As the Workers’ Rights are Human Rights e-news blast enters its second year, we offer 12 WR=HR predictions for 2012. 

1.  Republicans will nominate a Presidential candidate who is 100% hostile to workers’ right to organize and therefore totally unacceptable to the labor movement.

2.  Wisconsinites will recall Governor Walker, and elect a new Governor who will repeal the union-busting law that kicked off last year’s assault on American workers.

3.  The Occupy movement will re-emerge as an even more potent force for the 99% in the spring, with a strong focus on fighting foreclosures, creating good jobs for the unemployed, taxing Wall Street profits, ending corporate personhood, regulating banks and credit card companies, and reducing student debt.

4.  Congress will do nothing to strengthen workers’ right to organize. Instead, the Tea-Party dominated House will try to pass anti-worker legislation, the President will threaten to veto it, and it will not get out of the Senate.

5.  Congress will fail to pass a long-term FAA reauthorization bill.

6.  Congress will fail to pass a long-term Transit reauthorization bill.

7.  The House will pass a bill to privatize Amtrak, but it won’t get through the Senate.

8.  Republican legislatures in several states will fail to learn the lessons of Ohio and Wisconsin, will pass “right to work” and other anti-union legislation, and in several cases voters will punish them in November by returning control of those state houses to Democrats.

9.  Tea-Party affiliated members of Congress will try and fail to shut down the government at least once.

10.  The Presidential campaign will be dominated by “independent” Super PACs funded by anti-union corporations, which will use the unlimited spending power granted by the Supreme Court in the Citizens United decision to spend over a billion dollars on negative, often false advertising.

11.  The Occupy movement will protest both political parties’ Conventions, but their focus on economic inequality will help the President.

And, as a result… drum roll, please…

12.  President Obama will win re-election in a squeaker, and Democrats will regain a narrow majority in the House, if WR=HR activists work their tails off AND Dems. keep the focus on economic inequality and refuse to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wall Street.