Will California be the next Wisconsin? Will all labor unions be gutted by ‘right to work’ for less laws? Well, this could very well happen for the members of some of the largest unions who are voting Republican, which by name are anti-union and supporting the anti-union candidates just because now it is not popular to belong to a union, and the Right has hijacked the hunting and fishing or owning guns.
Postal workers have lost already when they supported Congressman Darrel Issa, who then pulled a Reagan and went after the Postal workers unions and began closing down post offices. Then there are the California Forestry and Fire Prevention (Cal Fire), who have a very good union with excellent benefits and again, a lot of their members are afraid to say they are union members and if they vote for Democrats or liberal candidate, but most vote Republican.
The numbers of people in unions or receiving union pensions watch Fox (non-news) and believe the crap it spews about unions or their leaders. This could change very quickly with just one election and Cal Fire could end up just like the federal firefighters, who are classified as forest technician workers with a not so strong union, which shows up in their pay and benefits.
Again, most vote Republican and support the anti-union people. There is a bill in Congress to change the federal firefighters’ classification from forest tech to forest firefighter, which would mean better pay moving them closer to the pay of Cal Fire.
Then there are our construction labor unions where again the workers vote Republican instead of standing proud of their unions. Most hide in a closet when they should be out in the streets fighting for better wages for all workers, union and non-union and a living wage of at least $15 to $18 an hour. We’ve become a selfish society and it’s destroying us as a country. Raising the minimum wage could encourage workers to become union supporters if we stand with them.
All of this is not only happening here, but all over the world and, yes, California and the world could become a Wisconsin state or country where the wage slaves are just that—with no workers’ rights, not even a minimum wage, no unions no benefits, no worker safety, no vacation, and no sick leave. This would or is the oligarchies’ dream when corporations rule totally.
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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