Union Perspectives

What does a universal basic income (UBI) and a board game have in common? Free money. When the game Monopoly was originally invented as The Landlord’s Game back in the early 1900s by Elizabeth Magie, it was created as a teaching tool to help people understand the consequences of David Ricardo’s Law of Economic Rent and Henry George’s concept of economic privilege and land value taxation. Hence, a player buys a piece of property and then puts a railroad on it, if another player lands on that property they have to pay a price to the land’s owner. Magie’s intent in creating the game was to teach and help people understand that renting property enriches the owner while impoverishing the tenant into bankruptcy, especially those not under rent control. The concept of this game has been used as a teaching tool internationally, as well. It’s the game’s “Pass Go Collect $200” that brings it around to the UBI concept. Trump has ensured the rich receive a UBI of sorts by cutting their taxes...

Time to look at what a $3,000 a month universal basic income (UBI) would do. People would still work, maybe go back to school to improve upon their skills, which would make them a better employee, or maybe some would even start their own business. Some would even take a vacation and spend money to supporting the local economy, spend time with their families or volunteer as a firefighter-first responder, kids sports like Little League or Pop Warner teams, or get involved in local politics, like school or water or fire boards. These are just a few of the things people could do if they had a little extra cash from a UBI. At this time, we have 41 million Americans living below the poverty level. This would end poverty and poverty wages. Wages would go up because people would be spending more, which would mean more jobs to replace the products bought. The UBI idea is not new. The concept was started in England’s Tudor period (1485-1603) basically that every person was to receive a guara...

The U.S. Supreme Court has given to labor and it has taken from labor. In Feb.26, 2018, they will be taking from labor and their decisions will destroy labor’s membership and bankrupt unions financially. The Court could then allow workers who have paid union dues to seek refunds from union dues already paid, which would drive a stake into the heart of labor unions. After three tries, in 2012, 2014 and 2016, the high court is poised to reverse its own 40 year precedent and strike down the Fair Share Fees as unconstitutional. The 1977 ruling said workers did not have to pay for unions’ political activity. The verdict expected in June of this year would allow workers to pay nothing toward union dues, but still receive the union protections. This could force unions to have to raise union dues on those who remain or lose clout in states, such as California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, in the public workers, such as law enforcement, firefighters, teachers, government ...

The fight against “right to work” legislation goes back to 1968. In one of his speeches, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “That in our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, as right to work. It provides no rights, and no work. Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining. We demand this fraud be stopped.” It is has now been about 49 years, and the same playbook called, “Right to work” to destroy union is still being played. The GOP and corporate Democrats want to destroy unions by taking away the right to collect dues. People still fall for this self-destructive line without looking into what they are forfeiting in the process: healthcare and pensions. Fraud and who are to blame? It is the unions for not educating people, not just their workers? The attack and the fight against it has never stopped. In 1933, in his Statement on National Industrial Recovery Act, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sai...

The fight for a living wage goes on. On March 18, 1968, days before his murder, Martin Luther King Jr, told striking workers it is criminal to have people working on a full-time basis and getting part-time income. King is remembered as the outstanding leader of the Civil Rights movement before his assassination had moved to arguing that just wages were essential for a just society. King considered poverty wages not only immoral, but also criminal. In fact, even Adam Smith, one of the fathers of capitalism, believed workers should earn wages that must at least be sufficient to maintain the worker otherwise it would be impossible for them to bring up their families. During Smith’s day it was assumed that children should have a parent at home—mother to care for them. Smith, a Scottish philosopher in the 1770-80s and is deemed the "father of modern economics," seemed also to ponder the meaning of subsistent and low wages that ought to allow credible people who are working in th...