Are we, wage slaves, and retired former wage slaves ready for a general strike? If we are ready I think top of the list on the strike banner should be a minimum wage hike to at least $15 an hour then leave Social Security alone and next strong labor laws to protect wages and the right to have a union. Also to do away with the right to work state laws, which if you belong to a union and receive benefits then you should pay your share—no free rides. You know the GOP way: nothing free.
If we get the minimum wage raised we will have a lot of people thankful and see just what the power of union people can do. If the lower wage workers have $5 per hour more to spend it will be better for every worker and they can purchase better transportation to get to work and will spend more; and, in turn, help the consumer economy, which is what we have.
The more we buy the more someone has to make or supply, and around it goes; but with no spending power it just doesn’t work. The corporations go to undeveloped countries and try to get them to buy our products, which takes years and moves jobs overseas. When the corporations could do the same things right here just by paying more in minimum wage. The U.S. has a third world economy right now that can be tapped as customers, but in order for this to happen the wage slaves must do something over the top, something never done before like a countrywide general strike like the LongShoremen did in Washington state, but only on an even larger scale.
If we start talking about it now and pick the right time we would get the attention of the masses. This would be a real 99% event, and in the long run even some of the 1% would benefit whether they would want it or not. We need to do this before the next election.
There are three phases of a general strike and unions must plan for one. Those three phases are: 1. general strike in an industry 2. general strike in a community 3. general national strike We need to move away from being on the defensive and move toward a good offensive. The American Federal of Labor (AFL) could not have held a general strike if it wanted to because they had thousands of different contracts that expired at different times of the year. This was done deliberately so that there is no consolidation of power for a general strike. Also, nowadays, there is no law agency that will support labor, except the National Labor Relations Board (NLBR), which has been under attack and in decline for years. This leaves the burden of change up to unions, and unless unions work together, little will change. We essentially have a combination of job trusts, which are not as strong as contracts, and the courts can break easily because the NLBR will be further weakened and essentially elim...
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