Passion, Rebellion, Rock & Roll: Dispatch from the U of M Strike

Tom Elko, a member of AFSCME 3800 and author of Sky Blue Waters, offers a unique videoblog view from the picket line at the University of Minnesota, where clerical, technical and health care workers have been on strike for a week. He highlights morale-boosting support from Barack Obama (who sent a letter of encouragement) and Senate candidate Al Franken (who showed up in person), and shares the voices of union members who come at it with “passion, reason, rebellion and a little bit of rock and roll — whatever it takes.”  Speaking into a megaphone, one AFSCME member counters the argument that the strike is merely a “numbers game,” as a nearby group suggested. “We’re not out here for a couple of bucks. We’re out here to be able to control our labor. We’re out here to be able to control our lives. And we’re out here to provide checks and balances so that people at the top can’t work with impunity and keep us down.”