In defense of Boston police.

I swore I would write this the next time I heard some jack ass compare the Wisconsin state employees to the Boston police strikers of 1919.
Over and over again pundits are using the Boston riots as a reason why public employees cannot unionize "lest our country start down the road to Sovietization."-Calvin Coolidge.
The Boston police had a damned good reason to strike. The Boston Policeman's Association had asked the city for better working conditions for years. Since 1904 the city claimed it was broke. Then came W.W.I and the city promised that after the war conditions and wages would improve.
By 1919 all negotiations between the B.P.A. and the city were for naught so in an attempt to strengthen their position the Boston police applied for recognition into the A.F.L. They were granted a membership into the union which the City of Boston and the State of Massachusetts deemed an illegal action. In order to protect public safety policemen could not form a union.

This is the difference between then and now...The Wisconsin public employees are fairly well paid and have benefits. Truth be told most public employees are paid only slightly less than comparable positions in the private sector and given the good benefit packages it comes out about even.
The Wisconsin public employees agreed to all pay cuts proposed by the Governor but they want the right to keep their union. For good reason.

In 1919 the wage for a Boston police officer was the same as it was in 1857. Over 60 years without a pay raise!!!
Officers worked 7 days a week with one day off every other week in which they were still on call. They worked between 73 to 98 hours a week.
Officers had to buy their own uniforms,equipment and guns.
There was no health benefits or benefits for dependents if an officer was killed.
During the Great flu pandemic of 1919 at least a quarter of the force died or was severely ill. One of the duties of the police was to collect the thousands of corpses from the flu in the city. You could make almost three times the wage of a policeman by working as a street car conductor.

State attorney Albert Pilsbury said at the time, "Organized man has taken us by the throat and has us at his mercy."
Seriously? You beat down workers for so long that in an attempt to survive they organize and somehow they are the threat to America.
Calvin Coolidge milked this all the way to the White House.
J. Edgar Hoover used this to become the most dangerous man in America.
And the Market is still using this threat today.
The country ain't broke and workers wanting to watch their backs isn't bad.

BONUS FEATURE: How bout a book plug..."The Given Day" by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River. Shutter Island). A great book about Boston and the wild years of 1918-19.