Ellen Bravo appeared with Laura Flanders on gritTV on tax day to talk about the paid sick days fight in Milwaukee. “What’s at stake is whether assaults on working people will prevail,” Ellen said. She talked about the coalition led by 9to5 to get paid sick leave for Milwaukee’s workers only to see it banned in the state legislature–and the ban broadened to include the entire state. “They may temporarily have stopped this win,” Ellen explained, “but they can’t stop the movement across the country it helped inspire.”
http://grittv.org/2011/04/19/ellen-bravo-antonia-juhasz-tracie-washington-and-tax-day/
More on that struggle today in an op ed by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial columnist Ricardo Pimental. Titled, “Against Workers and Against Milwaukee,” Pimental noted, “In November ’08, city of Milwaukee voters approved a sick pay ordinance with 69% of the vote.
Such margins of victory generally prompt folks to proclaim, “The people have spoken.” Such descriptors as “overwhelming” and that old standby “landslide” get bandied about.
Here’s what the state Legislature and their business enablers say: “Shut up.”
