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Why America’s unions are not working any more

By Christopher Caldwell

Published: February 25 2011 22:34 | Last updated: February 25 2011 22:34

During the holiday break this winter, a woman in my neighbourhood was at the supermarket with her son when they ran into the son’s teacher. “See you Monday,” the mother said. The teacher gaily informed her she would not be back until mid-month, as she had planned a vacation in Central America. Teachers used to content themselves with the months off they enjoy in summers and at holidays, but they have got used to more. One can understand why American public employees ardently defend their unions, and the benefits they win. But one can also understand why, in a time of straitened budgets, union-negotiated contracts might be among the first places to make savings. Continue reading →

It wasn’t the smartest thing for Mr. Ryan to say, since he probably didn’t mean to compare Mr. Walker, a fellow Republican, to Hosni Mubarak. Or maybe he did — after all, quite a few prominent conservatives, including Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Rick Santorum, denounced the uprising in Egypt and insist that President Obama should have helped the Mubarak regime suppress it. Continue reading →

Feb 25, 1870:

African American congressman sworn in

 

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Hiram Rhoades Revels, a Republican from Natchez, Mississippi, is sworn into the U.S. Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in Congress.

During the Civil War, Revels, a college-educated minister, helped form African American army regiments for the Union cause, started a school for freed men, and served as a chaplain for the Union army. Posted to Mississippi, Revels remained in the former Confederate state after the war and entered into Reconstruction-era Southern politics. Continue reading →

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University of Wisconsin-La Crosse faculty members Thursday approved forming a union, despite the prospect that state action soon could take away any collective bargaining rights gained from the move.

The faculty voted 249-37 to organize as part of the American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin. The 286 ballots cast represented an 87 percent turnout.

The two-day vote would have been canceled had the state Legislature passed Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill, which

calls for repealing collective bargaining rights that Wisconsin faculty and staff gained only two years ago.

UW-L faculty members said they weren’t daunted by the threat of losing bargaining powers.

“I think it’s galvanized the faculty to maybe push back a little bit,” said Darlene Lake, an associate professor of modern languages.

“I think we’re much better off with a union than without it, particularly if the bill passes,” history professor Deborah Buffton said.

Michael Abler, an associate professor of biology and an AFT-Wisconsin representative who has worked for years to gain bargaining rights, said the state battle “helped crystallize” the issue on campus.

“Unions aren’t just about collective bargaining,” said Susan

Crutchfield, an associate professor and chairwoman of the English department. “Unions can make a lot of waves, because they’re organized.”

La Crosse becomes the third UW faculty to unionize, after UW-Eau Claire and UW-Superior.

“I think it’s very healthy that our faculty are expressing their preferences regarding collective bargaining,” said UW-L Chancellor Joe Gow, who Thursday was en route to Madison for a UW Board of Regents meeting. “It’s difficult at the present time to know what will happen, so we’ll all need to keep an eye on developments in the Legislature.”