Why don’t we, labor wage slaves, have organizations, other than labor unions, fighting for our workers? The right wing has not only anti-labor think tanks, but also many undercover organizations, such as American Legislative Exchange Council; the right wing group the Lincoln Club of Orange County, California; Manufacturers Association; and the local, national and international Chamber of Commerce.
These are just a few of the organizations that have come out from under their rocks and are getting laws or propositions on the ballot before we wage slaves even know what’s happened. This always puts us on the defense, which we must stop in order to counter their actions. They have the money, but we have the people. Whether or not they lose they will have depleted our treasury and worn our people out.
What we need to do is take the fight to them, which will remove what they are doing to us. We could do this by using our labor councils and spin off organizations to work on propositions and laws to benefit us, the working people, such as raising the minimum wage to a living wage of $14-$15 an hour in cities and counties; and card check. This can be done and then the oligarchies would have to start spending their money and resources. They just have money. We have some money but a lot of people. We could turn the fight upside down now that we have won the election and have the momentum.
Unions are in a crisis. Union organizers are being stretch to the breaking point. We have a lot of retirees, most with little to do, and they are a resource being wasted. They should be recruited to work with union members, teaching them the ropes and union and American history. By using the retirees, they are kept involved; their union bonds are reinforced; and they are reminded of where they came from. By ignoring them we are leaving them to fall under the spell of Fox News and anti-union labor factions and then they vote against their best interests.
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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