For unions to be strong, they must be prepared and protect the one power they have over the 1 percent anti-union oligarchies. That is the strike. In the past, strikes always ended with losses on the wage slaves’ side because the unions never have enough resources to keep their workers fed or housed and money enough to keep the workers’ bills paid.
This is a ploy the money people have used against wage slaves. They make it easy for anyone to get credit and credit cards, which the oligarchies control all aspects of credit cards from the limits to the interest rates, and when the average person needs more money they are encouraged them to tap into the equity in their homes. With no savings, large debts, it does not take long to break a worker and the strike ends. The oligarchies literally starve workers back to work.
The unions must make a concerted effort to educate their union members on money management and how to survive a strike long enough to prevail in the strike. One thing that can be done is to use the example of the Mormons, who stock up with a year’s supply of food; and either have enough saved to last at least six months to a year either alone or in conjunction with their union. The Sheet Metal union I belonged to had a “Christmas fund,” which was used to support us during strikes.
If all unions could get their members and their unions in this plan set up then and only then could labor start planning for the Holy Grail of strikes, which could start with a whole city then expanded to a county, then state, and the country until you have the Holiest of Holy Grail—a general strike. Then make the demand of a living wage, healthcare, pension, good education for everyone, work safety in the work place, enforced food safety, environmental laws, and this would make Jack London’s The Dream of Debs a reality.
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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