One key factor in a labor resurgence could well be the fight for $15 if there is good movement on this. It could excite the wage slaves and restore faith in the power of the masses, which has always been there, but just repressed by anti-labor GOP people of the 1 percent who have vilified the wage slaves and makes the unions look like losers. We need a win for $15 in ’15 and the April 15 Fight for $15 rally and unions and labor councils should be helping with this fight.
And I, a retired sheet metal organizer, have not heard one word from the sheet metal union and at my last labor council meeting (AFL/CIO) not one word. So, is there a reason workers won’t unite? Labor is now at a 6.6 percent in the private sector.
This is about the same level as when the Ludlow Massacre occurred in 1914 in which several miners and a 12-year-old were shot to death by the National Guardsmen. Then when the canvas tents that they were living in caught fire and 11 children and two women were killed. This is what it took to bring labor together.
It’s been a hundred years and here we are once again starting at the bottom, 6.6 percent, will it take another Ludlow to bring together our workers? Will the wage slaves go to the streets and demand their civil rights—to have the right to build a union, a living wage and have free education, healthcare, safe work environment, pensions and be paid for their commons. In order to do this, workers must become educated and understand that this labor fight is worldwide in places like Ukraine, where they are fighting for their livelihoods lust like the oil, train and fast food workers.
The fight will never be over, but just a few wins will keep the wage slaves going until we can regain the control and ground lost that we had in the 1940s, ‘50s, and ‘60s. Check out workers’ rights online courses, Workers’ Rights in a Global Economy, starting in June 1. For more information, go to:
http://iversity.org/en/courses/workers-rights-in-a-global-economy
and check out the trailer for the course at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u8dpMVfFh0
The AFL is with Senator Bernie Sanders and it is the people’s only chance to push back against Elon Musk, who wants to dismantle our government. Musk family is said to have left South Africa because they could no longer exploit The native/black Africans so he bought Trump and now he’s laying waste to America in the name of progress. With Senator Sanders’ leadership and backing of all labor unions, we could put together the whole of 99 percent of the people and beat back the 2 percent destroying we what once had and stood for while also saving Social Security, healthcare for all, elder care, child care, while working on the climate change crisis (we are running out of time, as the weather is showing us). The workers need to go big, such as a four-day work week like other countries have; universal basic income (UBI) and Medicare for all for unhoused people, which would help get them off the streets. UBI goes right back into the local economies, which supports jobs for the other working p...
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