Why do corporations fear a class warfare? Is it because there are more of us than there are of them? Is it because if we put our hands in our pockets all work stops?
I think the greedy anti-union people have awaken a sleeping giant and the unions are responding by organizing strikes for better contracts for union like the United Auto Workers (UAW), UPS, Association of Flight Attendants, Teamsters.
The working class people have focused on the power that we have when we stand together, and the power that we have when we withhold our labor, nothing is going to move.
UAW union labor leader Shawn Fain has restored the unions’ fighting force and called out corporations power in unapologetic terms. Fain wore an “Eat the Rich” T-shirt and announced that “billionaires, in my opinion, don’t have a right to exist.”
Yes, it is war and the unions are going to align union contracts across the industries to make way for bigger, bolder strikes.
Now is our time when we have the support of our U.S. president. President Biden recently donned a UAW ball cap and walked a picket line. With his support we can only get stronger and earn better wages.
If the Trump people regain control we will need all the power to just stay in existence. If you think this is hyperbole, research the Molly Maguires of 1874, 20 hanged; the 1877 Great Railroad Strike, 10 killed; the 1886 fight for the eight-hour work day, 4 killed plus 7 police officers; 1892 Homestead Steel Works, many seriously injured; 1897 Lattimer, Massacre, 19 killed; 1898 Battle of Virden, numerous killed; 1900 Street Railway Employees of America, 14 killed; 1912 Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike, more than 50 killed; 1914 Ludlow Massacre, 20 killed, including 11 children and 2 women; 1920 Matewan Massacre, 2 miners killed, plus 8 nonunion; 1921 West Virginia U.S. Army troops deploy to quelch striking workers, “The number of lives lost is unknown, but is estimated to be at least 16.”; 1937 Memorial Day Massacre, 10 workers killed; 1974 Duke Power Co in Kentucky, 1 killed. There’s a long history of workers and unions striking, this is just a list of those who were willing to forfeit their lives for better working conditions and pay.
At this time unions are looking a lot better than in the past so unions and its members must vote smart and keep organizing for new members.
Yes, they are coming for us. Workers need to have one another’s backs because no one else will. Neither the broader labor movement nor the Democratic party are prepared to meet the urgency of this moment. So it’s going to fall upon the rest of us to mount a real resistance against Trump’s authoritarian takeover. We’re going to have to get our hands dirty. I don’t care if you have a good, well-paying union job and you are in the middle class now—if you see a worker being dragged out of his workplace regardless of how skilled the job and potentially taken to another country, you should be ready to be there for that worker. When I.C.E. shows up, gather around and shame them into leaving. It has worked in other places. America is sleep walking into authoritarianism, and if there’s anyone out there who is a member of a labor union that is safe—at this point— and doesn’t think this applies to them. Understand that they just haven’t gotten to you yet. They’re coming for all of us. There are ...
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