In this election, labor needs to get it right on whom to support. Labor supported Bill Clinton, whose chief of staff was Rahm Emanuel. Clinton opened the flood gates for union jobs to be shipped out of the country with the passage of North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA, and Emanuel, who is mayor of Chicago, is still union bashing. He would be back if Hillary Clinton is elected.
Look at what labor spent on President Obama’s election in hopes of getting the Employee Free Choice Act, which went nowhere. It was shoved aside for healthcare. Clinton’s NAFTA is now about to get Obama’s version in the form of Trans Pacific Partnership or TPP, which is NAFTA on steroids, labor says.
Labor needs people elected who will support labor’s fight for $15, free education, sick leave, family leave, single payer healthcare, the right to form a union, climate change, Black Lives Matter, immigration reform, lifestyle and income inequality and payment for Corporate use of our Commons. In order for this to happen it will take all of labor’s unions and nonunion wage slaves, which will bring together all proletarians.
Then we will need to vote people like Bernie Sanders for president, and supporters like Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Keith Ellison, Al Franken, and Kshama Sawant, who will stand up to Wall Street and the Big Banks. Our political clout should flow from our wage slaves rather than from the billionaires down. Trickle down doesn’t work with economics and it doesn’t work with fairness in politics.
This could be the unions’ last chance to make their clout felt. If unions don’t win the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association case, which could eliminate the public sector unions’ ability to fund themselves through fair-share fees paid by those who benefit from unions’ protection.
Labor has more at risk than ever so this election could be the proletarians’ last chance. Get educated and vote smart on what is good for you and your family. Again, our last chance is right around the corner in 2016.
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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