Similar to the correspondence I've had with Sen. Jon Erpenbach, off the record, Sen. Mark Miller had a similar statement that seemed to think Sly in the Morning tried to mislead listeners when he said their response to the Wheeler Report survey failed to mention collective bargaining:
Senate Miller issued the following statement regarding collective bargaining after numerous misleading statements about Senate Democrats’ position:
“Senate Democrats remain strongly committed to restoring the collective bargaining rights that were stripped away by Governor Walker and Republican legislators this session. Any statement that we are not fully committed to this fight is simply ridiculous.
It’s not ridiculous. Miller did not even mention
it as part of the Democratic agenda. What he and the other Democrats don’t get yet, is
that they’re all lousy messengers. They can't sell squat.
Miller: “Restoring the rights of workers to collectively bargain is a key part of building back our economy in Wisconsin.”
Here’s my email response to Sen. Jon Erpenbach, who also
remains firmly committed to restoring collective bargaining. It's a messaging problem guys.
I don’t for one minute believe you don’t support labor with every fiber of your body. My point, like Sly’s, is that Democrats need to keep our major agenda items red hot, in front of voters all the time. No cooling off periods. It doesn’t matter if Walker would just veto it. Has that stopped Republicans from trying to kill the ACA, Planned Parenthood, public schools, sex ed, unions, tort laws, regulation of any sort, PBS, Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Medicare, campaign spending limits, backing corporate personhood...etc.
Every one of the issues above are always mentioned, pushed, marketed and breathlessly important to Republicans. But the Democrats...now’s not the time to bring up collective bargaining because it won’t get passed. I can name the above GOP list offhand, but could I name even a short list of strong Democratic issues? No.
Imagine how easy it would be to campaign, if voters were already energized and familiar with our agenda? Its Democrats going on the offensive. That requires the GOP to go on the defensive, taking valuable time away from pushing their own radical ideology. Right now, they’ve got all the time in the world to define the national conversation.
We need to adopt the marketing plan of the GOP. Never give up, never let people forget what we stand for, never forget to mention what we want in every media interview, and stand firm. We’ve got to stop talking about “compromise.” The word probably doesn’t test well in focus groups either. Yes, it’s part of our liberal DNA, but we don’t need to bring it up.
When people see you, or any Democrats, they need to know you’ll spread the word, the agenda, in every media appearance you make. Change the subject, redirect the question, do anything to show fight.
There is still LOTS of education that needs to be done on this issue. Many people still don't know that bargaining doesn't mean that labor gets everything they want. It just allows them to voice their needs and issues. Many people still don't know how crucial collective bargaining is for clean, non-partisan, transparent, cost-effective and peaceful government. When workers can speak freely, the public finds out how government is really working and how it could work better. You can't learn everything the taxpayer needs to know from listening to the Governor's politically-appointed department heads.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point, and I hope to include what you've said here in future posts.
ReplyDeleteRestoring our economy means finding ways to let ALL workers live with some dignity -- it isn't about a few that feel entitled to wages and benefits that have largely been taken away from the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteYour meme that this is all about collective bargaining FAILED!
And public unions undermined the recall by interfereing with the candidate process -- Falk was not ready for prime time and was a weak candidate, but she was willing to kiss mary bell and marty biel's posterior.
You are the one that don't get it -- dems are part of the problem, but it is because they stand for the same austerity that is being forced on the rest of us.
When labor unions become inclusive and stop divising us public vrs private and then by trade, I will support them.
Until then -- they are dinosaurs that are part of the problem. Prison gaurds fraudulently abused overtime for years, proclaiming that locking up more African Americans as percentage of the population and building more prisons is a LABOR issue.
Please pull your head out of the sand and start thinking what SOLIDARITY really means.
Sadly, most of the noise-makers that sing this crap at the capitol have no clue what it means to actually support ALL workers and diverse populations.
anon -- your theory on how this works obviously bears not relationship to what happened -- you cannot show me the public was served in this manner in any way.
ReplyDeleteIts a good talking point to try and justify dividing us along arbitrary lines -- nice rhetoric, but totally empty.
Why can't self-procleimed "liberals" get it -- if we divide ourselves in this economy, we get crushed. The current structure of labor movement is dysfunctional and has been for years.
There is no going back to the 50s -- get over it and let's move forward in a way that brings workers TOGETHER instead of putting wedges between us.
Yes, let's bring workers together...where? Under what umbrella? The concept would advance what...?
ReplyDeleteWages and benefits are taken from the rest of us? It's a job like any other job, and should be the standard for the private sector. Oh, but it isn't.
Doesn't the private sector take our hard earned money and benefit from it via our road building and government contracts...? They keep taking from the rest of us. Why doesn't the private sector just donate their time to the government?
Brilliant. Maybe slave labor works for you.