Union Perspectives

The United Auto Workers union is kicking serious ass. All unions should look at what is working for them and what has not. If they are winning for their people, labor needs to do big things that will change the lives of their members for the long term, such as child care and a labor school, where members and families can learn how to make their lives better, and how to run strikes, work stoppages, electing labor people to local, state and federal government offices. We are in a fight for our existence and all union members must embrace Sun Tzu's, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." We need a trained Army. This way we can get the court system back to where they support the laws fairly when lawsuits involve labor and our families instead of the

This is the year of labor. We have had some very good wins, but now the work begins for the big fight in 2028 when a lot of the contracts expire at midnight on May Day, May 30. On this day we, labor people, could pull off a nationwide strike to get a four-day work week with full pay, healthcare with no out of pocket costs, better pensions and a universal basic income for those who fall through the cracks. This can be paid for by the mega millionaires and billionaires. These money hoarders need to pony up and pay their fair share instead of getting on their ponies and riding off to one of their tax havens. To counter the rich, we must elect labor-friendly people from the bottom up who will tax the greedy, instead of taking their “political contributions.” Volkswagen recently had a union vote. The final tally was 2,628 in favor of a union, 985 against. What the hell is wrong with these 985 workers? This is where organizers could begin their unionizing by educating workers on labor histor

The source of all wealth is labor and if our labor leaders use our labor the right way we can make large wins, like a four-day work week with full pay and all the benefits; and a UBI for those who fall through the cracks. This is the way we rebuild the country and the democracy and the working class, which will be a good middle class. We need to look at what is most important for the 99 percent, and pay attention to what we can do. Yes, there are other important things that we need to keep fighting for, such as climate change, the U.S. Supreme Court and cases before this corporate-owned majority, such as labor rights, voting rights, and women’s right to choose. To change this we must elect a president who will appoint law abiding people to the courts. Most of these concerns are long-range goals that we must continue to work on. For now, let’s work on what we can do to educate and encourage all labor people to vote for their own and their family’s best interests, and our unions. We must

Is Senator Bernie Sanders the person to lead labor in politics? What would happen if Senator Bernie Sanders and Shawn Fain, president of the United Automobile Workers, joined forces? Could Bernie, with labors help, get the working people a four-day work week with full pay, healthcare with no out of pocket costs, childcare and free education and a universal basic income for those who fall between the cracks? Before you say or think this is wishful thinking, go back and look at what we used to have before Republicans started chipping away at benefits so that corporations wouldn’t have to suffer a loss in profits. If that’s not enough look at other countries that take care of their people and corporations still make profits, just not obscene profits. Labor needs a person who can carry the torch in government for the union workers and in trade unions need to support the torch bearer, Bernie Sanders, and the people he supports to get the votes needed to get the laws that support the workin

Labor must always be on the offense so we must never rest. There should never be time that we are not organizing for new members and shops. This is a 24-7, 365-day a year job that unions must commit to in order to beat the destructive nonunion GOP corporations wishing to destroy the union way of life. Every town with a labor counsel should be the headquarters for organizing for all unions at one time. We started a program called Labor Cities. Maybe we should look at that program again. Unions need to work on a ‘work-life’ balance, like a four-day work week with full pay. Workers need to stop and think about how they are selling their time one hour at a time and time is the greatest resource that we have in our lives and on this earth. Corporations want to exploit this resource as cheaply as they can get without regard to the hardships on the workers. Corporations are not your friends. Remember the billionaire class. They have a different set of rules for themselves and expect everybody

The working people and unions need to be thinking big and way ahead to keep up with the working conditions, which continue to change with the advancement of automation and artificial intelligence, which is going to put people out of work. A.I. is an inevitable by product of progress and unions have t be prepared for the changes that come with it. These workers are not going away. They will still need shelter, food, and healthcare. They are the spenders who buys the goods and products that the corporations market. So, one way to keep the money flowing is a universal basic income. This way, people can work for less if their union negotiate a good contract. Then there is the possibility of a four-day work week, which will be a big change in the work environment. There are some good things which can come from the four-day work week. Our unions are the ones that should be upfront and at the table to get the best deal for their union workers. The corporations will be looking out for their

It’s time for labor to go for something very big in the U.S., which always seems to lag behind other countries when it comes to workers. Labor is on a very big winning streak and it’s just like the snowball rolling down a hill. The farther it rolls down the hill the bigger and more powerful it becomes. But if it stops, it will just melt away. The union snowball today is still rolling and getting bigger so let’s go for the four-day work week. The four-day work week gives workers more time with their families, enabling them to do more together, which could, conceivably, improve marriages and reduce juvenile delinquency rates. This work week could be a huge lift to the lifestyle of all workers and their families and the social infrastructure of their communities. There are so many unrecognized benefits to a schedule like this. Benefits and pay would remain the same as a five-day work week. The workers would have more time to participate in their children’s activities, volunteer to be a f

If there is no class warfare then why are the one percenters, the billionaires, building bunkers, buying thousands of acres of land, buying islands, building superyachts, and going into space looking for potentially inhabitable planets? Do they know more than we, the peons, do about what is happening and what is expected to happen? Just what are they afraid of? Do they think the proletariats are coming for them with pitchforks? If so, why would they think this way? Guilty conscience, maybe? Could it be that they know that a few people that possess 99% of the wealth in the world is unsustainable, and are worried about the 99% of the people will do and will they declare a class war? The 99% against the 1%, and if I was a member of the 1%, I would change my ways or dig a deeper bunker. Even with bunkers, super yachts, islands or their money and thousands of acres of land, they will still need fuel, food, water, medicine, medical care, and who will they trust to do it for them? There has

Unions new slogan should be “Organize or Die.” We must be stronger by the 2024 elections because we don’t know for sure what the outcome will be. When we are striking or organizing, our workers will see the need to vote and vote for people who support workers. They see this when on the picket line or when working for a union they will vote for and to keep a union. This is when workers understand what is at stake and who their friends are. So, in the 2024 election, workers will have a friendly president and government or they will have a president who will turn government on unions and its members. Either way, now is the time for all unions and its members to come together least for this year. Unions that have problems with other unions have got to set aside their differences and issues at least for this year or we could very possibly lose our unions and the security unions provide to the workers. On the other hand, if union workers prevail in 2024 with the election of a Democratic pr

Why do corporations fear a class warfare? Is it because there are more of us than there are of them? Is it because if we put our hands in our pockets all work stops? I think the greedy anti-union people have awaken a sleeping giant and the unions are responding by organizing strikes for better contracts for union like the United Auto Workers (UAW), UPS, Association of Flight Attendants, Teamsters. The working class people have focused on the power that we have when we stand together, and the power that we have when we withhold our labor, nothing is going to move. UAW union labor leader Shawn Fain has restored the unions’ fighting force and called out corporations power in unapologetic terms. Fain wore an “Eat the Rich” T-shirt and announced that “billionaires, in my opinion, don’t have a right to exist.” Yes, it is war and the unions are going to align union contracts across the industries to make way for bigger, bolder strikes. Now is our time when we have the support of our U.S. p

The death of the labor movement will be from the infighting of our labor unions. We have labor unions never speaking to each other. These are our bothers and sisters. This hate can be found in our AFL/CIO or any union group and is a gift to the GOP anti-union anti labor people and we are giving this to them as a gift, and they are using it against us while unions stand around squabbling. Now, it will take time to work out the jurisdictional problems among the trades, but in the meantime we must unite and work together as one to elect the politicians who are staunch labor supporters. We must forget about the pettiness some unions engage in thinking their type of labor is better, more significant than others, but this arrogance forgets that one without the others is nothing. A home without plumbing is incomplete. A home without electricity is incomplete. A home without a roof is incomplete. A home without cabinets is incomplete. You get my drift. It takes all of the trades to keep this c

All union people should fully understand what an autocracy is and what it will do to their lives and families. It will be the end to Democracy as we know it today. We will end up with despot who thinks he’s a king who will partner up with the oligarchs to get more money and power. They believe that rules are for suckers and chumps. They have bought the highest court in the land and the person who wants to be the king is Trump. He does not just want to be an oligarch, but he wants to rule them. The oligarchs want to rule the people and what better way than to build company towns where they own the houses, stores, schools, churches and the jobs. This is the ultimate control of peoples lives. Some of these people, who harbor these fantasies, are Jan Sramek, Micheal Moritz, Reid Hoffman, Patrick and John Collison, Daniel Gross, Marc Andreessen, Laurene Powell Jobs (Jobs’ widow), Nat Freeman are the Silicon Valley heavies who have bought 55,000 acres of farm land for $800 million in Solan

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