Has labor forgotten the past or has it just been sleeping or both? For what is happening today had already happened in the years between 1919-1929. Overproduction in general, as a matter of fact, was one of the largest micro organizations whose poisons were set free by the economic crash of 1929. We prided ourselves on being the most productive nation on the planet. More and better goods were produced at greater speed and efficiency during the 1920s than at any time in our history.
This was a good thing only if the producers could sell what they made or grew, and during the ‘20s they could not. They could not sell enough at home, wages were low and falling because of the loss of union power and membership so workers could not afford to buy the very goods they were producing.
The triumph of the industrial Republicanism after the end of World War I had nearly killed the labor movement. But, after World War II, with the help of the New Deal and some new labor laws, labor fought back and had regained new power and good wages with benefits.
But the anti-unionists have never given up. They changed tactics, using such things as ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), buying state governments, and now American City Council Exchanges that aims to control the city governments, which will write anti-labor laws to break unions. As wages go down or cease to exist, people turn to credit and then public or private help and when that dries up some will turn to crime.
At this time, a new labor movement of some type is the Have Nots only chance to win higher wages of $15 to $18 an hour minimum wage, single payer healthcare, pensions and free education. Remember that this is all owed to the people of the world by the people who are profiting off our Commons and not paying rent for the use of these Commons, which are roads, bridges, air, water, oil, gas, protection of investment in other countries, the enforcement of laws, patent rights, and our courts.
The money and means to make the world a better place for all is there. We, proletarians, just need the will and the commitment to make it happen, and a strong labor could be the tipping point.
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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