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?
We have an election in two months, where the hell are the building Trade Unions? Members and organizers should be touting their wages, benefits and seeking out new members and union shops. So far, I’m only hearing crickets. While the Trade Unions sit back, the UAW have been striking and winning big benefits for their members. Then there is the Teamsters, who have taken on the Holy Grail—Amazon, the corporation. Again, just crickets from the Trade Unions. Then there is the Minnesota State model—-we can win more together than we can on our own. So why are all unions not working together? Why are all unions not talking with each other? There are two months left until the election—an election that could conceivably be the death null of unions. If we lose this election to the GOP, Trump and Project 2025, our unions will be destroyed and we’ll be back to the days of trying to make ends meet as the GOP will cut our wages, benefits will be eliminated and there will be nothing we can do abou...
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