Out on Strikes

Why Baseball Players Are Right to Strike

In America today, there is one article of faith more certain than the goodness of the war on terrorism and the virtue of forcing kids to say "under God": the evil of baseball players going on strike.

Some fans believe that players are clueless and don't understand the harm from a strike. In fact, it's the fans who are clueless and don't understand the harm - to player salaries and to the future of the game - from giving in to the corporate communism demanded by owners.

By rewarding failure, chaining down success, and attacking players, the owners are endangering the long-term health of baseball. Yet with the help of the media (which are, coincidentally, largely controlled by baseball owners, in the case of Fox, ESPN [ABC/Disney], AOL/Time-Warner, and the Tribune Co.), the players have been bashed for their uppity attitudes. Reds general manager Jim Bowden even declared, "If they do walk out, make sure it's Sept. 11. Be symbolic. Let Donald Fehr drive the plane right into the building, if that's what they want to do." (Apparently the victims of terrorism died for the luxury tax, and anyone who says otherwise is asking for a fight). [Full Story]

Police Attack Anti-Bush Protesters in Portland

A peaceful march estimated at upwards of 3,000, including families with children in strollers and elderly in wheelchairs, gathered on August 22 in downtown Portland. The march was organized to protest visiting President George W. Bush's new forest initiative, the impending war on Iraq and the administration's repeal of civil liberties. Police herded the marchers into a confined area near Bush's hotel, then attacked from at least two directions with batons, pepper spray and rubber bullets. Members of the media were deliberately targeted.

According to the website of Portland Fox affiliate KPDX, police working in coordination with the Secret Service pepper sprayed reporters, producers and photographers covering the march. An article on the KPDX website noted: "Several of our own KPTV/KPDX employees were sprayed. One of them was photographer Beth English. Her tape shows that a police officer takes a dead-on aim at her face. Beth was treated and released." [Full Story]

Cellblocks or Classrooms?

ISU students may be surprised to learn the biggest reason for substantial tuition increases: prison. That's the conclusion of a new report, "Cellblocks or Classrooms?: The Funding of Higher Education and Corrections and Its Impact on African American Men," released Aug. 28 by the Justice Policy Institute. The report by Jason Ziedenberg and Vincent Schiraldi notes, "Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, funding for higher education was sacrificed to an ever increasing and costly corrections system."

The decrease in higher education funding over the past two decades almost exactly matched the increase in prison spending. Prisons were built instead of colleges, and guards hired instead of professors. As a result, students have felt the burden of higher tuition. Across the country from 1980-1998 in real numbers, state funding per student increased 13%, but tuition and fees per student rose by 107%.

The "Cellblocks or Classrooms?" report notes, "As the prison population quadrupled over the last two decades, corrections' share of the general fund grew, squeezing out the dollars legislators could choose to use to fund other things, like higher education." [Full Story]

Deja Vu All Over Again:

Yet Another Study of ISU's Nontenure-Track Faculty

Nontenure-track faculty, or "temporary" professors, soon will be studied for the fourth time in the University's history. Although the number of noncontinuing faculty increased almost 70% since 1996 while the permanent faculty population has remained almost static, the

the University has yet to perform a complete salary survey, as it does for the other employees. Since the nontenure-track faculty were 40% of the total faculty last year, teaching 1/3 of all classes - and most likely in a similar position this year, the steadfast reluctance of administration after administration to make substantative meaningful changes is disheartening.

Last week, Provost Al Bowman announced the creation of the Committee of Nontenure Track Faculty "to investigate and make recommendations regarding a variety of topics related to nontenure track faculty at Illinois State University". Study topics for the committee will include hiring criteria, salary and teaching loads, evaluation processes, grievance procedures and multi-year contracts. In other words, these study topics look very much like those of the three earlier committees or task forces on nontenure-track faculty. [Full Story]

Reflections on Labor Day: Which Side Are You On?

Labor Day has been a holiday to give thanks to the workers of this nation for production, development, hard work, and strengthening our democracy. Labor struggles have always been apart of American history. Workers gained the rights to fair wages, ending child labor, and developed unions from their activism against the flow of corporate interests.

Contrary to corporate beliefs and practices, it is important in a functioning democracy for workers to have job security, benefits, rights, and a voice in the workplace. To implement these functions, unions have played a key role for workers to get rights that corporations were reluctant to give away. When unions are strengthened and have more say in the process of a business, workers and consumers are better represented and protected from destructive corporate practices.

Unfortunately, recent corporate trade agreements have undermined the rights that workers have gained. Workers rights, wages, and benefits are being trampled on through the implementation of corporate policies. As informed and concerned workers/citizens, we must look at the policies of corporations, and see what we can do to maintain and extend workers' rights for a functioning democracy. [Full Story]

A Union on Track