There's No Such Thing as a 'Low-Skilled Worker'

I hate the term, "low-skilled" to describe the millions of workers who have built and maintained this country and who are largely Black, Latino, female, and immigrant.

So-called low-skilled workers tend to be lower-paid, have fewer rights, and have less recourse to unions and other enforcement bodies. For example, foreign-born “low”-skilled workers are typically tied to an employer and cannot leave without invalidating their visa. They have also historically been used as a reserve army of unemployed workers to hold down wages and break strikes. 

Wealthy countries like the U.S. depend on migration and immigration for essential labor and economic stability. Yet when deciding who is allowed to enter the country, most use a simple dichotomy based on educational attainment: “high” and “low” skilled. 

Under the Trump administration and now with Biden and the Democrats in power, closing the southern border and abusing and deporting millions of immigrant workers and their families has led to devastating cuts in available low-paid laborers forcing restaurants and other businesses, eg. in agriculture and food production, that rely on immigrant labor to close once again.

The rhetoric around skills is typically based on a dichotomy between “high” and “low”: “high” being associated with university degrees and “low” with manual labor. But, these characteristics do not come close to describing a person’s comprehensive skill set; they are just the easiest to evaluate based on the standards and prevailing norms of capitalist society. 

The pandemic and the growth of the so-called "gig economy" have exacerbated the divisions between "high" and "low" skilled with the latter being pushed onto the front lines and in harm's way as they deliver the goods and services need to keep a faltering economy on its feet.

Now, as the resurgent pandemic enters a new stage, millions of unemployed workers have come under attack for their unwillingness to forego unemployment insurance to take crappy, dangerous, and low-paying jobs and are being pushed off unemployment insurance and anti-eviction protection as an act of government coercion. 

Last week, Biden oversaw the ending of extended unemployment benefits in an attempt to force workers back on the job. Meanwhile, mega-corporations like Amazon have been forced to raise basic wages above the prevailing minimum in order to maintain their competitive edge, entice workers to work under otherwise intolerable conditions, and undermine union drives. 

Bloomberg reports that much to their chagrin, for the third month in a row, wages for the "low-skilled: have risen faster than for the "high-skilled". In the previous history of the survey, which now goes back almost 25 years, this had only ever happened in two months, in early 2010. Wage growth for the "low-skilled" is also exceeding that for the "high-skilled" by the most on record. 

In this opinion piece, Bloomberg's John Authers warns that this wage growth is potentially bad for inflation. 

"Wage growth for the lowest skilled is the fastest since August 2008 (not coincidentally, the month before the Lehman bankruptcy), and that could easily lead to higher prices." 

"More interestingly still," writes Authers, "it does suggest a shift in the balance of power between labor and capital. This isn’t as yet a deep-seated or well-established trend, of course. But if it continues it could rattle a lot of assumptions, and alleviate a lot of social tension."

Authers fails to mention that while millions of people struggled to make ends meet during the pandemic, many of the companies hit hardest in 2020 showered their executives with riches. Chief executives of big companies now make, on average, 320 times as much as their typical worker, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Billionaire Jeff Bezos managed to add $13,000,000,000 to his wealth in a single day during a pandemic?

No, this widening wealth gap won't "alleviate social tension". Rather, it should provide new rich opportunities for struggling labor unions to expand their shrinking base by organizing the unorganized so-called "low-skilled". 

*Also, see Teri Gerstein's piece in the New York Times: "Other People’s Rotten Jobs Are Bad for Them. And for You." 

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

68% of Americans approve of labor unions—despite a relentless and withering assault on worker organizing by those who benefit from the atomization of all but the super wealthy.

Happy Labor Day! And solidarity forever. https://t.co/c9FFE3K8Ik

— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) September 6, 2021

Jamie Contreras, secretary-treasurer of the SEIU 

 “We’re not anywhere near done. People still need help. ... For millions of people nothing has changed from a year and a half ago.” -- Covid safety net cut

Rebecca Solnit

If the US defends its democracy, such as it is, and protects the voting rights of all eligible adults, the right will continue to be a shrinking minority. -- Guardian

The Former Guy

...expressed disappointment about receiving a low number of votes from Jews. 

"Look what I did with the embassy in Jerusalem and what I did with so many other things. Israel has never had a better friend, and yet I got 25% of the [Jewish] vote." -- Business Insider

Joanna Klonsky

It’s been quite a week to be a woman in this world. -- Twitter

SEIU Healthcare IL supports vax requirement for healthcare and ed workers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 27, 2021

Contact: Catherine Murrell, 312-523-3882 

The following was released by SEIU Healthcare Illinois President Greg Kelley on Gov. Pritzker’s recent announcement of Vaccination Requirements for Healthcare and Educational Workers:

SEIU Healthcare Illinois continues to maintain our ongoing efforts to ensure the health, safety, and wellbeing of our 90,000 members. We are committed to promoting every measure available in protecting not only our members but our entire community, from the life-threatening impacts of the COVID-19 virus. As a result, we are in support of Gov. Pritzker’s recent announcement of the COVID-19 vaccine requirement for healthcare and educational workers.

As a union of healthcare and childcare workers, we understand how critical it is to ensure that our members are working in safe environments, while also protecting our most vulnerable populations.

In addition to our support of vaccinations and scheduled testing, it is our expectation to partner with employers to foster a collaborative approach in providing resources that enable workers to be vaccinated without negative economic impacts. These resources would include comprehensive educational programs which include channels for employee communication regarding the implementation of the vaccination. 

We are dedicated to working with employers to help respond to worker needs as we combat this devastating disease.  

# # #

What does F.O.P. stand for?

“We’re in America, goddamn it." -- FOP Lodge #7 Prez John Catanzara

Chicago's Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) has no business calling itself a union. As a matter of fact, they don't. Early FOP founders decided to not use the term "union" because of the anti-union sentiment of the time. 

FOP's fascist potentate John Catanzara is nothing but a Trump-loving racist petty criminal who's been outspoken in defense of the Jan. 6th MAGA Capitol rioters and who recently was suspended from the CPD and charged with filing false police reports. 

Cantazara has from the start, been on a crusade against the city's two top Black female elected officials, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and States Attorney Kim Foxx over their attempts to implement federal court-mandated police reform.

Lightfoot unfortunately has been forced to negotiate with the FOP on issues of abusive, racist, and violent police behavior which shouldn't be a matter of collective bargaining at all. 

For more on that, see my brother Fred's Sun-Times commentary, "I’m a union guy, and I oppose police union contracts that cover up abuse."

But as we enter the next mayoral campaign season, the FOP has refocused its right-wing wedge-issue polemics to target the mayor's vaccine mandate for all city employees. Yesterday, Cantanzara laid bare his thuggy nature by launching this anti-mayor, anti-vax tirade. 

“We’re in America, goddamn it. We don’t want to be forced to do anything. Period. This ain’t Nazi f***ing Germany, [where they say], ‘Step into the f***ing showers. The pills won’t hurt you.’ What the f***?” he told the newspaper. [Sun-Times]

This trash needs no rebuttal. The Mayor's response (below) is adequate. My blog feels dirty as it is for even printing it. 

After FOP president John Catanzara compared the vaccine mandate for city employees to Nazi Germany, the mayor called his comments “offensive” and said he needs “serious psychotherapy.” https://t.co/hKJAcbZL84

— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) August 26, 2021

At times I've referred to the FOP as Fascists on Patrol. I'm switching now to Friends of Pandemic. 

WEEKEND QUOTABLES: Weingarten on vaccine mandates

TOKYO (AP) — Nagasaki on Monday marked the 76th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the Japanese city with its mayor urging Japan, the United States, and Russia to do more to eliminate nuclear weapons. In his speech at the Nagasaki Peace Park, Mayor Tomihisa Taue urged Japan’s government to take the lead in creating a nuclear-free zone in Northeast Asia rather than staying under the U.S. nuclear umbrella — a reference to the U.S. promise to use its own nuclear weapons to defend allies without them. 

Education Sec. Miguel Cardona

“We're clearly at a fork in the road in this country. Cardona said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “You're either going to help students be in school in-person and be safe, or the decisions you make will hurt students." -- CBS' Face the Nation

AFT Pres. Randi Weingarten 

...said Sunday that she wants the union to support mandatory coronavirus vaccinations for teachers. This would be a change in policy, as the AFT currently favors vaccination being a voluntary choice. 

"Since 1850 we’ve dealt with vaccines in schools, it’s not a new thing to have vaccines in schools. And I think that, on a personal matter, as a matter of personal conscience, I think that we need to be working with our employers – not opposing them – on vaccine mandates." -- NBC's Meet the Press

  Scot Ward, president of FOP Lodge 263

“We are not opposed to the COVID-19 vaccine, we are opposed to being forced to take it.” -- Capitol Fax [WTF?]

Andrew French, brother of slain Chicago cop Ella French

 ...said “even before she joined the force,” his sister was a big proponent of therapy or social services over more jail time. He said she wanted to see people get the help they needed, more “than throwing people in jail. -- Chicago Tribune

”IL Gov. Pritzker imposing mandatory vaccinations for state employees

“They run the risk of carrying the virus into work with them, and then it’s the residents who are ending up seriously sick hospitalized or worse,” Pritzker said. “It’s a breach of safety. It’s fundamentally wrong, and in Illinois, it’s going to stop.” -- WBEZ

Mokoto Rich on Tokyo Olympics

The fact that the Games went ahead during the pandemic despite strong public opposition in Japan showed the undemocratic principles that underpin the organization. -- New York Times

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

First and foremost, neither Dr Seuss nor Mr Potato Head are being cancelled. 

Akin Olla on Dr. Seuss

Real cancel culture has existed in the United States and it is worth remembering what it means to be truly cancelled. The multiple red scares in the United States involved socialist – and allegedly socialist – actors, directors and musicians being spied on and blacklisted by production companies and studios for their political views. -- Guardian

Brazil's fascist President, Jair Bolsonaro

As Covid deaths soar in Brazil, Bolsonary said he regretted any loss of life, but demanded to know: “How long are you all going to keep crying?” -- New York Times

Washington Correspondent Carl Hulse

 Bipartisanship is dead.

Other marquee Democratic measures to protect and expand voting rights tackle police bias and misconduct and more are also drawing scant to zero Republican backing. -- New York Times

 Teamster Local 710 Secretary-Treasurer Mike Cales

“The solidarity within this group is inspiring. The situation was not looking good yesterday, and we were literally 15 minutes away from going on strike when the employer finally realized just how serious the situation was." -- Sun-Times

 Civil rights activist and daughter of MLK, Bernice King

 “Royalty is not a shield from the devastation and despair of racism.” -- Tweet

The good ones are leaving us too soon.

Our living room was packed on a summer day in 2014 for our Bagels With Karen fundraiser.

As everyone has heard by now, former CTU Pres. Karen Lewis passed yesterday, leaving a tear in my eye but also great memories for me to hold on to. Some of my fondest include our (Susan and my) occasional breakfast meetings at Meli's on Wells Street just to touch base and have a few laughs. 

Another was from an event we held for Jonathan Kozol back in 2012. Kozol had the crowd on its feet, applauding as he talked about the inspiring effect the Chicago teachers' strike was having on teachers and supporters across the country. Kozol said he first heard news of the strike at a book tour event in Los Angeles. When a teacher in the audience announced that teachers in Chicago had walked out, “the roar of the crowd delayed the program for several minutes.”

But the loudest prolonged ovation that evening was reserved for Karen Lewis. It broke out spontaneously as she entered the sold-out Thorne Auditorium and Northwestern Univ. Law School. Karen spoke briefly, introduced Kozol, and then embraced the author in a show of unity. 

Jonathan and Karen at Maggiano's in 2012

After the event, a group of us went out with Jonathan and Karen to grab a bite at Maggiano's. I don't remember the dinner conversation at all. But what I do recall was the stream of random folks who instantly recognized Karen and wanted to shake her hand. One woman spotting Karen from across the large room raced over to our table to give her a bear hug. She turned out to be a suburban teacher who wanted nothing more than to tell her fellow teachers that she had met the great Karen Lewis. 

R.I.P. ED PEARL... Another sad moment came yesterday when I learned that an old friend from my L.A. days had died. Ed Pearl was the owner of the Ash Grove, the place where the music and the movement all came together for me back in the '60s. Regulars there included: Ry Cooder,  Lightnin’ Hopkins, The Byrds, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Howlin Wolf, Albert King, Freddie King, Big Mama Thornton, Big Joe Turner, T-Bone Walker, Johnny Guitar Watson, Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt, The Chambers Brothers, Maria Muldaur, and many others.

Ed was also a political activist who used his club and his resources to support civil rights and anti-war movement organizers as well as struggling artists and musicians. He will be missed. 

A question for all my old great friends and comrades out there. Where the hell are you all goin'? What's the rush?

The path towards safe school reopenings

Chicago has plans for a phased school reopening starting in January if the spread of the virus stabilizes, but the local teachers’ union says cases remain too high. Credit...Taylor Glascock for The New York Times

I don't see any pathway to safe urban school reopenings without first classifying teachers and school staff as essential, frontline workers, and putting them near the top of the vaccine priority list. This should be part of a national campaign championed by the incoming Sec. of Education. Schools should also become centers for mass community inoculation. 

Two things are clear to me. Schools can't open without support from a critical mass of teachers and teachers aren't going to be bullied back into the classroom without evidence that those classrooms are reasonably safe. 

The nation’s roughly three million full-time teachers are already considered essential workers by the C.D.C., which means that in states that follow federal recommendations, they are already eligible to receive the vaccine after hospital employees and nursing home residents.

But, says the New York Times...

The essential worker group is huge — some 87 million Americans — and states will have flexibility in how they prioritize within that population. Many more people work in schools than just teachers, including nurses, janitors, and cafeteria workers, and it is unclear how many of them would be included on the high-priority list.

Last month, more than 10 educational organizations, including the nation’s two largest teachers’ unions, wrote to the C.D.C. asking that school employees be considered a priority group.

But even after educators are inoculated, lots of other measures will need to be put in place before city classrooms can be truly considered safe learning places for both teachers and students. Even after being vaccinated, Teachers could still be silent spreaders. Schools will likely need to continue requiring masks and distancing students for many months until community spread has sharply dropped. 

Public school educators and outside experts need to consider radical school redesigns to meet community needs in the pandemic and post-pandemic era. But that kind of project will require massive federal and state resources and an effort to find common ground between school boards, big-city mayors, and the unions. Either on the national from or here in Chicago, I don't see that happening for the time being.

Certainly not without Democrats in control of the Senate, and even then... 

Cardona & Fenwick

CHOOSING HIS ED SECRETARY...It looks like President-elect Biden is finally close to naming his education secretary. His people just dropped the names of two short-listed candidates to the Washington Post -- Howard University emeritus Ed School Dean Leslie Fenwick and Miguel Cardona, the commissioner of schools in Connecticut.

I don't know much about either one. So I'll go by WaPo's description of each:

Fenwick is a Black woman, and Cardona is a Latino man. Both have experience as classroom teachers, though Fenwick has worked as a dean and scholar in higher education for many years...

...Fenwick has criticized education programs such as Teach For America — a nonprofit that for years recruited only new college graduates, gave them five weeks of summer training and placed them in high-need schools — and the move to inject competition and corporate-inspired management techniques into schools. She’s also spoken against for-profit charter schools and taxpayer-funded private school vouchers.

... Cardona sees an urgency to in-person school and has pushed districts to offer that to parents, said spokesman Peter Yazbak.

“His position has been that in-person learning is the way that we best address the educational crisis caused by the closure of schools last spring,” he said. “A lot of people who are not from Connecticut assume that Connecticut is just Greenwich. But we have a lot of urban districts with students who have social and emotional needs as well as academic needs. The best way for them to get the services they need is in school, with counselors and their teachers.”

Even though they bring different perspectives to the table, they both sound pretty good to me, especially considering the misleadership we've had atop the D.O.E. for the past two decades. I wonder if there's a way to combine the two of them in one cabinet post?

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

If we must die, let it not be like hogs

Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot

 -- Claude McKay (1919)

Trump

'MAGA loves the black people' -- On way to space launch

Emily Witt

An officer would repeat, like a mantra, the directive “Move back.” The protesters would chant, “You move back.” A few cries would ring out: “This is a public sidewalk” or “We have a right to be here!” Then the police would make their move: pushing forward, pepper-spraying, dragging people who resisted. -- New Yorker

Even Michael Jordan (Better late than never)

"I see and feel everyone's pain, outrage and frustration. I stand with those who are calling out the ingrained racism and violence toward people of color in our country. We have had enough... ESPN

Deborah Brown, Human Rights Watch

“President Trump’s executive order amounts to a threat to punish social media platforms and the people who post on them because the government might disagree with the way the companies moderate content.” -- HRW

Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO President

Racism plays an insidious role in the daily lives of all working people of color. This is a labor issue because it is a workplace issue. It is a community issue, and unions are the community. -- Tweet

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot

At a press conference, Lightfoot referred to the nation’s “original sin” of racism, and she said, “I stand shoulder-to-shoulder” with peaceful protestors. But she added, “I’m also hurt and angry at those who decided to hijack this moment and use it as an opportunity to wreak havoc, to loot and to destroy. -- Presser

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter 

We’re calling for ‘peace, not patience’ -- Today

"Save the bullshit": NFL players Kenny Stills, Eric Reid and more slam Goodell's statement on George Floyd death https://t.co/7gqPflDVpW pic.twitter.com/pUKUU7nd4c

— The Hill (@thehill) June 1, 2020

Reckless reopening and universal guaranteed income

UAW President Walter Reuther (shaking hands at right) presided
at the opening of the new Local 879 Union Hall in 1955

Political Economy lesson for these times: The story goes that Henry Ford II once boasted to UAW leader Walter Reuther that he could build cars without workers.

 “Walter, how are you going to get those robots to pay your union dues." Without skipping a beat, Reuther replied, “Henry, how are you going to get them to buy your cars?”

Reuther won that one on points but the robots and offshoring production prevailed in the end. The current pandemic which has put millions out of work and driven many millions more into poverty is driving some deep questioning about the inequities in current society and new thinking about life in a post-pandemic world. Isn't it time to start talking seriously about universal basic income and health insurance?

Ameya Pawar

Brother Fred and I will be doing just that in upcoming editions of Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers. On Friday, May 22nd, 11-noon CT, we will be joined by former Chicago Alderman Ameya Pawar. After leaving office, Ameya joined the Economic Security Project as a senior fellow and is working on narrative change efforts around guaranteed income and public options, including public banks. It should be an interesting show. Tune in to lumpenradio.com

Look at these numbers...As Trump and his right-wing band of media whores open fire on Dr. Fauci and the medical and scientific community, we take note of the fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans oppose their reckless "reopening" policies that place profit above human life.

According to this week's Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, a huge majority (78% to 22%) of Americans, believe it is “necessary” for people in their communities to stay at home as much as possible.

The spread is very similar among those of incomes below $50,000 (82-18), those of incomes of $50,000 to $100,000 (77-23), and those of incomes over $100,000 (71-29). It’s also much the same among rural voters (77-23) and non-college-educated whites (75-25), both demographics that tilt heavily towards supporting President Trump […]

Fifty-eight percent of Americans overall say current restrictions on businesses are “appropriate,” vs. only 21% who say they are “too restrictive.”

Right-wing gunman provided support to the owner of a bar in Odessa, Texas, which reopened last week in defiance of an order that it remain shut. 

That's the reason the premature openers need to call out gun thugs and militiamen with assault weapons to stand guard outside their businesses.

Let's not be cowed by the right-wing crowd. Their support is dwindling. Their leaders are flailing about in a state of panic. Their militias and gun thugs won't save them. Their days are numbered.

We're all in this together. Aren't we?

Between 40-60 million pushed into poverty in the Corona era.

"We are all in this together. We must put politics aside, stop the partisanship, and unify together as one nation and one family." -- Donald Trump, Address to the Nation, 3/11/20

This old saw may turn out to be the biggest lie ever told. Whether or not you believe it may well depend on which side of the poverty/race line you fall on. Whether you're one of the 40-60 million pushed into a life of poverty or one of the half of one percent cashing in on the sickness and misery of others; whether you're one of the 4,500 Tyson workers who've caught COVID-19 or one of the company's owners threatening to fire employees who fear to return to work. It could even depend on whether you're a state or local official having to go it alone with little or no help from the feds while the president boasts about how he's won the adoration of the governors and how he already defeated the pandemic. You get the picture.

CEO Randall Stephenson is out at AT&T. I know this is a hell of a time to lose your job, but don't worry about Randall. He won't be standing on line at the unemployment office like the 20,000 or so AT&T workers who've lost their jobs mainly due to offshoring and the corona crisis. Many of those remaining are working under unsafe conditions, here in the U.S. and in places like Jamaica and Costa Rica.

But not Randall. While AT&T lines up for its share of the multitrillion-dollar corporate bailout --mainly used for stock buybacks -- a bailout that will be paid for by taxpayers, their children, and grandchildren, he's leaving with a golden parachute retirement package. His pension is valued at $64 million with an additional $27.6 million in deferred earnings, according to the New York Times. This massive sum of money provides him with a guaranteed income of $274,000 a month for the rest of his life. This is on top of his total last three years with an average $30 million/year compensation.

CWA Union Pickets AT&T Offices in San Antonio Over Continued Job Cuts.

Establishment splits...Aside from the current (mainly one-sided) class warfare raging against the poor and working class, the pandemic has also intensified ongoing factional strife among the rich and powerful. For example, among those happiest to see Stephenson go is none other than Donald Trump. You see, AT&T owns CNN, along with more than 90 of its other major corporate divisions. Trump hates CNN as he hates all news media ("enemies of the people") and has been using his anti-trust division to go after them specifically.

Lots of AT&T money went to Republicans in 2016. But none to Trump. DT never forgot it.

Great News! Randall Stephenson, the CEO of heavily indebted AT&T, which owns and presides over Fake News @CNN, is leaving, or was forced out. Anyone who lets a garbage “network” do and say the things that CNN does, should leave ASAP. Hopefully replacement will be much better!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 24, 2020

Elon Musk not "in it together."

Tesla is telling workers that if they do not come back to the factory – which is open in defiance of a local public health order – they may have their unemployment benefits eliminated, @msainat1 reports https://t.co/cxyNByXT6v

— Julia Carrie Wong (@juliacarriew) May 12, 2020

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Hilarious excuse Trump gave for not wearing a mask at the mask factory in Arizona. “I can’t help it if you didn’t see me wearing one." -- John Oliver, Last Week Tonight

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot

“The light at the end of the tunnel is absolutely there, but it's still just a glimmer, and we still have a long way to go before we can safely return to the way things were before.” -- Chicago Tribune

IL Gov. J.B. Pritzker

"We’re going it alone, as the White House has left all the states to do." -- Chicago Tribune

Paul Rosenzweig on Barr's Justice Dept. 

Going forward, no American citizen can have confidence in the Department’s impartiality. And that, in turn, erodes Americans’ faith in their institutions, enhancing the opportunity for authoritarian control. Which, I suppose, may very well be the ultimate objective of the entire exercise. -- The Atlantic

Dolores Huerta, UFW co-founder

In an interview with The Associated Press, Huerta pledged to do “whatever I possibly, humanly can to make sure that Joe Biden gets elected.” -- antiracismdsa

Trump hails new racist head of the FOP

Congratulations to Officer John Catanzara for being elected President of the Chicago Police Union. He always “Gets the Job Done”. #MAGA @foxandfriends

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2020

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Trump's gun thugs storm MI legislature. He calls them, "very good people."

Brittany Packnett, activist, educator

“The Michigan demonstrations "are what happens when people of racial privilege confuse oppression with inconvenience.” -- AP

David Axelrod & David Plouffe

“Biden in the Basement” is not a strong enough show to hold the audience. -- New York Times

Prof. Anita Hill

 “Joe Biden has denied Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegations, but that should not be the end of the inquiry. Given the significance of this moment, the allegations against both Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump should be investigated, with results that are “made available to the public.” -- New York Times

Tony Utano, president of Transport Workers Union Local 100

“The MTA has to recognize this with more than just thanks and praise. They need to put that thanks and praise into my members’ paychecks. You can’t keep asking people to come to work and carry such a heavy burden for the same rate of pay. It’s just not right.” -- 98 transit workers dead from coronavirus

Rev. William J. Barber

In a country as wealthy as the United States, poverty is a political choice, and it is time for real solutions that provide lasting freedom from fear and want. -- CNN

Peter Lynn, head of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority

“There is a staggering overrepresentation of black people in homelessness, and that is not based on poverty,” he said. “That is based on structural and institutional racism.” -- New York Times

Victory for Instacart Workers

Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter released the following statement in response to Instacart workers in Skokie, IL. winning the first union election in company history:

 “Workers in Chicago have recently won significant battles in the legislature, on the picket line, and at the organizing table. From the landmark Fair Workweek Ordinance to a $15 minimum wage law at the city and state to strikes in our schools, hotels, and hospitals, the Chicago labor movement is fighting every day to give all workers a voice on the job. Today’s historic election helps extend that voice to gig workers, who desperately need the freedom to join together in a union. This is a fight that is just beginning.

 “To any worker who does not have a voice on the job, who does not have dignity at work, know that you can be the catalyst for change." -- Press Release 

Bob Reiter will be our guest on Hitting Left Friday, Feb. 7th, 11-noon on WLPN 105.5 FM, streaming live at www.lumpenradio.com.

Sun-Times blows it again on teacher planning time

Sun-Times editorial asks: "But since when do salaried professionals watch the clock like hourly workers on an assembly line?" Answer: In Chicago, schools are still organized like factories (remember them?) Teachers still punch in and out.

Today's Sun-Times editorial: When teachers strike so they can teach kids less, something is wrong, blows it again.

It's the second time in a row for S-T, although the last one wasn't an editorial. They just turned over a full page to an anti-public-school harangue by a right-wing think-tanker. But now they're running neck-in-neck with the Tribune's McQueary and Kass for most ill-informed anti-teacher, anti-union pundit awards.

Kass and McQueary I understand. They are committed right-wing, racist, anti-union ideologues who never bother with seeking truth from facts. Remember when McQueary wished a natural disaster would strike Chicago to pave the way for a "rebirth" of the city?

But the S-T (partially owned by the CFL) just seems to be missing the mark out of ignorance, rather than ideology. Today's editorial calls on the CTU to drop their demand for more teacher planning time and get back to work.

While I have been at odds with CTU leaders over their tactics, especially their abusive, personal attacks aimed at Mayor Lightfoot and her supporters (me included), I have been walking the picket line and supportive of the teachers' demands for better pay and working conditions, including full support staffing for every school.

I am hopeful that they can settle this thing, hopefully by today, by agreeing on a fair contract which includes provisions for adequate, teacher-directed planning time.

But for some reason, this demand for more and better teacher planning time has become a minefield and one of the last barriers in the way of a tentative agreement between the board and the union. The S-T editorial, by mischaracterizing the demand, just adds fuel to the fire.

According to S-T editorial,

The CTU has repeatedly insisted on a terrible idea: Giving elementary school teachers an extra 30 minutes of prep time every day, though this would meaning cutting 30 minutes of teaching time every day. Forget it. 

No, it not a terrible idea. It's a great one and one that doesn't have to cut into classroom teaching time. But even if it did, research shows, that's not so bad.

S-T claims,

Chicago once had the shortest school day in the country, which was a national embarrassment. When kids are not in class, they cannot learn. But since 2012, thanks to the effort of many parents, educators and former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Chicago has had a longer school day — something closer to the national average — and we cannot go back.

This is all bullcrap. Chicago didn't have the shortest day in the country and wasn't a "national embarrassment." That was all a fabrication of Rahm Emanuel's who made a longer school day his election campaign mantra so there would be more time for test-prep rather the prep time for teachers and staff.

Rahm even dragged Arne Duncan back to town from Washington to campaign for his longer school day plan. I gagged when I heard Duncan call Chicago's school day, a "disgrace" and a "badge of shame." Duncan had autocratically run the schools here for the seven years previous and with a compliant union leadership behind him, had never implemented a longer school day.

As one observer wrote in a letter to the Sun-Times in 2011,

 A longer school day without structure is like a restaurant serving “lots” of food — if the food is not tasty — who cares if you get a lot of it!

If less seat time for students was a "national embarrassment", why wasn't the Lab School, where Rahm sent his kids, embarrassed? They had a shorter school day and year than did CPS and still do. So do the wealthy suburban districts to the north of us. None of them equate more seat time with more learning.

S-T claims:

Yes, teachers need time to plan. But since when do salaried professionals watch the clock like hourly workers on an assembly line? True professionals — teachers, doctors, college professors, and even journalists — agree on an annual salary and get on with the job.

Have the S-T editors ever been inside a Chicago Public School? If they had, they would know that unlike other professionals, our teachers punch a time clock every day, just like factory workers (remember them?). No, teachers are still not treated as professionals. Real professionals have time to plan, much greater autonomy over their work and the time and wherewithal to collaborate with their colleagues.

Can you imagine a lawyer defending a client with inadequate prep time? Or doctors being told to spend more time in the operating room with less time to prepare? Or either of them punching a clock?

As I said up top, I hope the strike gets settled today and I hope teacher prep time is part of the deal. It shouldn't be that hard to reach an agreement on this.

Looking for something better to come from vitriolic contract talks

Striking CTU members gather over two days to study the 2012 contract offer before voting to end the strike. 

The contract talks between CPS and the CTU are going pretty much the way I expected and just the way I feared. In some ways, they are a continuation of the contentious and divisive campaign tactics that marked the mayor's race between Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle.

Lightfoot’s victory — winning every single ward — was a blow to CTU’s power and perceptions about its influence. And the union has been struggling to get some of its mojo back ever since. CTU’s dilemma is that it’s trying to wage a war with a mayor who’s not Rahm Emanuel — an enemy CTU knew how to fight. -- Illinois Playbook

The CTU and SEIU Local 73, cornerstones of the progressive movement here in Chicago, both backed Preckwinkle who was soundly defeated by the current mayor. Both candidates ran as "progressives" but in the end, Lightfoot and a group of insurgent city council candidates rode an anti-machine wave to victory.

But as I predicted at the time,

With election day only a few weeks away, and Lightfoot apparently pulling far ahead, internecine warfare has broken out among the progressives to such a degree it's going to be hard to put Humpty Dumpty back together again when the election madness is over.

As we approach the Oct. 17th strike date set by the unions, the past nine months have unfortunately proven me right. The current negotiations are largely being carried out in the media and on Twitter as both sides scramble for public support. These tactics of grandstanding, personal attacks and demagogy increase the level of antagonism which in turn, tends to cloud the real contract issues and the systemic, rather than the personal nature of the struggle.

I have made no secret of my disagreement with some of the mayor's as well as the union's views on education. For example:

Actually, shortening the amount of seat time, giving teachers more planning/collaboration time is good sound practice. Better than Rahm's longer school day, as I pointed out back when. It's how they do it in the rich kids' progressive schools. https://t.co/2Ztyh2TMVv

— Mike Klonsky (@mikeklonsky) October 4, 2019

I support the demands of the teachers for decent pay and working conditions as well as for adequate and equitable staffing, teacher prep time, and wrap-around services for schools. And as I've said many times, if the negotiations break down leading to a strike, I will be walking the picket line, as I've done in 2012 and '16 with my CTU daughter Jennifer and her colleagues over at Telpochcalli Elementary in Little Village.

But I am also cognizant of the fact that this struggle is taking place within a system that criminally underfunds public education, erodes public space and decision-making while supporting all manifestations of corporate greed. It also encourages antagonistic relations between those that should be united in common cause.

I believe that the mayor and her team are committed to the goal of public education, including racial desegregation, better pay for teachers, adequate and equitable staffing. But how to fully fund all these and how much is contractual and/or budgetary are matters for collective bargaining. It's the very process that Republican governors have liquidated in Wisconsin, Ohio and other red states as well as the main issue behind the wild cat teacher strikes in right-to-work states like Oklahoma and Arizona.

It's these conditions that have led to the contentious relationship between some union leaders and the most progressive school board in Chicago history.  All this, while teachers voice their righteous anger and the board tries to grapple with its own inadequate budget. The only short-term resolution lies in serious collective bargaining by both sides.

The mainstream and corporate media attacks on the teachers and their union have been disgraceful and have made things worse, especially when you consider that the Sun-Times, which ran a greedy-teacher editorial, is partially owned by the CFL.

Then there was Greg Hinz at Crain's who has the hutzpah to equate the union with Trump.

Crain's @GregHinz must be vaping some weird flavors. Just lost all credibility equating Trump's high crimes with the CTU asking for librarians and social workers. https://t.co/c3qc0gszec

— Mike Klonsky (@mikeklonsky) September 30, 2019

It's also no secret that I've had sharp disagreements with the leadership of the union over their own false equation of Mayor Lightfoot with Rahm Emanuel. I've also been critical of the union's unfocused and personal attacks against, CPS negotiators, and progressive board members like Miguel del Valle and Elizabeth Breland.

CTU mocks Board Pres. del Valle

 The forces at the table at this year's contract negotiation are far different from those in 2012 and '16 and I'm encouraged by the fact that educators now dominate the table on both sides.

According to the Sun-Times:

Former teachers and principals now make up the bulk of CPS’ team, which both sides say is a welcome change from the bureaucrats negotiating for the schools in 2012 when just one teacher attended the talks, and only a second, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, joined in after the CTU walked out. In 2016, three educators were on the CPS team that struck a deal with the union minutes before a strike deadline.

 “The tone behind closed doors is very productive, very respectful for the most part,” said Arnie Rivera, CPS’ chief operating officer. “This contract for both parties isn’t just about compensation, it’s about making the school system better.”

Teachers, parents and community members have no interest in sharpening the hostilities some in leadership seem to relish, or in rehashing last year's election.

I'm hoping against hope that both sides can reach an agreement in the next two weeks and avoid a strike. My greater hope is that the energy and turmoil created around this struggle, strike or no strike, will drive an even greater vision of democratic schooling that transcends the current contract issues as well as the leadership necessary to push that vision forward.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Biggest climate protests in history. 

Climate activist Greta Thunberg 

"We are not just some young people skipping school,’ she told thousands of school strikers in Manhattan, on a day when millions around the world demonstrated for action. "We are a wave of change. Together, we are unstoppable." -- The Guardian

Nate Silver

He refers to Sanders supporters as "residue". Oops!
Not sure Bernie should get credit for having more diverse support than last time given that he has far less support than last time. A lot of voters have left him. White liberals have been particularly likely to leave him (for Warren) so the residue of what's left is more diverse. -- Tweet

The Hindu

The India of Mr. Modi’s Hindutva dreams, advancing rapidly under his rule, will be “one nation” with one people, one language, one religion, one election, one market, and one everything — a homogeneous, Hindu utopia. -- Commentary: One people, many countries

 Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. on U.S.-Saudi arms deal

 "A secretive monarchy that commits atrocities in Yemen, that murders dissidents and journalists and lies to the world about it, and that treats women as property is not one to which we should be giving some of our most sensitive military technology." -- NBC News

I stand shoulder to shoulder with the Chicago teachers making their voices heard to demand living wages, smaller class sizes, and all the things teachers need to do their jobs well. America's teachers take on powerful work every day, and we must treat them with respect. #1u

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) September 22, 2019

Happy 20th to @ProjExplore, an organization I founded in 1999 with the aspiration of bringing scientists together with Chicago young people least likely to have an opportunity to experience the wonders of science. Join me & @ProjexED 9/26 to celebrate! https://t.co/TUgBpwYUTT pic.twitter.com/TTwWZ8Xia8

— Gabrielle Lyon (@LyonGabrielle) September 23, 2019

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mayor Lori Lightfoot greets supporters Saturday ahead of the Southeast Side Labor Day parade.

Don Villar, Chicago Federation of Labor

"We're here today because of you, workers. You know, 125 years ago, not far from here, just down the road, is where we had the massive Pullman Strike. They were fighting for the same thing you’re fighting for. They’re fighting for fairness, equality, respect, dignity, the same thing, it seems like 125 years later we’re still fighting the same fight. So this is for you this Labor Day." -- At Southeast Side Labor Day March

Trump

...causes confusion by saying record storm will hit Alabama, forcing national weather service to issue correction. Trump says he has ‘never heard of a category 5’ storm before - a remark he has made repeatedly in recent years. -- Independent

Natascha Elena Uhlmann, author of Abolish Ice

The US spends more than $7bn a year on an agency so universally reviled that even its own agents want to be distanced. What could an alternative vision of justice look like? -- Guardian

Thoughts and prayers have done nothing to stop the epidemic of gun violence. Yes, this is fucked up; and if we don't call it out for what it is, we will continue to have this bloodshed in America. pic.twitter.com/Z4jgzpz6Ur

— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) September 1, 2019

Prayers are good. They’ve helped me get through some very tough times. But we don’t elect people to Congress to pray in the face of a national crisis. We send them there to pass some damn legislation that can address the problem. Get off your asses and do your job! https://t.co/RAHJMRZK1u

— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) September 1, 2019

Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane #Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east. #alwx

— NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham) September 1, 2019

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Truckers blocked a highway in Kentucky last week in solidarity with coal miners who were protesting over wages that were left unpaid when a mining company abruptly shut down. (Kristian Thacker for The New York Times)

Perplexed Pizza Hut delivery woman

“I’ve got some pizzas here from Bernie Sanders,” said a perplexed Pizza Hut delivery who pulled up on Friday afternoon. Someone involved with the protest had apparently gotten word about it to someone with the Sanders presidential campaign. -- Harlan County miners block a coal train (NYT)

Borowitz Report

“As we have stated, Greenland is not for sale,” a spokesperson for the Danish government said on Friday. “We have noted, however, that during the Trump regime pretty much everything in the United States, including its government, has most definitely been for sale. Denmark would be interested in purchasing the United States in its entirety, with the exception of its government,” the spokesperson added. -- New Yorker

French Resistance fighter Madeleine Riffaud

"I was just 19 when I cycled up to a German officer and put two bullets in his head". -- The Local

Nikole Hannah-Jones

Black Americans have also been, and continue to be, foundational to the idea of American freedom. More than any other group in this country’s history, we have served, generation after generation, in an overlooked but vital role: It is we who have been the perfecters of this democracy. -- 1619 Project

Slavery denier, Newt Gingrich

The NY Times 1619 Project should make its slogan “All the Propaganda we want to brainwash you with”.it is a repudiation of the original NY Times motto.

— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) August 18, 2019

#Israelbarred them too ⬇️ https://t.co/mIKgsdqEpg

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) August 18, 2019

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Friday we were joined by the Communications Director of the Chicago Federation of Labor, Jake Lewis (second from right) and award winning scientist and union activist Loreen Targos who is with AFGE Local 704, which represents about 1,000 Environmental Protection Employees in the midwest. 

Jake Lewis, Chicago Federation of Labor

"What we've seen from [Mayor Lori Lightfoot] so far, is a willingness to speak up on [labor union] issues and to put herself front and center on big policy issues like Fair Work Week." -- Hitting Left

Loreen Targos, Award-winning EPA scientist, AFGE Local 704

Millennials and Gen Z members (I hear they're great) need to get into the unions and remind maybe some union leaders what it's all about and that's building grassroots power and fighting for what helps membership. -- Hitting Left

Eugene Robinson

 Trump no longer pretends to be the voice of forgotten working-class Americans. He has become the voice of insecure white Americans, whom he encourages to resent foreigners, immigrants and uppity minorities. His border policy — separating babies from their mothers, putting children in cages — is the fulfillment of an ugly revenge fantasy. Cruelty isn’t an unfortunate byproduct of Trump’s crackdown on asylum seekers. It’s the whole point. -- Washington Post

As an Australian I find it odd that Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley and Tlaib are seen as the “far left” when they’re just fighting for things that, well, pretty much every other developed country has had for years.

Just my two cents.

— Elle De Sylva ❄️ (@elle_desylva) July 21, 2019

Padma Lakshmi

The president is himself a second-generation American. Two of the women he has married are immigrants, but the only difference between them and Omar — and myself — is skin color. It’s clear that Trump equates being American with being white. But he doesn’t have the right to judge the Americanness of any of us. -- Washington Post

Donald Trump

... told reporters on Friday that his supporters who want him to deport Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) are "incredible patriots." -- Shareblue

Lindsey Graham

 “I don’t think it’s racist to say,” Graham told reporters on Thursday. “I don’t think a Somali refugee embracing Trump would be asked to go back. If you’re racist, you want everybody to go back because they are black or Muslim." -- Think Progress

Megan Rapinoe 

“I think this country was quite literally built on the backs of people who weren’t from here and were forced to come here in slavery.” -- Charlotte Observer

WATCH: Brittney Cooper on Trump: "He sees women of color as the people who reproduce all of these folks who are keeping him from making America white again... Our job is not to play nice with this, it is to call it out at every level." pic.twitter.com/BmoAvi4RU6

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 21, 2019