Union Perspectives

Will a universal basic income (UBI) work? One only has to look back at the GI Bill, which was put in place after World War II that established free college education for ex-military members and very low-interest rates on home loans. In fact, when I purchased my first home, I paid $40 down to cover closing costs and with a payment on a newly built three-bedroom, two-bathroom with a den, fire place 1,600 square foot home for $160 a month payment on $19,000 plus taxes and insurance. After about seven years, I sold the home for $48,000. This was my UBI and there are many more who got their middle class start by using the GI Bill, which even paid $350 a month to go to college three-quarters of the time.This made it possible for me to start a sheet metal shop, which twenty-nine years later provided me with a union pension. All of this was made possible with the GI Bill, which very closely resembles a UBI. Just think what $1,500 or $2,000 a month would do for everyone. Maybe they’d be able ...

Why are union workers’ money enriching the rich? Public employees pension funds fund the destruction of not only the livelihoods of private sector workers, but also their own unions, which are, of course, the only reason union workers enjoy any benefits at all. The unions in search of higher returns, pension fund managers have taken to investing in what are known in the trades as “alternative” investments, such as hedge funds and private equity. They take union money and invest in companies that then do a so-called “efficiency” remodel to make the company make more money. This is just a code for screwing the workers by cutting wages, hours and even jobs. The purchasers borrow lots of money to buyout these heavily indebted companies, which forces management in an effort to achieve greater efficiency by cutting against the employees. What they did in the case of Safeway grocery stores is sold stores to nonunion operators, closing stores and squeezing labor. In all, 63,000 people lost ...

The two things which will destroy our world as we know it, are inequality and climate change. The Freedom of Enterprise Act (FEA) being proposed by the Republicans will be against anything that alleviates climate change and inequality. In fact, EEA exempts anyone worth a billion dollars from paying taxes and from having to obey all laws, exempts for now homicide and assault. OxFam, an international charitable organization focused on eliminating global poverty, says there are now 2,043 billionaires in the world and their fortunes grew by $762 billion in 2017 while the poorest of humanity saw no increase in their wealth. Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett have $250 billion more than 160 million Americans. If this trend continues driving up the bargaining power of those at the top while driving down the bargaining power of those at the bottom, this will trap people in poverty and further fracture our society. OxFam said the massive inequalities are being driven by factors t...

Now that the $15 an hour minimum wage has legs, we should start the fight for how people have little chance to find a lucrative job that will last their entire working life and end with a pension and healthcare. The manufacturing jobs are either relocated to another country or just about to be eliminated by machines or robots. Retail is going by the wayside as the brick and mortar stores are replaced by online shopping. What’s left are tech jobs, service jobs, and the best—building trade jobs, which need to be union with their own healthcare, pensions and their own four-to-five-year paid training programs. The unions and workers who support them now need to fight for Project Labor Agreements on all government projects. The union workers also need to vote for leaders who will support unions and the unions need to organize all non-union trades. Also, we need to support non-labor incomes, like the Universal Basic Income (UBI) and get behind corporations paying rent for our Commons. Whe...

A Universal Basic Income (UBI) and rent for our Commons are ways to provide for the working class, who are losing their jobs to automation. With robots and wage inequality, this will be a disaster for the capitalist system as we know it. There will be no cash for the spenders who support the capitalist system by around 77 percent in spending. This can be overcome by non-labor income just like the 1 percent gets their income from dividends and property. Non-labor income in the form of UBI could be paid for by charging rent for our Commons, such as air, water, wind, sun, ecosystem, and minerals. Then there are the human-made technology, legal, roads, dams and bridges. All things our taxes pay for, which makes money for corporations. Some of these are artificial or acquired property and the invention of people. Education will not cure inequality or create more jobs, in fact, it will invent things which will end jobs. Income fell 30 percent since 1970. That was the time when one person c...