Thanks to the excesses of right-wing politicians and their corporate financiers, progressive people "are in the midst of building a new movement for social and economic justice," Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary Treasurer of the Wisconsin branch of the American Federation of Labour, told the closing session Sunday of the Parkland Institute's Fall 2011 Conference.
"In their blind greed and arrogance, they have overreached," said Bloomingdale in a talk on "taking back democracy" Sunday afternoon.
"When their bought-and-paid-for politicians tried to implement their outrageous schemes, a curious thing happened," she told participants in the two-day conference by the Edmonton-based research institute, which is affiliated with the University of Alberta. "A spark was lit in Wisconsin that has ignited a movement!"
Bloomingdale was referring to the efforts earlier this year by the state's Republican governor, Scott Walker, to eliminate most collective bargaining rights by Wisconsin public sector workers, and to roll back wages and benefits. The outcome was huge demonstrations by up to 100,000 people in the streets of Madison, the state capital, and now a campaign to recall Walker from office.
None of this could have happened, Bloomingdale said, without public sector unions and private sector unions, citizens with union memberships and citizens without, and people from other states and other countries standing together to fight for the rights of working families in her state. "Just as capital knows no borders, solidarity ought to know no borders," she said.
"Why did the actions of one extremist governor in the American Midwest reverberate around the globe? Because this agenda, this vision of society that rewards billionaires and punishes teachers and nurses and firefighters offends our basic sense of justice.
"At the end of the day, our fight is not just about collective bargaining and the right to join a union, it is about social and economic justice and rights that are fundamental to a functioning democracy," she said, emphasizing that that the fight in Wisconsin boils down to a battle to preserve the middle class.
The wealthy Americans who are financing the fight to hobble unions are aiming for something bigger, she said. "Their real goal is to destroy the middle class and leave us powerless."
Unions provide power to the middle class and because union members vote in higher percentages than other segments of society, "we punch above our weight."
"Looking back one day," she said, "let history record that this is indeed a pivotal moment, a moment when the union movement and progressives rose once again to the challenge and led the charge to restore the balance of power in our society ... the moment of truth when we pulled back the curtain to expose the cynical manipulation by those wealthy few who would blame working people for the damage they themselves have caused."
Bloomingdale, who was previously Director of Public Policy for the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, described the effort now under way to get 540,000 names on a petition to recall Walker in 60 days.
She closed her remarks, and the conference, by reminding the approximately 200 participants of the words of "my friend Heather Smith: 'There ain't now power like the power of the union' cause the power of the union don't stop!'"
The Parkland Institute sponsored in part by the United Nurses of Alberta, studies economic, social, cultural and political issues facing Albertans and Canadians, using the perspective of political economy.
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Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary Treasurer of the Wisconsin branch of the American Federation of Labour, and UNA President Heather Smith share a smile at lunch during Sunday's session of the Parkland Institute conference on unions. |
