Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Rahm Emanuel & Bruce Rauner On Jihad to Eliminate Unions in Chicago, says Former Union Organizer Jane McAlevey
01 Apr 2015
🖨️ Print Article

by Doug Henwood at KPFA's Behind The News

US living standards for ordinary people have deteriorated the last 40 years because Democrats and Republicans have systematically de-unionizeds the country, says former union organizer Jane McAlevey.  Illinois governor Bruce Rauner and Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emanuel are on a jihad to kill the last unions in Chicago, the better to impose more privatizations, cuts in child care, wages, education and more austerity.

McAlevey, author of "We Need Syriza Here In Illinois" published last month in The Nation, declares the distinction between people working in the so-called “public sector” and “private sector” is nonsense. There are not two economies, there is one, and there are not two ways that workers get treated, depending on whether they work for government or corporations, there is one.    She reminds us that real unions create traditions and institutions of internal democracy, which is not the same as "horizontalism" that they run strikes regularly, and that they are frequently led, as the Chicago Teachers Union was in 2012 by black women.  

McAlevey was a remarkably successful union organizer for SEIU in Nevada, a so-called right to work state.

Left economist Doug Henwood, among much else the host of KPFA's Behind the News, interviews Jane McAlevey on the connection between Bruce Rauner, Scott Walker and Rahm Emanuel, how the 2012 Chicago Teachers Union strike kept Mayor Rahm Emanuel from closing 100 Chicago public schools instead of just 50, and the ultimate collective power of organizing the workplace.

Catch Doug Henwood's program every week here.

McAlevey is the author of Raising Expectations, Raising Hell.

 

 

 

 

 



Your browser does not support the audio element.

listen
http://shout.lbo-talk.org/lbo/RadioArchive/2015/15_02_19.mp3

More Stories


  • BAR Book Forum: Robyn Maynard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s “Rehearsals for Living”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Robyn Maynard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s “Rehearsals for Living”
    14 Dec 2022
    This week’s featured authors are Robyn Maynard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. Maynard is an award-winning Black feminist scholar-activist based in Toronto, and the author of the national bestseller…
  • As UK Premier Polishes His “Brand Rishi” Image, the Country Slides Into Recession
    Nizar K. Visram
    As UK Premier Polishes His “Brand Rishi” Image, the Country Slides Into Recession
    14 Dec 2022
    It may seem noteworthy that the UK Prime Minister is of Indian ancestry and a Hindu. It isn't surprising when one considers that Rishi Sunak is richer than the king. He acts on behalf of his class…
  • We Charge Imperialism: The International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism:  Sanctions, Blockades, and Economic Coercive Measures
    Helyeh Doutaghi , Corinna Mullin , Nina Farnia
    We Charge Imperialism: The International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism: Sanctions, Blockades, and Economic Coercive Measures
    14 Dec 2022
    The International People's Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism will convene in 2023. This position paper describes how sanctions are used as a tool of imperialism.
  • Zionism is Canada’s Sacred Cow
    Laith Marouf
    Zionism is Canada’s Sacred Cow
    14 Dec 2022
    The Canadian government has embarked on a project to disappear any anti-Zionist narratives and to discredit anyone who expresses them. The Zionist project is now treated as if it were a "protected…
  • Africa and the World Cup
    Gus Griffin
    Africa and the World Cup
    14 Dec 2022
    The quadrennial football World Cup is the focus of worldwide attention. But African nations have fewer opportunities to participate, and Morocco's success has made it favorite of the African diaspora…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us