The Connection Between OWS and Government Employee Union Busting

I was listening to a story on the radio today about the fight in Ohio over the Wisconsin-inspired anti-public union law that was passed by the legislature and led by Governor John Kasich, but which has been put on the ballot and may be repealed by voters.  It got me thinking about the connection between union-busting and income inequality.

Here's what I mean: unions protect the wages of working class and middle class people.  But unions have been on the decline for 30 years, and the only sector left in which they're truly strong is among public employees.  That's where you see working people (road crews, city bus drivers, firemen, police) and lower-pay professionals (teachers, protective service social workers, clerks in government offices) making reasonable wages, while their brethren in the private sector have been falling behind badly.

And what is the topic du jour today, in light of the Occupy Wall Street protest?  Income inequality.  We've all been hearing about the incredible pay increases among the "top 1%", but have thought less about the pay decreases (or more accurately, flat pay) of the middle class.  But this is an important issue too.

From the 1940s to the 1970s, middle class pay increased.  There were lots of good jobs in unionized industry, which probably pushed up pay in non-union shops too.  But with globalization and the departure of lots of textiles and manufacturing elsewhere, the downward pressure on blue collar labor has been intense.  Union shops just closed and the factories moved elsewhere where labor costs were cheaper.

But the result is that now the blue collar jobs that are left don't pay very well.  Our economy has moved to one domintated by the service sector, and retail and fast food industries have effectively blocked unions.  The pay at Walmart and Burger King is terrible compared to the pay at a factory 40 years ago, but that's where the jobs are now.

So Conservatives, in their bid to destroy their opponents in the union world, have turned their eyes to government sector unions.  The Ohio and Wisconsin laws don't just cut benefits, they outlaw union dues being collected from paychecks, effectively destroying the unions entirely.  Of course, there aren't enough Big Business conservatives to support such legislation, so they have to get votes from somewhere else, and they've hit upon a really smart strategy: splitting the middle class.

The voter who works at Walmart has crappy pay and crappier benefits.  He looks at the DPW worker, with similar skills, making a living wage for the government, and he's getting angry about it.  And he should be angry!!!  But the right wing machine has figured out how to get him angry at the DPW worker, instead of getting angry at Walmart.

If Liberals want to win this battle, we have to turn the anger of the middle class away from government workers and toward the elites who are leading these changes.  After all, government workers aren't getting paid any more than they ever were- the change is that private sector workers are getting paid less.  Maybe Occupy Wall Street can help lift that narrative.