Republicans Play April Fools On Labor Day

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The Janesville Gazette pre-Labor Day editorial was one of the oddest editorials I've ever read. They dwelled on some of organized labors greatest achievements and identified some of the most offensive corporate policies and practices that have eroded workers rights and leverage, only to throw their support in with union opposition at nearly every legislative turn.

JG Editorial Excerpt:
The UAW likely will need to swallow more concessions to keep the U.S. companies afloat. It's laudable that union leaders seem to realize this and are working with, rather than against, the automakers.

Union leaders have always worked for an amicable agreement with their corporate counterparts, but the changes that have taken place over the years have placed this sense of cooperation into an unhealthy role of submission.

It is now clear that the only reason why GDP growth has not been reaching the paychecks of the most productive workers in the world is traceable to the corporate offensive against organized labor that began years ago under Ronald Reagan.

Times are changing again, people are smarter and they are beginning to realize the consequences of all the broken promises of failed trade agreements and labor concessions resulting from years of submitting to a false center. It is no wonder that while unions have declined over the past 30 years, so has our sense of national unity.

The certain rise of American organized labor should be greeted with wild enthusiasm. It is the only movement that transcends racial, occupational, educational, economic and religious inequalities. Labor is one of the remaining few organizations that canvass neighborhoods and mobilize co-workers for progressive ideals and a higher quality of life.

Contrary to right-wing history revisionists who give union-hating Reagan credit for transforming the Soviet Union into Russia, it was Poland's Solidarity Labor Union that gave rise to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Anarcho-capitalists hate them, Republicans despise them, corporatists loathe them and communists and fascist dictators would like to kill them.

Before the Gazette editorial staff can answer the question: Have we much to celebrate this Labor Day? - they need to first ask themselves if "they" are part of "we"?

Side-by-side: Two labor articles - eerily similar.

Pro-Union - Economic and Policy Research Published Aug.31, 2007
Anti-Union - Janesville Gazette Published Sept.2, 2007

Rep. Paul Ryan, voted against the EFCA and supports NAFTA and CAFTA, but here in Janesville, Ryan’s publicists over at the Gazette tout him as just “one of the guys” over at the GM plant.