First time as tragedy, second time as farce.
That seems to be the narrative of the union movement these days, at least if the political theater of the Boston Police union’s pickets are any indication. Adrian Walker latches onto one of the most striking contradictions of the picket when he notes, “According to the union, Mayor Thomas M. Menino is abandoning Democratic principles by not having settled their contract. That would be a much more persuasive argument if the Patrolmen’s Association behaved like staunch Democrats at any time other than contract time.”
But let me advance some other odd things that have struck me about this “Labor vs. Establishment” battle.
1) The shift from union collectivity against a private labor market rigged against them to narrowly bargaining interests pitted against a weak public sector more pliable for concession. (The bright exception in this was the janitor’s strike about a year ago, in which various trade unions sat out from downtown construction in solidarity.) Of course this story is old, but even early 20th century urban machines were rooted in a class bifurcation absent today.
2) Accordingly, the shift of the locus of a picket from the place of production (or, secondarily, retail) toward pickets having at best tenuous connections to the economic role of labor or capital. When unions are fighting private firms, the logic is easy to grasp: encourage consumers, many of whom are working stiffs themselves, to withhold support of companies not treating labor fairly. But when the public sector is the target, one cannot easily picket against public services. So one picks symbolic targets, preferably ones with disproportionate effect on the city’s government.
3) The categorical nature of “will not cross picket lines” pledge - especially from politicians - thus becomes removed from the economic logic of a picket. Dimmy Karras notes that Romney has reduced Kerry’s pledge ad absurdum: “What if there’s a picket line at Congress or the G-8?” Indeed that’s a ridiculous thing to say. But here’s something less ridiculous: is there any police (or firefighters’ or teachers’…) union demand that might be unreasonable? And if politicians don’t think there is - or at least refuse to cross picket lines ever - what will keep union demands from being unreasonable?
Of course, the hard discussion of what constitutes a fair wage for our public servants - particularly those like our policemen who are in harm’s way on the job - given the constraints of our collective revenue is the furthest thing from all of this. Kerry and Kennedy work behind the scenes to make sure that they don’t have to be inconvenienced by labor organizing but make sure that in public they do not cross picket lines for things which have little to do with the striker’s labor. Then labor obliges by making sure its symbolic picket spares the accommodating politicians. Gone is the battle of workers against a cruel labor market. Instead we have a simulacrum of labor politics.
Sadly, though, Mayor Menino has a real budget to balance.
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