Mommy, Thanks for Teaching Me About Unions

There are days when I think, I’m not getting through.  That I’m just talking for talking sake.  Then there are the days when my 14 year old reminds me that not only does it sink in, but that she’s learned from the example I have created for her.

Today she e-mailed me to ask questions about the Democratic Party’s platform for a paper she’s been assigned.  The assignment:

what are the platform issues and what is the party doing to ensure adoption of the platform issues?

Okay, I give her a few ideas off the top of my head:

EFCA Employee Free Choice Act

Fair Trade not Free Trade.  

Our Core Values
Communities
Families
Freedom of Choice
Housing Opportunity
DC Statehood
Strengthening unions (EFCA)

We had a huge issue recently with the Colombian Free Trade agreement and the President's effort to ram it down our throats in Congress.  Try Joe's site for more on that.

http://anti-union.blogspot.com/

Also, the DC Dem party is hosting its City Wide convention on May 3rd.  Perhaps your teacher might like to have you kids participate in it.  We'll be discussing and adopting the city's Dem platform for the National Convention.

Anything else?

Her response to me was priceless:

ok I will and thanks for teaching me so much about unions

I am clearly a union activist. It’s my union nature that ensures my very strong belief in community, kind of like Three Rivers, Michigan

Community support
Behind them, across the hall in the kitchen, Bonnie Sachse has just taken a tray of brownies out of the oven.
Food is not in short supply today, with a buffet of lasagna, dirty rice, sliced bread and grilled chicken thighs laid out in front of the kitchen window.

"We try to keep people fed as much as we can," said Sachse, an employee at the plant for 28 years. "It keeps people’s spirits up."

The kitchen stays open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
But without the help of the Three Rivers community, which has donated food and rallied around the striking workers from the moment they walked out, the plentiful amounts of food would not be possible, she said.

About 50 cans of sliced carrots, green beans, corn and peas are stacked in a corner of the hall, alongside boxes of generic cereal and English muffins. Workers can take some cans and a couple boxes of cereal home with them, along with a dozen eggs and some milk.

"Pickings are slim today, but as the week begins, the food just starts to come in huge amounts," Bushouse said. "This community has been so amazing."

This story is about the American Axle strike and how the local union hall cuts trees down on their land so that they can burn wood in barrels to keep the strikers warm on the picket line.  It’s about how a middle class worker and skilled laborer had planned and saved for this strike so that he could meet his all of his obligations during the strike.

So far, families such as the Bushouses are coping, but Anna said is the situation is stressful.

"We don’t know when he’s going back to work, so everything’s up in the air," she said. "I don’t know how much longer we can live the way we do, but I back him up."

Kevin, who has the names of his daughters tattooed on the back of his neck, put it this way: "We’re a tight family, a hardworking middle-class family. All the stuff we might lose can be replaced over time, but what can’t be replaced is your dignity, your morals, your pride. That’s why we continue to fight."

Yep, all the emphasis I’ve added is my own.  You see, I think it’s important that we emphasize what it is we are really fighting for in the movement:

Our dignity. Our morals. Our pride.

It’s true, stuff can be replaced, but these things can’t. They're what I think make us Americans.

Although I appreciate Obama’s ability to say UNION without choking, I’m also here to tell you, that’s not enough. It’s not enough until he can say the words American Axle.  Until Clinton can take an interest in Aramark or McSame can spit out "Lock Out" with the same force as I do; well, it simply isn't enough.

Today, as proud as I am of my baby girl and of my ability to shape her world, it still marks a milestone I wish we hadn’t reached. You see, American Axle Workers have been on strike now since FEBRUARY 26th. For the non-math geniuses out there, that means, today we mark the start of the 8th week of the strike.  

50 straight days of strike.

I now know that the lessons of my union brothers and sisters mean something to my daughter of which I’m immeasurably proud.  I hope that the sacrifices of strikers also mean something to each and every one of you.

Now, for those of you not up on American Axle, have no fear, you can read about the strike here in my Dailykos Diaries:


It Just Keeps Getting Worse
End in Sight
Equality of Sacrifice
Help Wanted?
Clinton, McCain and Obama SILENT on Strike
Dick Dauch's Entitlement Mentality
I Remember the Day the Shop Closed
When Strikes Happen
When Are You Going to Get Off Your Ass?
9 Million Reasons to Support Strikers
We Aren't Disposable
Strike An American Tragedy

You can also read more on my site about the Kongsberg lock out and the Aramark strike as well. I'd rather you do something about than just read about it. Drop the locals a line and let them know you care.  I know I'd appreciate it.