Labor's Last Stand: Can Unions Resist a Nationwide Attack from the Right?

The Unions are doing a pretty good job of making everyone think this is the end of the world. I'm just saying read between the lines people

union guys on strike are deadly serious. once they start kicking ass, the tea baggers will flee crying.

BTW, I think this is the most important question considering recent events.

After this utterly fails and workers are being abused by corporations, we have to be careful that there is not a backlash in the other direction towards communism.

It appears as if there is no balance, just extremes.

Tea Party protesters who showed up in Madison on Saturday want to help Wisconsin dig out of its fiscal hole, but they don't think that corporations should have to chip in.

Gov. Scott Walker (R) has argued that his proposal to strip public employees of virtually all of their collective bargaining rights is necessary in order to deal with the state's tough economic situation.

"I'm just trying to balance my budget," Walker told The New York Times. "To those who say why didn't I negotiate on this? I don't have anything to negotiate with. We don't have anything to give. Like practically every other state in the country, we're broke. And it's time to pay up."

But there is a source of revenue the state isn't tapping that could likely be far more lucrative.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, two-thirds of corporations in the state pay no taxes, and the share of corporate tax revenue funding the state government has fallen by half since 1981.

Tea Party protesters have been pretty much completely absent from the protests in Madison all week long, but today they were out in force (although still vastly outnumbered by anti-Walker protesters). Many of them pointed out -- and even carried signs underscoring the point -- that they had jobs they couldn't walk away from during the week to come out and protest, as many teachers had done for the past few days.

The Huffington Post asked some of these Tea Partiers if they thought corporations should have to pay taxes in order to help the state financially. All were unaware that this was the case, but they nevertheless said unions were a bigger problem.

"Corporations shouldn't pay taxes at all. That's a terrible idea," said Jay from LaCrosse, who identified as a libertarian and said that businesses would just raise prices and relocate to China if they faced higher taxes.

"No, they pay their taxes. They pay their taxes," said John from Milwaukee, when The Huffington Post asked if it was fair that he was paying taxes and corporations weren't.

Virginia from Ogema said Democrats needed to stop blaming President Bush and corporations for all their problems.

I need to clarify something for everyone. Registered Nurses generally are not joined in unions...except in a state or federal facility because historically nurses were treated terribly by government facilities. There are no Nursing Unions. Nurses working for profit or non profit hospitals don't unionize because for the most part nurses are demanding their voices be heard and there is what is referred to as shared governance in some hospitals.. WE also have several Professional Nursing Organizations with strong voices...but no bargaining rights...they are not unions. Not all hospitals provide the best care for sure. If it's a Magnet Hospital you will receive the best care at all levels because the patient and family is # one.
To further clarify, I want to comment on one comment a nurse made last night at the rally...I don't think she was an RN. Ed Schultz asked her why she was there and she sort of fumbled with her words and said if nurses are happy they take better care of patients. I would like to counter that statement....committed nurses take the best care they can of their patients, happy or not...but if they work in a facility that does NOT put the patient first, it's difficult for nurses to do their jobs and provide the best possible care and patient outcome.. An example is too heavy of a case load. One RN and 10-14 patients is not adequate to provide optimum care. Just thought you might like to know.
I don't mean to sound like unions are bad..far from it! There are several health care providers who need unions because they are generally the lowest paid , have very little voice and have the hardest jobs. Nursing assistants for one...work damn hard and barely make min wage and that is just a crime in my view.
Also, by cutting Medicare, the right will cause hospitals to have to lay nurses off. and cut services to patients and families..and that's when patient care and outcome goes down hill.

The headline is BS. No such thing as a "LAST" anything in human history. Look Beck proves even Neanderthals can have a comeback!

I have not been able to get to a television. Can anyone tell me what's going on in Madison? Did the T party show up? Has the governor spoken again?

The question is not can organized labor resist an attack from the right. The question is can the Right survive a nation or even world wide attack from organized labor? me thinks not.

Let's hope they can. For 30 plus years I worked in an industry where the plant that I worked at had a fatality for every year that I worked, but before unions and hard fought for safety laws they averaged 1 or more a day, not counting amputations,and permanent disabilities ( in wich they were left to fend for themselves or beg for handouts). I also had a Grand mother who worked in a factory when she was 6 years old which was common until unions fought for and won child labor laws against such things.
Talk to some of the old guy's and listen about working conditions before unions and how you stood outside a gate and waited for the boss to pick you to work that day, and how you had to give him your lunch the day be fore so that he wouldn't be pissed at you the next day. Or the mills and mines where you were payed in company script that could only be spent at the company store at inflated prices.
Hell yes I hope and pray that the union can survive but I'm scared

Walker can not supply troops to every city in Wisconsin simultaneously. Encourage protests in every city in Wisconsin. Fill every Madison street within a mile of Wisconsin's capitol. As it was in India, in the time of Ghandi, when everything around comes to a standstill, the silence speaks very loudly.

PREPARE TO MARCH IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD, IN YOUR CAPITOL! HELP ORGANIZE YOUR LOCAL PROGRESSIVE CHAPTER. THINK ABOUT A NATIONAL MARCH TO WASHINGTON ON MAY 3, COORDINATED WITH A NATIONAL WORK STOPPAGE, 2 DAYS OF PROTEST, WITH A MEETING WITH THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS ON THE CAPITOL LAWN, PRESENTING "THE PEOPLE'S LIST OF SUGGESTIONS". WE MUST SAY SUGGESTIONS, INSTEAD OF DEMANDS, SO THAT WE WON'T BE PROSECUTED FOR EXTORTION BY THE REPUBLICANS. IF THAT DOESN'T WORK, PREPARE FOR AN INDEFINITE NATIONWIDE WORK STOPPAGE. INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE ARE NOTHING WITHOUT WORKERS. IF GHANDI DID IT, WE CAN DO IT! WE OWE IT TO OURSELVES, OUR FORBEARS, AND OUR CHILDREN. ORGANIZE NOW.

The "Union" these fat cats need to be concerned with is the one that is not on their radar! The union of the human spirit for equality has no offices, no meetings, and no way for the opposition to disband it! "We the People" of this Country, and our Brothers and Sisters that suffer oppression around the world will no longer stand by and let the "Bullies" on the playground take our lunch money! Does the name "Custer" mean anything to these tyrants? Ghost Dog Army is global, and we pour your coffee, mow your lawns, and make your kids lunches for private school! We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, you'll never know we are right next to you. P.S. Money from you for our services does not make you safe, or exempt. On the Battlefield of Good and Evil, there are no spectators!

I see hope in the continuing news in WI., today!
Fox and the corporate backed republican teabaggers have so over stepped their bounds and dumped on the working middle class Americans so strongly that they will never be able to "spin" themselves out of their position The next election will sent them into a decades long oblivion like they did in the 1930's.
Fox and the Teabaggers are finished. Glen Beck will be hauled off to the funny farm before the year is out and O'rily, Limbaugh and their fearless leader, Murdock, only have a very few years left in their lives. They will be looked upon as the racist-corporate-backed-liers and crooks that they are.

We all have to remember that the way the unions go, so shall the country. It was their ideas at the begining of the 1900's that allowed the normalacy that we live in today. As in 40hr work weeks, overtime pay, workmans comp, ect. Everything we take for granted we owe to the unions whether we are part of one or not. They set the standards for what the American life is today. We forgot about this because these standards were fought for in the 1890's and early 1900's. By supporting them we are supporting ourselves and the only American lifestyle that we know.

It might be an opportunity to bring on board and enlighted those co-workers, friends and family that might not pay attention unless it relates directly to them. I bet a lot of those Wisconsin protesters voted for this governor jerk out of just plain lack of information. We can all show solidarity with them no matter where we live. I consider myself lucky to live in California. Schwarzenegger tried messing with the nurses union and got his hand bit so bad he thought he'd lost it. Thank you Lord!

This attack on unions is a coordinated effort from the fascist right, I happened to flipping channels and saw O'Reilley ripping into unions not only here but in countries whose economies are currently struggling, blaming the unions for their troubles, when clearly the real reason is the derivative markets and the international monetary system manipulation by ultra rich capitalist networks colluded to siphon off billions from these countries.

Unions are the only thing the working class has in order to survive and still have a shred of decency. The International Finance Institutions and the Multi National Corporations want to break the unions so they can maximize their profits and continue paying out those golden parachutes and huge bonuses to their executives.

The whole thing is obscene. If they get their way, the so called middle class will be squeezed out of existence.

I believe the right has overplayed there hand. We the people shall be heard.
And thank you Ed for being there in WI, we are all there in spirit.

The Republicans are trying to destroy any organization that helps the election of Democrats.

This idea of workers being controlled by corporations like denizens without any method of being able to negotiate their pay and benefits is archaic. I cannot believe that people are willing to sacrifice self for corporations.

Winston Churchill - "If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain."

Liberalism is truly a mental disorder.

The Rethuglican Strategy!
http://current.com/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpcd0woY2KY

One of the biggest differences I see in a tea party rally and these people rallying in Wisconsin...........These folks can spell!