Egypt? No. Lawrence in 1912? No. Madison, Wis., Now

February 17, 2011 by PaulM Posted in Current Events, Greater Lowell, History, Lowell 4 Comments

With the centennial of the famous 1912 Bread and Roses Strike in Lawrence approaching, will scenes like this one below of union workers protesting cuts in pay and benefits multiply in the months ahead as state legislatures grapple with budget shortfalls? Read the NY Times article that goes with the photo, and get the Times if you want more.

Web photo courtesy of nytimes.com

4 Responses to Egypt? No. Lawrence in 1912? No. Madison, Wis., Now

  2. C R Krieger says:

    Rather than the NYT I go to Ann Althouse, who lives in Madison and blogged about the demonstrations here and here and elsewhere.  The second link is an ugly comparison of those Tea Partiers and this Peaceful Teacher’s Demonstration.

    I thought this post was the most interesting, wherein the law professor asks questions.  A local news outlet notes that this is the first teacher labor action in 16 years and Professor Althouse says:  “My sons were in the public schools here then.  There was a lot of talk about whether it counted as significant dishonesty to claim to be sick when you were not and what kind of example that set for the youngsters.  Many local people took the position that “sickouts” are a known and understood labor strategy and therefore not to be understood as actual lying lying.  The obvious follow-up question on that argument is:  What about the children — do they understand that?  You will be considered very annoying around here if you advance to the confrontation level of asking that question.”

    And so it goes.  The Governor of Wisconsin is Hitler like, but then he is a Republican, and the Reichstag is controlled by the Republicans.  Well, until the fire.

    On the other hand, I have seen a couple of local situations in the recent past where a good labor union might have been of value.

    Regards  —  Cliff