Union Perspectives

If new states were ratified into the Union, it would mean additional senators and could make it easier to pass laws that really help the 99 percent, like single-payer healthcare, voter rights, labor laws, better union protections, and a living wage. This is the precise reason republicans do not want Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. added. Now is the time to add these new states as we have Senator Bernie Sanders and the Squad there pushing for necessary reforms on the people’s behalf. First on the list should be Washington, D.C., with a population of 5,322,000, which is larger than Vermont with 629,932 or Wyoming with 582,328, according to 2020 Census. So, why is D.C. not already a state? One argument against making it a state is that the Founding Fathers wanted it separate as the capital of the United States, and it was formed as a federal district by using land from both Maryland and Virginia in 1790. Puerto Rico has been a U.S. territory since 1917 when Spain ceded the island to the ...

Unions must be smarter when they end their contracts in order to have more power at the table. The Holy Grail would be if all unions contacts ended at the same rate nationwide. To start this we would let the local labor councils like the one in Shasta County in far northern California, which has the Five Counties Council. This council includes represents the unions of school, water, fire districts and cities and counties. The plan would be to get all the labor unions within the different entities to have their contracts end on the same date or as close together as possible so the employees of cities, districts and county would have more power together than alone. County and cities usually divide up the departments and not all are under one union and this benefits the government agencies, not the employees. If the different unions negotiated to end the contracts at a predetermined date, the Five Counties Council could arrange a walkout if needed and the power would be back with the w...

How will the GOP try to stop the new teachers’ movement? The recent strikes are emboldening other states and city workers. Arizona teachers just voted to strike statewide, they were emboldened by Virginia, Oklahoma and Kentucky teachers. When considering going out on strike, organizations must have a plan, research their history and that of their opponent. In 1934, anti-union forces used Roy Zachary, a goon, who was the leader of the Silver Shirts, the U.S.’ equivalent to the German Brown Shirts, to try and break Minneapolis Teamster Rebellion, as portrayed in a book of the same name by Farrell Dobbs and a participant in the rebellion. The lessons learned from the Teamster Rebellion are as important today as they were then. The lessons included the “importance of rank-and-file control of the struggle, the benefits of socialist influence in the labor movement, and the necessity of militantly opposing the bosses--and, if need be, the government--in order to win.” The strike started...