The offshoot of the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC is the American City County Exchange or ACCE. ALEC operates at the state level while ACCE is at the city/county and both are the product of the Koch brothers, etc., to create legislation for these government levels. This is where the low-wage corporations expect to beat back minimum wage hikes.
If the wage hikes do become law in cities, then ALEC will pass laws to stop the wage hikes at the state level and these laws will supersede city laws. This type of strategy will also be used against unions. To write Right to Work laws, they will take away the cities’ local control and right to protect themselves against ways to save their water, air, and environmental laws, such as Austin, Texas’ plastic bag ordinance, which was overrule by the ALEC-controlled state government.
At this time in the U.S., of the 10 most populous cities, only San Diego, CA, has a Republican mayor, all the rest are Democrats. But the anti-workers, anti-union moneyed people are taking the progressives’ urban offensive very seriously and experimenting with strategies to fight back like ACCE groups.
The Republicans are moving swiftly to roll back or block city-led environmental initiatives related to fracking. Yes, this is urban warfare of the 99 percent against the 1 percent Koch brother types. The large cities are the last stand for the Have Nots, Have Littles and the Used to Haves, and we cannot afford to lose this base of operation and the proletarians need to understand there is no place to retreat unless the people capitulate into slavery to the 1 percent, who are against any type of pay, healthcare, Social Security. We would really be just slaves with no rights and this will condemn our offspring to a dreadful future. What a legacy this would be for those of us who worked through the 1950s through most of the 1990s and had it pretty good. Our children and grandchildren deserve the same.
I hope that I am wrong, but what I see at this time is our unions are going to be in the fight of their existence. This is the most perilous time of our life. The life we had is threatened like never before. Unions are the largest organized group of people who can save our country if things keep going the way they are heading at this time. We need to all stand together for power, but we each must prepare and plan to take care of ourselves and our families. We can fight the big fight and not be distracted by worry about things that can and should already be taken care of. For instance, stashing at least one month’s pay and at least a month or even a year’s worth of food, whether the food is staples (pasta, rice, canned goods) and meat or chicken in the freezer. Keep your vehicles' tanks full and if possible a gas can full. It’s in your best interest to also save money for house or rent payments plus extra. This is not new thinking for us old trade workers who had to prepare when...
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