[Peace-discuss] 30 Years Ago, The Middle Class Died / a reminder of how Reagan destroyed the unions

[Laurie Solomon]

And Karen, ironically, the other unions, union membership, the white color
middle classes, and the general population  not only accepted it without any
resistance or consequences for the officials who supported said move but
have continued to accept and legitimize it.  Now that the vultures are
coming home to roost, many of these same people and organizations are crying
bloody murder and cannot understand why they are being regarded as the
little boys who cried "wolf" one too many times and demand support for their
vested interests when they failed to offer support to others when they had
needed it.

Unfortunately, it was not Reagan or the Republicans or the corporate
establishment alone that killed unions but the unions, their membership, and
those who identified as being working class but were really middle class
bourgeoisie in mind, aspirations, and values disguised as being working
class who not only lent a big helping hand but often supported such actions
by the establishment under the assumption that it was happening to someone
else and would never happen to them because the Horatio Alger myth was a
reality and upward mobility for them was just around the corner.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Karen Medina
Sent: Saturday, August 06, 2011 12:12 PM
To: Peace-discuss List
Subject: [Peace-discuss] 30 Years Ago, The Middle Class Died / a reminder of
how Reagan destroyed the unions

"On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired every member of the
air traffic controllers union (PATCO) who'd defied his order to return
to work and declared their union illegal. They had been on strike for
just two days.

[...]
"The AFL-CIO.

"The biggest organization of unions in America told its members to
cross the picket lines of the air traffic controllers and go to work.
And that's just what these union members did. Union pilots, flight
attendants, delivery truck drivers, baggage handlers -- they all
crossed the line and helped to break the strike."

Quotes are from:
30 Years Ago Today: The Middle Class Died
Saturday 6 August 2011; Truthout
by: Michael Moore, MichaelMoore.com | Op-Ed
http://www.truth-out.org/30-years-ago-today-middle-class-died/1312641859
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