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


  • Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez Take Office in Colombia
    Peoples Dispatch
    Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez Take Office in Colombia
    10 Aug 2022
    Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez are now President and Vice President of Colombia. Their Historic Pact coalition will face many challenges in fulfilling its commitment to make fundamental change in…
  • Fact Finding Mission to Donbass Part 2
    John Parker
    Fact Finding Mission to Donbass Part 2
    10 Aug 2022
    John Parker continues reporting from his trip to Russia and Ukraine earlier this year. His perspective is rarely seen in U.S. media.
  • Ruchell Magee: US Prisoner, Political Thinker, Rebel, and Still Fighting for Release After 67 Years
    Natalia Marques
    Ruchell Magee: US Prisoner, Political Thinker, Rebel, and Still Fighting for Release After 67 Years
    10 Aug 2022
    Ruchell Magee has been incarcerated for 67 years and is the longest serving political prisoner in the world. Black August is a time to remember him and his role in the Marin County Courthouse…
  • Israel’s True Target Is Not Islamic Jihad
    Ahmed Abu Artema
    Israel’s True Target Is Not Islamic Jihad
    10 Aug 2022
    Israel's periodic and deadly attacks on Gaza continue. Despite a variety of justifications, the true goal is to maintain control by terrorizing the Palestinian population. 
  • Black Agenda Radio August 5, 2022
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio August 5, 2022
    05 Aug 2022
    This week we have one special guest, Omali Yeshitela. He is Chairman of the African Peoples Socialist Party (APSP) and leader of the Uhuru Movement and the Black is Back Coalition. The APSP Uhuru…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us