What place has a worker?

Last night in Madison WI a heavy punch was thrown not just at the teachers and public employees of that State, but at the labor movement of the entire Country that has been down on the mat for at least the last two decades. What occured when the State Senate in Wisconsin moved forward with a bill stripping public employees of their ablities to collectively bargin was precise and strategic tactical blow in the direct heartland of one of organized labor's former strongholds. What it brings into focus is the existential threat that has been engulfing unions for much longer then the past few weeks in the upper midwest: the disconnect of working people across the country from identifying themselves as an interconnected and united political, social, and economic powerbase. Voters in our Country are much more likely to identify themselves with Race, Gender, or Relgious/Cultural principles, then they are with the bottom line of their pay-stub.