Union Perspectives

Labor the world over at this time has no friends in this corporate world, and there is no political part that will support labor because unions don’t have the kind of money politicians are looking for. The political parties now side with Wall Street, corporations, big banks and lobbyists for this is where the money and political power is and where laws can be written—laws that will make them more money. One only has to look at the U.K., France, Ukraine, Spain, Greece, Turkey, South America, and, of course, here in the U.S. where labor laws have been shot full of holes and probably do more harm than good. Now is the time for a revolution of minimum wage workers, students burdened by student loans, all labor unions, people on Social Security, veterans, minorities and all the rest of us to band together to bring voter pressure on the Democrats, if not them, then a new people’s party because what we have now is not working for either party, Democratic or GOP. Are we in the U.S. reverting b...

Has the world’s 99 percent finally figured out that they need to vote for and support people who will stand by and fight for the good life they deserve? People like Jeremy Corbyn, Britain’s newly elected Labor Leader is a socialist, and Canada’s liberal candidate, Justin Trudeau, promises to work for the toilers. Now, we have a leader in the U.S. who is running for president, Bernie Sanders, an avowed socialist, wants big money out of politics, universal healthcare, free public universities, expanded Social Security and a job’s program for youth, plus a living wage beginning at $15 an hour. There is a global movement going on at this time and the toilers are electing popular leaders in countries like Greece, Spain, Ireland, Turkey, Israel and Britain. These people are anti-austerity people and they rally thousands when they speak out for the dispossessed, challenge moribund elites, they are vilified as populists, deluded and dangerous, but they are winning elections. This movement is a...

Why did the U.S. back the Turkish government to up the war on the Kurds? Was it just to save jet fuel by having a base in Turkey? If so then money is more important than Kurdish lives and when the Kurdish fighters are the only ground troops who are kicking the asses of the ISIS fighters. The Kurdish people have been divided into four places and they have been fighting this injustice for the last 100 years and the Kurds have never given up. The air strikes that we use to fight ISIS have to be coordinated by someone on the ground, which at this time is the Kurds. There needs to be a payoff for the only ground troops who are fighting and winning against ISIS. The Kurds would have had their own country except for what the U.K. did after World War I. The UK at the end of WWI denied the Kurds a homeland which turned the Kurds into nomads, but they have never given up on a homeland for there are 30 million oppressed nationality who struggle to survive in Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. To ma...

Are the workers and countries of the world returning to tribal governments of the old days where countries were made up of family tribes and religions? Just look at places like the Middle East, Africa, and Afghanistan all are reverting to the past like Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Turkey and the list goes on. Are the large countries starting to fade? Are they getting too large to defend or control? Are governments too polarized to govern? Has the 1 percent billionaires of the world gained control and only want more money and power over the workers? And if this is the case it could be the tipping point for the loss of a civilized world and the beginning of a world filled with ISIS types who just hate and kill for their ideology. When money and power is worshipped over the good of people, there will be a revolt and will it be peaceful or a bloodletting? The days of large countries dominating small countries are over. Just how long can the U.S. hang onto our satellite countrie...

The people of Ireland came together to show the world how people should be treated whether straight or gay. This vote by the people of Ireland could be the tipping point for the country’s recession and stop the move to more austerity measures. This 62 to 38 percent vote could reverse the economic state of Ireland. The proletarians of the world are watching Ireland and learning how and what it takes to win the impossible. In essence, Ireland took on the Catholic Church and won! Think of the economic implications of such a victory—gay people and their supporters will be flocking to Ireland to spend their money. Some battles we have won, some battles we are still fighting, like the autoworkers in Turkey, who are fighting about the discrepancies in wages paid at the different auto plants for the same work, and the autoworkers in the U.S., who are fighting against the two tiered wage system. Now, do you not think Turkish workers and U.S. workers are talking to each other and supporting each...

The $15 to $18 an hour minimum wage fight is winning with support of the United Healthcare workers #1199 SEIU. This can be effective by targeting the international corporations that pays low wages, such as McDonalds, Walmart, and clothing factories that supply U.S. stores and colleges. There are now hundreds of people and groups across the U.S. and worldwide who are speaking out for the world’s toilers. The wage slaves are showing the low-wage unsafe corporations there is no place to hide. All toilers are demanding what is their civil rights, which is a safe place to work, a living wage, dignity, vacation pay, pensions, healthcare, and a free education to the bachelor’s level, and if the world’s wage slaves can get this then maybe they can get safe drinking water, safe food, toilets, clean air—the things that make life bearable and can give hope that their children will have a better life than the present wage slaves. We, toilers, must understand it is up to us to stop the wars and t...

Where are the thousands of low-wage workers? Why are they not in the streets? This is the time—it’s spring and the weather is nice for the offense of the Have Nots or the Have Very Littles. It is hard to justify not coming together here in the USA when we have the right to do so especially when we see Vietnamese Nike and Adidas shoe workers in Ho Chi Minh City fighting for their social gains for wages and pensions. The Vietnamese workers organized 80,000 workers at the Pou Yuen Vietnam shoe factory. Why can’t we in the Free World put together that kind of number? This shoe factory is a subsidy of a Taiwan-based Pou Chen group, which employs more than 400,000 wage slaves in the countries like China, Vietnam and Indonesia. Last year 45,000 workers at its Yue Yuen Factory in Dongguan in southern China fought and won in 11 days for contributing that was owed to them. There were 300 strikes in Vietnam in 2014. These are communist countries and the workers seem to be kicking ass and holding...

The toilers of the world fighting just to stay alive in countries like Ukraine, Malaysia, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Iraq, Turkey, Greece and the USA. What would stop all or most of the evil that hovers over the heads of these wage slaves would be good paying, safe jobs, good governments, which looks out for the toiler. But in order to get there, the world needs good peace-loving and smart leaders, not leaders or government officials who are bought by corporations. All toilers need to be educated in labor and government history, and must pay attention to what is happening with labor on a daily basis. One way is through the Militant newspaper and the column, “On the Picket Line” by Maggie Trowe, which relates the labor news from all over, like the dockworkers in the U.S. or chicken butchers in Israel, Walmart and Kellogg workers in the U.S., Canadian grocery workers and the steelworkers union is in a fight with Chevron at the Richmond refinery in the U.S. Jim Payne, Steelworkers Local, s...

This could be the year of the Have Nots, Have Littles and even the Used to Haves. The year 2015 will have some good things moving for them, such as in many places the $15 to $18 an hour minimum wage has or is being adopted and other wages hikes are being slow walked. Gas prices have put a little extra money in the pockets of U.S. wage slaves. Finally there is talk of free junior college education for everyone, even old people! There is healthcare for more people than ever before. There is a pushback against law enforcement brutality against blacks, poor and anyone recording them. And it looks like Anonymous has our backs. It also looks like workers the world over are talking to each other and supporting each other, like Hong Kong, Ukraine, France, UK, Turkey, Greece, Africa, Canada, Mexico and South America; but, we need to get ready for spring and the fight ahead. The wealthy are going to fight back with everything they have and they are experts in convincing the average person to...

The workers of the U.S. and the world are fighting, but steadily losing the fight. We now have no help from any type of government. The government and its elected officials are bought and paid for by Wall Street, Big Banks, corporations and the 1 percent. Neither party in the U.S. will now help the workers or unions. The unions are now seen as impotent in the eyes of the GOP and now a large part of the Democrats. With the loss of members comes the loss of money, which makes the unions irrelevant. At this time, the way things are going it is looking like the only thing left for the wage slaves of the U.S. and the rest of world is the streets with pitchforks. Art of War says you should never push your enemy into a corner with no option but to fight to the death. This is what is being done worldwide, in places like Ukraine, Hong Kong, Turkey, Greece, Mexico, South American countries and even in Canada. Maybe this is what the wage slaves needed to get motivated, to awake them to the fact t...

In the fight for Ukraine’s sovereignty are we seeing the handprint of the U.S. oligarchies? Are the U.S. oligarchies pushing the Ukraine government to slash mining jobs by selling off or shutting down state owned mines, cutting social benefits and carrying out other austerity measures to shore up profits for the capitalists and meet loan conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund? Despite the fact that austerity has been proven time and again that it does not work. Once again, the toilers at the bottom are the ones to take the hit and the fight even carries over to the wage slaves in Russia where U.S. sanctions are squeezing food prices; meat and poultry prices have skyrocketed by 17 percent. It is just like all wars where the wage slaves are the ones who give their lives for the oligarchies of the world. This is where unions must be strong. It is the only hope for the families of the Ukrainian and Russian poor. These fights are worldwide, such as with the Kurds, Turkey, Gr...

We need to get our shit together, and unless we are together we will continue to be stomped on by the 1 percent. One way to get our act together is organize our efforts to keep track of what the different organizations are doing, a clearing house of sorts. The workers of the world must expand and reinforce the war on inequality. The workers must carve out some of the cash that the oligarchies and corporations are hording. The wage slaves of the low wage jobs will have to force wage hikes by strikes, walkouts and withholding their labor. If you are making minimum wage, you probably can’t fill up a gas tank even at $3 a gallon, the average tank would be about $54—about a day’s work. So, minimum wage workers walkout will hurt the fast food, Walmart corporations’ executive officers more than you for you need the money, they worship money and they have to report to stockholders, which can get them fired. You just missed a day of work, or didn’t have work the day of the walkout, but their ...

When losing the war, the opposition takes advantage of the latest scare tactic, anything from ISIS to Ebola, to change the focus of the debate and hope the public will just fade away and lose interest. The media, if it weren’t owned by the same few corporations, would keep the focus on by labeling the topics as unfinished business, just like it is done on a business agenda for meetings. Agendas always separate the items by discussion and action items, and ends with unfinished business. Unfinished business can be tabled to the next meeting or the next day. At this time, the most feared movement, which puts terror in the hearts of the 1 percent, is the war on inequality. The 1 percent hopes the subject of inequality will lose its steam by forcing the public to focus on storms, killings, stock market, election polls, and anything else. So the wage slaves must always find a way to refocus the debate back to the fight for a minimum wage of $15 to $18 an hour. It’s like making a snowball ro...

The young people have started to join up with what is left of the old toilers. The young will be a formidable force for they have nothing to lose in this fight and everything to again. Look at Hong Kong where the young man, Joshua Wong, who started planning the current protest when he was just 15 years old and in two years of planning, put the protest in motion. He now, at age 17, is the same age that most governments like their soldiers to be because most young people this age think they are invincible. These are or can be the shock troops of the non-violent civil disobedience way to win the 99 percent over the 1 percent war. Now we just have to wait and hope for women equal to or better than Joshua Wong, who is leading the protest in Hong Kong, and hope that his arrest is just temporary, and if not then have them step up to the challenge and keep fighting. The toilers of the world are indeed on the march worldwide. There were hundreds of thousands marching in New York, USA, against ...

Nova Scotia’s Bill 1 is an anti-democratic and union busting bill. It is a concerted attack on healthcare workers. This is on the heels of Bill 37, passed in April, striped 40,000 healthcare workers of their right to strike. The attacks on our wage slaves are never ending and they are worldwide and here in the USA. For example, at Cablevision, which hates unions, management fired a worker of 11 years with the company who was trying to form a union. This worker joined 22 others who were illegal fired for working to form a union. Also the people of Hong Kong are still in the streets, but how long before China cracks down on them? One of the protesters leaders is a courageous 17-year-old man, Joshua Wong. He knows he’s fighting for his and other young people’s futures and it’s an all or nothing situation at this point. He is the hope for the younger generation. He has been arrested, and we must all keep him in our thoughts and pressure the government to release him. World Day for Decent ...

The best vacation a working slave could go on is a protest for higher wages or a protest for the right to form a union. Consider it an educational vacation that a toiler can take their families and friends on and save money while increasing your chances of gaining more. The fight for workers’ rights and a living wage is worldwide. Some of the protests are against JetBlue fast food places, day laborers, postal workers, rail workers, teachers, nurses, car dealerships, in-home helpers, and lamp factory workers. These are just a few areas in the U.S., but Canada there is a teachers’ strike on wages and class size. In China, Apple parts plants are on strike; North London care workers are on strike regarding pay cuts; and then we have construction workers striking in Turkey. The death of ten construction workers is a result of profit driven greed and a disregard for worker safety while the toilers are still dealing with Ukraine and Russia, Poland. So if workers would like to do something goo...

It looks like the working people who used to think they were contractors were scammed by their bosses, who kept the workers from earning a living wage and having union representation. They convinced these workers it was better to be independent than "work for the man." Someone (Teamsters) ran this up the flag pole at the National Labor Relations Board and guess what—the NLRB ruled that the Port truck drivers were employees and that they had the rights of union representation. The truck drivers have lost millions of dollars these past years because of this scam of being contractors’ status, which was just pure unadulterated bull crap. Unfortunately, the workers believed the scam to be true. At this time about two-thirds of the 75,000 port drivers in the U.S. are misclassified as contractors. This is not the only place where bosses try to beat the system by classifying workers as contractors. I found while organizing for the sheet metal workers that on prevailing wage jobs, s...

Unions are the boots on the ground, fighting for their governments and jobs in Ukraine and are taking hits from Russian separatists. The separatists trapped 700 miners underground and fired upon hundreds of second-shift miners to keep them away; but more than 1,000 miners marched to show support for their country. Unions in Turkey are fighting for better wages and job safety. Again, it is the unions who are leading the fight for the working people. The Kurds are finally going to have a homeland again it is the proletarian workers who are leading the fight for their homeland. It looks like the time for Kurdistan’s independence is closer than any time before, Kurdish government employee Shorsh Khalid Ahmed told the Wall Street Journal. All of these things are happening in Ukraine, Turkey and Kurdistan are happening because of the masses. If these countries can put up this kind of fight, then we, in the USA, should be able to do the same. Where are our people to stop the attacks on votin...

The plight of the Do-Nothing people: Edmund Burke said that “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” So this is the mission of the Doers to get the Do-Nothings to start supporting the high wages of $15 to $18 an hour and a return to free education. One way is to never struggle without stopping to catch your breath and take inventory of where you started and how far you have come, like trying to climb up a mountain without stopping. You must first visualize there is a top, like seeing $15 to $18 an hour and free education as the top of the mountain, climb to a plateau. We have reached a plateau of $10 an hour, some even at $15 an hour, but we cannot rest on the plateau for long for if we do the opposition will have time to regroup and counter attack our efforts. At this time, the Have Nothings, Have Littles, Used to Haves, and the Want Mores are winning the wage fight, but the money people are slow walking the wage increase by dragging their fee...

There is not much the oligarchies fear or respect, but one is strong unions, who are organized. Oligarchies don’t care that unions represent the interests of hard working people who earn them their wealth. They don’t respect unions because union members know and trust each other. They have a fairly good education regarding their line of work and want a better life for themselves and their families. Also, union members will fight for their countries and jobs when called upon. Just like the miners, rail workers, and other workers in Ukraine who are pushing back the Russian-back separatists. Also, the miners in Turkey are fighting for job security, both in maintaining their jobs and in doing their jobs in the wake of the 300 miners’ deaths. The mine collapse was due to safety cuts caused by greed and indifference toward the miners. Turkey is not the only country with poor mining safety. In the U.S., mines have a lack of safety enforcement and a rise of Black Lung disease killing 10,000 mi...