Labor councils, which is already well established, can be used to counter the GOP and anti-union corporations think tanks and other anti-worker organizations, such American Legislative Exchange Council, State Policy Network (SPN), Americans for Prosperity (their prosperity, not yours, and funded by the Koch brothers), MacIver Institutes and many others. They all are well-funded, but labor has its councils, which are well established, but we just need to expand and update our effort to counter our enemies.
One thing that the GOP think tanks are doing is hiring media reporters and setting up a syndication service providing right-leaning wire service, which tends to sway public opinion. We, the labor councils, could very easily do this with very little expense. Every labor council should have their own think tank. In these think tanks there should be politicians, labor, business, academia and work on the messages for the media. It is the only way to tell our story and get support.
I have written about this before when the labor councils had a program called Labor Cities, which was a program to educate cities on unions and to support cases for the betterment of workers, homeless and retired people. The program is still out there. It just needs a little adjustment to fit the times, which would put labor ahead. Maybe we could catch up to the GOP think tanks.
If we use labor’s city programs and hire media people, we would have a chance to hold on to what we have and start an offense of our own and win the support of working slaves and local government. We know the best defense is a good offense and also we labor people know California has a big target on its back, like New York, Wisconsin and Michigan. The fight for labor is ours to win or ours to lose. It is our choice, but time is running out.
The GOP is taking over the federal government by coming through the backdoor. First they buy a state governor, then they buy the state legislature and senate This way they control the state and they are guaranteed that Congressional districts are drawn I such a way that the GOP will always win, which then they will control the U.S Congress, as they do now, and the Senate. The states are falling very fast so we labor people must explain to the 99% what is happening and how it is happening. To win a battle, you must know your enemy (Art of War).
The GOP looks at unions as a large and slow boat and the GOP think tanks as fast maneuvering vessels, like PT Boats. They took this from one of Malcolm Gladwell’s book, in which one chapter was names: “How David Beats Goliath,” but I think we could counter this with our version of Labor City PT Boats. The brains behind the GOP strategy are Jim Demint and Tracie Sharp, who is president of SPN.
Unions’ long game is to get all union contracts to expire on the same day nationwide. The United Auto Workers combines contracts ends on April 28, 2028. This could then result in a mass national strike starting on May Day beeginning that year. This could then put enormous pressure on employers, but also on lawmakers. It’s the muscle and sweat of the workers that keeps this country great, not the individual company or corporations. This May Day strike would be the time to change the workers’ world for the better by negotiating for a 32-hour week with the same pay, and the U.S. adopts a healthcare for all with no out of pocket costs. This would also help the employers as they would no longer have to provide healthcare. By striking, the UAW won same pay for new workers, all UAW contracts will end on the same date, a 25-percent pay increase, a cost of living adjustments, a guaranteed right to strike over potential plant closures, and also the right to vote to unionize through the card che
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