Progressive Democrat Issue 57: THOUGHTS

This last week was the transit strike in NYC. Those who live in places where cars dominate cannot imagine how disruptive a transit strike can be. A transit strike in NYC basically strands 7 million people…which is roughly 1/1000 of the entire earth’s population. Kind of staggering. The strike illustrated the growing anti-labor movement in the US, even in NYC. This is a subject I hope to return to in future issues because labor has been such an important part of the progressive movement, yet progressives and labor have become estranged. I think this estrangement has been responsible for the difficulties faced by the Democratic Party as much as the loss of the Solid South has been. Labor and progressives are natural allies, but the right has successfully driven wedges between the two over the environment (the jobs vs. environment myth), development and the social wedge issues. In future issues I hope to come back to this problem because it is important.

Many argued against the NYC transit strike because it inconvenienced 7 million people. Well, I was greatly inconvenienced as well, but that does not mean I have to abandon my support of workers over a corrupt management. The MTA was responsible for the breakdown of the negotiations, not the union. And the MTA has consistently used fraudulent techniques (e.g. keeping two sets of accounting books) to justify rate hikes and job cuts even in times of a surplus. And the mayor and governor have let the MTA get away with it. So the union is dealing with a corrupt and unscrupulous management in the MTA. Inconvenience be damned! If labor is in the right then I support labor even if it means it takes me 3 hours each way to get to and from work or I can’t get into work so I have to abandon experiments. The union was right to strike and the MTA, governor and mayor were in the wrong.

Of course I am glad the strike is over! And I hope a reasonable contract is reached.

The strike has taken up so much of my attention that I kind of ignored national news. I am aware that the Democrats have successfully blocked drilling in the Arctic again, and have thrown a monkey wrench into Bush’s attempt to renew the very un-Patriotic “Patriot Act.” Make sure to write your Congress Critters and to the media supporting the Democrats in this. The tide is slowly turning but we have to continue to encourage this change to prevent the right wing from recovering.

Happy Holidays to all and thanks to all loyal readers.