One key factor in a labor resurgence could well be the fight for $15 if there is good movement on this. It could excite the wage slaves and restore faith in the power of the masses, which has always been there, but just repressed by anti-labor GOP people of the 1 percent who have vilified the wage slaves and makes the unions look like losers. We need a win for $15 in ’15 and the April 15 Fight for $15 rally and unions and labor councils should be helping with this fight.
And I, a retired sheet metal organizer, have not heard one word from the sheet metal union and at my last labor council meeting (AFL/CIO) not one word. So, is there a reason workers won’t unite? Labor is now at a 6.6 percent in the private sector.
This is about the same level as when the Ludlow Massacre occurred in 1914 in which several miners and a 12-year-old were shot to death by the National Guardsmen. Then when the canvas tents that they were living in caught fire and 11 children and two women were killed. This is what it took to bring labor together.
It’s been a hundred years and here we are once again starting at the bottom, 6.6 percent, will it take another Ludlow to bring together our workers? Will the wage slaves go to the streets and demand their civil rights—to have the right to build a union, a living wage and have free education, healthcare, safe work environment, pensions and be paid for their commons. In order to do this, workers must become educated and understand that this labor fight is worldwide in places like Ukraine, where they are fighting for their livelihoods lust like the oil, train and fast food workers.
The fight will never be over, but just a few wins will keep the wage slaves going until we can regain the control and ground lost that we had in the 1940s, ‘50s, and ‘60s. Check out workers’ rights online courses, Workers’ Rights in a Global Economy, starting in June 1. For more information, go to:
http://iversity.org/en/courses/workers-rights-in-a-global-economy
and check out the trailer for the course at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u8dpMVfFh0
It’s time to pick a side. You want to have and keep unions with good wages and pensions, then it’s time to pick a side. You want to keep Social Security for yourself and family, it is time to pick a side. You want to get or keep Medicare and Obama’s Affordable Care Act, then it’s time to pick a side. It is us against the billionaires. The very rich got that way off the backs of workers, and now want to strip everything away from those workers. It’s time to pick a side. The very rich can buy countries, then make the people get on their hands and knees and grovel and beg for scrapes that usually go into the dumpster. It’s time to pick a side. Is this what we want for our family and our future? It’s time to pick a side. Get ready to fight for you and your families’ lives. There is no middle ground with these greedy people for they want it all—all the money—all the power—all the land so where does this leave us when they have all the commons, like water, land and airways? It’s time to pick...
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