Union Perspectives

The dreams the old International Workers of the World (IWW) could very well come true because of the capitalist attacks against workers worldwide. At this time, the French workers’ unions are under attack by President Macron, who is out to destroy unions. Then there is the Spanish government’s all out efforts to prevent the referendum on Catalonia’s independence, but 2.3 million people braved law enforcement attacks and voted for independence. The fight was lead by dockworkers, firefighters, public workers and most of all labor groups. Then we have the Kurds, who are fighting for an independent Kurdistan. The Kurds are 30 million strong and have no country to call home. The Kurdish struggle shows that it is possible to stand up to oppression and win. Poland has been slipping into an authoritarian rule for the last two years as the country’s government is cracking down and restricting people’s human rights and ignoring the European Union’s insistence that the government refrain fr...

The fight for a living wage continues. Workers are asking for a minimum wage of at least $15 an hour, but in reality it should be $24 an hour had it kept up with inflation and CEOs exorbitant incomes. When workers finally get their local leaders to support a better wage, they then have to deal with a handful of states with conservative lawmakers who get ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) to write wage preemption laws to block increasing the minimum wage. There are now four states with such laws. This template for states to block cities and counties from raising the minimum wage in their own communities is taking the voice and vote away from low-wage workers. In order to fight back, there needs to be unions and local lawmakers who should be incensed by what the states are doing in supporting the large food and retail corporations. The corporations don’t leave their profits in these cities, counties and even states. They just take from our coffers by forcing their employees t...

Capitalist bosses standing on the shoulders of workers and pushing them into the quicksand of profits is just greed at the expense of the workers, which is just what is happening at to train engineer Tom Harding and train controller Richard Labrie in Canada. Both are union members of the United Steelworkers. They are being framed by their bosses in Ottawa for following orders, and when those orders resulted in a derailment, dumping 1.5 million gallons of crude oil, causing an explosion and fire that destroyed the town of Sherbrooke, Canada. Many in this area consider Harding a hero for risking his life to aid firefighters in moving a number of unexploded tankers thereby limiting the devastation. Transport Canada’s Minister of Transportation Denis Lebel ruled in 2012 that a train crew could be cut to just one engineer to increase profits while ignoring health and safety rules. Harding wanted to engage the breaks on each of the cars, he was overruled and told to engage them on the loco...