The growing pauperization of our country can be stopped by declaring war on pauperization, which could and should be led by unions with labor councils’ support. If labor begins its work at the bottom of the wage level where there are no unions or labor contracts to have to adhere to, it would pretty much give us a free hand and all is fair in love and war.
Maybe with the unrest produced by bad law enforcement practices and the unfairness towards the underserved, which causes adversity, there is a window of opportunity for labor to lend support toward bettering the lives of the people who are suffering from inequality. Labor could help in local elections, fight for higher wages, universal healthcare, jobs and better education opportunities.
It is a lot easier to change a local city or county than the federal laws. People are already in the streets so why not help each other and if we can slow or stop inequality. We could change things for the better for all. An example of this is the fight for marriage equality. The Republicans passed a federal law in 1996, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), that allows the states to deny same-sex marriage. Rather than be deterred, gay marriage proponents have worked at the state level all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned key components of DOMA, thereby leading the way for 35 states to legalize same sex marriage—only 15 more states to go.
This could be the Winter/Spring of Respect for All, and the start to ending wage inequality by getting a living wage of at least $15 to $18 an hour for all low income workers, which would help businesses and create more jobs, more taxes, a better government, and safer towns.
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...
Comments
Post a Comment