Union destruction act
Dreier, Peter & Candaele, Kelly
grandiose delusions of special divine revelations. So why couldn't all these tricks of the mind and emotions apply to my religious experiences? Did I really see Mary? Do I really experience...
...A statewide Field Poll taken in March found that 60 percent of registered voters--including the same percentage of union members--favored Proposition 226...
...His Democrat opponent, Attorney General Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, argued that "Right-to-Work" diverted voters from the real challenges facing California...
...Labor mobilized members in an unprecedented grassroots effort and helped restore thin Democratic majorities in both houses...
...So far, major California business leaders have remained on the sidelines...
...Do I really experience Christ and the Holy Spirit...
...Today, as the labor movement seeks to rebuild after decades of decline, its opponents are again mounting a counter-offensive...
...Peter Dreier, a professor of politics, is director of the Public Policy Program at Occidental College in Los Angeles...
...For if Proposition 226 passes, environmentalists, senior citizens, advocates for children and the disabled, supporters of affordable housing, civil rights, and women's rights groups--as well as champions of public schools and higher education--will all find themselves much weaker poIitically...
...held hearings into union corruption and mob influence, attracting widespread national attention...
...Unions went to unprecedented lengths to defeat the measure...
...The universe as we know it must be completely natural and completely God-saturated at the same time...
...In fact, currently there is similar legislative activity ongoing in every state...
...Second, the "no" forces will draw attention to Proposition 226's major backers, including J. Patrick Rooney--CEO of Golden Rule Insurance Company of Indiana and one of Newt Gingrich's strongest allies--and Grover Norquist of the right-wing Americans for Tax Reform...
...Two years ago, the state's unions played a key role in California's legistlative races...
...Kelly Candaele, a labor organizer, serves as a trustee of the Los Angeles Community College Board...
...Unions have an uphill battle in California...
...Corporate America counterattacked with so-called "Right-to-Work" Commonweal 8 May8,1998 initiatives, which it helped place on the ballot in six states...
...although not pro-union, many are uncomfortable being in the company of what they consider the right-wing fringe...
...His committee concluded that millions of dollars of union funds had been embezzled, and that violence was rife in some unions...
...As with the battle of 1958, the conflict over Proposition 226 is reverberating in this year's governor's race...
...The most visible battle over "Right-to-Work" laws took place in California in 1958...
...Why shouldn't members be able to decide whether unions can use their dues for political purposes...
...Prudential judgments are required in the psychiatric practice of differential diagnosis, just as they are in the traditional practice of discernment of spirits...
...Throughout 1957 and early 1958, Senator John McClellan (D-Ark...
...Our only problem is to discern the quality of these normally occurring experiences of what William James called the "More...
...As I struggle to understand these things, I try to obtain some coherence in my belief system...
...God's largesse will eventually bring renewals of youthful joy and more than a glimpse of heaven...
...Brown won and "Right-toWork" lost by a two-to-one margin...
...To shift the tide, the state AFL-CIO raised additional funds from its members...
...But that will not be enough...
...But at the same time this world and the people in it live and move and have their being in God...
...For Republicans, Proposition 226 is more than a vehicle to undercut union influence...
...That's the rallying cry of organized labor in California as it approaches a June 2 primary election that could determine the union movement's political future, not only in California but elsewhere...
...Commonweal 9 May 8, 1998...
...Senator William Knowland, the former publisher of the Oakland Tribune and the Republican nominee for governor...
...Only secularized modern types achieve religious tone-deafness and thereby manage to confine their intense experiences to sex, violence, art, or creative work...
...First, when voters are confused about what an initiative means, historically they tend to vote no...
...Not since 1958 has labor's institutional strength come under such a direct attack...
...The newest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, published by the American Psychiatric Association, distinguishes betweeen mental disorders and manifestations of religious and spiritual problems (what some have called "spiritual emergencies...
...They view Proposition 226 as a linchpin of their long-term strategy, for without labor's political influence, Democrats will be hard-pressed to maintain their control of the California legislature, or elect a Democrat governor this fall...
...Weaker politically and numerically than in 1958, labor needs to broaden its support beyond its membership and persuade enough voters that the defeat of 226 is key in protecting their standard of living...
...On the surface, the Paycheck Protection Act has an obvious appeal...
...But if the tide begins to ebb and we grow numb and cold, let's not blame God...
...The fight for Proposition 226 will be won or lost on television, where most voters get their information...
...It worked with civic, religious, and community leaders to form a "Citizens Committee against Right-to-Work," which directed a wellcrafted message to the nonunion public, linking labor's fate with the preservation of Social Security, increasing the minimum wage, and fighting for public education...
...But as in 1958, California is the crucial battleground...
...For the national GOP, orchestrating the redistricting of California's likely fifty-five congressional seats is a prerequisite to controlling the House...
...This interpenetration of the divine and natural can be realized or sensed by some persons more than others, but religious experience seems intrinsic and natural to the human species--just as language is...
...While unions have been reaching out to find these new allies, unlike forty years ago, so far high-profile figures--clergy, education leaders, civil rights activists, civic leaders, and others--have not played a significant role in the fight against Proposition 226...
...Although AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, elected two years ago as an activist reformer, has pledged a new era of grassroots organizing, his efforts have been partly thwarted by a new wave of allegations of union corruption, and by a Republican national political agenda designed to throttle labor's political comeback...
...What is the meaning of a particular religious experience and by what criteria do we judge it...
...And Republican House and Senate leaders Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott have pledged to kill any campaign finance reform law that does not include restrictions on union political contributions (the federal level "Paycheck Protection Act," on which Proposition 226 is modeled...
...Furthermore, whatever party has control of California politics will oversee the next congressional reapportionment following the 2000 census...
...I end up trusting my religious experiences because they have buoyed me up and helped me to love and endure...
...When "Rightto-Work" was defeated there, it was a major setback in the "open shop" march across the country...
...If consolations (or visions) help you to be more loving and just, much less heal your disease, then be grateful to accept the lift from the rising tide...
...Some signals are mixed, or merely chaotic noise...
...The initiatives, which sought to allow employees to benefit from the gains of union contracts--health benefits, shorter work hours, increased wages--but without having to pay dues or even join the union, were designed to put unions out of business...
...To me it looks virtually certain that God has created a freely operating natural world of independent secondary causes open to rigorous scientific inquiry and discovery...
...Kelly Candaele & Peter Dreier UNION DESTRUCTION ACT California's Proposition 226 ~ emember 1958...
...Sound is all around us in the air but all radio antennae are not equally, or as accurately, tuned...
...That amount offers an individual little in the way of political influence, but wielded collectively, these funds make organized labor a significant player in politics...
...Labor will also have to mount an aggressive grassroots effort that reaches beyond its own members...
...It remains to be seen whether outgoing Governor Pete Wilson, chairperson of the Proposition 226 Campaign Committee, can bring the business community on board...
...has held hearings into the allegations of election fraud in the 1996 Teamsters election, and has issued subpoenas to other unions and to the Democratic National Committee...
...With so much at stake, labor has to convince others that they too are fighting for their lives...
...Knowland made "Right-to-Work" a dominant theme throughout the gubernatorial campaign, telling anyone who would listen that the real issue was "union democracy...
...Labor will focus most of its political energies on defeating Proposition 226, dubbed by proponents the "Paycheck Protection Act," enactment of which would require that unions gain yearly permission from their members to spend members' dues in political campaigns...
...other static is a sign that the vacuum tube is burning out...
...Congressman Peter Hoekstra (RMich...
...Better to hunker down and plod on in hope...
...The hearings are likely to heat up again to coincide with the election cycle...
...The reality is that the typical union member contributes about $20 a year that goes for political purposes...
...It would not require corporations to get shareholders' permission before making corporate campaign contributions or lobbying for specific bills--business interests already outspend labor by ten to one in state races, not including corporate-dominated "soft" money--but it would make it nearly impossible for unions to raise substantial funds for political purposes such as TV ads, direct mail, and get-out-the-vote efforts...
...Mild depressions and decaying brain synapses are marks of our fallen world...
...Since then, political contributions to state AFL-CIO unions have declined by 40 percent, and in 1994, conservatives took control of the state legislature...
...In the mid-1950s, labor had reached the pinnacle of its size and economic clout nationally, representing over one-third of American workers...
...In 1992, a similar measure restricting unions passed in Washington state...
...So when you or I or mystics or little ladies in Bayside have visions of Mary or religious consolations, we are doing what comes naturally...
...Still, the anti-226 forces have some advantages...
...The California State AFL-CIO estimates it will take $10 million to run an effective media campaign...
...In the DSM-IV some religious problems can be diagnosed as overlapping with mental disorders, but the two categories are not the same...
...Early on in the campaign, polls showed that the average voter was in favor of the concept of the right to work, a phrase that was as vague as it was politically clever...
...Since 1911, two-thirds of statewide initiatives in California have gone down to defeat...
...But there are other parallels between 1958 and today, particularly on the national level...
...California is not the first test case for initiatives designed to restrict labor's political power...
...Thus, Proposition 226 is aimed at the heart of the progressive coalition...
...The spiritual traditon insists that "by their fruits you shall know them...
...But unlike 1958, the current Democrats are unlikely to campaign hard against 226, at least until polls indicate that to do so would be a vote-getter...
...More than any other liberal group, organized labor has the resources of money and members to help elect candidates generally sympathetic to progressive causes...
...California's Proposition 226 is a model of hypocrisy...
...Conservative forces in California were represented by U.S...
...Attorney General Dan Lungren, the Republican candidate, has announced his support while all three of the Democratic primary candidates have stated their opposition...
Vol. 125 • May 1998 • No. 9
