Between The Lines - Steve Early: As Election Approaches, Labor Assesses its Rocky Relationship with the Democratic Party (Week Ending Sept. 14, 2012)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

Thank you for donating

If you've made a donation and wish to receive thank you gifts for your donation, be sure to send us your mailing address via our Contact form.

See our thank you gifts for your donation.

The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

Subscribe to our Weekly Summary & receive our FREE Resist Trump window cling

(Car window cling)

Email us with your mailing address at contact@btlonline.org to receive our "Resist Trump/Resist Hate" car window cling!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives.

You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast.

Subscribe to Counterpoint bulletins via our subscriptions page.

BTL Blog

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Special Programming

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Progressive Resources

A compilation of activist and news sites with a progressive point of view

Share this content:

|

Subscribe to BTL

Podcasts: direct or via iTunes

Subscribe to Program Summaries, Interview Transcripts or Counterpoint via email or RSS feed

If you have other questions regarding subscriptions, feeds or podcasts/mp3s go to our Audio Help page.

Between The Lines Blog

Stay connected to BTL

Learn how to support our efforts!

Tweets by @BTLRadioNews

U.S. Labor Movement Faces Choice of "Lesser Evils" in Coming Presidential Election

RealAudio MP3

Posted Sept. 5, 2012

Interview with Steve Early, union organizer and author, conducted by Scott Harris

Over recent decades, the U.S. labor movement has lost millions of members, weakening unions’ ability to negotiate for higher wages and improved benefits. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of the workforce belonging to unions was 11.8 percent or 14.8 million workers in 2011. In 1983, the percentage of workers belonging to unions was 20.1 percent with 17.7 million union dues-paying members. Although public sector union membership was in a stronger position, comprising 37 percent of the workforce, public employee unions are facing aggressive attacks from Republican state governors and legislatures, with new laws revoking their right to bargain collectively, and instituting a large number of layoffs.

As Democrats from across the nation gather in Charlotte, N.C. for their national convention, some friction between labor and the Democrats was evident over the selection of Charlotte as the city hosting the party’s nominating convention. Charlotte is a staunchly anti-union city and North Carolina is arguably the most hostile place for unions in the entire nation.

But long simmering issues have played a more important role in the cooling of relations between unions and Democrats. The Obama administration did little to advocate for the union-backed Employee Free Choice Act in Congress, legislation that would have made it easier to organize in the workplace. There has also been anger over Obama’s push for new free trade agreements with Panama, Korea and especially Colombia, a nation where labor organizers have routinely been murdered with impunity. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Steve Early, a veteran 27-year union organizer with the Communications Workers of America and author, most recently of "The Civil Wars in U.S. Labor." He discusses labor's relationship with the Democratic Party and the serious challenges facing unions today.

STEVE EARLY: I think for many decades, now – every four years – union members find themselves caught between a Republican rock and a Democratic hard place. Clearly, (Mitt) Romney and (Paul) Ryan and what they represent, they would turn back the clock to the unbridled bashing of the Bush and the Reagan years.

On the other hand, Obama's first term has been a disappointment for many workers and union activists who supported him very actively four years ago. Obama in his pursuit of bipartisan solutions, has blurred a lot of the traditional political differences between the two parties on issues related to labor and the economy, to corporate power, to free trade, federal budget priorities. So, the turnout appeal among labor to re-elect Obama, to keep Democrats in Congress, select a few more of them – is really more and more an appeal to "lesser evilism," not the inspiring call to arms around change you can believe in, which was change that people did believe in four years ago. Four years later, I think it's more the fear of what the Republicans would do if they got in, than integrate hopes for another four years under the Democrats producing a more supportive environment for unions.

BETWEEN THE LINES: When you look at some of the issues most important to labor and the Obama's failure to follow through on them - I know the card-check legislation – was one of the elements. The Employee Free Choice Act, as it's called. Maybe you could talk a little bit about the card-check legislation. What happened to it and how again it may be symbolic of the wider rift between the Democrats and the Obama administration and labor.

STEVE EARLY: Sure. The AFL-CIO unions affiliated with the other major labor center, Change to Win, all of them had been campaigning for two or three years prior to Obama's election four years ago for private sector labor law reform being a very high priority of the new Democratic administration. Obama as a candidate in 2008 repeatedly pledged support strengthening workers' rights to organize and bargain in the public sector, to increase penalties for employers who committed unfair labor practices and fired workers who tried to form or join unions.

When he got into office with considerable majorities with the House and Senate, he instead made health care reform his top priority and labor law reform was back-burnered. And of course, when the Democrats lost their control over half of the Congress two years ago, for the time being, at least, strengthening workers' rights became a moot issue. I think the Democrats are very uncomfortable with being seen as strong defenders of collective bargaining, even though that could've been an important of their whole approach to the economic stimulus that was needed to put millions of people back to work and increase their purchasing power and enable them to expanded rights on the job to deal with their employer.

But the Democrats have strayed very far from the administration Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1930s, when there was an understanding that collective bargaining is a social good. It helps empower people in the otherwise very uneven playing field of labor management relations.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Steve, what's your take on Occupy Wall Street and the inspiration it certainly provided some sectors of the labor movement to again engage in militant tactics on the street to grab public attention and support. Is that something that's going to be long-lasting beyond these encampments that were raided around the country last year? Do you think we're going to see a labor-Occupy kind of alliance move forward in the future?

STEVE EARLY: Well, I think in some places, there were certainly in New York City, local Occupy labor committees that came together that were kind of cross-union bodies representing rank-and-filers from different unions who gravitated to the Occupation sites there and elsewhere and wanted to link the energy and the idealism and the direct action militancy of Occupy to ongoing local and national, regional labor struggles. Certainly, some of my brothers and sisters who were on strike in August in Verizon, when they went back to work without a contract, they were feeling kind of down in the dumps and then Occupy came along and they participated in marches and rallies. They really got a boost in their fight as the Teamsters and teachers and other people in New York City. So I think there's some very important kind of alliances and relationships formed as a result of the cross-fertilization and the fraternization that went on among people who otherwise operated in very different spheres and were part of very different kind of political cultures. And who might not have even thought they had as much in common as before Occupy came up this brilliant framing of the 99 percent vs. the 1 percent.

Learn more about Steve Early's book, "Civil Wars in U.S. Labor," by visiting www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/The-Civil-Wars-in-US-Labor.