Don't Tread On The USW

At this moment, talks have resumed between the United Steel Workers and the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. Cliff Schecter of HuffPo tells us why this is important here (including this excerpt):

This is exactly where progressives/populists need to be drawing the battle lines.

Not only is it the right thing to do, but as Sherrod Brown and Ted Strickland showed in their very successful populist campaigns, if Democrats want to win again in Ohio (where Goodyear is based), they must once again prove they are on the side of working Americans.

As Schecter and other commenters to his post state so well, this is a battle we must join in our way. The story of Goodyear is the typical sad, pathetic, gut-churning story of crony capitalism run amok, with exorbitant CEO compensation at the expense of workers losing their salaries, benefits, and ultimately their jobs.

Aside from Schecter’s post, the USW page provides more background links.

Update 1/2/07: It sounds like this was the best possible outcome - I haven't read anything contrary to that yet.

In addition to the Goodyear fiasco, we have also seen the Las Vegas Nurses lockout and the DHS raids on supposed counterfeiting activity at the six Swift and Company meat packing plants (separating families and kids at Christmas – way to go, Mike “City of Louisiana” Chertoff!).

And don’t run this argument by me about how the Swift workers are illegals. If so, someone had to get them here, right?

All these stories illustrate that it’s time to do what we can to support labor or be run over. Period.