Remember: it wasn’t an attack on unions, it was budget-balancing:
An Ohio group has been cleared to continue its effort to push a ballot initiative that would keep workers covered by labor contracts from having to join a union or pay dues.
Attorney General Mike DeWine on Wednesday said Ohioans for Workplace Freedom has provided a “fair and truthful” summary of its proposed right-to-work amendment.
The approval comes the same day Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a right-to-work bill, making it the first Rust Belt state to enact such a law.
The Ohio proposal emerged this fall, days after voters rejected a law placing restrictions on public employee unions.
We were told for more than a year that the conservative assault on public sector unions had nothing to do with conservative opposition to unions, but instead was about state budgets. That was obviously a lie. That pundits of all stripes swallowed the lie whole does not make it less of a lie. Is there going to be any attempt to correct the record here? Because this is important. Weāre going into an election year and conservatives are waging a full-out war on both public sector and private sector unions in state after state after state.
This nonsense about ātoneā isnāt helping to inform, but is instead offering them cover:
A year after a coterie of new Republican governors swept into the statehouses and put in place aggressive agendas to cut spending and curb union powers, sparking strong backlashes in many places, many of them are adopting decidedly more moderate tones as they begin their sophomore year in office.
There hasnāt been any moderation of their positions. None. In fact, theyāre ramping up. The lie that this was about state budgets was repeated for 6 months. Can I now get six months of repetition of the facts now that the larger objective has come clear to even the most deluded and trusting observer? Or are we now going to focus on ātoneā, whatever that means?
Newt Gingrichās biggest donor, Sheldon Adelson, is, among other things, virulently and specifically anti-union. Sheldon Adelson will directly and personally benefit if labor unions disappear. Newt Gingrichās biggest donor has indicated that he will switch to Mitt Romney if Mitt Romney is the nominee.
Testifying before the Nevada state ethics commission in 1998, Shelley Berkley, who is now a Democratic congresswoman for Nevada, and who had worked for Adelson in the nineties as his vice-president of legal and governmental affairs, said that Adelson had told her that āold Democrats were with the union and he wanted to break the back of the union, consequently he had to break the back of the Democrats.ā
Three years ago, at an event in Washington, D.C., celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Adelson, who was being honored that evening, told the audience about the time he had spent with William Bush, the brother of George H. W. Bush, during the 1988 election. āHe explained to me what Republicanism was all about . . . so I got to learn about it and I switched immediately!ā Adelson said. But it was only after he went to war against the union that he became so partisan. He began donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican National State Election Committee.
The Republican primary will be moving to Midwest states here shortly. Is the across-the-board aggressively anti-union national conservative agenda going to get any attention from political media? Because this is different than in presidential years past. It’s much, much more aggressive and it is uniform and it is directed at both public sector and private sector unions. I do think it would be nice if people were actually informed on what’s happened since we were all sold the budget-balancing lie regarding public sector unions. What’s happened is, conservative immediately went after private sector unions. This was then and is now about destroying unions. All unions. Everywhere.
It took six years for the GOP war on voting to make national headlines. If it takes 6 years for the GOP war on unions to make national headlines, there won’t be any unions left.
Linnaeus
Unions are one of the few things that stand in the way of the right wing dream of neofeudalism. Now the right is taking advantage of economic turmoil and going for it all.
jl
About a year ago, the Center for American Progress put out a report that is helpful on the state budget deficit scam angle
State Budget Deficits Are Not an Employee Compensation Problem
The Great Recession Is to Blame
By David Madland, Nick Bunker | March 10, 2011
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/03/state_budget_deficits_cap.html
ornery_curmudgeon
“That pundits of all stripes swallowed the lie whole does not make it less of a lie.”
Kay … I love you dearly but pundits of all big media stripes are MAKING the lie.
If this idea seems unlikely, and I know it seems extreme: just hold that idea as a wild hypothesis and test it against ongoing reality to disprove it.
smintheus
It’s amazing the progress that Ohioans have made in fighting back against the aggressive right-wing agenda, given how lousy all the major newspapers in the state are.
ornery_curmudgeon
Now the right is taking advantage of economic turmoil and going for it all.
The Right engineered the economic turmoil. Deregulation was how. Corporatism is the same now as it was in the 20’s.
Violet
Their tactic is: they tell you how pretty you are while raping you and that makes it okay. GOP employs this tactic because it’s worked for them for decades. The NYT writer is just buying into the long-established narrative.
Redshift
There was an interview with whatshisname from the US Chamber of Commerce recently that Ms. Redshift caught where he was blathering about so-called “right-to-work,” and was asked “so, do you think it would be a good idea if your organization had to provide its services to everyone whether or not they paid for membership?”
There was no answer, of course, just harrumphing and “that’s completely different,” but it is really the only question that should be asked, over and over.
kay
@ornery_curmudgeon:
I don’t think that’s true of real news organizations. Look, as much as I would like them to scream “that, sir, is a LIE!” , they can’t do that, right out of the box. They have to go on what conservative politicians say until the facts indicate conservative politicians were lying.
The facts indicate they were lying. I’m just asking for them to correct the record, given new information.
Linnaeus
@ornery_curmudgeon:
Oh, sure. I meant “this latest manifestation of economic turmoil.”
Thoughtcrime
@kay:
Oh, who’s being naive, Kay?
rikryah
definitely tweet or email this to Steve Benen and Rachel Maddow . Maddow is the only one who is consistently up on this about unions.
Rev. Al too -tweet him
ornery_curmudgeon
@kay: I donāt think thatās true of real news organizations.
I realize that, Kay … I’m just asking you to keep an open mind.
It may be that the attack and removal of the Fairness Doctrine, the consolidation of the media, the constant false claims of ‘liberal media’ and the creation of a specifically Rightwing news channel MIGHT be dots to connect.
A week ago, no one would have thought the Komen folks were anything but hard-working do-gooders … sometimes things are not as they seem. With Iran on the horizon I hope people would remember Iraq. (Scooter Libby anyone?)
wrb
It is in the midwestern union states where it will have to be defeated, if it is to be. Unions just don’t seem to be that popular in places without union tradition. Whipping up anti-union resentment among non-union workers, whether tech or construction, is easily done. Which probably has Republicans calculating that nationally, an anti-union attitude will be a winner, if they can survive the consequences in old-line Union states.
jwest
“This was then and is now about destroying unions. All unions. Everywhere.”
Well, duh. Did anyone think otherwise?
Republicans want children (even black and Hispanic children) to learn how to read and do math. Not because they like children (especially black and Hispanic children), but because they know if these kids donāt learn the basics, they will be on the public dole the rest of their lives. They know that the only way to improve the schools is to eliminate the teachers union.
Republicans want the U.S. to have manufacturing jobs, but know that they must destroy the unions to make that happen.
Republicans want efficient government and know that that public sector unions make that impossible. By eliminating the unions, everyone would be better served.
Destroying all unions, everywhere is the duty republicans have to the people of the country.
Tone In DC
Great post, Kay. Keep up the great work.
kay
@ornery_curmudgeon:
Okay, but I have to tell you, while I am extremely sympathetic to your view, and would be inclined to share it, I’m afraid it comes off, to ordinary people, as whining.
The same way conservatives attacking “liberal bias” comes off as whining.
I know there is no liberal bias, but I’m talking about perception. If I’m just an ordinary voter, and I’m listening to it, what am I going to hear? Is it going to sound a lot like what conservatives say, re: media? I think it is.
Mnemosyne
@Thoughtcrime:
So how long have you been waiting to be able to use that one?
kay
@Mnemosyne:
DougJ will be mad. He planned on using it.
Mnemosyne
@jwest:
So let’s look at the history:
We had lots and lots of manufacturing jobs when we had strong unions.
When Reagan started destroying unions, the manufacturing jobs started going overseas.
Now you’re saying that if we double down on Reagan’s union-destroying strategy, those jobs will totally come back because 30 years of policy failure means that, what, magical fairies will fly down and bring those jobs back as soon as we sacrifice enough union jobs?
Though I do love to see Republicans proving Einstein’s theorem once again that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
Pococurante
It took The Black Plague to break feudal lords’ hold on the artisan class that evolved into The Middle Class.
I was hoping for something less drastic this time around.
kay
@jwest:
Pure bullshit. Kasich denied he’s going after unions. The Michigan governor denied he’s going after unions. The New Jersey governor denied he’s going after unions. Walker denied he was going after unions.
I know conservatives are trying to destroy organized labor in this country. My question is why you keep lying about it.
Run on what you are. If your agenda is genuinely popular, there won’t be a political hit, and Mitt Romney can get X amount of union voters.
wrb
@kay:
I read jwests comment as well-done swiftian snark.
And ignore Machiavelli’s wise teachings?
Foolishness!
Ed Drone
@Mnemosyne:
I’d be willing to let them do their social experiments all they want, but we’re all the test subjects, not the control group, and the failures will include washing us out with the test tubes at the end of the day.
Ed
The Other Chuck
@Mnemosyne:
Yes. Clap louder. Oh, and um, “liberal”. There, I have now trumped all logic. SATSQ.
Thoughtcrime
@kay:
Fat pitch over the plate, couldn’t help but swing at it.
Seriously, though, keep up the great work, Kay.
Thoughtcrime
@kay:
M’Kay, it’s all about Freedom (TM), don’t cha know?
http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=right+to+work+freedom&pbx=1&oq=right+to+work+freedom&aq=f&aqi=g1g-v1&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=100l1652l1l2065l8l5l0l3l3l0l207l582l3.1.1l8l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=782384432d316272&biw=1440&bih=797
Cris (without an H)
My employer just notified us salaried employees that we will be used as scabs if the contract with the IBEW isn’t successfully renegotiated.
I don’t know much about this stuff, but that seems contrary to the very idea of a represented workforce. It’s like a Gingrich marriage — a commitment to remain faithful unless somebody else comes along.
ornery_curmudgeon
@kay: “…while I am extremely sympathetic to your view, and would be inclined to share it, Iām afraid it comes off, to ordinary people, as whining.”
Well I’m not afraid:
(1) I AM ordinary people … liberals are not some exotic sponge species.
(2) Telling the truth based on evidence is not whining.
(3) From all available evidence, people don’t think conservatives are whining but in fact admire someone taking a stand.
(4) So what … tell the truth anyway. Trust it to set us free.
Anyhow, Kay, I admire your work too much to argue about it further. Thanks for the post.
jwest
@Cris (without an H):
You should explain your concerns to the boss and let him know how unfair you believe that practice would be.
Plus practice writing your new name ā Cris (without a job)
debbie
I wonder if Kasich will be man enough to mention this in his State of the State speech tomorrow at Steubenville?
Linda
I have no doubt that wingers want a right-to-work law more than a honey loves a suckle, but I have a hard time believing that the Repub leadership wants this on the ballot in 2012. If they did, it would have been introduced and rubber stamped it through the legislature, then waited for the popular veto that they knew would come. Having this on the ballot insures a big union turnout–in a bill that will be even more unpopular than SB 5, if that’s possible, and hurt GOP chances at the top of the ballot.No, these are renegade wingnuts without the discipline to wait for an off-year to shiv the unions.
Avid Lurker
Don’t know if you need to tweet Rachel, I think she did this item Friday or Saturday. Thanx for the reminder.