In the Washington Examiner, Byron York writes about the April 4 demagoguery of Richard Trumka, the AFL-CIO president. His organization is planning several King-tied events today regarding these suffering public-sector union workers.
From York's article:
Fresh from defeat in Wisconsin, union leaders are planning a new campaign not just to head off future challenges to their collective bargaining powers but also to make the case that organized labor's benefits and prerogatives -- wages, health care, and pensions that are more generous than those of comparable workers in the private sector -- are the moral equivalent of rights won by black Americans during the civil rights movement.The Communications Workers of America is also busy with King events today, which they've dubbed a Nationwide Day of Action. In a conference call last week, CWA's president Larry Cohen, while talking about "the whole concept of April 4 and where we stand," said that if King was alive, "There is no doubt about where he'd be." Cohen then rattled off a list of state capitals.
Civil rights hero John Lewis, whose skull was fractured in a 1965 march in Selma, Alabama, also participated in the CWA call. To his credit, Lewis, who is now a Democratic congressman from Georgia, didn't directly tie the King shooting to the public-sector union demands in Wisconsin and other states, but he alluded to it.
"There is a group of people at the state level," Lewis said, "and the federal level, even the local level, that wants to take us back to another period." I'm believe he was speaking only about the labor movement, but despite his bravery in the 1960s, I think it's fair to question his contemporary motives. Last year Lewis claimed that while walking past a Tea Party ObamaCare protest on Capitol Hill, racial epithets were hurled at him. Conservative journalist Andrew Breitbart offered a $10,000 award to anyone who could prove Lewis' account, There is video footage available of the incident. Breitbart's award remains uncollected.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Lewis went way beyond the pale when he warned John McCain and Sarah Palin about the "negative tone" of their campaign, claiming that they were "sowing the seeds of hatred and division" and that they were "playing with fire."
McCain called those comments "outrageous," which is precisely what they were.
Have a Happy Nationwide Day of Action.
Related posts:
CWA plans Nationwide Day of Action on April 4, the anniversary of MLK shooting
Labor sec'y Hilda Solis participates in union conf call about Wisconsin; CWA prez predicts Walker bill will pass
Mayor Daley: Hard to get rid of rule that protects sleeping Teamster truck drivers
Gov. Quinn Pro Quo: Pat Quinn's public-sector union cash, part four
Illinois: Almost 97% of state workers could be represented by unions soon
Technorati tags:
labor 
politics 
unions 
news 
organized labor 
cwa 
wisconsin politics 
wisconsin 
Martin Luther King 
John Lewis 
african american 
McCain 
John McCain 
tea party 
current affairs 
history 
on this day
No comments:
Post a Comment