Union Perspectives

You cannot use the gross domestic product (GDP) as a barometer of how a country is doing as a whole, and the well being of the people. The GDP deals in averages and aggregates. Aggregates hide the nuances of inequality, which is one of its prime faults. The GDP looks at the stock market and unemployment to gauge what is good or bad, but unemployment, which is currently at 4.1 percent is not a true number as many people are working at gig jobs and being paid in cash just to survive while hoping for a full-time job with healthcare and a pension, which by today’s standards are a pipe dream. Ten years ago, the French president Nicolas Sarkozy wrote that the gap between reported well-being and people’s lives experience was creating a gulf of incomprehension between the expert certain his knowledge and the citizen whose experience of life is completely out of sync with the story told by data of the GDP. The gulf, Sarkozy put into words, summarizes the anger that is currently tearing so ...

Had an enjoyable conservation not too long ago with a young stockbroker about solutions to income inequality and other ails afflicting our country. I advocate for universal basic income (UBI). A few years ago the call for a $15 minimum wage was called delusional, but now there are many places that are paying $15 an hour minimum wage or slow walking to the $15. Still, even if it was full-time work, it would only be an annual income of $31,000 a year. Just about enough to keep a person off the streets and get the basics, but, still, it is an incredible accomplishment by those who took to the streets to bring about this change. So, now it is time for another delusional fight to take place and that is for a UBI. Though there are a lot of areas to be worked out with the UBI, there are just as many good things to come from UBI. Some people say if people receive $1,500 to $2,000 a month, they would quit working, which has proven not to be the case within Alaska, the best example of UBI in a...

The U.S. Supreme Court has given to labor and it has taken from labor. In Feb.26, 2018, they will be taking from labor and their decisions will destroy labor’s membership and bankrupt unions financially. The Court could then allow workers who have paid union dues to seek refunds from union dues already paid, which would drive a stake into the heart of labor unions. After three tries, in 2012, 2014 and 2016, the high court is poised to reverse its own 40 year precedent and strike down the Fair Share Fees as unconstitutional. The 1977 ruling said workers did not have to pay for unions’ political activity. The verdict expected in June of this year would allow workers to pay nothing toward union dues, but still receive the union protections. This could force unions to have to raise union dues on those who remain or lose clout in states, such as California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, in the public workers, such as law enforcement, firefighters, teachers, government ...