School Scope: NYC Students Allowed to March on Climate, UFT Issues Support

Submitted to The WAVE for September 20 publication.

School Scope: NYC Students Allowed to March on Climate, UFT Issues Support
By Norm Scott

Last week I was wondering if masses of NYC students would join the September 20 #ClimateStrike and then last Friday the DOE sent out a message that high school students will be excused with a note from their parents. Younger students can only leave school with a parent.‬‬ The UFT issued support for the climate march and a call to meet at 3pm @Foley Square for a UFT contingent. This looks like an all day event, with starting time at noonish and lasting until 5 PM. So come on down!

As I write this early Tuesday morning before the march I’m guessing it will be huge. There’s something brewing in the air politically on climate and growing with every natural disaster. It’s no longer about getting water in your basement but disasters on food production and mass extinctions that have already begun. Ever think of the catastrophe we face if bees go extinct? Later tonight I’ve got a hot ticket to see left wing superstar Naomi Klein at Cooper Union in a talk about the Green New Deal. I think we will be seeing a lot more action around this issue, especially from young people who see their future going up in smoke.

Something other than climate is in the air. Last week I talked about the union movement as evidenced by the NYC Labor Day parade, even if it wasn’t on Labor Day. Did you know that Labor Day came about in September in this country because the traditional day of celebration around the world was, and still is, May Day, which was viewed as too left wing? So an alternative date after the summer was found and the message of “labor as a class” was muted. Maybe Bernie will change it back to its rightful place when he becomes president.

The major strike by the United Auto Workers against General Motors seems to be garnering some sympathy from the public. The press hasn’t savaged the workers and taken sides in favor of a corporation which was bailed out by public money and the workers themselves. Now that profits are up, it’s “screw you.”

I do find it hard to understand how a serious unionist could support Republicans who look at unions as an orthodox Jew views bacon. To Republicans unions are socialistic – which is un-American because they interfere with the ability of capitalists to maximize their profits. Let’s make America great again by going back to the good old days of the 10 hour work day and child labor.

I don’t only blame Republicans. Over the past three decades Democrats haven’t been overly friendly to unions either. Neither Carter, Clinton or Obama did much of anything to provide a bulwark to the Republican attacks. It is no accident that we have the lowest rate of unionism in the industrialized world. And for the socialists out there, don’t tell me how free labor unions are in so-called socialist countries where unions are an instrument of government. When the government owns the industries strikes are even more difficult.

In this country, unions, especially in smaller towns and cities had been bedrocks of stability and provided a reasonable middle class for people. Neo-liberal policies that allowed for manufacturing to abandon this nation and seek cheap labor in places like Mexico and China helped hollow out jobs. Elizabeth Warren pointed this out in the debates. To save money on labor, companies will move to China or Mexico or any place where labor costs are low. That was what NAFTA was about and as Ross Perot said in the 1992 presidential campaign, we heard a giant sucking sound as millions of jobs went poof. Bernie Sanders, who opposed NAFTA two decades ago when it was pushed by the Clinton administration and Republicans, appeared on the Joe Rogan (certainly not a left-winger) podcast and made a connection between the millions of jobs lost and the opioid crisis. Yes, there is a thread that connects all things politically and economically.

The Indypendent, a progressive monthly newspaper that has been around for two decades and just published its 250th edition. I’ve been leaving copies in Rockaway libraries. Or contact me, normsco@gmail.com, and I’ll hand deliver for a cookie.

Norm blogs for cookies at ednotesonline.com.