Revenge of the Next-Wave Nerds

Five hundred nerds took to the streets of Detroit Friday to protest Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and his “tough nerd” approach to politics. They sported thick black-framed glasses, suspenders, pocket protectors—anything stereotypically nerd-like.

The comical demo was a little bit of troublemaking to kick off AFSCME’s national Next Wave conference for organizers 18 to 35 years old. I went with Jacqueline Morales, Labor Notes’ summer intern, to take to the streets with our brothers and sisters in green.

The conference’s opening session was a real fire-starter—calling us to push back against employers who are cutting benefits.

President Lee Saunders and Larry Roehrig, secretary-treasurer of AFSCME Council 25 here in Michigan, announced a new campaign: Retirement Security for All. They talked about this year’s new state tax on pensions. The national attacks on Medicare and Social Security were another driving point.

You might think retirement would seem too distant from this young crowd, but people were fired up. After all, they may have parents on pensions that are being taxed, parents on Social Security and Medicare—and, as Jacqueline said, she would like to think one day she can retire too. If we don’t look out for the older population now, then what kind of grim future will be left for us?

Three years ago, Snyder ran his campaign for governor as “One Tough Nerd,” claiming his business degrees were proof he could fix Michigan’s economy. I guess taxing retirees’ pensions is a business decision only the toughest of nerds can make. A video montage made it clear that Snyder is not a tough nerd at all, but a bully.

The video showed how Snyder shoved through right-to-work last December, and how he passed an “emergency manager”—emergency dictator—bill again, even after the people of Michigan voted to overturn it.

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The 500 young AFSCME organizers gathered along the Detroit riverfront. Other local groups—including folks from Jobs with Justice, UNITE HERE, and the Steelworkers—joined the march to support the same undertaking: getting rid of the emergency manager dictatorship. Nine cities and five school districts in Michigan are under emergency managers. In March, Snyder appointed bankruptcy attorney Kevyn Orr as Detroit’s emergency manager.

We marched, chanting, to Orr’s office, receiving much support in the form of honks from the road. We gathered inside the lobby, still chanting and making as much noise as we could to disrupt the workday. Kicked out, we marched around the building.

Our generation is fired up and not willing to sit back and watch politicians like Snyder attack working families, starve social programs, and place emergency managers to tear up union contracts and privatize everything.

Jacqueline, who just graduated from high school, hadn’t had real knowledge of what was going on in Michigan politics. By the time we left the conference on Friday, she was excited about what she’d learned.

She was asked by some organizers about ways to reach out to younger people like herself, and she gave some useful tips. Aside from using social media, Jacqueline told them that these issues are not taught in school, and that it would be great if organizers could come in and talk about these issues in a class or assembly. She was giving such useful points of view that she was introduced to the AFSCME national president.

Throughout the afternoon, many people came up to us to comment on our Troublemakers’ Union T-shirts (available here). They really loved that they are available in AFSCME green!