AFL-CIO experts admit there is a working class, but jobs must be middle class

Source: AFL-CIO

So I got this report from the AFL-CIO this morning about the "fightback" in Ohio and a rally of some three thousand people, workers and students at the State Capital in Columbus. I have to put the term in quotes because there are many definitions of fightback and I don't want people to think that any fightback that is designed in the AFL-CIO war room, or endorsed by it is my fightback, the average Union members idea of what a fightback should be or a fightback at all. The rally, according to the AFL-CIO report was organized by We are Ohio and Stand up for Ohio names that do sound very AFL-CIO ish.

Like Wisconsin, Ohio's Republican governor John Kasich is leading the assault on public sector workers, our Unions and the services we provide. The budget proposes "drastic cuts to education and public services, privatizes state services and gives tax breaks for businesses and the wealthy—including a repeal of the state’s estate tax on large estates." says the AFL-CIO report.

The rally was also an effort to get signatures for a repeal of the governor's bill which eliminates collective bargaining rights for public employee Unions. This is a major issue for the heads of organized Labor as it directly affects their jobs; without a seat at the table they have no purpose. Eliminating collective bargaining rights and dues check off (where the employer collects Union dues through payroll and hands the Union a check) were the main and pretty much the main issues in Wisconsin as they both directly affect paid officials and the revenue they need to run the Union. The top leadership of the AFL-CIO and the public sector Unions have made it clear that they have no problem conceding on all the issues that affect their members; wages, conditions on the job, benefits, pensions etc.

The article quotes Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga who says Kasich’s budget “is less about balancing our budget and more about a partisan political agenda…we will certainly see the loss of jobs for Ohio’s middle class. Another activist, Kris Harsh, with Stand up for Ohio, makes the same argument, that the proposed budget will "erode" the "middle class" jobs. "We’re calling for a more balanced approach to solve Ohio’s budget problems."

Firstly, the offensive against public sector workers and services is not a "partisan" effort, it is a combined effort as both Democrats and Republicans wage a war on workers as they shift the crisis of their system on to our backs. Jerry Brown, the Democratic governor of California is offering much of the same. The economic terrorism that Brown is proposing includes:

Medical cut by $1.7 billion.
CalWorks cut by $1.5 billion.
Higher Ed must suffer: UC cut $500 million.
CSU cut $500 million.
Community colleges cut $400 million.

The leadership of the major Unions including the California Labor Federation AFL-CIO that represents some two million workers are supporting Brown's budget using the same sort of language that we read above, it is "fair and balanced.".  There is a shared sacrifice we hear from the strategists atop organized Labor, a "shared sacrifice" from which they're exempt. What is fair and balanced about what they are doing to workers and the middle class in this country?  Millions of foreclosures, tewo million in jail, pay cuts, no health care, privatize everything including education.  Perhaps 400 Americans having more wealth than 155 million of us is what the Labor leadership considers "fair and balanced".

So what are the nuts and bolts of this AFL-CIO strategy to fight back against the most aggressive assault public sector workers are facing?  It is to limit our activity to petitions to overturn bills and recall politicians, namely Republican politicians and replace them with Democrats who will allow us to live a day longer.  It is a strategy for damage control. I stress public sector because our private sector brothers and sisters have already been dealt this death card. What is happening to public sector workers now has already been implemented successfully with the auto workers, once the benchmark for what a decent living should provide, and it has been accomplished with the active assistance from the Union leadership at the highest levels.

The clip from the AFL-CIO that came in to my mailbox states:
"The fight for the middle class and workers' rights goes on in Ohio"  This is a step forward.  The strategists of the AFL-CIO, no doubt with advice from the academics that legitimize their rule, the various "Labor experts" that have found a nice home for themselves in one university or another, have finally decided that there is a "working class" in this country.  There must be a working class if there are middle class jobs, because to claim to defend  "workers rights" there must surely be workers and they must have jobs that they work in.  I am sure that the AFL-CIO is not talking about "workers' rights" in the home; unless you're a home help that is or a carer of sorts.

When I first came to this country and worked as a ditch digger which is what I have been most of my life, barring a few stints in factories which is the hardest work I ever did, a co-worker mentioned that I was "middle class".   I was insulted.  How dare you call me middle class.  I was not middle class and certainly had no desire to be middle class, no offense to those that are mind you, they can't help it, a lot of them become middle class radicals, that's really what the left is in the main, middle class.

Now after 38 years the AFL-CIO comes to the rescue and admits that there are workers here.  What a relief.