Last issue we were probing the development of the Occupy movement and events in Egypt, and this issue we are examining the conservative offensive in the Midwest, especially the sharp end of the stick in Wisconsin. To look at Wisconsin a year later, I reached out to my old friend and comrade Professor Joel Rogers at the University of Wisconsin- Madison, founder and eminent grise of COWS (formerly the Center of Wisconsin Strategies and now fortunately broadening its sights nationally), and his team led by Laura Dresser, and asked for help in looking at various aspects of what has been wrought there. Their response leads our “Special Report: Wisconsin One Year Later”.
Laura and Joel provide an introduction to these seismic changes, which are then surveyed more painfully by a team of their associates. Peter Rickman, the activist and energetic organizer behind much of the “We…” organizational developments that he describes, along with Bruce Colburn, long a loud and clear voice for Wisconsin labor as central body president in Milwaukee, AFL-CIO regional staffer, and now with SEIU, collaborated on two pieces that look at the organizational response to Governor Scott Walker’s program and more deeply at what is involved in the infamous Act 10 and its curtailment of union and worker rights. To their credit these authors combined to find some inspiration and even hope in these depressing developments that are straining the backs of labor in what had been for decades a bastion of strength for progressive politics and progressive institutions.
A perfect supplement to this special report is the excellent discussion of repression and reaction revised by Steve Early, who is becoming a more frequent and valued contributor to Social Policy, and Rand Wilson from their contribution to the recently published Wisconsin Uprising: Labor Fights Back. Most importantly, they also look at the evolving new and old strategies that unions are adopting to deal with the “New South” openshop conditions now becoming pervasive in the Midwest. A companion piece looking at the development of what I have always called “majority unionism” is offered by Professor Roy Adams as he examines the impact of decisions in the Canadian Supreme Court that continue to expand the potential for representation and bargaining rights for non-majority formations of workers there, and could end up leading the way for North American labor organizing in the future. In the same sense veteran union organizer and representative Lara Shepard-Blue tells a rich story of a difficult nursing home strike conducted by SEIU Local 1199NE over more than a year, and the elements that both taught lessons and paved the way to an eventual victory are another sobering elixir for those thinking seriously about the future path for workers and their unions.
Speaking of public employees, what happens when governments attempt to privatize public prisons and replace them with private facilities? We published a lead story in Social Policy last year by Peter Cervantes-Gautschi that was named one of the top unreported stories of the year when he looked at the way private prisons were being used as immigrant holding tanks. “Kids for Cash” by Pittsburgh based attorney and writer, Jim Lieber could be another story that hits the top ten unreported stories this year, as he details the scandal in that area that has led to jail terms for several elected officials who conspired to put juveniles in jail in violation of their rights and basic human rights and of course in their personal financial interest. Outrageous!
I have been holding Anne Petermann’s piece on “Fundraising” and its encouraging programs for selfsufficiency for just the right issue, and this volume is perfect because her piece, which is an excerpt from the book Organize!: Building from the Local for Global Justice, also points the path to the future. There is little question that progressive organizations have to get more control over their funding and funding sources if there is to be a future. We see this both in the assault on unions and on progressive women’s and community organizations.
We continue to be fortunate to have great columnists contributing to Social Policy! Phil Mattera takes a look at the assault on unions not just in the public sector, but also in the private sector. Noorin Ladhani has stayed on the story of internet curtailment and the crackdown of access in Iran, which has escaped most people’s radar. John Anderson from Vancouver reports on the very “American” scandal around dirty tricks and robo-calling which is roiling Canadian politics and involves the Conservative party suppressing the vote in important Liberal and NDP ridings. And, though I may not always be in their league, I round out the “back pages” looking at the lessons we are learning from the “ACORN-izing” of CASA de Maryland and the successful response by Planned Parenthood which should be a lesson to all progressive forces everywhere on how to mobilize your base in defense of your organization.
No matter how depressing some of this issue might seem, it could be worse. You could be reading more stories in the daily papers about the Republican primary contests for President. Now, that is really depressing!
