International Brotherhood of Teamsters are following the United Auto Workers in making history with the groundbreaking joint employer decision against Amazon.
Now, the Longshoremen have gotten a groundbreaking contract, as well.
This is very telling on what labor can do if they all pull together. These are some of the best deals in the last 30 years. However, all can be lost in the next election if our members vote for the wrong candidate. It is not hyperbole, but history, to say Republicans hate unions.
This election, all must set aside some of the “piss me off” things and vote for the people who will stand up for unions and the working people, union or nonunion.
The richest 1 percent have half of the worlds wealth while the rest of us only have 0.75 percent. Since 2020, this 1 percent have taken 63 percent of all the wealth.
In the U.S., 800 billionaires have more than half of the nation’s wealth while the bottom half of our families have 2.5 percent. Do you think these rich people care about your hourly wage or working conditions? They will fight to keep what they have, even go so far as to steal the bread from your hand while you’re trying to eat it.
The Republicans are trying to split our unions. We cannot let this happen. It is an old trick the Republicans used when the coal miners tried to unionize, but the workers were wise to the tricks and did not fall for them and voted to unionized.
What is at stake for workers now: healthcare, pensions, fair wages, right to unionize, and the right to strike without going to jail.
Then there are the things we would like to have, such as a four-day work week with the same wages, healthcare for all with no out of pocket expenses, childcare, and housing for all.
We also must gain control of the U.S. Supreme Court as the Republicans have taken a case to the USSC challenging the National Labor Relations Board that is designed to protect workers. If we gain back control, we could conceivably get rid of Citizens United, reinstate Roe v Wade, and reverse the Loper Bright decision that ended the Chevron deference doctrine, among other corporate-favored decisions the Republican packed Supreme Court has made.
If the GOP wins, we will have people running our government like Elon Musk and other unhinged billionaires running our government for their personal benefit.
Vote blue, union people, this may be our last chance.
The survival of American democracy requires the existence of a flourishing union work force. In a survey, 68 percent of Americans approve of labor unions. So, as an old sheet metal organizer, I say we need to go all out in organizing while the soldering iron is hot, to use a sheet metal workers tool. We should organize all workers no matter where or what kind of work they do. All workers have the right to belong to a union and all should support each other. If you, in your work place, do not know how to form a union, then do what Napoleon’s military adopted adage, ‘Jump into the battle and then figure it out.’ One of the best ways to organize is worker to worker and plan it out over a meal or coffee and talk to other union workers to see what would work best for you and also what unions are winning at this time. Just go for it. When things are in disarray, like the shit show in Washington, D.C., they might not even know what you are doing until it is too late for them to push back aga...
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