The Battle Continues

On Wednesday the first battle was ended during a sneak attack.  The GOP broke the Open Meetings Law, which states

“Every meeting of a governmental body shall be preceded by public notice as provided and shall be held in open session. At any meeting of a governmental body, all discussion shall be held and all action of any kind, formal or informal, shall be initiated, deliberated upon and acted upon only in open session”

“Public notice of every meeting of a governmental body shall be given at least 24 hours prior to the commencement of such meeting unless for good cause such notice is impossible or impractical, in which case shorter notice may be given, but in no case may the notice be provided less than 2 hours in advance of the meeting”

http://www.wisfoic.org/an-openmeetingslaw.html

Is this the definition of Democracy?  To break laws to push through an agenda that was shot down by the public.  This is the same agenda that was not mentioned when they were running for office.  What was proven by doing this?  To the average working class American it shows that absolute power corrupts absolutely.  These Wisconsin politicians ignored the public, the people who elected them and eliminated collective bargaining from the workers.  They claimed all along the reason they wanted to eliminate collective bargaining was totally fiscal.   That the only way they can balance a budget with a deficit like Wisconsin was if workers no longer could negotiate. Yet in order to be able to call a quorum everything fiscal had to be removed from the bill.  This proves what Walker and his cronies have been saying for the past month was a lie.  That this was not a fiscal issue, because if it was they Wisconsin Senate would not have been able to vote on it with only 19 members. 

This Budget Repair Bill was nothing more than a bill set to destroy the Unions the last watchdog for the working class.  Unfortunately for the Corporate Swine that funded the politicians that passed this bill, this helped revitalize them.  For years the working class was sitting back watching the wealth get distributed in an uneven manner.  The Millionaires became Billionaires, while the working class got poorer.  The cost of living rose while salaries dipped or stay the same.  This Bill helped bring to light just how much power one small group of people want.  They asked for concessions and the taxpaying union members agreed.  The workers saw that there was a fiscal crisis and were ready to give back in order to help solve it.  That wasn’t enough, the GOP and the special interests they represented wanted more.  They wanted to end collective bargaining thus stripping the Unions of their fundamental right.  Now the Tea-Baggers and Neo-Cons would want you to believe that this is not a right or a freedom for the people.  However their hero, their inspiration President Ronald Reagan would disagree.  Here is a quote from the Gipper on Labor Day 1980.  

“Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost”

He was talking about the breaking of right of collective bargaining and unions in Poland at the time a tyrannical Communist country.  I find it ironic that these tea-baggers that call me a socialist because I want to work for a living wage are doing the exact same thing a Communist Regime did 30 years ago.  When they are comminting the same acts of the Eastern Block Communist Nations. They are going out and as in the words of their inspiration taking away freedom from the American people. 

While the tea-baggers and neo cons sit there and pat themselves on the back for a job well done; proud of themselves for taking away freedoms from the taxpaying workers of Wisconsin.  The war still goes on, a quick history lesson the South won a few battles in the Civil War before the Union ultimately won the war. The power is in the numbers, we the people, the workers have the numbers.  We need to keep raising our voices and getting the message out there that we are not defeated.  If anything this attack on the worker makes our resolve even stronger.   That labor isn’t going anywhere and those politicians that voted to break us will be gone much faster.  Right now in Wisconsin a new movement is started by the citizens to recall the elected officials who went against the best interest of the public in voting to break the people.  The officials that lied to get their agendas to give more money to big business while taking it away from you the “little people” need to be stopped.  We as a nation need to support this cause.  We need to stand up for ourselves and quit letting the billionaires control our own American Dream.  The only way we can do that is to hold the people we elect accountable for their actions.  To let them know that we will no longer allow them to be slaves to the special interests.  That there is only one special interest group that should matter and that group is “We the People”

Battle Lines Are Drawn

There is a battle being fought in Wisconsin, Governor Scott Walker is trying to destroy the Unions by taking away the workers fundamental right to Collectively Bargain. Over the past few weeks over 100k workers have gathered in Madison, Wisconsin to let their voices be heard. They are telling Walker that in no way they will they concede the right to sit down at a table and talk. Walker is saying that there is a budget crisis that people need to make concessions; the Unions have offered to pay into their pensions to pay a portion of their health insurance to help narrow the gap. The workers are doing their parts, but that isn’t enough for the dictator that is impersonating a Governor. He has made it no secret he wants to destroy the public workers union. He wants to take away the numbers by restricting members from being able to pay union dues. He wants members to vote to keep the union every year. Why? What does this have to do with the budget? The fact of the matter is it doesn’t, by implementing these laws it will put a serious blow to the unions. The public workers will no longer have the strength in numbers, without the numbers the unions are weak. It takes people united to make a voice, without that voice a dictator will have all the power. When one person has all the power the system of checks and balances that our great nation was founded on is no longer effective. Scott Walker likens himself to a modern day Reagan, but he needs a history lesson because before he was President, when he was about Scott Walkers age Ronald Reagan was not only a member of a Union, but he was the President of The Screen Actors Guild. Now I am not going to sit here and pretend that Reagan was a friend of the working man, he did a lot to help create the disparity of wealth that we see today. However the facts are the facts Ronald Reagan got his start as a union man. I guess Walker didn’t realize that when he compared himself to him.

I am not against cutting back during a fiscal crisis, but it should be everyone cutting back, not just the workers. We have been cutting back for a long time anytime there is a crunch who feels it? The Koch Brothers? The Waltons? No they have their billions to fall back on and if they feel that they are starting to hurt, they just cut wages and benefits. The standard of living is going up in the United States while the medium income is going down. Walker says by having the public workers give back everything they worked so hard to earn, while he gives breaks to the wealthiest individuals in the country in hopes they will bring new jobs. Well I have news for him those wealthy individuals became wealthy by not providing a living wage to their employees. They may come in build a new Wal-Mart and create 200 jobs in a small town, but what person will be able to provide for a family at $300 a week? It’s about more than creating jobs; it’s about creating good paying jobs that provide health care and retirement to its workers. I am not saying anything that people don’t already know. Most people even realize that it is wrong what is going on. Current polls show that 61% of Americans are against what Scott Walker is trying to do to his citizens. Walker will tell you this benefits the taxpayers, WHAT HE FAILS TO MENTION IS THAT THE PEOPLE IN THE CAPITOL MARCHING IN THE STREETS ARE THE TAXPAYERS. How does this benefit them? Threatening to lay them off, threatening to take away their means of living how does this help the taxpayers? It doesn’t, it takes a warped mind to even think that by taking away a person livelihood helps them. The workers have made numerous concessions already and they are ready to give more. They just want to be able to negotiate what they earn. There is nothing wrong with that.

So who does benefit from Walker’s plan and the similar plans proposed in other states? First and foremost the GOP, it's all political. AFSCME and CSEA are among the largest donors to the Democratic Party, by taking away the power of these two unions the Democrats will have less money coming in. Without that money it makes it difficult for the Democrats to run campaigns and get elected to office. Without the Democrats in the way the Republicans can push through any agenda they have. Those agendas more time then not benefit the wealthiest 1% of the United States. The same wealthy that donate the money to the Republican Party, the wealthy that own the businesses that will take over the Government agencies after the unions are broken and privatize them. This will just add to the disparity of wealth in this Country. The companies like Koch Industries will go through a procedure of collective bargaining the same right that is being taken from the workers to buy the rights to provide the Government Services for pennies on the dollar then employ workers for lower wages and make billions from it. With the workers getting less money, they will not be able to drive up the market. These companies will then scream poverty because of the poor market as they always do and receive even more tax breaks from the GOP. Meanwhile the workers will struggle along trying to make ends meet fighting for the scraps that are provided by the ruling class. This is what they want to do create two classes of people the wealthy and everyone else. The United States Government is not a business, it’s not a publicly traded company designed to make profits for the wealthy. It’s here to serve and protect the masses, if the middle class goes democracy as we know it does too.

The only way this will not happen is if we show a United Front. We need to show the Government that 300 million are much stronger than a few thousand, that millions of workers union or not are stronger than a few thousand. It used to be a guy started a company hired a few guys to work for him and share the slice of the pie, now millions struggle for the crumbs while that pie is hoarded by a few. If a business wants a tax break they should have to earn it, they should have to show a comparable number of workers making a living wage and having benefits provided for them in order to get it. They should have to show this every year in order to keep it, if the company fails to do and is making an absorbent profit from those breaking their backs then they should not only lose their tax break but they should be fined as well. Tax breaks for the rich should come with conditions that benefit everyone. If they don’t then the disparity just gets larger and the middle class disappears. Scott Walker either is blind to this or he just doesn’t care because he wants power. It is up to us the people to keep up the fight if we stay together nothing will stop us.

About The Working Class Warzone

My name is Rick Bartolotta; I grew up in a working class family in South Buffalo, NY. As a child I watched both my parents work very hard to provide for me and my two sisters. My father was a garbage man, my mother was an administrative worker at City Hall, they didn’t make much money, but the family was never left wanting. Our conversations at the dinner table often were about things going on in Buffalo; we talked about everything sports, history, politics, religion, school and work. I learned a lot at the table, I learned about life, who I was and where I came from. From my great-grandfathers working on the railroads as immigrants to my grandfathers also working as laborers in some form or another, my family always had something in common. They were all Union. My parents are no different; both are members of AFSCME here in Buffalo. I am proud to say I am following in their footsteps as well. For the last two years I have been a proud card carrying member of AFSCME Local 650. As a union member the perception is I am privileged, but I am your typical working class guy; I make fewer than 40k a year, pay for my health insurance and also into my pension. I am a hard worker that shows up on time and do my job. I know in this economic climate I am lucky to have a job, let alone health insurance and a living wage. I don’t have much to my name, but what I do have I worked hard to get. I, like most Americans am just trying to get through my life as best I can until I can retire and live out the rest of my days without worrying.

Now I don’t consider myself a liberal, I am not a socialist or a communist. I am not a conservative, a tea partier, a neo-con or a fascist. I am just a realist, I am a registered Democrat, but I don’t always vote along party lines. I am not anti-gay, anti-gun or anti-abortion. I am really just an average person with my own beliefs. I don’t think I am any better than anyone else. I just try to live my life as best as I can. I don’t pretend to be religious, but I won’t condemn those who are. I do believe there is a God out there, but I don’t feel it’s my job to tell people who it is or what it wants from us. I also believe that women and men are equal; there should be no disparity between genders. I was raised to just be a good person and taught that if I just treated people with respect they would respect me back.

I consider myself Patriotic, but I am not afraid to criticize my country when I feel things are going wrong. This is something a true Patriot will do. I am a very outspoken individual, the opinions I have I do express and I am loud when I do it. This is why I have created this blog. I have a voice and I need to use it. For those who follow me on Twitter or are my friends on Facebook, you had to see this coming. With everything going on in the United States right now and the battle lines being drawn against the middle class. I felt I had to join the battle the best way I know how. People are trying to pit working class people against one another. They are drawing a picture showing a couple of boats one sinking and one with Union Workers floating safely. What should be being drawn is a picture of The Titanic with every middle class American aboard and a beautiful yacht with a few citizens sailing by refusing to toss out a raft.

I am here for one reason, to inform you about what is going on. To help open your eyes, so you can learn that we together we can make our own raft. The pundits are right, there is a War going on, but it isn’t between the middle class, but instead it’s on them. There is 300 MILLION of us out there everyday busting our backs and splitting half of the wealth in our country. While 400 people split the other 50% of it. It’s no longer time for us to sit back, say it’s not right and do nothing about it. It’s time for us to use our voices and take control of a country that was once ours. The disparity is too much anymore. The jobs are disappearing and people are living in fear of losing what little they have left. Well the truth is if that is the attitude you choose to have than you already lost. I don’t want to see the middle class lose this war, Union or Non- Union, Private or Public Sector; we are in this battle together. We must unite and let our elected officials at every level know that we are not going anywhere. That the power is in the numbers and that the middle class is the power.

I am going to be actively writing this blog a few times a week. I am going to keep you posted on the injustices going on against you in this country. It’s absolutely criminal what is happening here in the United States and it’s time that we unite to raise our voices, if not we will be looking at a Great Depression all over again.