Wisconsin is only part of the GOP war against unions

[cal04]

Harold Meyerson
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/22/AR2011022205852.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

(snip)
For a more comprehensive view of the Republicans' war on unions, we need to focus on what Republicans in Washington did last week. In the House, Republicans passed, as part of their continuing resolution to fund the federal government through September, a provision that slashed the funding of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by one-third.

But the truly breathtaking measure was an amendment by Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) to defund the NLRB - closing it down altogether - until the fiscal year ends in September. The measure failed Thursday because 60 Republicans joined every Democrat present in voting no, but three-quarters of House Republicans - 176 of them, including Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) - voted yes. In other words, the House leadership supported abolishing the right of American workers - in the private sector no less than the public sector - to bargain collectively.

(snip)
When the congressional Republicans' attack on the board is considered alongside the union-busting offensives of Republican governors, it's clear that a working majority of the Republican Party is bent on abolishing unions. As union membership has declined to a mere 6.9 percent of the private-sector workforce, resentment toward unionized public-sector workers, who have retained the benefits that private-sector workers had when they were unionized, has grown - creating a political opportunity for Republicans to mount their assault. But why bother to defund the NLRB when private-sector unionism is so low?

The answer is that unions remain the most effective part of the Democratic coalition in turning out minority voters come election time and in getting working-class whites to vote Democratic. As such, they are the linchpin of progressive change in America. Taking them off the political map isn't about budgets. It's about removing a check on right-wing and business power in America.

[bemildred]

1. It's a class war, plain and simple.

The wealthy and the self-appointed upper classes against everyone else. "I've got mine Jack, and you can go screw yourself."