It is time for the labor councils to join the 99ers who are the Wall Street protesters. For we all have the same concerns: shelter, food, health care, pensions and jobs. The 1 ‘percenters’ have crossed the line and not just in the USA.
This is now a worldwide movement. It is reminiscent of Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). We the working people have had opportunities before and did not take advantage of them. This time we, the 99ers, and unions now have no choice but to keep going for the 99ers are at the bottom of the financial ladder. If you are not in the top 1 percent on the economic scale, you’re a 99er.
This is not the first time we've had to deal with corporate greed. Ralph Chaplin captured the 1 percenters' greed at the turn of the 20th century.
“It is we who plowed the prairies, built the cities
where they trade
Dug the mines and built the workshops
endless miles of railroad laid
Now we stand outcast and starving
Midst the wonders we made, but
solidarity will keep us strong”
by Ralph Chaplin 1915
We must stay on the move; be on the offensive as opposed to the passive defensive. Sun Tzu (Art of War) realized that no war can be won by adoption of a static attitude. The strategy and tactics that have been used with success are 4 things:
1). when the enemy advances, we retreat
2). when the enemy halts, we harass
3). when the enemy seeks to avoid battle, we attack
4). when the enemy retreats, we pursue
Sun Tzo, Art of War
There are three phases of a general strike and unions must plan for one. Those three phases are: 1. general strike in an industry 2. general strike in a community 3. general national strike We need to move away from being on the defensive and move toward a good offensive. The American Federal of Labor (AFL) could not have held a general strike if it wanted to because they had thousands of different contracts that expired at different times of the year. This was done deliberately so that there is no consolidation of power for a general strike. Also, nowadays, there is no law agency that will support labor, except the National Labor Relations Board (NLBR), which has been under attack and in decline for years. This leaves the burden of change up to unions, and unless unions work together, little will change. We essentially have a combination of job trusts, which are not as strong as contracts, and the courts can break easily because the NLBR will be further weakened and essentially elim...
Comments
Post a Comment