For unions to be strong, they must be prepared and protect the one power they have over the 1 percent anti-union oligarchies. That is the strike. In the past, strikes always ended with losses on the wage slaves’ side because the unions never have enough resources to keep their workers fed or housed and money enough to keep the workers’ bills paid.
This is a ploy the money people have used against wage slaves. They make it easy for anyone to get credit and credit cards, which the oligarchies control all aspects of credit cards from the limits to the interest rates, and when the average person needs more money they are encouraged them to tap into the equity in their homes. With no savings, large debts, it does not take long to break a worker and the strike ends. The oligarchies literally starve workers back to work.
The unions must make a concerted effort to educate their union members on money management and how to survive a strike long enough to prevail in the strike. One thing that can be done is to use the example of the Mormons, who stock up with a year’s supply of food; and either have enough saved to last at least six months to a year either alone or in conjunction with their union. The Sheet Metal union I belonged to had a “Christmas fund,” which was used to support us during strikes.
If all unions could get their members and their unions in this plan set up then and only then could labor start planning for the Holy Grail of strikes, which could start with a whole city then expanded to a county, then state, and the country until you have the Holiest of Holy Grail—a general strike. Then make the demand of a living wage, healthcare, pension, good education for everyone, work safety in the work place, enforced food safety, environmental laws, and this would make Jack London’s The Dream of Debs a reality.
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...
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