In The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, New York, 1993(1962), p. 88), James Baldwin writes: People are not, for example, terribly anxious to be equal…but they love the idea of being superior. And this human truth has an especially grinding force here [in America], where identity is almost impossible to achieve and people are perpetually attemptingContinue reading “James Baldwin On The Non-Existence Of The American Worker”
Tag Archives: public sector unions
Step This Way For The Deunionized American Workplace
American unions look headed for another legal beating in the US Supreme Court. Pretty soon, we’ll be able to drop all pretense and just advocate beatings until the morale–of American workers–improves. The Supreme Court is about to hand their overseers a slightly thicker, more knotted, whip. Ten Californian teachers have sued their union–on First AmendmentContinue reading “Step This Way For The Deunionized American Workplace”
Scott Walker: Destroying Tenure, Keeping You ‘Free’
Scott Walker is well on his way to destroying one of the finest systems of public education in this country. Those who cheered his attack on public sector unions will cheer this move on too: it has everything they want. A repeal of tenure, destruction of faculty governance, budget slashing, more power to university administrators.Continue reading “Scott Walker: Destroying Tenure, Keeping You ‘Free’”
I’m Scared, Therefore I Work
A few weeks ago, I got into an argument–offline, not online–about those two horsemen of the apocalypse that are destroying the American nation, rendering it financially insolvent, and turning the American Dream into the American Nightmare. I’m referring, of course, to unions and teacher tenure. At the heart of these fears is a very interestingContinue reading “I’m Scared, Therefore I Work”
The ‘Adversarial’ Nature of Unions
One of the strangest objections to the presence of unions in the workplace is that unions make the workplace adversarial, that they introduce conflict into the relationship between the worker and the manager (or between the two classes), that rather than letting workers and management concentrate on maximizing output (or throughput) and enterprise profit, whichContinue reading “The ‘Adversarial’ Nature of Unions”
Narrowing the American Dream to Exclude the American Worker
My sister-in-law works as a labor organizer for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). I’m proud of the work she does and remain resolutely convinced that her efforts to facilitate the unionization of workers count among the most important contemporary attempts to reform the American workplace and reduce income inequality. ButContinue reading “Narrowing the American Dream to Exclude the American Worker”
Camden Can’t Afford Its Police and Its Union Any More
Today’s blog post has little ‘analysis’; all I need do is point. Perfect storms should be ‘admired’ from a distance. When I’m done, let the chants of ‘USA! USA! USA!’ ring out, loud and proud. So, let us get started. Here is a little piece of news: Camden, NJ has decided to disband its policeContinue reading “Camden Can’t Afford Its Police and Its Union Any More”
Misery Needs Company, Contd.
Misery Needs Company, Part Deux prompted a series of useful comments from readers Melon, Dan K., and JR. I’m going to respond here to a central thread therein. As Dan K. asks, ‘Are luxurious union contracts contributing in a significant way to our economic problems’? (By ‘economic problems,’ I presume state budgets like Wisconsin’s are atContinue reading “Misery Needs Company, Contd.”
Misery Needs Company, Part Deux: Scapegoating Unions
Reader JR left an interesting comment yesterday, responding to my post ‘Misery Needs Company: The American Worker’s Hostility Toward Unions.’ Rather than excerpt it here and respond piecemeal, I’m going to just write a few thoughts prompted by it. (Please do read the comment in full.) There are, I think, two points that are being conflatedContinue reading “Misery Needs Company, Part Deux: Scapegoating Unions”
Misery Needs Company: The American Worker’s Hostility Toward Unions
In the midst of a Facebook discussion about the possible reasons for Scott Walker’s victory in Wisconsin, a participant stated, [T]here is an incredible amount of hostility towards Unions, and a unique hostility towards Public-Sector Unions. If you look at what the Unions were fighting for it’s very hard for a private sector employee toContinue reading “Misery Needs Company: The American Worker’s Hostility Toward Unions”
Samir Chopra 