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 against your union ambitions.
Another area to be cognizant of is workers who have been brained washed into thinking they don’t need or want a union. Their ignorance is going to have to be reprogrammed to understand how much they are being denied and how much they deserved what a union can help them get. Workers deserve more than what they're settling for.
Don’t give up on your fight for a union, you, your family and coworkers deserve a better life. Fight for a good living wage, you shouldn’t have to do without while many bosses are buying yachts and you can’t afford a canoe.
Check with the Service Employees International if you need help or advice.
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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