Why doesn’t President Obama have a labor secretary like Frances Perkins in his Cabinet? Perkins was the first female Cabinet member under President Franklin Roosevelt, and there has never been a better labor secretary since. If the Obama administration does not start working for labor, then why will labor work for them, the Democrats, then why should labor spend its money on federal elections?
At this time the trend seems to be spending and working on carpeting the state legislation and government offices. This is working well for the GOP, and the labor people are seeing the results, which is detrimental to union labor. By working the states it can be more grassroots, which can more easily show our dues paying members results in their towns where the jobs are and could result in more union jobs and dues paying members. With this success then it could be transferred to the federal level of government.
Frances Perkins understood what the working wage slaves needed, which was federal labor laws. Laws that helped labor organizing for a better life. Now we do not need another election, we won and all we need now is another Frances Perkins to get us card check and tighten up the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rules, which have been shot full of holes and do not work for labor in this day and age. We need a prompt and honest hard debate about what is happening to our wage slaves working men and women.
Looking at our NLRB rules will begin the debate. All we need is the will from the Obama administration. Hell, Washington, D.C., loves hearings so why not this one? Now is the time to put the plight of the working people on the open stage where all can see and hear what has happened to wages and the trend toward part-time worker, which deprives wage slaves of benefits, health insurance and pensions.
If we do not address this soon we could be looking at another Jan. 13, 1874, when in New York City’s Tompkins Square when workers were told to attend a meeting, but, instead, were lied to and beaten.
Unions’ long game is to get all union contracts to expire on the same day nationwide. The United Auto Workers combines contracts ends on April 28, 2028. This could then result in a mass national strike starting on May Day beeginning that year. This could then put enormous pressure on employers, but also on lawmakers. It’s the muscle and sweat of the workers that keeps this country great, not the individual company or corporations. This May Day strike would be the time to change the workers’ world for the better by negotiating for a 32-hour week with the same pay, and the U.S. adopts a healthcare for all with no out of pocket costs. This would also help the employers as they would no longer have to provide healthcare. By striking, the UAW won same pay for new workers, all UAW contracts will end on the same date, a 25-percent pay increase, a cost of living adjustments, a guaranteed right to strike over potential plant closures, and also the right to vote to unionize through the card che
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