strike – RI Future

October 11, 2015May 15, 2016

Negotiations sour between Verizon, IBEW union

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Verizon worker negotiations with the company have come to a major impasse and a strike now seems imminent, says a source close to the situation who asked not to be identified.

In an email to members, the IBEW said:

“The Business Managers informed us that the company has started the process toward a unilateral imposition of their contract terms,” said the IBEW T6 Mobilization Committee, in an email to all Verizon union employees in New England. “Those terms include the elimination of job security. The company has begun making “last and final” proposals and the situation is urgent.”

As I have written in a previous series of articles, this is a tremendously important struggle that will impact the labor union movement in the private sector as severely as the coming Friedrichs Supreme Court case will affect the public sector. If Verizon is able to impose their will and defeat the union, this would have a ripple effect on the entire job market, threatening the basic coordinates of unionized middle class jobs.

This is going to be a hard and long battle, but the stakes are too high to sit this one out. Simultaneously, the UAW has just recently averted a strike with Fiat Chrysler. United Steel Workers are currently facing a lock-out with Allegheny Technologies Incorporated in New Bedford and other plants across the country. Mayor Elorza continues play a cruel game with the firefighters union while rolling out his corporate charter school agenda to bust the teachers union. United Nurses and Allied Professionals have been engaged in continuing negotiations over a contract with Lifespan Hospital Network.

These are not isolated incidents or random occurrences. Both the Democratic and Republican Party are collaborators in the neoliberal ideological apparatus that intends to destroy the union movement, the middle class, and ultimately the hard-earned gains for the social safety net made during the New Deal and Baby Boom periods. It is impossible to deny that there are still some strong pro-worker figures in the political landscape that reject this ideology, but they are few and far between. With a career-minded politician like Gina Raimondo in power and hungry still for ascension to higher prospects in Washington DC, it is clear that a pillar of American democracy is under attack.

Visit the Stand Up To Verizon website by clicking here.

The CWA can be reached at 401-275-0760.

The IBEW can be reached at 401-946-9900.

September 10, 2015May 7, 2016

The Verizon, union standoff and the future of privacy

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Within the past few years, the issue of privacy in telecommunications has become a major controversy. Following the revelations by Edward Snowden and the WikiLeaks organization, the role of the providers in collaboration with the National Security Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other law enforcement agencies has become a subject of debate. On August 28, Jenna McLaughlin of The Intercept published a story on the ruling by the US Court of Appeals regarding bulk metadata collection by the government which involved Verizon’s cooperation.

Part 1: The Verizon, union standoff and the future of labor
Part 2: The Verizon, union standoff and the future of customer service, copper

My sources revealed to me that union members on the ground level of customer service have been able to access tools that collect metadata in ways that disturb them. There is one tool in particular, called the ‘spy tool’ or the ‘creepy tool’, that could be used in an improper fashion. Approval for its use is to be found in the small print of the Terms of Services agreement under the guise of ‘marketing’. The union does not have an official position on not using this tool, but some union members savvy of privacy ethics refuse to use it.

This tool is one which has the capability to allow the technicians to see how many television set-top boxes are within a residence. In many cases, the installation technician or customers will label the boxes based on the room, meaning therefore the customer service technician can see what someone watches in which rooms. The tool works as an aggregator and creates a profile of the customer, showing hours of television watched, what channels, how long on each channel, and other material. This sort of data collection and profiling is easy to gather and use in fashions that would be extremely dangerous. For example, if a stalker had access to this data, the person would be able to see what room their intended victim spends time in the most, at what hours, and, by understanding whether the person is watching a movie channel or one that is playing music, what level of attention is paid to the program. And in this era of cyber attacks and hacking, it is not a remote possibility that such instances could occur.

Some union members actively oppose using these tools because it causes technicians to ‘cross crafts’, something that leads to weakening of the union bargaining position. However, the obvious concerns over privacy and security are something that the union could address and take up as a cause, which is not without historical precedent.

An interesting example of unions taking up prominent civil liberties issues is the instance of their role in the racism struggles of African Americans. The American Federation of Labor collaborated with the government in the enforcement of segregation in the Gilded Age, leading to the formation of rival unions, such as the Industrial Workers of the World and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, both of which saw their ranks grow precisely because of their anti-racism positions. After the Red Scare and the merger of the AFL and the CIO, the leadership of the Civil Rights Movement were able to get key endorsements and support from labor. Indeed, a major backbone of the March on Washington was a large contingent of labor union members. Figures like A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin had cut their teeth in the labor organization movement of the 1930’s and ’40’s. Lyndon Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act in part because of progressive voices from within the remnants of the New Deal coalition pledged their political support in the 1964 election against Barry Goldwater.

The 1963 March on Washington. The men in white hats behind King were members of the United Auto Workers.

Also in that case, there were both practical results for their union members, ending disparities in the lives of their members, and wider social results, collapsing the Jim Crow system. There are real issues to contend with, going up against the will of the military-police-industrial complex is fraught with major challenges. But after years of being championed by anti-union libertarians like Rand Paul, there would be a great level of support gained by labor if they took up the cause of privacy protection.

This is a fight we all need to be concerned about. In the next term, the Supreme Court is hearing a case that was tailor-made to decimate the Abood decision and revoke the right of unions to collect dues in public-sector workplaces. The Verizon struggle, if lost by the workers, would have the same effect on private-sector unions. If you have any ability, whether it be through money, agitation, or just a FaceBook post, stand in solidarity with Verizon workers. The stakes are too high to sit this one out.

Visit the Stand Up To Verizon website by clicking here.

The CWA can be reached at 401-275-0760.

The IBEW can be reached at 401-946-9900.

September 8, 2015May 7, 2016

The Verizon, union standoff and the future of customer service

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Previously I posted a story regarding the current standoff between the IBEW and CWA with Verizon in regards to its impact on the labor movement. This post will discuss how a strong unionized workforce impacts the customer service of subscribers.

The issue of customer service is fundamentally an issue of unionized labor. If the call centers are unionized, then the customers will get quality service. Furthermore, if the service is union-certified, it carries with it a level of insurance that can be the difference between life and death. That might strike some as a bit hyperbolic, but anyone who has ever dialed 911 knows exactly what I mean.

The company has engaged in a series of practices intentionally meant to break the union, including the roll-out of automation tools that have hindered the ability of unionized workers and shortened shifts. For readers who are Verizon customers, they probably have begun to experience instances when they 4 out of 5 times have quality customer service, but then 1 out of 5 times they have had awful service. This is not an accident, it is because the company has been redirecting calls to non-union contractor offices either at vendor centers within the US or in Latin America where the labor force has no access to the services they are supporting. This is particularly gruesome because these laborers are subjected to brutal work regimens for little money and can be disciplined if calls last longer than a few minutes.

One source told me “If Verizon really cared about working families, they wouldn’t be paying basically what equates to slave wages in South America and minimum wages to folks in other vendor centers.” Should Verizon break the unions, customer service, which they do not care about, would drop significantly and it would be equivalent to Time Warner or Comcast, who have totally non-union help lines. A source told me that s/he sees the work of non-union customer service reps in the files of people s/he works with. S/he said there are problem-solving steps skipped, wrong answers, and a lack of literacy in the products being serviced because these workers are so poor they do not have access to these first-world niceties.

But there are other issues to consider. Currently, our internet and cable in America is the highest-priced for the lowest-quality service in the developed world. In comparison to South Korea, a nation that only exists because of the American military presence in the Pacific, we are a joke. Even Google Fiber and municipally-owned internet services embarrass Verizon. This lack of quality can be attributed to what is labelled by many as the ‘oligopoly’. In essence, the major cable companies have conspired to fix the prices and speeds of the utilities so to maximize profits and minimize user satisfaction. Our existing infrastructure is capable of much higher capacities but is intentionally prevented from reaching full potential by the corporations’ collusion and greed. A unionized workforce helps serve as a final barrier to complete corporate hegemony and consumer robbery.

But also consider the aforementioned copper cable. Currently, Verizon is allowing the existing lines, some of which are literally wrapped in paper, to rot. This is so they can roll out a wireless service that would cut back the necessary unionized workers significantly. The proposed method would be Verizon installs on every house an LTE X antennae that receives the broadcast video and data signals. Leaving aside the obvious health concerns to be raised by flooding the area with that many electro-magnetic bursts of energy, there is the issue of quality of service. Wireless phone service is inferior to copper cable, with higher wait times and fewer amenities. Also, important health and safety services, such as LifeAlert and 911, do not always work with wireless in the same fashion they do with copper cable. And when you are in a health emergency where seconds can mean life or death, a little bit of lag can result in a lot of grief.

Some of the infrastructure for wireless calling that would end copper cable as we know it has already been put in place. For example, in New York, Verizon Voice Link has already begun the roll-out of wireless-based landline phone service in certain circumstances. The Verizon Quantum TV set-top boxes contain chips that are unactivated but would serve as wireless IP set-tops and contain technology that could be used by the cellular network. Verizon claims this is about everything from customer satisfaction to environmental concerns. But the bottom line is simply busting the union and maximizing profits from the established LTE-X network.

As previously mentioned, it is vital that both customers and non-customers reach out to both Verizon and the unions to express solidarity. If you are a member of a faith community, consider both offering prayers and raising funds for the union should they strike. If you are a community leader, express public solidarity. Write your local newspaper, post on social networks, make a public show of solidarity. This is a winnable battle if the people unite.

Read the first part in this series here.

Visit the Stand Up To Verizon website by clicking here.

The CWA can be reached at 401-275-0760.

The IBEW can be reached at 401-946-9900.

September 7, 2015May 7, 2016

The Verizon, union stand-off and the future of labor

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This is the first of a three-part series. Part two deals with customer service and part three deals with privacy issues.

On August 1, 2015, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communications Workers of America contract with Verizon expired. However, unlike previous years, they decided to not strike – a move meant to undermine the company’s hiring and housing of scabs. This is a labor struggle that will have a major impact on the entire labor movement.

“I think the days of the short strike is over,” said Dan Murphy, a retired member of the union. “Verizon wants to break the union and is willing to overwork lower levels of management in the process.”

But it also could impact customer service for one of the biggest telephone, internet, and television providers in America as well as basic issues of privacy.

The current ownership of the Verizon Communications Corporation is one of the most militantly anti-union groups in the country despite the fact they have brought in $1 billion per month for the past 18 months. Their CEO Lowell McAdam has been public about his intention to “kill the copper,” eliminating all the landline service within the Verizon network. How that would impact customer service will be addressed later, but from a labor perspective, it is important to understand that these words translate to plain old fashioned union busting. But first a little explanation is required.

Verizon as a company is in fact two extremely segregated workforces, the unionized wire telecom services provider and the nonunion wireless provider. By eliminating the wireline business, including copper cable and FiOS fiber optic, the company would be able to justify a significant series of layoffs, diluting the union presence. In February 2015, Verizon sold off the copper landlines in 14 states and fiber wireline footprint of FiOS West to Frontier Communications. They would have sold more of the FiOS service, but the unionized labor costs were far too great. Therefore, when their two-year contract expired last month, this presented the company with an opportunity to bust two of the major labor unions in America, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and Communications Workers of America (CWA).

There have previously been signals that Verizon is trying to eliminate the landlines and therefore the unions. Following Hurricane Sandy, they were given substantial subsidies to rebuild the infrastructure, funding that would have covered 50 percent of their costs, but they claimed the storm’s damage was too significant to rebuild. This is of course complete nonsense.

In June, the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications released a damning report that showed Verizon had broken a major agreement with the Five Burroughs. In 2008, the company had accepted a bargain in exchange for a cable television franchise, agreeing to lay fiber optic cable and bring high-speed internet to everyone in the city. But apparently, the company merely activated the cable service and refused to roll out the fiber optic, thereby keeping unionized workers from acting on what would have been the most fruitful jobs on the Eastern seaboard. In response to the report, Verizon denied the charges and blamed the union.

The general feeling of the workers is that the company wants to take all the money and run, as made obvious by the sale to Frontier. The company is trying to reduce the workforce, wants to raise the cost of healthcare despite the savings created by the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and gut job security. Already they have had some success, forcing workers to pay into a 401 (k) as opposed to the pension system that defined the benefits package of the Ma Bell and Baby Bell telephone companies for generations.

As the end of the contract approached, unionized customer call center workers noticed something very odd. First, under the auspices of a farcical ’employee well-being’ effort, the company cut the hours of the Providence office significantly, from 7 am-11 pm to 7 am-7 pm. Overtime was offered during peak hours to other offices for reasons sources tell me had to do with hurting the New England labor force. ‘Preferred shifts’ were offered to employees as part of a re-canvass of the office, allowing workers to keep their different pay, but it still was problematic for both the work and outside life of many employees.

Then, as closing approached, the workers noticed their call queues jump into the hundreds every night. Sources tell me they see this as a blatant sign that the company was training scab labor in this window of time. This and a variety of other signs led the union leadership to choose not to strike as they did two years ago.

But this is not a painless effort, it is causing great stress for the workers and their families. They are going in to work daily and getting pay as well as benefits, but they have no arbitration process in place in case of grievances. Hoping to provoke a walk out and implement their scab workforce, the company made a proposal to the unions that was repulsive. And keep in mind, Frontier, who just bought a large section of the Verizon network, settled with IBEW and CWA without a strike very recently. The writing is on the wall, this is an effort to destroy the union, a serious blow to organized labor that would carry as much of an effect as the laws passed by Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin just a few years ago.

There are, however, some interesting developments to consider. Recently, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that corporations must directly participate in negotiations with labor unions at franchises. Previously, if a union were to form at a fast food restaurant that is a franchise, the union would need to negotiate with the individual owners. But now, should Verizon Wireless franchise workers choose to organize, Verizon would need to directly negotiate with the side of their business they have worked so hard to prevent from doing so. As such, a union victory here could eventually lead to an organization drive in Verizon stores by the CWA, who organizes groups like graduate students and nontraditional workplaces.

There are things that both customers and non-customers can do to express solidarity. Those who are not paying a Verizon bill can reach out to their local IBEW and CWA branches and ask if they are accepting donations for support during this time. The unions know if they strike that this could be as brutal as the Caterpillar battle in the mid-1990’s. It is going to take old-fashioned solidarity to help them stay above water, but unions, as non-profit organizations, are allowed to accept donations.

Customers can also do a great deal. Write Lowell McAdam and the Board of Directors and tell them to settle fairly with the unions or else you are canceling your subscriptions. If you make a call to Customer Service, ask if you are speaking to a union operator, and if not, ask to be transferred to one. There are already a variety of utilities that can take the place of Verizon cable services, such as Netflix, Hulu, or YouTube. There is a way to make them know the customers stand with the workers. Part Two of this series will address customer service and the future of telecom while Part Three will address privacy concerns.

Visit the Stand Up To Verizon website by clicking here.

The CWA can be reached at 401-275-0760.

The IBEW can be reached at 401-946-9900.

April 6, 2015April 20, 2015

Massive student support helps end RISD Tech strike

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Before the the student led march in support of the striking RISD Techs started, union president Tucker Houlihan was approached by RISD adminsitrators eager to negotiate a quick end to the strike that began Thursday.

“You sons of bitches are so powerful,” Houlihan said to the cheering crowd outside the RISD administrative offices downtown, “and there’s so many of you, that the administration wanted to talk, and not just talk this time, they wanted to negotiate.”

According to Houlihan, RISD signed a memorandum of agreement that maintains the tech union member’s 8 percent retirement contribution. “And they did this before you even arrived here. That is how powerful you are,” said Houlihan.

Hundreds of students and supporters marched down South Main St in support of the 44 unionized RISD Techs, members of NEARI Local 806. The crowd was so large that marchers completely encircled the administrative offices. Student Danica Mitchell was one of the organizers of the support march. Mitchell told the crowd that this effort was about more than the specifics of the demands of the striking workers.

“It’s more about promoting transparency in big institutions,” said Mitchell. She added that she hopes RISD will be more open in the future.

Today’s efforts mark a successful end to the strike. “When the technicians leave here,” said Houlihan, to the ecstatic crowd, “we’re going back to the studios that we love and they’re open!”

April 2, 2015April 20, 2015

Photos from the RISD art studio technician strike

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Over twenty members of NEARI local 806 carried picket signs on North Main St early this morning before separating to cover the various studios that are spread over the RISD campus. The art studio technicians are officially on strike until “the administration returns to the negotiating table.”

April 1, 2015April 2, 2015

RISD art studio technicians go on strike starting Thursday

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Rhode Island School of Design technicians – the school employees who facilitate and operate the various art studios on campus – are going on strike Thursday. Tucker Houlihan, president of NEARI local 806, said this will shutter the art studios to students.

“They are shutting down the kilns,” he said. “They won’t be laser cutting, they won’t be welding. Kids who had those classes, they won’t have it.”

RISD spokewoman Jaime Marland said, “Arrangements are being made to minimize the impact of such an action – in the event of a strike, some shops will be open.”

Houlihan says the 44 employees who run the various studios – there are about 16 different studios, he said, and listed as examples the glass studio, ceramics studio, metal studio and the woodworking studio – play a large role in RISD students’ education. “We’re the ones who have unlimited contact with students because we are in the studios all week,” he said.

Houlihan said the strike will last until the administration returns to the negotiating table.

The technicians and administration have been at odds over a new contract since May of 2014 and they have been working under the old contract since then. In October, the administration declared an impasse, Houlihan said. A mediator told the union to identify budget neutral contract changes.

In response, the union would like their contract to stipulate the pension contribution percentage technicians currently receive from the school. He said it is 8 percent and is spelled out in the faculty handbook but not the contract. The union feels it would be harder for RISD to cut that part of technicians salary if it was spelled out in the contract. Previously, technicians received a 10 percent pension contribution, but it had since been lowered to 8 percent.

Marland, the school spokeswoman, said “RISD has worked closely with the Technicians’ Association bargaining team since May 2014 to reach an agreement that provides the technicians with a competitive wage and benefits package while balancing the college’s critical need to keep the rate of tuition increases low. RISD’s offer to the technicians remains open and the college is hopeful that, if a strike occurs, it will conclude quickly.”

“We are not striking over monetary changes,” Houlihan said. “We’re simply trying to get them to come back to the table and negotiate in good faith.”

The Technicians Association has a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a website.

February 19, 2015February 19, 2015

2,200 RI Hospital employees authorize labor strike

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Rhode Island Hospital employees represented by the Teamsters Local 251 voted to authorize a strike Wednesday.

“Rhode Island Hospital employees have sent a clear message,” said Teamsters Local 251 President Paul Santos. “It’s time for Lifespan to listen to the employees and the community and agree to common-sense proposals for good jobs and quality care.”

An FAQ sheet sent to union members and the media says the vote doesn’t mean there will be a strike – but it does move the 2,200 hospital employees one step closer to that. “Voting to authorize a strike notice does not mean we will issue a 10-day notice right away,” it reads.

According to a press release from Jobs With Justice sent late last night, “Sticking points in negotiations include job security, fair wage increases and retirement benefits, and Lifespan’s rejection of proposals to address unsafe staffing and equipment and supply shortages that undermine patient care.”

According to an FAQ sent by Rhode Island Hospital, “the hospital wants to make it clear that neither a strike nor the threat of a strike will make bargaining more productive nor will it force the hospital to take any action that it does not believe is in the best interest of its patients, employees or the hospital.”

In a statement, hospital spokeswoman Beth Bailey said, “The vote process came despite recent movement by the hospital on key wage and benefit proposals. The initial union proposals called for more than $20 million in wage and benefit increases, an amount that is unsustainable in the current healthcare environment. The union proposals included: wage increases twice the hospital average, additional hospital contributions to health insurance, a second retirement plan, and additional vacation days, among other requests. The hospital responded with proposals that increase wages for all three years of the contract … the hospital is not asking the union for any give-backs for wages, retirement or benefits.”

According to a press release from the union, “Sticking points in negotiations include job security, fair wage increases and retirement benefits, and Lifespan’s rejection of proposals to address unsafe staffing and equipment and supply shortages that undermine patient care. Lifespan executives have angered employees and the community by rejecting common-sense proposals, including a proposal to require the Hospital to ‘maintain sufficient staff and adequate supplies.'”

Local 251 represents 2,200 employees at Rhode Island Hospital, including non-medical staff, such as secretaries, janitors and landscapers. “But they also represent the unit assistants, the folks who check on patients to make sure everything’s okay, and the CNAs,” said Jesse Strecker of Jobs With Justice.

“This campaign is about workers and the community working together for a better Lifespan,” Strecker said. “The overwhelming vote shows that workers are sticking together and the community will stick with them.”

February 19, 2014March 17, 2014

Hilton and Renaissance hotel workers fight to unionize

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Over a hundred people organized a picket line in the cold and slush outside the Hilton Hotel in downtown Providence Tuesday evening to demand that The Procaccianti Group begin treating their employees properly, pay fair wages, and not interfere in the worker’s right to form a union.

Originally announced as a a “civil disobedience” action at the Renaissance Hotel by the State House, the focus of the picket was changed when 70% of the employees at the Hilton signed a petition, declaring their intent to unionize. The Procaccianti Group manages both hotels.

The Federal Government has cited the Renaissance Hotel twice: First, OSHA cited the Renaissance for workplace hazards and the Hotel settled, agreeing to pay $8,000 in fines. Second, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board has issued an Unfair Labor Practice complaint against the Renaissance and its parent, The Procaccianti Group. After an eight-month investigation, the NLRB Complaint named thirteen different hotel managers and alleged multiple acts of interfering with, restraining and coercing employee organizing rights at the Renaissance, including interrogation. A trial is set for March 31 in Boston.

At the Hilton Hotel, I watched as a group of hotel employees attempted to deliver the petition to the hotel management, only to be barred entry by members of the Providence Police Department. At least one police officer had zip tie handcuffs hanging off his belt, perhaps in anticipation of any civil disobedience that might crop up. However, the action was completely peaceful and well mannered, if loud and boisterous.

Several speakers took turns at the megaphone. A woman named Krystle talked about having been terminated because she advocated for her right to form a union. She also talked about the terrible treatment pregnant women receive at the hands of hotel management. In her written statement she said, “I was working in the restaurant then as a busser. Management would pressure me to work faster. They never offered to help me lift the heavy bins of dirty dishes. I went into pre-mature labor twice. I was treated like a machine, not a human being. It was outrageous.”

Speakers included Providence City Councilpersons Carmen Castillo and Luis Aponte. Aponte talked about the tax breaks the Hilton receives from the city. “You’ve done well in this city,” said Aponte, “Do good by your workers.” Castillo, in addition to being on the Providence City Council, is a worker in the hotel industry, at the Omni Hotel. She was at the protest to lend her support to the Hilton and Renaissance Hotel workers.

As much as the speeches by the politicians in support of the workers were welcome, it was the voice of the workers, speaking for themselves, that really invigorated the crowd. As the speakers spoke in English or Spanish, their words were translated, but even if you didn’t speak the language, you knew what they were saying. These are decent, hard working people who want to be treated properly, paid fairly, respected on the job, and live their lives with dignity and purpose. They are not simply replaceable cogs in The Procaccianti Group machine, they are human beings and they deserve, and on Tuesday night they demanded, to be treated as such.

August 31, 2012August 31, 2012

Remember the Battle of the Gravestones in Saylesville

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In 1934, during the height of the Depression and one of the largest national strikes in history, 4 unarmed Rhode Island workers were killed by State Police and Militia Men called out by Governor TF Green to protect the Saylesville Bleachery in Lincoln, Rhode Island. It wasn’t a “strike,” he declared, but a “communist insurrection.”

Militia attacking striking workers from behind gravestones in Saylesville, Rhode Island.

Whatever. Four workers were cut down in the street. You can still see the bullet holes in the gravestones from the high powered guns used against the strikers and each labor day some of us gather to remind the powers that be that we are not all dead and buried. This year Maureen Martin, Secretary-Treasurer of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO will deliver the address at the memorial to the martyrs created by the Rhode Island Labor History Society to memorialize what is known as The Battle of the Gravestones.

The monument is located in Moshassuck Cemetery, 978 Lonsdale Avenue in Central Falls.

All are invited to a ceremony honoring the event and those who lost their lives.

You can register for the event on Facebook.

If you like, you can see actual newsreel video of the street battle here.

CIVIL WAR AT SAYLESVILLE

May 5, 2012May 5, 2012

May 5, 1886: The Bay View Massacre in Milwaukie, Wisc.

One topic that has been on my mind lately is the attempt to kill the 8-hour workday.

In many places in the private sector, anything less than a 10-hour day is derisively referred to as working “half-a-day”.

Purely by accident, I learned the May 5 is the anniversary of what is called the Bay View Massacre in Milwaukee, Wisc.

The gist is that on May 5, 1886, seven people, including a 13-year old boy, were shot and killed by National Guardsmen during a strike. The workers were striking for an 8-hour day.

The account on Wikipedia is pretty short.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_View_Massacre

The strike started on May 1, with about 7000 workers. By May 4, the number had swollen t0 14,000. (I’m guessing that both numbers probably included sympathy protesters.) At that point, the Republican governor brought in 250 Guardsmen. The next day, he gave the order to “shoot to kill” any workers who tried to enter the grounds 0f the Milwaukee Iron Company, where the strikers worked.

On May 5, the strikers/protesters attempted to enter the grounds, and the Guardsmen opened fire. Seven people died.

This is the history of labor. Capital and property were often protected by deadly force. Capital held a monopoly on the force of “law and order”, so the latter were used, almost exclusively, to prevent workers from attempting to organize.

Given that Capital had a monopoly on the law, it’s a bit silly to suggest that workers had any sort of leverage or clout to negotiate better conditions on the basis of individual contracts. Yet this, I believe, is what the ‘right to work’ position suggests: that unions interfere with the ability of a company to enter a contract with an individual worker. Correct me if I’m wrong.

But the point is, when Capital controls the law, the worker has no basis for negotiation. A real, live, effective negotiation requires that both sides have something the other side wants. If a company is able to fire any worker asking for a better deal, there is no way to suggest that anything like an equal balance exists between the two negotiating parties. The company holds all the cards.

The only way workers can deal in anything like equal negotiations is if the workers are organized. That way, the company has some incentive to accept that workers have something like a roughly equal bargaining position.

In a world where even lawyers are finding themselves expendable, outsourceable, and lacking in bargaining power as they look for jobs, it’s really kind of silly to suggest that straight wage earners can negotiate with employers for better terms. In fact, this is one reason Republicans have fought Obama tooth and nail trying to derail any attempt to stimulate the economy: employers love it when unemployment is north of 8%. That effectively kills all ‘wage pressure.’

This means you get circumstances like we have: high unemployment, low wage growth, but phenomenal profits for corporations and executives. Just like we had in the 1880s.

And, as we’ve seen, Capital was willing to kill to maintain its position of dominance.

This is why I so vehemently object to current Republican policies: we tried it. People died. It didn’t work, unless you were a plutocrat. Create the same conditions, chances are we’ll get the same outcome.