In the1920s, the corporations representing capital (money) mobilized for war of the extermination on all labor organizations in the United States, and they never stopped. They have just changed tactics and leaders overtime.
Today, the one who is leading this charge is back by the Koch brothers is Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who recently signed the right to work legislation into law. This means workers in a union do not have to pay union dues, but still get the same union benefits as dues paying workers. How the hell does this work?
When they take away union funds it is like tying one hand behind your back, and then trying to fight a two-handed bully. The anti-union money people have never given up on breaking unions or breaking up the New Deal. The other tactic union busters use is the old divide and conquer—pitting working people against working people so they will tear down their neighbors, who are lucky enough to have union jobs—and this seems to be working.
Labor was warned about this tactic back when Walter Reuther, United Auto Workers president from 1946 and 1970, who told his union that they had to go after the non-union, low-wage workers and help fight for them to eliminate wage and lifestyle inequality between the two groups.
If unions do not make the wage fight for all, the Scott Walkers of this country/world will kick our collective asses. We must resist being divided and conquered. We must focus our energy and the conversation on $15 an hour minimum wage (counter all the lies against this wage hike), free education, universal healthcare, pensions, and pushing to be compensated for our Commons, like the citizens of Alaska.
Remember, the April 15 Fightfor$15 rally for increased wages, do all you can to support this, even if you just stop by a fast food place and support them by asking if they would like to make $15 an hour – this gets them thinking and believing they can earn a decent wage for their work.
The survival of American democracy requires the existence of a flourishing union work force. In a survey, 68 percent of Americans approve of labor unions. So, as an old sheet metal organizer, I say we need to go all out in organizing while the soldering iron is hot, to use a sheet metal workers tool. We should organize all workers no matter where or what kind of work they do. All workers have the right to belong to a union and all should support each other. If you, in your work place, do not know how to form a union, then do what Napoleon’s military adopted adage, ‘Jump into the battle and then figure it out.’ One of the best ways to organize is worker to worker and plan it out over a meal or coffee and talk to other union workers to see what would work best for you and also what unions are winning at this time. Just go for it. When things are in disarray, like the shit show in Washington, D.C., they might not even know what you are doing until it is too late for them to push back aga...
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