Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

On Wisconsin

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Last year the Tea Party stood up and made sure that their government was paying attention to the issues that matter to them.  Although I disagree with much of what they seem to want, I deeply respect the Tea Party’s determination and their willingness to get involved.

This year, we are watching regular people around the world risk their lives demanding that their government listen to them.

Throughout my career in elective office, I have often encouraged people to stand up and fight for their beliefs.  Today in Wisconsin, I think we are watching working men and women fighting for their future, and for the future of unions everywhere.  

Let me be clear – I am not focused on the details of Wisconsin’s fiscal problems.  Times are tough and reasonable people understand that we all have to make sacrifices in the interest of fiscal stability. As a former Mayor who served during tough times, I negotiated with the City’s unions over wages, benefits, and working conditions and it wasn’t always easy.  But Somerville is better because workers were able to negotiate over the issues that mattered most to them.  

What’s at stake here is the basic, simple right of workers to have a seat at the table.  I strongly support the workers in Wisconsin because they deserve the right to negotiate, just like any other union  The right to bargain collectively over wages and working conditions has been upheld in the country since the New Deal.  It is respected everywhere in the free world.  This battle is not about how much one side should give up to satisfy the other.  All news reports indicate that union workers have already agreed to the reductions demanded by Wisconsin’s governor.  Quite simply, this is about preserving the right to NEGOTIATE!

When Somerville endured layoffs and cutbacks, we negotiated.  It wasn’t pleasant and certainly would have been easier if we could have stopped talking to the unions and simply imposed our will.  But that is NOT the America I want – those in power ignoring the voices of the people they manage.

I believe that if we abandon the workers of Wisconsin, it will only be a matter of time before lots of other workers across America face comparable or worse challenges.  I realize we may lose this battle or the next one – but that is not the measure.  The measure is whether we are willing to fight and take a stand.

I will be standing with Massachusetts union members this afternoon at a Solidarity Rally and I will do whatever I can to stand up for the rights of workers to negotiate.  So should we all – for we may be next!

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Comments

  1. Thank you, Mike, for speaking out.

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    p>I have one nit to pick. Times are not at all tough for the top 1%, the multi-millionaires and billionaires. Times would be less tough for the rest of us if the wealth distribution were more even, e.g. back to a 1960-70s level.

    • let us not forget that the governor of Wisconsin pushed through a tax cut, and is now complaining he can’t pay the bills.  Perhaps he should have ensured he could pay the bills before deciding how much tax to cut?

  2. deeply respect?

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    Capuano (D-Somerville) called for Democrats to get more active, saying that when he leaves his Washington office, he sees “10,000 teabaggers outside the Capitol.”

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    p>Funny, when I deeply respect someone, I refrain from using terms such as “teabaggers” when referring to them.  

    • and they interviewed one of the ever wise and ever informed tea party activists.  He said he was there because he believes in fiscal responsibility and wants less government, but believes that there should be unions and that he thought collective bargaining should not be taken away.  Hahahahahahahahaha ha ha ha.

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      p>Clearly, he has no clue about the real Tea Party agenda.  The man is fighting for lower wages and lousy benefits, not just for union folks but for all workers across America and for himself and his family. I would say that most Tea Party activist have no clue what they are supporting.

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      • so much as the protesters in Egypt do.  

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        p>All they both have is a goal in mind, with neither the plans to achieve it nor the leaders to get them there.

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        p>So, people will hijack the wave to propel themselves along the way, claiming to be the voice of the movement, but they will be naught but pretenders because nobody can claim to be the voice of an intrinsically leaderless mass of people.  

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        p>When it occurs that the tea party realizes they have been brought under the wing of michelle bachmann and others of her ilk through nefarious means, the movement will lose its attractiveness and it will fade.  

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        p>But back to your point — the tea party just has a destination.  No map.  

        • but the tea party has been fully hijacked and there are pleny of people claiming to be the voice of this “intrinsically leaderless mass of people”.

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          p>It’s very scary the power that this mass of people are giving to a small group of powerful people who are trying destroy the landscape of America.

          • It’s wayyy too fluid to be destroyed, especially by the tea party.  

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            p>I mean, if we want to play the landscape of america game, what about the shift from an agrarian culture to a bicameral agrarian/industrial one?  What about the shift from industrial to service based economy?  What about this predominantly white and protestant country becoming more diverse with every census?

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            p>Damn change!

        • The tone of the statement implies a deep respect for the movement.  Had he claimed that he respects the determination and willingness to get involved of the people, but not the people themselves, he would look ridiculous.  

          • about respecting determination and willingness to get involved, but not respecting the goals or the ill-informed participants?  He DID say he respects “the determination and willingness to get involved,” that’s exactly what he said.  I can respect Ronald Reagan’s slick packaging or smooth delivery without respecting Ronald Reagan.

        • As if JoeTS needed any assistance making his point any clearer, but were I to say that I really respected the determination of that bunch of N****** who marched on Washington to advance Dr. Martin Luther King’s cause, I’m pretty sure you’d know I was lying.

  3. As if making $60,000/yr with a great benefits package is an unreasonable expectation.  What have we come to in this country.  I am beginning to believe that the problem lies in the fact the the private sector has had to accept huge losses in wages and benefit packages.  Since this has become so main stream, and so touted by the media as the new way in America, it just follows that the selfish and self-centered union employees should follow suit.  All the while, as MizJones points out, the wealthiest among us are enjoying excellent pay packages and a healthy amount of perks.  

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    p>Thirty years ago, when I got my first job in Western Mass, I was paid a fair salary and I paid nothing for a fantastic benefits package.  I had BlueCross/Blue Shield and could walk into a doctors office and walk out without paying a dime. This was non-union factory work, and the pay and benefits seemed to be standard across all employment opportunities.  At the time, they were about level with what state employees earned.  But over the years, private sector workers have been taking hit after hit, while unionized workers have had someone watching their back.  So that is why there seems to be a problem, it’s not that unionized workers are making too much, it’s that the private sector is earning too little.

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    p>I agree that state employees during this time should make reaonable concessions, temporarily, until the state’s budgets show more strentgh.  But I don’t agree that they should lose their right to collective bargaining.  If some of those billions of dollars being hoarded in bank accounts and being traded on Wall Street could somehow make it’s way into the economy in the form of more jobs and higher wages, then the states would not be in such fiscal despair because more jobs and more pay mean more revenue coming from the heart of this state and country.

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    p>Thank You Congressman Capuano.  You are always there to speak in support of and join the fight for the rights of everyday Americans.  I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.  

    • I don’t doubt that plenty of people are envious, but most people would rather have the public sector workers maintain the rights that they have won, as long as the private sector workers who pay for it all are making money in the first place. The money has to come from somewhere.

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      p>Public sector workers cannot represent the upper slice of the middle class, because they are not really creating the new products that make leaps in income possible.

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      p>Again I am not against public sector workers being properly compensated for their work. I do not believe that most Americans feel that way which is why I expect the Republicans to lose the austerity fight. But I encourage Democrats to become the party of growth in order to pay for the generous services we get from government.  

  4. Dear Mike, those are nice ideas, but why are you undercutting the private sector growth that pays for decent compensation for public sector workers? Don’t you think it would be better to have growth and investment encouraged by tax policies, and sound money so we are not getting blackjacked by the Federal Reserve every few years?  

  5. Rep Capuano,

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    p>State House News showed a union goon/thug physically attacking your opponent, Marty Lamb, yesterday.  Do you support those sorts of tactics?

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    • Something is wrong with this picture.  Why would you at all think that Capuano would endorse violence?  He never indicated that he did.  By the way, Madison law enforcement circulated a letter to the protesters thanking them for being so civil in their demonstrations and noted that no arrests have been made during these demonstrations.

      • CAPPY called for the spilling of Blood.  The Hill is reporting it.  So you are wrong.

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        p>http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-…

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        Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) fired up a group of union members in Boston with a speech urging them to work down in the trenches to fend off limits to workers’ rights like those proposed in Wisconsin.

        “I’m proud to be here with people who understand that it’s more than just sending an email to get you going,” Capuano said, according to the Dorchester Reporter. “Every once and awhile you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary.”

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