57 results for author: Joyce Luedke

THE WAGE GAP

Laura Dresser, Ph.D, the Associate Director of COWS (Center on Wisconsin Strategy) spoke at the Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice Breakfast February 13th, 2017 in Madison. Laura Dresser is a co-editor of The Gloves-Off Economy: Workplace Standards at the Bottom of America’s Labor Market. She is addressing issues on the connection between quality care, quality jobs, and minimum wages. In her speech, Laura Dresser addressed the issue of the wage inequity working women face in the labor force. ***Women are paid less than a man for doing the exact same job. ***Women spend more time outside of the labor market. ***Women choose differ...

YOUNG AND OLD

Young and old, women and men joined together on the 400 Block in the center of downtown Wausau, March 4th, to raise awareness of the issues confronting us as a “people” living on planet earth. The March was organized by Women for Women of Marathon County. We opened with The Pledge of Allegiance and This Land is Your Land. We closed as one united people singing This Land Is Your Land. Here are comments from “we the people” who stand united and want a more just and healthier world to leave to our children, grandchildren, and future generations. Each person I interviewed had a long list of concerns. I. Immigrants and the treatment of ...

A WAY OUT OF NO WAY

“A Way Out of No Way: Women, Labor, and Justice Today” was the theme for The 17th Annual Faith-Labor Breakfast of the Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice of South Central Wisconsin, February 13th, at the Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison. The meeting opened with a Responsive Prayer For Justice. Pray for those who are hungry. Pray harder for those who will not feed them. Pray for those who struggle each week to pay their bills. Pray harder for the wealthy who do not care. Pray for those who are homeless. Pray harder for those who deny them shelter. Pray for the sick and lonely. Pray harder for those who will not give them ...

WHO CARES?

“Who cares?” was House Speaker Paul Ryan’s reply to a question from Scott Pelley on a 60 Minutes segment after Trump tweeted lies about the election. The question “Who cares?” must be applied to the impact the repeal of the Affordable Care Act by the president-elect and Republicans will have on the lives of our fellow Americans. ***“Who cares” about people who were denied coverage for pre-existing conditions? My Mom was a small business owner in northern Wisconsin and was the hardest worker I have ever known. One of her young employees was ill for several months with pleurisy. This employee’s family did not have health ...

CHARACTERISTICS OF A BULLY

1. Impulsive 2. Easily frustrated or annoyed 3. Lacks empathy, isn’t sympathetic to anyone’s needs or desires but their own. 4. Blames a victim for her/his behavior 5. Has difficulty following rules 6. Views violence in a positive way 7. Is motivated by power and the desire to dominate others https://community.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=3913 Bullying involves repeatedly hurting a victim with “teasing, name calling, mockery, threats, harassment, taunting, social exclusion or rumors.” On a national level, these bullying tactics have taken on a cruel, abusive tone that hasn’t been evident for decades. Each day, news ...

WHAT IS TO BE DONE with the POLITICS OF RESENTMENT?

(This is the fourth article based on the book The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker by Katherine Cramer.) Katherine Cramer says “So the problem, for me, is this. We are in a time of increasing economic insecurity and of stark policy bias in favor of the affluent, and yet the politics of resentment draws our attention to our animosity toward each other rather than in ways in which the political system is not working for anyone but the very few.” 1. Policy makers need “to reassess what is going on in rural places and reconsider the policy responses they have made to date.” “As I have ...

RETIREMENT PLANNING IN WISCONSIN

(Joyce Luedke is part of POWRS (Protect our Wisconsin Retirement System.) Here is my summary of our June 24th POWRS Renewal Meeting with Karen Holden—UW-Madison Professor Emeritus of Public Affairs and Consumer Science. Karen Holden referred to her research on retirement planning in the following articles. https://www.ncpssm.org/RetirementSecurity/karen-holden-bio.pdf https://aging.wisc.edu/research/affil.php?Ident=24 I. Financial literacy education. A. This is crucial for the populace as a whole, but essential for people who do their own planning. Many people are vulnerable, especially women, when they are on their own. The Labor ...

POLITICAL LEADERS USING THE POLITICS OF RESENTMENT

Author Katherine Cramer says, “I call this book The Politics of Resentment because there are other ways to make sense of politics than by relying on ideas about which of one’s fellow citizens are getting more than their fair share and who among them is underserving. I draw attention to a kind of politics in which people do not focus their blame on elite decision makers as they try to comprehend an economic recession. Instead they give their attention to fellow residents who they think are eating their share of the pie. These interpretations are encouraged, perhaps fomented, by political leaders who exploit these divisions for political gain.” ...

LOOKING FOR GUN SAFETY

I am looking at the photo in the Huffington Post of the tears being wiped away by Erica Smegielski, daughter of slain principal Dawn Hocksprung of Sandy Hook Elementary School, after hearing that once again the U.S. Senate chooses to do absolutely nothing about sensible gun legislation while 80% (different polls vary) of Americans support several forms of gun safety legislation. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/reaction-senate-gun-control_us_5768524ce4b0853f8bf1d738?section= And yet, spineless Ron Johnson couldn’t stand up to the NRA and vote for gun safety legislation that 80% of Americans support. Ron Johnson’s bought-and-paid-for ...

THE POLITICS OF RESENTMENT

Growing up during the 50’s and 60’s in a small community in far northern Wisconsin, I was considered a “country hick.” Within this tightly-knit community, we parceled ourselves out by the church we attended, the jobs our parents held, whether we were farmers or business owners. Some community members were considered “high toned.” This term was applied to people who wore nicer clothes and drove a nicer car than most, worked “in town” rather than farmed or did manual labor. The people “in town” were known as “city slickers” because we felt they didn’t understand us and weren’t like us. UW-Madison Professor, Katherine ...