Work councils negotiate wages, pensions and healthcare, but labor unions negotiate wages, pensions, healthcare, worker safety, worker rights, layoffs or anything else that relates to a worker’s job. So labor does give up a lot when it goes to a work council, which does work for large corporations, such as care workers. But they give up the right to strike, so maybe the best thing for labor would be a labor civil rights act, which would boost membership.
The other law needed would be card check. Labor must have new laws to counter the GOP’s attack on unions and workers by use of the Koch brothers’ money and right-to-work laws. The Kochs are funding the right to work which eliminates the union dues and thereby bankrupts unions.
At this time 24 states have right-to-work laws, which means all dues are volunteer, but labor under Section 9(a) has a legal duty to represent every single union member or employee equally, fairly whether they pay union dues or not. This is a labor law that works against unions and needs to be changed by Democrats who labor has historically been supported by unions by contributions and boot on the ground. As union money diminishes more Democrats are turning to big money for funding, which means we are heading for a one party political system.
Unions are not just what is good for workers, they are good and needed to get pay checks big enough to sustain the kind of aggregate demand that will keep us near full employment. We also need a labor movement to help recycle the cash horded by companies that are just sitting on the cash or loaning it at a price instead of investing in their companies to make products that will provide work.
James Madison argued that the design of the U.S. Constitution is to achieve a balance between the majority Have Not faction and that of the Haves. If this fails, then how long before our democracy fails? Remember our wage fight for $15 to $18 an hour minimum wage, free education and the rent for out Commons—all of these things will not happen without the world’s proletarians. It is up to us to win or lose. And your vote and that of your family members do count.
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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