Union Perspectives

In 1912, Eugene V. Debs said, “The workers can be emancipated only by their own collective will … and this collective will and conquering power can only be the result of education, enlightenment and self-imposed discipline.” The working class has to advance together or not at all for unionized labor has become but an island of well being in a sea of resentful low-wage-unseen aspirants due to income inequality within the working class. If labor is to make progress it should work with their community’s but not at the expense of the community. One example of at the community’s expense is the Cop City project in Georgia. At this time, Labor is on a roll, but this can stop with a wrong election or with a single stroke of a pen and all of collective bargaining could be wiped out. But the good news is, we have found some new labor leaders and they are winning, such as Shawn Fain with United Auto Workers, Sara Nelson with the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, and Sean O’Brien with Teamster...

The United Auto Workers union is kicking serious ass. All unions should look at what is working for them and what has not. If they are winning for their people, labor needs to do big things that will change the lives of their members for the long term, such as child care and a labor school, where members and families can learn how to make their lives better, and how to run strikes, work stoppages, electing labor people to local, state and federal government offices. We are in a fight for our existence and all union members must embrace Sun Tzu's, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." We need a trained Army. This way we can get the court system back to where they support the laws fairly when lawsuits involve labor and our families instead of the ...

This is the year of labor. We have had some very good wins, but now the work begins for the big fight in 2028 when a lot of the contracts expire at midnight on May Day, May 30. On this day we, labor people, could pull off a nationwide strike to get a four-day work week with full pay, healthcare with no out of pocket costs, better pensions and a universal basic income for those who fall through the cracks. This can be paid for by the mega millionaires and billionaires. These money hoarders need to pony up and pay their fair share instead of getting on their ponies and riding off to one of their tax havens. To counter the rich, we must elect labor-friendly people from the bottom up who will tax the greedy, instead of taking their “political contributions.” Volkswagen recently had a union vote. The final tally was 2,628 in favor of a union, 985 against. What the hell is wrong with these 985 workers? This is where organizers could begin their unionizing by educating workers on labor histor...

The source of all wealth is labor and if our labor leaders use our labor the right way we can make large wins, like a four-day work week with full pay and all the benefits; and a UBI for those who fall through the cracks. This is the way we rebuild the country and the democracy and the working class, which will be a good middle class. We need to look at what is most important for the 99 percent, and pay attention to what we can do. Yes, there are other important things that we need to keep fighting for, such as climate change, the U.S. Supreme Court and cases before this corporate-owned majority, such as labor rights, voting rights, and women’s right to choose. To change this we must elect a president who will appoint law abiding people to the courts. Most of these concerns are long-range goals that we must continue to work on. For now, let’s work on what we can do to educate and encourage all labor people to vote for their own and their family’s best interests, and our unions. We must...