ustxtxb_obs_1997_08_29_50_00013-00000_000.pdf

“Labor,” from p. 5. him while only 40 supported the traffic controllers. But there is a sense-confirmed by opinion polls-that the public wouldn’t swallow President Clinton treating Teamsters in 1997 like Reagan treated PATCO strikers in 1981. A Gallup Poll commissioned by CNN and USA Today finds that 55 percent of Americans supported the Teamsters, while only 27 percent supported UPS management. Austin political consultant Karl Rove argued that those numbers won’t hold. “Let’s see what happens when people get tired of the response from things from catalogs taking longer and longer,” Rove told The New York Times. The Times identified Rove as a Republican pollster in Austin, but he is also an adviser to Governor George Bush and has worked extensively for Phil Gramm. Rove’s logic seemed more straightforward than his syntax. In time, public support for the Teamsters might have turned into anger about undelivered packages. But, as Molly Ivins notes on page 20 of this issue, the UPS strike is different because it “goes right to the heart of class issues in America today. It’s got everything: the part-time worker problem, the stagnant-wages-and-soaring-profits deal, one of the worst health and safety records in the business….” The public identifies with the 185,00 unionized UPS workers striking over part-time work and control of their retirement investments precisely because those two issues are central to the new labor economy that Ronald Reagan helped shape when he savaged the air traffic controllers in 1981. And in general terms, the public today is more supportive of organized labor than it was when Ronald Reagan was president. In 1984, a Los Angeles Times poll found that 34 percent of the public said they supported labor and 45 percent supported management. When Peter D. Hart Research asked an almost identical question about labor support this year 44 percent of the respondents said they supported labor while 24 percent supported management. In public opinion polls and even on the opinion pages of The New York Ti,neswhere as the strike concluded its second week even a consultant for Perot Systems was weighing in on behalf of UPS workers-there is a strong sense that the worm has turned. This is not just about UPS, Mark Levinson wrote on August 17. “At stake is how our society shares its prosperity.”-L.D. CLASSIFIEDS ORGANIZATIONS THE TEXAS OBSERVER is seeking volunteers to help with a variety of tasks. Volunteers need not live in Austin. If you can spare some time, call WORK for single-payer National Health Care. Join GRAY PANTHERS, intergenerational advocates against ageism and for progressive policies promoting social and economic justice. $20 individual, $35 family. 3710 Cedar, TEXAS AIDS NETWORK dedicated to improving HIV/AIDS policy and funding in Texas. Individual membership $25, P.O. Box 2395, Austin, TX REVOLTED BY EXECUTIONS? Join the Amnesty International Campaign Against the Death Penalty. WORK FOR OPEN, responsible government in Texas. Join Common Cause/Texas, 1615 Guadalupe, #204, http://www.ccsi.com/-comcause. TEXAS TENANTS’ UNION. Membership $10/six months, $18/year, $30 or more/sponsor. Receive handbook on tenants’ rights, newsletter, and more. 5405 East Grand, Dallas, TX 75223. END LOGGING OF ANCIENT FORESTS and roadless areas, stop clearcutting of our National Forests. Join the nationwide campaign to protect and restore America’s wild and natural forests. For a free brochure contact Save America’s Forests, 4 Library Court SE, Washington, D.C. CENTRAL TEXAS CHAPTER of the ACLU invites you to our noon Forum, the last Friday of every month, at Furr’s Cafeteria Banquet Room in Northcross Mall, Austin. For information call LIBERTARIAN PARTY Liberal on personal freedoms, but conservative in NATIONAL WRITERS UNION. We give working writers a fighting chance. Collective bargaining. Grievance procedures. Health insurance. Journalists, authors, poets, commercial writers. Forming locals in Houston, Austin, and E-mail: [email protected]. PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS. Join the Texas Civil Rights Project, 2212 E. MLK, Austin, TX 78702. $25/year. Volunteers also needed. Contact Jim HarringEMPLOYMENT LEFT-WING LAW FIRM needs legal assistant or secretary. Must write well, be computer literate, hard-working, enjoy multicultural clientele. We emphasize immigration and consumer protection litigation. Salary, profit sharing, health insurance, NLG dues. 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For creative, effective and professional designs for your educational and promoTAOS SKIING AND MORE. Little Tree Bed & Breakfast. Authentic adobe hacienda near the slopes. See home page URL http://taoswebb.com/ CLASSIFIED RATES: Minimum ten words. One time, 50 cents per word; three times, 45 cents per word; six times, 40 cents per word; 12 times, 35 cents per word; 25 times, 30 cents per word. Telephone and box numbers count as two words, abbreviations and zip codes as one. Payment must accompany order for all classified ads. Deadline is three weeks before cover date. Address orders and inquiries to Advertising Director, The Texas Observer, 307 West 7th, Austin, TX THE TEXAS OBSERVER 13 AUGUST 29, 1997