Unions new slogan should be “Organize or Die.” We must be stronger by the 2024 elections because we don’t know for sure what the outcome will be. When we are striking or organizing, our workers will see the need to vote and vote for people who support workers. They see this when on the picket line or when working for a union they will vote for and to keep a union. This is when workers understand what is at stake and who their friends are.
So, in the 2024 election, workers will have a friendly president and government or they will have a president who will turn government on unions and its members. Either way, now is the time for all unions and its members to come together least for this year.
Unions that have problems with other unions have got to set aside their differences and issues at least for this year or we could very possibly lose our unions and the security unions provide to the workers. On the other hand, if union workers prevail in 2024 with the election of a Democratic president, Congress and Senate, we will be stronger with people in high places that support us and we can grow even stronger with more members in more unions.
According to Robert Reich, former secretary of labor in President Clinton’s cabinet, during President Biden’s presidency, the number of workplace strikes in this country hit a 23-year high last year. The number of workers on strike increased nearly 300 percent from 2022. “It’s a historic moment for the labor movement. Workers are done letting billionaires and corporations hoard all the wealth and power,” Reich said.
If Democrats take the elections, we can push for better pay, single-payer healthcare with no out of pocket costs, better pensions and a four-day work week, just to name a few improvements, and put us in line with other industrialized countries.
This is perhaps the most important election of our lives, because, if the Republican candidates win, we will lose the country we know and love and any progress workers have made so vote wisely. Get out and vote.
I hope that I am wrong, but what I see at this time is our unions are going to be in the fight of their existence. This is the most perilous time of our life. The life we had is threatened like never before. Unions are the largest organized group of people who can save our country if things keep going the way they are heading at this time. We need to all stand together for power, but we each must prepare and plan to take care of ourselves and our families. We can fight the big fight and not be distracted by worry about things that can and should already be taken care of. For instance, stashing at least one month’s pay and at least a month or even a year’s worth of food, whether the food is staples (pasta, rice, canned goods) and meat or chicken in the freezer. Keep your vehicles' tanks full and if possible a gas can full. It’s in your best interest to also save money for house or rent payments plus extra. This is not new thinking for us old trade workers who had to prepare when...
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