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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 4, 2017)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | THE TOP THREE UNION-BACKED BILLS: HOW MEMBERS OF THE OREGON HOUSE VOTED LEGEND ✓ -voted for the bill ✗- voted against N/A - didn’t cast a vote July 7, 2017 | PAGE 7 OPEN FORUM Don’t believe Trump’s hypocritical ‘anti-education,’ ‘pro-worker’ rhetoric To The Editor: I am a proud member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, and my partner is a strong union supporter who or- ganized for the United Auto Workers back East. We were both deeply disturbed by Don McIntosh’s article, “Clueless about Class.” Obviously, we agree that classism is wrong, and we also agree that the work- ing class should be supported, strengthened, and not demeaned in any way. But the article came across as a screeching attack on Democrats and on Clinton, and a valorization/glorification of Trump and the Republican Party. The Republican Party under Trump is no friend to the unions or to the working people of America. Our health care is be- ing undermined, environmental protections are under fire, our public education system is un- der DeVos’s butcher knife, So- cial Security/Medicare/Medic- aid are being targeted, and the regulations that keep corpora- tions in check are being torn down. Don’s article failed to distinguish between a manipu- lative rhetoric that flatters the working class to get their votes and a political agenda that actu- ally supports the things that mat- ter most to working people: So- cial Security, clean environ- ments, good schools, real health care coverage, and legal protec- tions from greedy corporations and individuals who are out to abuse the public trust. The Democrats have their flaws, but Democratic presi- dents don’t appoint people like Betsy DeVos to manage our children’s future, they don’t at- tack health care expansions, they don’t kill environmental protections, and they don’t seek to minimize our safety nets like Social Security. I was surprised Low Prices! to see a union newspaper buying into a highly cynical and sinister Republican “pro-worker” rheto- ric that seeks to use the working class in the polls only to then stomp on us when they get into office. One other point must be made. Instead of criticizing the highly educated for not respect- ing the working class enough, we should be encouraging the working class to love and pur- sue education for themselves and their children. The anti-intellectual position that the working class should shun or otherwise strike back at the educators and educational institutions that deliver higher learning is very self-defeating. Academics are not the enemy of the working class, though this was strongly implied by the ar- ticle. Research and advanced learning produces the technolo- gies which create jobs and new opportunities, and it is in our in- terest to see educational institu- tions as doorways to the future. A working class that turns its back on higher education is a working class that is doomed to stagnation and manipulation by those (like Trump) who did ben- efit from first-class higher edu- cation. Trump sends his children to top universities while telling the working people that they don’t need the “cultural elite” or colleges. Remember that Eric and Ivanka Trump went to Georgetown University, Trump Jr. and Trump himself went to the University of Pennsylvania, and none of these Trump kids ever attended the public school system that DeVos is now un- dermining. Trump has been ben- efiting his whole life from the fruits of higher education, and yet he and the Republicans want workers to chant “we don’t need no education.” In summary, don’t believe Trump’s hypocritical “anti-edu- cation,” “pro-worker” rhetoric. We should never turn our backs on education — an educated working class is a powerful working class. R. Hantid-Margetaes UFCW 555 Salem, Oregon Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun 12-6
