IMF expects the US economy to grow just 1.5 percent this year and 1.8 percent in 2012. That’s down from its June forecast of 2.5 percent in 2011 and 2.7 percent next year.” The IMF says, the US economy “faces longer-lasting problems that go beyond high gas prices and disruptions caused by the Japan crisis”. (AP, “IMF: World economy enters ‘dangerous new phase’”, Sept. 20, 2011)

In this uncertain moment of the world economy,
“over two thousand protesters converged on Wall Street [on September 17, 2011]. By the end of the second day, those occupying Liberty Park, formerly known as Zuccotti Park on Broadway and Liberty St., had settled in, partially helped by pizza, hot chocolate and blankets paid for and delivered by their supporters in New York City and across the US. The [protest] began after months of planning and encouragement by Adbusters [an internationally distributed ad-free bi-monthly magazine] …They were soon joined by the hacktivist organization Anonymous in calling for a general people’s assembly.” (Manny Jalonschi, “The Wall Street Occupation: A Sleep-In Protest in the Shadow of Power”, The Independent, Sept. 19, 2011)

“[T]he protesters identified their key goals as liberating America from the death-grip of finance and creating a sustainable, just future for every member of the country. Even with a heavy police presence … protesters remained unmoved in their demands for a fairer political system…. While the group’s original goal had been to occupy the sidewalk in front of the building, the area was cordoned off and surrounded by … police cars and … police officers.” Later, a general assembly of the protesters began “discussions into three general areas — problems, solutions and strategies.” The participants’ “discussion focused on the corruption and collusion between Wall Street and Washington,” and many of them noted that general apathy was a problem of education. As general solutions to the problems identified transparency and education was mentioned. “News flooded in throughout the weekend of sister-rallies across the United States, including Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The international presence was heavy at the rally itself. Not only had protesters driven in from across the country, but activists we spoke to also arrived from as far as Mexico and Tunisia.” (ibid.)

The next day “became a day of support for the occupation. Thousands of New Yorkers stopped in to either see or support the growing city of sleeping bags, signs and popular assemblies. The highlight of the day was when over $2,000 in pizza was ordered in less than an hour by supporters from around the world for the protesters …” (ibid.)

On September 19, “reports of police interference were growing, as officers began arresting people who were using chalk to write goals and slogans on the concrete they occupied. But even with a heavy police presence … protesters remained unmoved in their demands for a fairer political system. (ibid.)

Organizers on the ground say, “we’re digging in for a long-term occupation”.(Micah White, senior editor at Adbusters, and Kalle Lasn, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Adbusters, “The Call to Occupy Wall Street Resonates Around the World”, The Guardian, Sept. 19, 2011)

“#OCCUPYWALLSTREET was inspired by the people's assemblies of Spain and floated as a concept by a double-page poster in the 97th issue of Adbusters magazine, but it was spearheaded, orchestrated and accomplished by independent activists. … The idea caught on immediately on social networks and unaffiliated activists … built an open-source organising site. A few days later, a general assembly was held in New York City … These activists became the core organisers of the occupation. The mystique of Anonymous pushed the meme into the mainstream media. Their video communiqué endorsing the action garnered 100,000 views ... The indignados of Spain sent word that they would be holding a solidarity event in Madrid’s financial district, [and] activists in Milan, Valencia, London, Lisbon, Athens, San Francisco, Madison, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, Israel and beyond vowed to do the same.” (ibid.)

“People everywhere”, White and Lasn wrote, “are waking up to the realisation that there is something fundamentally wrong with a system in which speculative financial transactions add up, each day, to $1.3tn (50 times more than the sum of all the commercial transactions). Meanwhile, according to a United Nations report, ‘in the 35 countries for which data exist, nearly 40% of jobseekers have been without work for more than one year’.” (ibid.)

Andrew Jones reported: “Video has emerged of some of the arrests, with police throwing some protestors to the ground before putting them in handcuffs and even dragging one individual across the street for 20 seconds. As reported to Democracy Now, Jason Amadi, one of the arrested protestors, said: “I was chalking on the sidewalk when I was surrounded by officers, they told me to put my hands behind my back and they handcuffed me and took me to the police station.” Police arrested six Occupy Wall Street protestors, on Sept. 19.

An ABC News report said: “The protest comes after comments New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg made last week that some may argue seem to have forecast the event. ‘You have a lot of kids graduating college who can’t find jobs. That’s what happened in Cairo. That’s what happened in Madrid. You don’t want those kind of riots here,’ Bloomberg said.” (“Wall St. Protesters Say They’re Settled In”)

Citing the website of Adbusters, a Bloomberg report on September 17 said: the goal of the protest is to … end “the influence money has over our representatives in Washington”.

The report said: Rich Adamonis, a spokesman for the NYSE, Duncan King of Deutsche Bank, and Bank of New York’s Ron Gruendl declined to comment on the demonstration. (“Protesters Converge on Lower Manhattan, Plan ‘Occupation’, Sept. 17, 2011)

One of the organizers said: “The main focus is the toxic and corrupting effect of unlimited money on the political situation, which would be called a Corporate-ocracy, not Democracy.” “We need to get government back into the hands of the 99 percent, not the one percent. Right now, the law is currently written for the one percent, and we are seeing an incredible amount of wealth being extracted. The aim is getting back to more of a participatory Democracy.” The Occupy Wall Street encourages “the use of nonviolence”. (CBSNewYork, “Groups Plan To ‘Occupy Wall Street,’ But Their Goal Is Not Yet Set”, Sept. 6, 2011)

Preparatory events and arrangements for the protest were made weeks ago that included non violent civil disobedience training, preparing a list of potential hosts to provide protesters place to rest, the Food Committee, Tactical Committee Meeting, art and culture meetings, an event for NY Students Rising and an Open General Assembly. In association with a number of activists around the world a live “TV” channel called Global Revolution was set up. A hotline for arrests was established with help of the National Lawyers Guild. The organizers asked donations for food. They suggested contacting the New York Police expressing solidarity with the protesters and urging the police to exercise restraint, to tell the police that the world is watching, and thank the police for all their hard work. An Occupy Wall Street Orientation Guide was prepared and distributed. Arrangements for foods, shower, etc. for the protesters were made. People were requested to bring a little bit of food themselves, enough that can be shared with at least three people. The request added, “Not only will it help us hold out for longer, it will go a long way in helping you get to know each other a little better as well.” New Yorkers Against Budget Cuts provided fliers for the demonstration.

The protesters’ communiqués present a part of protest-activities.

The third communiqué from the 99 percent said on September 20: “Today, we occupied Wall Street from the heart of the Financial District.” The demonstrators began a march through the Wall Street area, rolling through the blocks around the New York Stock Exchange. Two more marches occurred during the day around the Wall Street district, each drawing more supporters to them.

It said: Hundreds occupying One Liberty Plaza, since September 17 afternoon, held a candlelight vigil to honor the fallen victims of Wall Street, and filled the plaza with song, dance, and spontaneous acts of liberation. “We are building the world that we want to see, based on human need and sustainability, not corporate greed.”

The second communiqué said: On September 18, about 400 of the demonstrators woke up in the Financial District amidst heavy police presence. They resumed their General Assembly and made their demands heard. At noon a large group marched chanting “this is what democracy looks like.” During the march many onlookers joined while many more expressed solidarity. By the time they returned to One Liberty Plaza over 100 sympathizers had joined them. As the day progressed their numbers continued to grow, and in the afternoon they were more than a thousand strong. Later, they were “threatened with arrest using a bullhorn; so they spoke together in one voice, louder than any amplifier.”

The first communiqué told: “We are occupying Wall Street.” A group marched on the head of Wall Street and formed a spontaneous blockade, prompting the police to threaten arrest. Speakers included the Reverend Billy Talen of the Church of Stop Shopping, and actress Rosanne Barr spoke on the steps of the American Indian Smithsonian Museum to the crowd. Protesters marched chanting “Wall Street is our street” and “power to the people, not to the banks.” They held a general assembly, based upon a “consensus-driven decision-making process.” All decisions, they claimed, were made “through a consensus process by the group, for the group.” They said: “[F]reedom has been largely taken from the people, and slowly made to trickle down, whenever we get angry. Money, it has been said, has taken over politics. In truth, we say, money has always been part of the capitalist political system. A system based on the existence of have and have nots, where inequality is inherent to the system, will inevitably lead to a situation where the haves find a way to rule, whether by the sword or by the dollar.”

The Wall Street protest reflects indignation of a section of common people, which has cropped up over a long time and in a broader socioeconomic reality. Richard D Wolff, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, said in an article in The Guardian that Republicans have denounced President Obama’s “millionaire tax” proposal as “class war”. “[T]he reality is that the class war’s winners [emphasis in the original] have been corporations and the rich. Its losers – the rest of us…”, said Richard Wolff. “[A]s Buffett intimated and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg more explicitly warned last week, a renewal of class consciousness in the US. Then, Washington might learn what class war really is. (“The Truth about ‘Class War’ in America”, Sept. 20, 2011)

The protest has once again exposed the main stream media’s (MSM) biasness, which ultimately weakens MSM’s effectiveness. Filmmaker Michael Moore said the MSM ignores Wall Street protest. Moore appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show Sept. 19 to discuss the media’s coverage towards the protests from the left. He said: ‘People are down on Wall Street right now holding a sit in and a camp in down there, virtually no news about this protest. This goes on with liberals and the left all the time, and it gets ignored.’” (“Michael Moore: The media ignores Wall Street occupation”, Posted on 09.20.11 by Andrew Jones) The Wall Street protest reveals some political realities in one of the most advanced bourgeois democracies. 

The Wisconsin Protest And A Few Questions

Increasing conflict and crises in today’s US are revealed by the Wisconsin protest. Thousands are protesting to oppose a bill that aims to narrow down labor rights. Protests spread from Wisconsin to Ohio. Rallies in support of the Wisconsin protest were held around the US, including in Minnesota and New York.

Massive demonstration, larger in number and more sustained than any in Madison in decades, shouted “Kill this bill!” and demanded recall of the governor. University of Wisconsin-Madison teaching assistants and students poured into the Capitol rotunda and spent night in sleeping bags on the floor of the rotunda. They raised slogans inside the Capitol, banged on drums, and waved signs comparing governor Walker to Mubarak. Public schools were closed for days after teachers continued to call in sick to protest. The “sickout” spread across the state as several other school districts including Milwaukee, the state's largest, canceled classes as a result of teacher absences.

Majority leader Fitzgerald termed the situation “a powder keg” while Obama termed the bill as “an assault on unions”. Danny Donohue, president of the Civil Service Employees Association, said: Walker “is waging one of the most vicious attacks on working people our nation has seen in generations.” Jesse Jackson led one of the marches. There was gathering of conservative supporters also, but few in numbers. It is a state politically torn apart.

At the center of the days of protest is a controversial bill that would strip most public employees of their collective bargaining rights which the governor, an outspoken conservative, said was needed to balance a $3.6 billion budget shortfall and avoid widespread layoffs. The plan would make workers pay half the costs of their pensions and at least 12.6% of their health care premiums. State employees’ costs would go up by an average of 8%. The changes would save the state $30 million by June 30 and $300 million over the next two years, and Unions could not seek pay increases above those pegged to the Consumer Price Index unless approved by a public referendum. Unions also could not ask employees to pay dues and would have to hold annual votes to stay organized. Walker has threatened to order layoffs of up to 6,000 state workers if the measure does not pass. While other states have proposed bills curtailing labor rights, Walker’s measure is the most aggressive anti-union move.

Wisconsin, the first US state to pass a comprehensive collective bargaining law in 1959, is the place the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the national union representing all non-federal public employees, was founded in 1936. The proposed bill, being imposed by the conservatives, is an irony!

Democratic practices saw there in Wisconsin moves showing limits of its accommodation. Senate Republicans met in secret to discuss the bill. Asked where Republicans stood on Walker’s proposal, Sen. Dan Kapanke told the Associated Press, “That's a really good question. I don't know.” Fitzgerald said: Sen. Miller, a Democrat, “shut down democracy” while Democrats said: the Republicans were undemocratic. “This is wrong! Desperately wrong!”, minority leader Barca shouted from the floor of the Assembly as Republicans left after turning off the microphones. The state’s Democratic senators left the state, effectively jamming any movement on the bill, the “boldest action Democrats have taken since midterm elections swept Republicans to power in statehouses” across the US. Democrats on the run in Wisconsin avoided state troopers and threatened to stay in hiding for weeks, potentially paralyzing a state government they no longer control. The state patrol was asked to go to Miller’s house, signaling the circumstances at the Capitol. Senate Sergeant-At-Arms said: Troopers knocked on Miller’s door and rang his doorbell, but no one answered. An advanced democracy is being practiced with hiding, halting quorum, using trooper! Should Third World learn from it?

The situation led Miles Mogulescu, an activist and writer, to say: “the first stirrings of American resistance to the corporate oligarchy since Wall Street greed and malfeasance brought the American and world economy to its knees in 2008 are coming from the organized labor … in the capital of Wisconsin. …It was one of the first shots across the bow in a 30-year long war by America’s corporate oligarchy to transfer wealth from the working and middle classes to the rich and to deregulate the economy in order to increase the wealth and power of the corporate and financial elite. …This one-sided class war by the corporate oligarchy against the middle and working class has, until now, been met by … little resistance ….[R]ight-wing Republicans may have woken a sleeping giant in organized labor that is just beginning to show its power in the streets of Wisconsin. It may be the beginning of a new mass movement of the middle and working class … to take power back from organized corporate oligarchs and to restore a measure of social and economic equality ….[W]hat started in Wisconsin may spread … across the country.” (“Wisconsin Is Ground Zero in America’s New Uprising Against the Corporate Oligarchy”, The Huffington Post, Feb. 18, 2011)

Now, as an imaginary exercise, put the entire political scene onto a Third World country-political stage. What would have been described? Would it not be termed: an assault on labor, attempt to curtail rights, chaos in legislature, failure of legislature compelling people to show power, etc.? Were not all these signaled limits of practices in institutionalized politics, of accommodating and co-opting, of problems in spreading out burden fairly among constituents? When these limits and problems arise? Is it a proper functioning of a political system where stalling quorum is a way to resolve a dispute? When the need to stalling quorum arises? When troopers are sent to knock door of lawmakers’ homes? These are not, to put it softly, healthy signs in an advanced democracy. Similar political scene in case of a Third World country would have been termed by mainstream media and democracy watchdogs, by the so-called civil society as crumbling down of legislative process, symptom of a serious disease.

The symptom appears grave if the incidents are put on the backdrop of widening inequality, increasing poverty, and reckless gambling by significant part of capital. These may show first signs of rising tide of protest.

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This article was published at countercurrents.org , on 21^th  February, 2011