As best I can tell, the labor battle in Wisconsin is a big story–and maybe the biggest labor story in years. But as Amanda Terkel reported at the Huffington Post, that doesn’t mean you’re going to see union advocates on the Sunday chat shows. Terkel noted:
A union official told the Huffington Post that when none of the Sunday shows’ producers reached out to them to book a labor representative this week, several unions started to pitch the shows with affected workers and local and national leaders who they felt could discuss the protests. The official said the response from the shows was essentially “thanks, but no thanks.”
Terkel’s original post has been updated to reflect the fact that NBC‘s Meet the Press has announced that it will add Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO to its roundtable. The show will include an array of Republicans and conservatives: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, John McCain (because how could you have a Sunday show without him?), Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.*). Liberal MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell will also be on hand.
Shutting out labor is nothing new. A FAIR survey in 1995-96 found:
John Sweeney and Thomas Donahue, candidates for the presidency of the AFL-CIO, were the only guests who were labor leaders. Instead of worker representatives, the shows invited the CEO of United Airlines, the CEO of Continental Airlines, a Goldman Sachs analyst, retired basketball stars and political satirists.
Last week on ABC‘s This Week the roundtable segment was titled (on the show’s website) “Roundtable: Unions vs. Tea Party.” They did manage to find a Tea Party congressman (Steve Southerland), along with right-wing regular George Will and right-leaning reporter Jonathan Karl. On the other side? Democratic strategist Donna Brazile.
(Corrected: Emanuel is a Democrat)
The evident non-reporting should be very disturbing and is not new. It means that real information remains locked rather than spread about for ‘adult’ discussions to result. The media do not feel called upon to trace any continuity. (Especially bad as this is a time for mythologizing President Regan. )
He started the union squashing going against Air controllers. I have heard this mentioned twice, I think. (I am old, retired, and do not listen all day, but perhaps more than the average person, and esp. working people.) But Reagan’s action at the time needs to be recalled and its effects then and over time analyzed. A lot might be learned.
Rachel Meadow, several days ago, gave what seemed a well-researched, careful report on how crucial Wisconsin workers and unions have been in the development of workers’ (i.e. the working public) rights, from the hours worked, to the work week, to age, safety, etc.
If the content was incorrect, someone in the media should have taken up the matter, discussed, compared, corrected it. To let it just drop under the table , has been amazing and disturbing. One of her points was that the whole country, all its workers, and just about everybody owes the Wisconsin unions a huge debt of gratitude, including the Republicans and Co. who now–very intentionally, want to strike at the roots of labor right where it started, and ‘uproot’, ‘undo’ it. This gives to Gov. Walker’s actions and determination to break bargaining a much more serious aspect. Therefore, not reporting and silencing it, too, has a much more serious effect.
Moreover, the way old habits are dragged on, on both sides, (the unions sometimes being foolishly stuck in their habits of what could easily be seen as unreasonable demands, unwillingness to discuss, change, bend, insist for good reasons, examine flexibility, etc. is as damaging as the attitudes who scream “look Socialism’, and right behind it is the old nonsense of ‘a commie under every bed’. Really abominable, diversionary tactics.
The Wisconsin unions did make concessions, did behave reasonably, but they seem to realize where the buck has to stop. So they are a challenge to both, other, stuck unions elsewhere, and the Tea-Party ilk. And it is a sorry spectacle that the media by not taking it up and evolving informed discourse, but, instead, deadening the subject, are harming the American public. i.o.w.: the media are not only not doing their job–they are doing harm.
Thank you,
Johanna Sayre
Well speaking of jobs, no media source will talk about National Hiring Day either.
Yet another job story is the media’s refusal to talk about the first National Hiring Day in January 2011 – a good solution to spark the job recovery. That includes all the news show that talk about jobs daily.
National Hiring Day #2 is suggested for March 15,2011. This is a day that corporations are encouraged to hire new employees. Corporations are called on to put patriotism first and help their country in hard times. Those corporations that cannot hire, are asked to stop firing for that month. The day was suggested by the 18 year old Dallas art and media zine Musea.
Ever research how many times Trumka has been to the Whitehouse?FAIR bloggers are usually astute at information gathering.The number of times he has met with Obama is astounding ,troubling and weird.On the level of a best friend (no they are not friends).More than many people who are on his staff , and in advisory positions.As a conservative there really is no mystery.It is all too clear.
Unions have come to a place where they are being told that they are on their own.No more tax payer “assistance” to fund anything. No more Hardy pensions , early retirement,strange union work rules that don’t reflect the private sector at all.They will have more competition,and pay, reflecting a more competitive free market structure. Teachers unions wont pay even 2% more on their 8% healthcare.What do you pay????I heard the top union leader today in Phila say she hoped to retire at 50 but may have to work a bit longer.What?The senate of Indiana took off out of state to duck an anti union vote(imagine Rs doing that with Obama care)because Dems follow only laws they agree with.Note Obamas switch on gay marriage.Point is unions will have to compete.The strong arm gravy train is over.and it is not because of a left wing right wing power struggle ,or even because peoples views of unions have changed.It is because we are broke.period.
“Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (R-Mo.).” is a Democrat.
I heard that in May 1933, Hitler abolished all unions. Pick your side carefully.
Unions may be the only thing that can protect America from fascism.
Ted i would never give kudos to Hitler for anything. But I just looked at the German economy prior to 1933, and after 1933 ,up to the outbreak of war .I also looked at German satisfaction with the economy during those years preceding and after 1933(Or the so called destruction of unions period preceding war).
My conclusion is this may not be a good example to use.
Jerry how do unions protect us from fascism?And how do you feel about the unions wanting to end the secret ballot vote?
“Strong arm gravy train”??? Yes indeed all those foolish Americans thinking they had a right to a fair wage! Just look at them living large…oh wait..foreclosures everywhere…people working 2 or 3 jobs just to make it. Now that is the way good loyal Americans ought to be…underpaid and overworked forever is the battle cry of the Right. The Corporate elite need a new yacht and they all want at least as many houses as McCain. All you have to do is look at who is living large to get picture here. There are no Union people in that tight little group of the top 1%ers who have the wealth of this nation in their hot little hands. I will say it forever….A working man voting for a Republican is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders!!
Considering there are never any real liberals on the Sunday shows, why should anyone be surprised about this?
The perpetually confused Mikey e. writes “how do you feel about the unions wanting to end the secret ballot vote?
The Christian Science Monitor notes, “The proposed law [EFCA] gives workers a choice of forming a union through majority sign-up (‘card check’) or an election by secret ballot.” As The New York Times reported, “Business groups have attacked the legislation because it would take away EMPLOYERS’ right to INSIST on holding a secret-ballot election to determine whether workers favored unionization”
Helen I grew up in a family where one of my direct relatives was one of the heads of the largest union in this country.I know it inside out and backwards from the top down and the bottom up.I am not confused in the least about what the unions want.And card check is it.You are deluded if you think anything else.
Carol….when did the working man become union members only?Never met anyone in my life who does not WORK his ass off.Most doctors i know work 14-16hour days and are on call the rest of the time.Few union workers keep those hours.Anyone who owns their own business would love to know what a real day off feels like.But these are the decisions we make.Taxpayers should never be on the hook for those decisions.When i was a kid i asked my dad why certain baseball players made more than others.He jokingly said “Dems the breaks”.That is about the long and the short of it.I personally feel that when i am killing myself building something in my house that i am probably working at that moment harder than Bill Gates.It does not mean i deserve his wage. Sorry it just does not work that way.
Here is the problem.It is not a question of having a working wage.It is a problem of subsidizing a working wage.Or forcing a working wage.In the end(and we are there)the market will decide.It will decide what a man building cars is worth .And it will decide what a CEO is worth.Doctor, lawyer, and indian chief. Recently a Toyota plant wanted to open in my state.Hire tens of hundreds of people.But the starting wage of 15 dollars was fought down by the UAW, and so…….the factory moved overseas.Two things…that is jobs lost.And many people would love those jobs at those starting salaries.We all would like a living wage.But you cant unionize McDonald’s and demand a starting salary of 30 bucks an hour just because you want it.Your a union.People deserve it.And the rich board members of Mickey ds can afford it.That is idiocy.
There are plenty of dumb lies thrown around about the “extravagant” and “pampered” and “grossly over-paid” union workers left in this country, Carol. Unfortunately, I too often hear a union worker call in to a radio show to say, essentially, that “my union’s okay, but their union (public worker’s union, any other union really) is asking too much, and they don’t deserve what they get, blah, blah, blah . . . .” Until these ignorant fools realize what side of the bread their butter is on (it ain’t on George Bush’s or his daddy’s side), we’re going to keep losing ground. And until all working people realize that they’re getting screwed by the plutocrats and corporatists, and not their neighbor who may be in a union, or who may make a little more or a little less than they do, the aforementioned plutocrats will continue to grind the life out of the working poor (mostly beaten already), the working class (definitely on the mat), and the middle class (most assuredly on the ropes).
P.S.: Hmmm . . . it seems that the Wall’s daddy was as dumb as junior . . . the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree, eh? Maybe Derek Jeter should be making the same amount of money as a second-rate utility man toiling for the Washington Nationals. You know what, Carol? And Helen? What in God’s name is the above poster talking about? I mean, really–do either one of you detect a mind that has direction, or sense, or at least a modicum of understanding about anything in this whole wide world? Read the jibberish–it literally makes no sense. It’s like someone tore some pages out of some old, rotten books by third-rate hacks (say Jonah Goldberg, or Glenn Beck, or Michael Savage, or even James Patterson), cut them into strips of one liners, and then randomly pasted them onto sheets of paper, which then were transcribed by people who never saw the English language before. Truly amazing. It’s like a 15 car pile up on the Interstate (a big, goddamn Federal project, by the way, started by the great Dwight D. Eisenhower), or a train leaving the tracks right before your eyes, as you sit at the crossing and wonder, “Jesus Christ, is that thing gonna hit me?”
And yes, Carol, it will hit you, or at least the bad, dangerous, and stupid ideas expressed by the libertarians, the plutocrats, and the corporatists will make you feel as if you’ve been hit by a train. When these sick, demented ideas finally reach fruition (super low taxes for the rich, super low wages for the vast majority of the rest of us) , the not so apparent will become very real. The worst thing of all here, perfectly (yet completely accidentally) expressed by our enabling troll above, is the utter confusion and lack of coherency in thought and action that the Rightists represent. Nothing follows from anything, no one knows why things happen, and things happen because they do, and it’s every person for herself. Opinions are the same as facts, facts are irrelevant when they are iterated by anyone to the left of Ronald Reagan, and that’s all you need to know. Rightist trolls are the perfect expression of our modern, debased political discourse, where being uniformed, mean, and stupid is the purest, most patriotic form of expression.
My dearest incoherent Michael: Nobody said all working people were in unions, but EVERY working person has benefited from the union struggles in this country. Nobody said everyone should earn a Bill Gates wage either.But when the nations wealth has been so concentrated at the top as to be an absurdity then something is very wrong. NO ONE is worth what these people are getting. Certainly no moron who created the economic melt down in this country should have been bailed out with my hard earned tax dollars like the bankers were. Talk about taxpayers on the hook. I totally resent my tax dollars funding their recovery while they turn around and hand each other huge bonuses. THAT is robbing the taxpayers. I will gladly pay taxes to educate my children, to have police protection and firefighter protection. IN NO WAY is that a waste of ANY dollars.
Amen to Tim’s last line!
Tim your a socialist and you sound like one. Hatred, insult and avarice drips from your lips.Thats why you have been transcended.
Carol don’t play dumb. When people say “working man” they usually don’t mean doctors.They usually mean unions.So lets not play with semantics here.
You and your president have no right to tell anyone what they are worth. Certainly his bank account should not be what it is. You are essentially right that your tax dollars should not go to so many things.We agree.The only way to fix that is lessen the power the Fed has over those tax dollars.W in the tea party are going to come to your rescue on that one.I always thought that the morons who told me to my face(Mr Franks..Schumann….Dobbs(that fanny and freddy where “solvent and the best thing liberalism ever produced”should of been found guilty of something for the economic meltdown. But instead obama handed them leading rolls in the economic recovery.
Tim your last line was, as your first line -filled with hatred and insult.Anyone who says Amen to that has joined you.It is an ugly place
Tim once more
My feeling is we are absorbed in a debate between Democrats and Republicans who argue the best way to fix, or tweak the system.The goal is to make it work.We have purists like the Ron Pauls and the tea party and others on the left fervently believing their ideas are best suited to fix(there is that word again)this mess.All wanting this system…our system to work.Then there are the communists/socialists the neo nazis the sharia law types, and all the rest who want to tear the system down.Tim thats you.If you were honest about that you would still have a place at these blogs.You comment as if you care that our system works.But thats a lie.If your goal is socialism …you must as a point of fact hope nothing works.You are a fraud.
News flash Michael, 2 to 1 Americans are in favor of the Unions here. I’m sure some bagger will try to turn around the figures in good Fox fashion.
Extremely glad to have my “dumb” self siding with Tim and all people who are not afraid of the collective voice of their own selves. A society is social, a town is a collection of people, a democracy is actually pretty close to “socialism” for the very reason that collectively we can speak. We are a communal, social being. Cut the crap, Michael, with your attempt to demonize words that speak to people’s rights to work and speak together in a group or community. You baggers do it all the time.
How convenient you left out the predator, corporate lenders while condemning Freddie and Fannie. At least the people can have some redress with businesses funded by us. With the private lenders we have very few, especially when regulations are being knocked down all the time with total indifference to their past criminal behavior.
Carol Im not against unions.And calling people baggers is about the same as calling your prez the N word.Just a dirty aside.Try to clean that up.
I am not in principle against collective bargaining.I am also not against people collectively deciding not to pay one red cent of tax payer money to support unions.I am also not against people collectively deciding NOT To join unions.And yes lets cut the crap….Unions are exactly like corporations.A group of people led by a small group of overpaid leaders who do what the hell they want to do.I know a bunch of union members who are staunch conservatives and are furious their dues go to support the crackpot group now running our capital.
Your basic ideas on capitalism is not capitalism.We are not a socialist country however you may see it.And socialism is not charitable though that is the pose.The joke is the benevolent government growing in power and scope so that they can do their benevolent worst.The country you want is not this country.Sorry we will call it as we see it in the Tea Party.
Why, thanks, Carol. From one socialista to another, and one other believer in democracy to another. I’ll look for you on the picket line, because that’s where we’ll need to be, sooner or later.
P.S.: Hmmm . . . if one can’t stand the heat, one should remove oneself from the kitchen . . . .
Amen Tim. @ Michael: #1 baggers called themselves baggers long before I did. #2 You are back to making non coherent comments again. VIVA unions!
Carol
Afro Americans call themselves the N word every day. Doesn’t make it right.So lets not play stupid.And Im in the tea party(you are not). Been to tons of rallies. Never once have I heard anyone refer to the tea party as that.I have heard early on it appeared in print by someone associated….So if that is your excuse you have now been educated.WE don’t use it.WE see it as crude insult. Nobody should use the N word(including Afro -Americans)And no-one should use TB. Also lets try to duck whore. Seems to be used often to describe conservative woman by libs.To show you Im not a total capitalist…Im not charging you for the education.
Correction —– TB (Tea party)
Teagbaggers called themselves Teabaggers because they were too embarrassed to called themselves by their real name, Republicans any more after the Bush years.
The conservative National Review online notes that conservatives started it’s usage
http://nrd.nationalreview.com/article/?q=Mjk1YmRjNzIxNmUwMTI0ZWYxZWU4OWU2MzFiOWJmNDE=
As insults* go, it’s on a par with Dumbocrat or Republicon. [*Actually unclear why it’s an insult, lots of people, gay and straight, enjoy teabagging.]
It’s pretty amazing someone would compare a snide political nickname aimed at a two year old group with a century old racial epithet, that is meant to demean and dehumanize.
A Teabagger would be the only person stupid enough to swallow that load of bollocks.