It is time for the labor councils to join the 99ers who are the Wall Street protesters. For we all have the same concerns: shelter, food, health care, pensions and jobs. The 1 ‘percenters’ have crossed the line and not just in the USA.
This is now a worldwide movement. It is reminiscent of Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). We the working people have had opportunities before and did not take advantage of them. This time we, the 99ers, and unions now have no choice but to keep going for the 99ers are at the bottom of the financial ladder. If you are not in the top 1 percent on the economic scale, you’re a 99er.
This is not the first time we've had to deal with corporate greed. Ralph Chaplin captured the 1 percenters' greed at the turn of the 20th century.
“It is we who plowed the prairies, built the cities
where they trade
Dug the mines and built the workshops
endless miles of railroad laid
Now we stand outcast and starving
Midst the wonders we made, but
solidarity will keep us strong”
by Ralph Chaplin 1915
We must stay on the move; be on the offensive as opposed to the passive defensive. Sun Tzu (Art of War) realized that no war can be won by adoption of a static attitude. The strategy and tactics that have been used with success are 4 things:
1). when the enemy advances, we retreat
2). when the enemy halts, we harass
3). when the enemy seeks to avoid battle, we attack
4). when the enemy retreats, we pursue
Sun Tzo, Art of War
Yes, they are coming for us. Workers need to have one another’s backs because no one else will. Neither the broader labor movement nor the Democratic party are prepared to meet the urgency of this moment. So it’s going to fall upon the rest of us to mount a real resistance against Trump’s authoritarian takeover. We’re going to have to get our hands dirty. I don’t care if you have a good, well-paying union job and you are in the middle class now—if you see a worker being dragged out of his workplace regardless of how skilled the job and potentially taken to another country, you should be ready to be there for that worker. When I.C.E. shows up, gather around and shame them into leaving. It has worked in other places. America is sleep walking into authoritarianism, and if there’s anyone out there who is a member of a labor union that is safe—at this point— and doesn’t think this applies to them. Understand that they just haven’t gotten to you yet. They’re coming for all of us. There are ...
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