I am not a fan of Rahm Emanuel. Why? I don't trust him. His personae is smug, secretive, arrogant. He's the hatchet man. I never like the presidential hatchet men: Haldeman, Rove, Rumsfeld come to mind. Also, my inner voice tells me he's not to be trusted. My inner voice is usually, not always but usually, correct. When I heard about the possible "shake up at the White House", i.e. Rahm may run for Mayor of Chicago, I thought, "Good riddance". Apparently I'm in good company. Michael Moore wrote an open letter rant to Emanuel in
The Daily Beast.
"Happy Fuckin' Labor Day!
I read this week that—according to a new book by Steven Rattner, your administration's former "Car Czar"—during White House meetings about how to save the tens of thousands of jobs that would be lost if GM and Chrysler collapsed, your response was, "Fuck the UAW!"
Now, I can't believe you actually said that. Maybe Rattner got confused because you drop a lot of F-bombs, or maybe your assistant was trying to order lunch and you said (to Rattner) "Fuck you" and then to your assistant "A&W, no fries."
Or maybe you did mean, "Fuck the UAW." If so, let me give you a little fucking lesson (a lesson I happen to know because my fucking uncle was in the sit-down strike that founded the fucking UAW.)"
Moore refers to the lack of an American middle class prior to the formation of the UAW, formed as a separate union from the AFL in 1935. The UAW demanded a fair wage for a fair day's work after
wages were reduced from $40 per week to $20 . Sit down strikes ensued as did a 44 day take over of GM's Chevrolet and Fisher Body plants in Flint Michigan, Moore's home town. This organized strike resulted in reform and, according to Moore, the creation of the "middle class".
"Before there were unions, there was no middle class. Working people didn't get to send their kids to college, few were able to own their own fucking home, nobody could take a fucking day off for a funeral or a sick day or they might lose their fucking job."
Now, I like Michael Moore and I enjoy his movies and his drama but he sure can go over the top when he's making a point. If memory serves, the AFL, headed by Samuel Gompers, was the first truly organized union of trade and labor and Gompers the driving force.
With his election as president of the AFL in 1886, he sought to build a national federation of trade unions dedicated to these principles. He immediately threw himself into the organization's first big effort—a nationwide general strike on May 1, 1886— in support of an eight-hour workday.
At the end of the 1890s, the AFL's membership began to soar-faster than in any other period in the history of the U.S. union movement.
The unions gave people a better life, no question. We studied this in college. We read the stories in
Mother Jones. We listened to our parents argue as to whether or not Walter Reuther, Gompers and the like were Socialists, Communists or social reformers.
"Nonetheless, labor unions did create a middle class for the majority (even companies that didn't have unions were forced to pay at or near union wages in order to attract a workforce), and that middle class built a great country and a good life. You see, Rahm, when people earn a fucking good wage, they spend it on stuff, which then creates more good-paying jobs, and then the middle class grows fucking big. Did you know that back when I was a kid if you had a parent making a union wage, only one parent had to work?! And they were home by 3 or 4 p.m., 5:30 at the latest! We had dinner together! Dad had four weeks paid vacation. We all had free health and dental care. And anyone with decent grades went to college and it didn't fucking bankrupt them..."
Moore goes on to admonish both Republican and Democratic presidents who seriously undermined union and non-union workers in the name of free trade. Power to the people right? No, power to big business and foreign corporations.
Then a Republican fired all the air-traffic controllers, a Democrat gave us NAFTA, and millions of jobs were moved overseas. (Hey, didn't you work in that White House, too? "Fuck the UAW, baby!") Unions got scared and beaten down, a frat boy became president and, like a drunk out of control, spent all our fucking money and our children's money, too. Fuck."
You know what? Michael Moore can exaggerate all he wants. He still makes sense to me.
