If there is a choice for labor between a strike or an election—always go for the strike unless there is no one on the other side like the Koch brothers and private business who will oppose the union’s election. If it is about money or taxes and dues the unions will lose all elections for those things.
All strikes must be political and all types of workers with all types of jobs and even those without jobs must be welcome to join and this will work if the strike is not a single issue and there are lots of issues to pick from, like education, universal healthcare, pensions, $15 to $18 an hour minimum wage, Black Lives Matter, inequality in income, homeless, veterans, endless wars and opportunity to better our lives.
The strikes should be hit and run—hit the streets then run back to work before you can be replaced. Also, support at places where you don’t work and hope workers at these places reciprocate. Some of the best unions to support and study at this time are the nurses and teachers. They are well educated and very organized. They also are very good speakers and can use the media to their advantage.
Labor leaders need to study the Art of War and think about using guerilla war tactics in some cases. The fight for $15 to $18 an hour minimum wage is just starting because politicians have pacified people with the promise of $15 an hour, but the measures are being slow walked to $15 and people need it now, not in three or five years. Why is it the worker has to wait three to five years to get a decent wage that will be out of step with inflation by the time they earn it, but corporations don’t have to wait to get their profits?
There are three phases of a general strike and unions must plan for one. Those three phases are: 1. general strike in an industry 2. general strike in a community 3. general national strike We need to move away from being on the defensive and move toward a good offensive. The American Federal of Labor (AFL) could not have held a general strike if it wanted to because they had thousands of different contracts that expired at different times of the year. This was done deliberately so that there is no consolidation of power for a general strike. Also, nowadays, there is no law agency that will support labor, except the National Labor Relations Board (NLBR), which has been under attack and in decline for years. This leaves the burden of change up to unions, and unless unions work together, little will change. We essentially have a combination of job trusts, which are not as strong as contracts, and the courts can break easily because the NLBR will be further weakened and essentially elim...
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