Like a lot of my friends, I've been following the Wisconsin crisis and the Republican assault on collective bargaining that's both designed to clobber both the Democrats and the remaining institutional resistant formation of civil society, ie. labour opposition. I live in Canada, not Wisconsin, in a province where there has been a history of general strikes (which the labour leadership and the NDP were quick to throw wet blankets on). So it's tempting to say, "well, it's not my job is not directly at stake, and I don't want to seem like I'm telling Wisconsin what to do." I've lived in the informal economy for years, I have no kids, and it's not me facing the prospect of being one of a potential mass firing of thousands.
At the same time, though, the right wing in Canada has sent out readable signals that they plan the same sort of assault on teachers, librarians, etc. So I think everyone in Canada has a lot riding on what happens in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and so many other U.S. states. If the government succeeds in making Wisconsin, effectively, a "right-to-work" state and the rest fall like dominoes, it seems inevitable that union-busting on a massive scale will be tried here sooner rather than later. It's more accurate to say that we're simply facing a tough decision in which each of us has something at stake — careers, kids, being able to make the rent — tomorrow rather than today.
