It is hard to believe that labor is now in a fight for the right to strike. The people who will fight labor over the right to strike are the local law enforcement, and they will be trained at the new “Cop City” that is built in Atlanta, Georgia, that the labor busting people want built.
Chief among them is the Home Depot Foundation that is helping to fund the Atlanta Police Foundation’s Cop City; but a private entity fiercely opposes the plan to build the $90 million training center in the South River in the Weelaunee Forest.
Cop City will have a shooting range, driving course, a mock city to train law enforcement from across the country. Part of the training center will involve urban warfare, which could be used against people excising their right to protest and labor strikes, which could be reminiscent of the Matewan Massacre.
One of the leaders against Cop City is Vincent Quiles, who had worked at Home Depot and tried to unionize the workers before being fired. Home Depot used a vicious union busting campaign to beat the unionizing attempt. Quiles researched Home Depot’s tax returns and discovered it was supporting Cop City and after researching what the project was, began a protest campaign against the project. He has a case before the National Labor Relations Board regarding his firing.
Unions should get behind the fight against Cop City, which could very well be used against union labors. Remember cops are the first line of defense for business owners. Law enforcement was not created to protect and serve everyone or to stop crime by the Have Nots and working class, they were created to protect and serve the wealthy and capitalism ignoring the ancient Turkish proverb says, “A hungry man is an angry man.”
Police were established by the wealthy to impose order on the working class. They were especially needed during the turmoils that seemed to occur when workers became fed up: 1867, 1877, 1886, and 1894, and cops violently attacked the workers who only wanted better working conditions, better pay, better hours—same thing people are wanting today.
We have an election in two months, where the hell are the building Trade Unions? Members and organizers should be touting their wages, benefits and seeking out new members and union shops. So far, I’m only hearing crickets. While the Trade Unions sit back, the UAW have been striking and winning big benefits for their members. Then there is the Teamsters, who have taken on the Holy Grail—Amazon, the corporation. Again, just crickets from the Trade Unions. Then there is the Minnesota State model—-we can win more together than we can on our own. So why are all unions not working together? Why are all unions not talking with each other? There are two months left until the election—an election that could conceivably be the death null of unions. If we lose this election to the GOP, Trump and Project 2025, our unions will be destroyed and we’ll be back to the days of trying to make ends meet as the GOP will cut our wages, benefits will be eliminated and there will be nothing we can do abou...
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