The $15 for ’15 campaign is moving in the right direction, but we know most of the gains are being slow walked. A case in point is Walmart, which has made some movement and also some fast food corporations, but believe this—this movement is not out of the goodness of their hearts, it is because they are being hurt in their profit margins. The wage movement has come from workers’ protests and the loss of business due to the way businesses are treating their wage slaves.
There is a long way to go to close the inequality gap. But the pro corporate people are gearing up with the help of the American Legislative Exchange Council or A.L.E.C. The group has come up with a strategy to bolster the power of big business. GOP lawmakers plan to introduce an A.L.E.C.–backed bill that would ban Community Benefit Agreements or CBAs.
CBAs are one of the few options local activists have to fight for higher wages or affordable housing. But A.L.E.C.‘s CBA ban, which specifically prohibits a local minimum wage, would be unprecedented, and the only force left is the working people with jobs or not.
People power just won a reprieve for the people of Greece. Also, the dock workers in the U.S. are fighting for their jobs and the coal mining in Ukraine are fighting for wages and back pay. The commonality is unions and people power. We need $15 to $18 an hour minimum wage, free education to at least the bachelor level, universal healthcare and pensions.
Inequality is still the largest problem of the world, along with climate change, but we can beat both if we keep fighting.
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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