Working spirit alive in FL a year after WI uprising

Exactly one year ago today, anti-worker politicians in Wisconsin gamed the system to take away collective bargaining rights for government employees. More than 100,000 people -- including famers on tractors -- came to the Capitol the next day for the biggest labor protest in the state's history.

(Tomorrow there'll be another big rally to reclaim Wisconsin. Teamsters should meet at the Teamster truck on the Square at 11 a.m.)

The working families who rose up in Wisconsin inspired people throughout the country. The spring of 2011 was a period of labor activism that hadn't been seen in generations. That same spirit animated the the Occupy Wall Street movement in the fall.

A year after the Wisconsin protests, the working spirit is still alive all over the country. Workers everywhere are rising up and fighting back.

They fought back hard in Florida during the Legislature's 3-month session, which ends today. Teamster correctional officers and their allies defeated a plan to privatize prisons. A coalition of workers beat back a bill to slash the minimum wage for tipped workers. A lawsuit brought by the Florida Education Association, the Teamsters and others blocked the Legislature's attempt to break its promise to workers and force them to contribute to their pensions.

The video above shows working people inside the Florida Capitol yesterday, singing, "Whose Side Are You On?"

A very good question to ask all our elected representatives.

Today's Teamster News 07.07.11

Scott Walker’s bogus `mission accomplished’ moment  Washington Post   ...There are 424 school districts in Wisconsin, and as the AP recently noted, Walker’s policies mean draconian budget cuts to 410 of them, with labor officials and school districts predicting increased class sizes and layoffs...
Silence leads to more of the same  (Opinion)  Newark Advocate   ...Gov. John Kasich and ...Republican lawmakers...insist they are doing what voters hired them this past November to do ...Evidently, this means Ohio taxpayers want their state government to transfer wealth from middle-class, working-class and poor families to the state's richest individuals and businesses...
Gillman brings 'right-to-work' to board  Traverse City Record-Eagle   ...Commissioner Jason Gillman will ask the board to adopt a resolution to encourage Gov. Rick Snyder, state Rep. Wayne Schmidt and state Sen. Howard Walker to support legislation to make Michigan a so-called "right-to-work" state...
State legislators have heavy lift with reapportionment  (Opinion) Sun-Sentinel   ...Sixty-three percent of the voters approved last fall's ballot initiative that saw the passage of Amendments 5 and 6 (which) ... make it more difficult for the Legislature to draw boundaries favoring incumbent politicians or party interests over the voters...
Teachers sue over Indiana school voucher law  Associated Press   ...Indiana’s largest teachers union is attempting to block a new statewide vouchers program that would allow parents to use tax dollars to send their children to private schools...
Little progress emerges from first post-shutdown talks  Minneapolis Star-Tribune   ...Leaders at the Capitol emerged Tuesday from the latest negotiations since the shutdown began with little progress to announce...

Has Florida gone mad?

All kinds of craziness came out of the Florida Legislature this session, which ended late last week.

In addition to privatizing prisons, Florida lawmakers decided to ban baggy pants in schools. They also made bestiality illegal. So, no more sex with animals and no more droopy drawers in Florida.

They cut unemployment benefits to pay for a corporate tax cut and required compulsory drug testing for welfare recipients

And they've continued their proud tradition of disenfranchising voters by passing a law that effectively stops voter registration drives. The League of Women Voters has thrown up its hands and announced they'll stop registration drives in Florida.

Just wondering how all this will bring unemployment in Florida below the 9 percent rate.