Union Perspectives

Well, the robber barons are back in charge and the unions are at their lowest numbers since the last time the robber barons were in charge. The last time they had control the workers rose up and organized even though their ranks were split. There were the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and the American Federation of Labor (AFL), some were the coal miners, some were the Teamsters, they all seemed at times to be fighting each other, but in today’s fight there is no room for that type of bickering. We need to have a little of all types of organizations, even the ideology of the International Workers of the World (IWW) also called the Wobblies. We, at this time, just cannot afford to be split for the new government, which is antiunion will throw everything at us. They will have the attorney general, the U.S. Supreme Court, law enforcement, the National Guard and new laws that will be signed into effect to control protests and strikes, which can result in huge fines or jai...

Can workers today make more than their parents? At this time it is 50/50, but people born in 1940, the chance of children making more than their parents was at 92 percent—why? One reason for this is economic growth has slowed from 4 to 5 percent in the past decades to just 2 to 3 percent today; and almost all of the benefits of the 2 to 3 percent growth goes to the top with people in the lower income bracket are stuck with stagnant wages. The Americans at the bottom 50 percent are making an average of just $16,000 a year while the top 1 percent makes $1.3 million, and send their children to elite schools so the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Part of the attack on the 1.7 million poor workers are employed by temporary agencies. Of these 1.7 million workers, 900,000 are on zero hour contracts. This problem is worldwide. Workers in the UK are facing the same problem, some 20 percent of the workers do not know if they will get a full week’s work. The people who are and have be...

Is California next on the Koch brothers’ agenda? The Republicans will have 33 governors in office, and in 25 of those states, the Republicans will also control both the governorships and the legislations. The Democrats have six governors and legislations, and the rest of the states are politically divided. Sam Lansing is chief operating officer at the Americans for Prosperity, a conservative super pac bankrolled by the Koch brothers, and he thinks now is the best opportunity to accomplish a lot of the big-ticket items in 10 to 15 states. People in these states will be steamrolled on policies, such as destroying unions, Social Security, Medicare, right to work laws, school vouchers to break the teachers’ union and private prisons, while giving tax breaks wealthy. How long will it be before the GOP and the Koch brothers start in on California and New York, which will now be considered their holy grail for destruction. They decimated the unions in the birthplace of public unions, Wisc...

To keep your sanity you must drill out the humor from the absurdity and chaos all around us.

People who receive Social Security, Medicare, government and union pensions and healthcare now, and the people who hope to receive these same benefits have an opportunity to show the politicians and oligarchies who want to take all of this away, this includes the minimum wage. To send a clear message on Jan. 20 to these greedy individuals, you must hit them where it hurts most—their pocket books. Call in sick from work, don’t spend any money any where, and don’t watch the Donald Trump show otherwise known as an inauguration had he been legitimately elected by the people and not the electoral college. Yo can buy whatever you need the day before and you know the media and social media will be all a buzz about the Trump show the next day so you won’t miss anything. This is a do or die situation we’re in. Trump, the Tweeter in chief, has lined his cabinet with the worst possible people he could find and they are going to rape and pillage this country for their own gain. If you thought G...

A national strike is called for Jan. 20. If successful, this national strike would be the first in our country’s history. In 1908, author Jack London published a multi-layered narrative that showed a vision of the future, which is now a step away from reality with Donald Trump being given the presidency and the people he has selected for his cabinet members. We are not the only ones facing dire circumstances. It is happening all around the world where the plutocratic class is squashing the proletariats, but the proletarians have not figured out the con job that was done to them. Now, the proletarians need to show the plutocrats who has the real power by engaging in a national strike on Jan. 20, which means not working, not spending money, and not watching the inauguration on television. This will not only scare the crap out of the plutocrats, but it will show that we will not stand ideally by while they take our Social Security, Medicare, pensions, voting rights, and the right to ...

Labor, unions, $15 an hour minimum wage, pensions, and safe working conditions are all under attack here in the U.S. and around the world. In the U.S., the Republicans have put out a bill to gut Social Security and raise the retirement age to 69 years old. The anti-worker people are coming for everything President Franklin D. Roosevelt accomplished. They want to destroy Social Security and Medicare. This is what Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House, told an audience at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Donald Trump, who was handed the presidency by the electoral collage, is lining his cabinet with other like-minded people as himself. Trump has recruited corporate individuals that he promised his followers he would banish from Capitol Hill. Trump filled the Secretary of State position with an Exxon Mobil executive; for the head of the Treasury; Trump chose an executive from Goldman Sachs; Secretary of Labor is a fast food executive; he chose an anti-gay person ...