The Essence of Trickle Down

[Montmorency]

Remember those school employees' strikes in several states earlier in the year? Mostly in red states?

Labor mobilization is real.

Six more incumbent Republican state House members in Oklahoma lost their jobs Tuesday, and all six voted against a tax hike used to fund a teacher pay raise.

The tax hike on fuel, cigarettes and energy production was used to pay for an average teacher pay raise of $6,100 annually, the first salary increase in a decade. But 19 House Republicans voted against it, and many of them are paying for it at the ballot box.

Of the 19 House Republicans who voted against the tax hike, eight have now been defeated. Seven others decided not to run. Only four have advanced to the general election.

Why contain it? S'cool.

Meanwhile, Missouri rejected "right-to-work" in a plebiscite.

[Montmorency]

Remember those strikes, the ones continuing to spread this year?

Teachers and school workers almost single-handedly made 2018 the biggest strike year since 1986, at nearly half a million participants.

Now, it kind of blows the out of us if India can have more than a hundred million striking every couple of years - in the same strike - but this is certainly a return to form for the US. Union leaders fomenting a general strike toward the climax of the shutdown last month was also encouraging.




EDIT: Longer historical view. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, between 1947 and 1980 most years had more than 1 or 2 million striking total. Also, note the range in overall stoppages. Long way to go.