The Electron Pencil

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THE QUOTE

“We shall endure.” — Cesar Chavez

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REQUIESCAT IN PACE

So, labor unions and the whole collective bargaining idea have been shot all to hell by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s escape act Tuesday.

Unions are dead. Worker organizing is out.

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As if we didn’t know that already.

The systematic demonization of unions that Saint Ronald Reagan initiated has finally slain the one bulwark standing between the corporatocracy and the rest of humanity.

Get ready for the economic recovery, at which time you’ll be expected to put in 50- and 60-hour weeks as a matter of course. Overtime? Hah.

Work!

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Oh, and make sure your SmartPhone is on 24 hours a day. The boss might need to reach you now — whenever now is.

You are no longer you — you’re a part of a greater, more important, more meaningful entity. You are part of the company.

And anybody who wants to unionize is old hat. She’s the walking dead. She doesn’t work well with others. She’s selfish and corrupt. She’s a special interest. Hell, she may even be part of organized crime! Watch out for her.

So Old Hat

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Better yet, she’s fired.

Let’s have a company picnic! The food and soft drinks are free. Have fun.

Then be prepared to get back to work — on the company’s terms and at the company’s whim.

That is, until the company lays you off.

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CLICK

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UNION

Call me the dead man walking.

I have been, am now, and always will be a union guy. I’ve been a member of the Chicago Streets & San Laborer’s Union, the National Writers Union, and the Newspaper Guild.

Newspaper Guild Picket Line, New York, 1950

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If there were a union for smartasses, I’d not only join, I’d run for steward.

A few years ago, I yelled that I was proud to be a liberal, even though that particular L word had been transformed into an obscenity by the Jesus Right.

Now the U word is akin to the F-bomb.

Okay, here’s my message to the Koch Bros, the Tea Party-ists, Gov. Walker, Rush and Glenn and Sean, Chuck Norris, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Willard Romney, Americans for Prosperity, Eric Cantor, and all the rest of the Tories in this holy land:

Union you!

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WORK TO DO

I’m out there tryin’ to make it.

Written by several of the Isley Brothers, sung by the Average White Band.

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