West Virginia Teachers Strike; Democrats nowhere to be found
The West Virginia government agreed to all the teachers' demands today. The teachers still don't trust them.
Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, announced the deal to hundreds of teachers who had gathered outside the State Senate on Tuesday morning, clad in the red T-shirts that have come to symbolize their strike. The teachers cheered and immediately began chanting, “Put it in writing!”
The labor union movement is having an important moment. We are witnessing one of the largest, longest strikes in West Virginia history.
At the same time, teachers in Oklahoma appear headed toward their own statewide strikes.
By some measures, Oklahoma's teachers are the lowest-paid in the nation, and Bennett drew the audience's attention to the massive statewide teachers strike that had just launched in West Virginia.
"Now let's just take one second and digest that. West Virginia teachers walked out — and they make more than us!" Bennett said, his voice rising, according to a video of the meeting. "West Virginia!"
..Across Oklahoma, teachers, labor organizers, parents and school boards are taking steps to follow West Virginia in launching their first major strike since 1990 to demand higher pay from the state Legislature.
Teachers in Kentucky could be next.
This is a major moment happening, and the Democratic Party, the political party that labor unions give so much money to, are absent.
The most consequential, progressive activism to occur in the state of West Virginia in years, if not decades, has taken place entirely without the national Democratic Party.
...Tom Perez, the chair of the Democratic National Committee and the former Secretary of the Department of Labor, has sent several tweets in solidarity with the striking teachers. But he has not joined them on the line. Nor has his top lieutenant, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) a high-profile progressive and vocal labor champion. A spokesperson for the DNC said that they had been working with the West Virginia Democratic party but did not elaborate further.
The distance has fed the perception, for some, of a wasted opportunity for the Democratic Party. At a time when local activism is demanding—and potentially producing—tangible political gains, the political party most closely associated with those demands and those activists has remained afar, not associating itself too closely with the teachers or capitalizing organizational on their movement.
“Battered wife syndrome,” is how one labor activist put it.
Of course the Dems have all sorts of convoluted reasons why they aren't in West Virginia.
As is usual, Howard Dean unintentionally sums up how pathetic they are.
“Sometimes when you want to get something done it is better to let the progressives at the grassroots do it,” said former DNC Chair Howard Dean. “If a national Democrat comes parachuting in, there could be a real backlash here.”
This reminds me of Occupy Wall Street, and how the Dems couldn't be bothered to even pick up a phone to prevent OWS from being crushed by police force.
It's just more evidence that the Dems don't stand for working people. They just pretend to.
Comments
There are at least 2 messages in this strike.
It took place in my beloved West "by God" Virginia. I have a number of friends who are public school teachers. My niece teaches in the WV public school system. I have followed this every day. The messages are:
1. You can do it.
2. Don't expect any help from the national Democratic party. You're on your own.
The Dems get a lot of grief here at C99% (deservedly so) especially at the national level. But the WV Democratic party was strong in its support of the teachers. Like the teachers, they didn't back down an inch.
The walkout was a wildcat strike. It was not only illegal, it was contentious as well. The Republicans, especially in the WV Senate were determined to make an example of the teachers. After the governor finally called on the Legislature to vote a 5% raise to ALL state employees, the House immediately passed such a bill, 98-1. The Senate passed a similar bill, but lowered the raise to 4%. Just to show 'em who's boss.
But the teachers said "All or nothing, 5% or we stay out". That ain't easy to do, folks. Pushing all of your chips across the table and saying "I'm all in" has a horrible downside if it goes wrong. But the Senate blinked and gave in on the 5%.
My hope is that workers all over the country will look at what has happened here in West Virginia and ask themselves "If they can do it, why can't we?" This morning a friend posted a video of the teachers signing "Country Roads Take Me Home" in the capitol rotunda after the Senate caved this morning. He said "What a sweet sound. It ain't The Internationale, but it's a damn good start".
"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey
I'm just surprised
that the Republicans didn't send in police and hired goons to bust the heads of little old ladies for the crime of demanding something.
That seems to be more their style.
They stopped short of sending in the Baldwin-Felts goons,
but they were very heavy handed throughout the entire work stoppage. At one point about 5 days into the strike, Senate President Mitch Carmichael (R-No Soul) came out of the Senate chamber where 100s of teachers had gathered. He stood on a landing, elevated about four steps above the crowd, said nothing, smirked at the chanting teachers for about 30 or 40 seconds and went back into the Senate chamber without a word.
"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey
@gjohnsit Me too. It's not like
Me too. It's not like they didn't do it to Occupy and Standing Rock.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
MSM/Dems MIA. Good piece at libcom.org
"2 Strikes, 1 Struggle: The Significance of the Communications Workers Strike in West Virginia"
Thanks for the firsthand observations, Hillbilly Dem.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
Hillbilly Hicks!!
I can't remember if I've said "Howdy, y'all" to you here (my NeoLib vaccine = vodka) so forgive me if this is a repeat - Howdy Hillbilly Hicks!
Yes,
1) We Can Do It
2) NeoDem Establishment Sucks
I'm in Wisconsin, so have lived through 7+ years of Gov Walker (#Koch$$ #Idiot) and Dem utter failure. The grassroots gathered the 1 million signatures for Walker Recall, then WI Dems ran the same 2010 loser against him. Surprise: Walker won again. Then won in 2014.
Anyhoo, as OP points out, national Dems + "Left" media ignored the WV teacher strike when it mattered: newest FAIR report named msnbc most dangerous warwhore, obsessively focusing on RussiaGate to the detriment of all else.
Anyhoo2, Jimmy Dore show and Robert Parry's Consortium News keeps me going. Subscribe to JDore's youtube channel folks!
JVolvo2
Back at ya, JV2!
The good guys finally win one. But we can never quit because this bunch, neolibs and Rethugs, will never quit.
"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey
So what is the relationship --
between the WV "national Democrats" and the WV "state Democrats"? And who keeps the scorecard by which we're all supposed to distinguish between the "two" groups?
Sometimes folks need reminding that, under Obama, the Democratic Party gave 900 state legislative seats to the Republicans, and nobody in their ranks did so much as bat an eyelash about this. When they're pressed on this they say "omigod the Koch brothers!" as if the Koch brothers were the only billionaires who donated money to US political parties, or they say "omigod the Tea Party," as if the Tea Party could not have been, y'know, opposed in any significant way.
In a sane world there would have been a REAL, and not a faux, opposition party to the Republicans, formed quite some time ago.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
Great comment, thanks!
With one caveat:
If you'll pardon my saying so, in my view:
In a sane world there would have been multiple parties all fighting for the chance to serve the public interest best, partly because they thought they were the best party with the best binding platform to do so in the best manner and hoped the public agreed; partly because they wanted to get elected - not to personally profit and gain personal power but - to get and do the job and get a good days pay for each good days work; mostly because, as humans and citizens, they share in the country and society and want the best for all.
When public servants have to fight either for or against the public interest, there's something very, very wrong.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Thank you!
From the historical evidence, though, an America with multiple competing parties would be an America in flux, an America that took its issues seriously. For instance, the America of 1854 was an America in which the Whigs collapsed after the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, allowing the Republican Party and the American ("Know-Nothing") Party to fill the vacuum. Thus slavery was the primary motivator of real-life politics. The Progressive Party of 1912, like the People's Party two decades earlier, confronted two conservative parties with better ideas, thus corporate domination was the primary motivator at that time.
Today the liberal self-proclaimed experts of America proclaim themselves the handmaidens of "realism," exemplified in their favorite phrase "a third party will never work." None of these fools seems to have noticed that the Democratic Party, darling of these "realists," gave away legislature after legislature to the Republican Party under Obama, merely to keep them all away from the liberals. I hope I survive to see at least some of them die of old age.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
Of course the Porky Dems aren't there.
They're all too busy
fellating donors for bribesfundraising for campaign money and plotting the next stunt in the McResistance to give a shit about REAL resistance.Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
@The Aspie Corner I no longer expect the
I no longer expect the Dems to be there. Haven't for a while.
I'd more likely expect them to be on a national phone call with DHS about how to break the strike.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Who has done more to crush teachers unions
And push for profit charter schools than "Democrats"?
" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "
Takes a Democrat to screw a Democrat
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Maybe it's best
Maybe it's best the Dems at the national level didn't show up. How could they relate to a teacher in West Virginia who has to take a second job at Walmart to make ends meet? Dems once had many politicians that cared about bread and butter issues. Here's a good role model for them:
@karl pearson Oh, man, don't post that.
Oh, man, don't post that. You'll make me cry.
Robert Kennedy, a man who was willing to learn.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Who told Bernie not to go
and why did he listen to them?
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who joined striking federal contract workers at the end of 2017, asked labor leaders about potentially going to West Virginia, a source with direct knowledge told The Daily Beast. But he was told to put off a trip until later. A spokesperson for the Senator said that there were “no plans as of now to go” but the Senator did send a statement of solidarity.
@snoopydawg "labor leaders" who are,
"labor leaders" who are, it seems, usually there to discourage people from striking or standing in solidarity with strikers.
Man, I'm cynical.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
With good reason
I think it's hard not to be cynical because of what's happening day after day. The hits just keep on coming.
Anyone seen his wife/kids/grandkids lately?
Something's going on there. Maybe not that, but something.
He's dealing with those who are ruthless psychopaths working for the Total Domination of a group of ruthless psychopaths; we know what they are and we know what they do by the trail of bodies and other devastation in their trail.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Comfy Shoes Were Not Available in Madison. And Dean Offered
an almost verbatim precedent during that no-show on fight night.
Are they even trying any more?
I can't help but think that the fix is in. Democrats are going to roll the dice one more time on neoliberalism on 2018 and if they lose they'll just let Republicans run it into the ground right away.
It might cost a bit more to mop up, but at least the Establishment will be rid of the useless eaters that were the Great American Consumer Machine.
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
@k9disc
Part of that is the looming massive die-off of the old guard. They just want things the way they are, who gives a ratf*ck about the future and whoever is left in it...
My theory as to why 'Dems aren't trying'
The Republicans need what, a few more seats? to get that 'runaway Con Con' that the Trilateral Commission, ALEC and similar others have been pushing for, where corporate interests and billionaires get to re-write the US Constitution, which will suddenly then no longer be merely 'a piece of paper', but the basis of the law of the land. Which will be whatever they say it is, similar to now, but all nice and 'legal'-like, to cover what they do as the gloves come the rest of the way off. Once the Repubs do that, then, if the pretense of elections/two parties is still a thing in TPTB 'optics' of illusion, the Dems get in on a reactive anything-but-Repub landslide in the next Presidential election but can do nothing, being nothing but corporate CEOs, sorta like now, only far more so, and under the rewritten US Constitution.
They are trying to crush the Progs because they fear that this will work and that the corporate Dems will be cleaned out in two elections, spoiling the whole thing at the last moment, that being why Bernie's still trying to hang in there, whatever he's forced to do, to give the American people that final chance. Betcha. Go by character, record and circumstance, not by what The Psychopaths That Be and those who serve them do and have done, being the scorpions they are.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Useless Dems.
Of course.
They should've held out for more. 5% ain't shit.
This shit is bananas.