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Wednesday, March 9, 2011

General Strike in Wisconsin


This member of the Inlandboatmen's Union of the Pacific stands proudly beside the Wisconsin Public Service Workers.

7 comments:

  1. Until your Post I had never heard of the IBU Pacific so I looked up the website. Cannot see the relationship between that cat and a general strike. Is their nickname the 'pussycats'? But then this whole Wisconsin thing has me confused. Why run away to another State instead of staying and defending ones position. Union busting is not just bad it is stupid, so stay and fight it.
    Good Watch.

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  2. I'm honestly not sure what the symbolism of the cat is, the poster is from the IWW website.

    In the case of the Wisconsin Senate, "running away" to another state was the best option they had to defend their position, and ensure that the bill didn't get ramrodded through the state legislature without anyone knowing what was happening. It was the closest thing to a traditional filibuster Wisconsin state law allowed under the circumstance.

    So, contrary to whatever their opponents are saying, they really are doing their job to the very best of their ability. Moreso than anyone had a right to expect them to. Good on them, and good on the state employees of Wisconsin for not rolling over and playing dead. The easy way isn't always the right one.

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  3. I was quite surprised that you could not explain the cat symbol. Faith in your Union is all well and good however I should want to know a symbols meaning before I published it in my Blog. Lots of weird stuff these days and confirmation is a good practice before publishing. Caution is needed! Regards and
    Good Watch.

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  4. True, but I'm IBU, not a Wobbly. I do know that the black cat motif shows up on a lot of Wobbly posters, but I've never been affiliated with them. Really, I was just looking for clip-art for the pending strike, and of course the IWW had some.

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  5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-syndicalist_symbolism#Black_cat

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  6. Thanks, unixclan! Interesting stuff. Didn't realize that this was the root of the term "wildcat strike".

    It's getting buried in the news because of the tsunami, but apparently the firefighters in Wisconsin managed to shut down a bank that was bankrolling Walker.

    This may be the best thing which has happened to the labor movement in 100 years.

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  7. Interestingly enough, the black cat is considered a symbol of good luck on board ships. Learn something new every day!

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