Some times when bad things happen it is for the best in the long run. Once when working with my tools as a union sheet metal worker, my tools were stolen. My co-worker told me it was the best thing for me because my tools were so old and outdated, basically crap. Fortunately for me, my insurance covered the cost for new tools.
Two back-to-back hurricanes, Irma and Maria, decimated Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, could be a good thing in the long run. Puerto Rico’s infrastructure was crap before the hurricanes, but the wreckage gives it an opportunity to rebuild it in a stronger, more efficient way. The government owns the utilities, such as roads, electrical grid, schools, and water and sewer systems, and allowed the infrastructure to become so fragile by underfunding since 2006. The government cut spending by 12 percent, laid off one quarter of the government work force, jacked-up sales taxes ad reduced pensions. With these layoffs, there’s no one to run the sewage system, and none of the remaining workers know how to run the operation.
The medical program funds are running out of money. This is the result of capitalists plundering Puerto Rico. The U.S. government has plundered this country’s resources and the wealth created by the island workers is going to fill the coffers of the U.S. capitalists since wrestling control of the island from Spain in 1898, as a result the average annual income in Puerto Rico is less than half that of Mississippi, the poorest state in the U.S.
So now that there is nothing left, Puerto Rico will start over with a new infrastructure, and will have to be rebuilt for the world is watching. The time, we must not let the vultures plunder Puerto Rico again. We must stop the greedy capitalists continue taking the pensions away the country’s workers and giving the pensions to the government’s general fund, instead of going after the wealthy/investors to pay a greater sum to keep the government going.
There is a lot of work to be done and Puerto Rico should get just as much help as Texas ad Florida is getting in their clean-up and rebuilding after their hurricane damage.
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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