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How to Lose

If we depend on courts and lawyers we will lose the battle on union rights. Wisconsin Supreme Court recently handed Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker a sledgehammer to further destroy union rights.

I was told a long time ago by a union organizer that when we left the streets and picket lines and turned over our fight to the lawyers and court system is when we started to losing the battle against the GOP. Long strikes won’t work nowadays for most working families because they do not have the resources to withstand a long battle and the unions don’t have the resources to back our people. What will work is timing our moves like hit and run, old gorilla tactics. One or two days at a time pick targets where we can get the most support, most media and be able to drive our point home on what we want.

Timing, planning, good communication and being well-organized is done through people all supporting each other. Even if it does not at the time affect you, but if we work together, we will build relations with all the unions - AFL-CIO. We must be smarter, tougher, quicker, have good intel and remember, as Woody Hays once said, ‘Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser.’

As said in the Art of War, "Good planning is that by harm is avoided and advantage gained." If we do this well, we should not need lawyers except to get out of jail. War is war and all is fair, we should use trickery, deception and ambushes to seize opportunities. Remember the best defense is a good offense.

Art of War also states, "If one [woman] studies our war he [she] can successfully instruct ten, if ten study they can successfully instruct one hundred, if one hundred can successfully instruct one thousand, and one thousand can successfully instruct ten thousand, and ten thousand can successfully instruct the entire army" of working families. We need to communicate with our friends and families.

Is Target running scared? It was reported yesterday that Target is showing its employees in New York antiunion videos and using duress to influence its employees against unions. This could be the start we’re waiting for! If we had Employee Free Choice Act in place it would end the harassment and video screenings of antiunion rhetoric. As I’ve said before they shipped the jobs overseas, but they have to bring the product back. If we sell their products we should be paid a living wage in order to afford their products. In Henry Ford’s first union contract he was asked why he was going to pay his employees the highest wages in the auto industry at the time, his answer was, ‘I want them to be able to afford to buy my cars.’
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