Union Perspectives

All workers need to have and study a book about labor history, what worked and what did not as written in the book “Rebel Voices: An IWW Anthology” by Joyce L. Kornbluh. She outlines how workers fought for the right to unionize, and safe workplaces that the GOP are working overtime to erode. When I Was going to night school on the GI Bill, a person in my class, who was a human resource worker at Point Mugu Navy Base in Oxnard, CA, told me why the antiunion people were beating labor’s ass on most fronts in the work place was because the union-busting people studied labor history and used it against workers. They knew what worked and didn’t work and acted accordingly. Most labor people don’t know their labor history. If you don’t know yourself you will lose half of your fights. If you don’t know your enemy you will most likely lose all of your fights. In Kornbluh’s book, she shows how education of the workers during the 1800 and early 1900s on the tactics unions used, like direct ac...

Out living your pensions, we, who had a good pension 20 years ago when we retired, have seen our monthly pay slowly drain away. With a pension there is no savings and the saving we had when working also slips away to make up the difference in our pension shortcomings. This is if we were lucky enough to stash money away while working and not experiencing any major setbacks, like an illness, house fire, or natural disaster. Just keeping with repairs on a house can be drain a budget even if you are skilled enough to have the health and knowledge to do the repairs yourself and not have to hire someone to do the work for you or let your largest investment deteriorate, which will impact the value on your house should you need to sale it. So, what can a person do to compensate their income? If they are lucky and have good health, they might be able to find a job, but a job that compensates a 65 to 80 year old for their knowledge and experience might be difficult to find. If you can find a...

So, it appears my union, Sheet Metal Air Rail Transportation (S.M.A.R.T.) Local 104, learned nothing from union history. Our district in California is having a special election Aug. 27th and there are four Republicans and one Democrat running. My union decided to back a Republican, a Republican who refused to sign a questionnaire of support for unions. A Republican who appears to have less experience and knowledge than the Democrat running. S.M.A.R.T. chose the wife of a Republican, who left this office for the state Senate. The flyer is sent out read: “Local 104 is proud to endorse Megan Dahle for Assembly. With Megan’s experience and understanding of state government she will hit the ground running. Megan and Local 104 are committed to bringing Apprenticeship opportunities to the North State as they rebuild after the devastating wildfires.” Dahle’s Republican husband, while in office, did nothing to bring apprenticeships to the North State, and, full disclosure, while I fully endo...

As Trump sniffs around for a war to start, I thought it would be a good idea to remind people of one of the best speeches against war given by Eugene V Debs, who was imprisoned for speaking our against World War I. During one of his recent rallies, Trump encouraged his followers to join the military and show their patriotism … In part, here is Debs’ speech: “War throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder. In the Middle Ages, when feudal lords, who inhabited the castles and whose towers may still be seen along the Rhine, colluded to enlarge their domains, to increase their power, their prestige and their wealth. They declared war upon one another. But, they, themselves, did not go to war any more than the modern feudal lords. The barons of Wall Street go to war. The fuels barons of the Middle Age, the economic predecessors of the capitalists of our day, declared all wars. And their miserable serfs fought all the battles. The poor, ignorant serfs had been taught to ...