Union Perspectives

We've been through this shit before. On January 10, 1776, Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense, The Rights of Man, a 47-page pamphlet outlining the rights of Americans deserved emancipation from Great Britain. “We, the people, can change the world,” he wrote. Just as the new Americans beat the British Monarchy in 1776, we, today, can and will beat back oligarchies of the world in 2026. This will be done with union people power the world over. It will be the most powerful army of the world, We, union people, will demand a new world for the people, not just for the oligarchies and their families. We will demand healthcare, elder care, child care, free schools for all levels of education, voting rights, right to unionize, good wages, safe working conditions, pensions adequate enough to live on, climate change mitigations, and LGBTQ rights. It will be a government for the people by the people, not the corporations and oligarchies pulling the strings of those who make the decisions. We can e...

A look at union labor and the advent of AI, the good and bad of it on working people. The bad is more people moving to hands on labor from white color, higher educated people who have lost their jobs to AI. So, hands on high school workers will be competing with people with bachelors and masters degree for jobs that will end up being a union problem. But the good news is that labor unions will have highly educated workers who will turn to labor activism and will view the economic inequality and activism is the best way to fight it. But unions must remember that the holy grail of corporations is that AI will replace all workers and this is why unions should be watching for it will happen with a thousand small cuts so unions must make the large corporations pay for the jobs that are taken by AI. The money could go into a unemployment or UBI to keep the U.S. people off the streets. If we don’t have a safety nether the consequences of AI. We will see the people in the streets with pitchf...

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...

Have FBI agitators infiltrated our labor unions like the FBI did during black rights movement, feminist movement, and anti-Vietnam protests to sow the seeds of division between the factions and Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammed—to control and disrupt our labor movements from the inside? We don’t know at this time, and is anyone in the media or government looking into this? The war on labor and the effort to drag us back to serf wages is coming from within the White House with some labor union and MAGA members. Corporations are padding their accounts and of one greedy man instead of its workers. The war on labor is and will be fought between corporation titans and labor, and at this time the corporations will use the White House, courts and the FBI and even those at Homeland Security and I.C.E. against us. Labor must educate our members on how counter and what tactics are being used by the corporations and government against labor and the average person in general. How many people have lost...

Unions best weapon is the right to go to the streets. It is great to see our unions out in the streets with the public protesting ICE and the abuses they are using against innocent people and the things ICE are doing, like killing people. We must keep supporting these protests around the country. If we back down and lose the right to protest we, the unions, will lose the biggest weapon we have—our right to go to the street when we are wronged by the corporations or the government. So we can never lose this weapon of union labor and the people. Union members know that Trump and his corporate buddies do not like or want unions so why in the hell would any union member support or vote for any person who runs as a Republican Trump supporter--Trump and the GOP hate unions? If this is what you support then just go nonunion and lose all the benefits unions have fought for and become one of the poorly educated that Trump “loves,” though he’s incapable of any emotion aside from greed. Unions do...

In 2026 unions worldwide must educate and expand their memberships or face certain death. We need to educate our workers to understand that the republican party does not care about, does not deserve their support or votes and only cares about the billionaires. The GOP is their enemy and not their friends. The GOP and billionaires are the workers’ enemy. They want the workers’ sweat and blood for as cheap as they can get it. These greedy people and their insatiable appetite for more leaving us with much less will not stop until we’re forced to work for scraps and fighting each other for the pittance. They will not invite you to golf with them or go hunting or to dinner with them. In fact, they are always in pursuit of ways to destroy our unions and the way of life we’ve obtain by being union. One way they are doing this is to use the court system, especially the lop-sided Supreme Court, to take away our union rights and to get more states to vote for The Right to Work, which leaves work...

It’s time for all union members to get rid of the union members and leaders who support the GOP and its Right to Work agenda. Trump, billionaires, the GOP, and the corporate people all hate unions and any union member who votes for these GOP candidates are just scabs who are not only riding on the backs of good hard working union people but also they are dragging their feet to keep the unions from moving forward. If these so called union people cannot see their way to vote and support people who fight and support unions then they should not vote or just get the hell out of our union labor because you are killing us by your foot dragging interference. All of our union people need to understand this is an ‘us against them’ situation and Trump and his anti union corporations are not your friend and if a union person thinks they are you are dumber than a post. Trump and the corporations do not care at all about you or your family. Once they have your vote you’re of no use to them. Trump’s ...

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 ...

Looks like there is hope for the union workers and our country for the union people who believed Trump’s lies, who now know that he was just full of bullshitting all of you. He said the he would bring more work to this country, but took away money from job projects, and the ones that were too late to stop, Trump put his name on it and is taking credit for the work done. Trump is not a union supporter and the people who work for him do not support unions either because they all get their money from big corporations, who are notoriously anti-union. The entire GOP is bought and paid for by large corporations, such as Home Depot, Walmart, Chamber of Commerce and many other nonunion selfish companies. We all have a chance to change things and take it all back if we dare by voting blue in the mid-term elections. If we vote for things that are what we really need like healthcare, good pensions, living wages, voting rights, more affordable housing, and rent control. In other words, let’s get a...

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...

Robots—Pensions—Organizing Labors must organize millions more union members. At this point labor is doing nothing, but running out the clock on the very existence of our power, which is the people. The combined union assets is at $35 billion, but the total assets by collectively bargained pension pensions is trillions of dollars, according to labor writer Hamilton Nolar. We also must rethink how we invest our pension money and who is using it for union pensions. We are discovering union pensions have been and are financing labor’s own destruction when used by union/labor busting corporations. Maybe our union pensions should be used like the Southern California Service Employees International Union Local 721, which is pushing for the establishment of a Los Angeles Public Bank, which provide lower cost for affordable housing and more work. What and how is labor to deal with robots? Robots are displacing workers and their wages? One way to counter this would be to tax robots just like a h...

Is it time for a national strike plan? Trump is destroying the union rights of thousands of workers by stripping union rights from six federal agencies, like the National Weather Service, NASA, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security Environmental Protection Agency by ending collective bargaining and taking over the office spaces used by unions. Trump has said to just ignore contracts for employees in specific unions. So federal workers who lost rights can no longer fight agencies over contract violations, such as safety and meal allowances. Workers are being fired without cause. Government workers are the core of labor’s power base and there has been no push back. The next thing they’ll go after is prevailing wage laws, which will hurt the non-workers for they will no longer receive the prevailing, which is the same as union wages, but the union workers will still get their union wages and benefits. However, will they fa...

On June 27, 1905, Father Hegarty’s preamble to the International Workers of the World constitution opens with this sentence: “The Working class and the employing class have nothing in common.”
So why are the old Democrats so worried about old guard Democrats so worried about taxing the billionaires? There is always another billionaire to replace one if should one move on from buying votes. The average fortune of the billionaire class is $5.3 billions an increase from $200 million in 2024. Social Justice is not possible without leveling the colossal accumulation of wealth and power that makes a mockery of the idea that we live in a democracy. The workers and unions must declare a class war and fight for what we want and need: good union jobs, four-day work weeks, good pensions, vacation time, healthcare for all with no out of pocket costs, elder care, free education up to an associates degree. The corporations we work for are the ones who benefit the most because they get better and hea...

The AFL/CIO needs to start kicking some union ass. All unions must start having meetings and having union-oriented speakers and focus their meetings on their union history and struggles to get started and how to keep our unions. It's up to us. Unions did not just happen. There was blood spilled in the streets and many spent time in jail, and some even died for the union cause. Men, women and children were burned alive in tents, like at Ludlow, Colorado. Our union members’ families need to know what is going to happen with the GOP in charge they are out to destroy our unions. There is no one coming to our rescue. Forbes identified 902 billionaires on its 2025 list, but in 2024 the World Population Review reports there are 813. At what point does a person realize they have more money than they need or will spend in their life times. They want low wages, no benefits, no healthcare, not even Social Security. They want slave labor so they can become trillionaires. So at every meeting t...

The volunteers/first responders, why do we need to keep them? Lots of union members are volunteer firefighters/first responders. One reason why is that when the State, counties, and cities go broke, the volunteers will still be responding because they don’t do this work as their primary job. There is a commonality between volunteer firefighters and union, both under attack. For them it’s about community and what they can do to make things safer and better for their families, neighbors, citizens, and visitors within that area. It’s about being selfless in a time when being greedy is becoming more commonplace in this country. But the state and federal governments are making this volunteerism harder with the regulations and laws that make no exemptions for the volunteer first responders. These same laws for full-time first responders are the same for volunteers, and it is not done for safety, but to weed out the volunteer first responders. The way it is done is to put more costs and requ...

The under world London, England’s Jack London in 1903 reveals that homelessness was attributed to foreign immigration, especially the migrants of Poland and Russian Jews, who were accused of taking the jobs of domestic workers by accepting lower wages, which lead to a sweatshop system. In the “People of the Abyss”, which recounts the struggles of London in 1903, the unhoused population was made to keep moving by walking all night if they stopped or stood still, the cops would make them move on. At daybreak, the parks would open and the people were allowed to sleep on the benches or grass. Free breakfast were served at the Salvation Army facility. This was called the “peg,” which meant the place where they could obtained a free meal. The people, who partook in the meals, referred to the Salvation Army as “soul snatchers,” because the “free food” came at a cost in that they had to listen to the Salvation Army’s sermons. As was then is now, as cheap wages are incorrectly blamed on immigr...

The trade unions are being franchised. HVAC and plumbing just to start with. How long before the other trades are franchised? And before long how many union shops will join these franchise companies? When the unions go so do all the benefits. So how can non-franchise companies compete with a nation-wide company on price of equipment, advertising and hiring/firing? With that kind of power, franchisers will take over the market. Then what happens? Workers are back to slave wages, benefits and healthcare? At this time I have not heard of any pushback or anything to counter this franchise system. The franchise system has a good message to workers and small shop owners so I hope our trade unions wake up to what is breathing down their necks and recognize what is about to happen to our union shops and union members. I have said for years that our unions should help our members who want to start their own union shops or businesses. Where the owners are union card members. This latest attack ...

This blog was started in 2014 to support unions and workers. We were one of the first to championed a $15 minimum wage, universal basic income, a four-day work week, health care with no out of pocket costs, free education to at least a bachelor’s degree, climate change, and voter rights plus other changes that need to be made. This blog, with 673 posts, has reached more than 280,713 readers, which is about 15,000 a month from 137 different countries at last check. I have forty years as a union sheet metal worker for Local 104, now retired, and forty-four years as a first responder/volunteer firefighter. At this time, the first responders with volunteer fire departments, across the country and around the world need help. I think our unions could be of help to these selfless volunteers by touching bases with the first responders and asking what they can do to help out, like maybe by offering to sponsor a community free CPR class or basic first aid class for all and re-certify the volunt...

Sheet Metal unions and all union labor, they have come for us. Congress is targeting our jobs and healthcare. Congress is “negotiating” a national tax package that could devastate working families and union retirees within Sheet Metal Local 104. The GOP is backing a reconciliation package that will make massive cuts to the very programs that support our work, our families and our health; like Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. Unions and their members cannot sit this one out. All must pick a side for this is only the start because the wannabe “king” does not like unions and will not be happy until unions are gone and all leaders are in jail or worse—dead. We workers and retirees still have a chance if we act now. We have to stand together, but time is running out. Retirees would be very helpful if they participated in the protests and contacting our elected officials. The more pressure we put on the Trump and his administration could influence their decisions. Companies meeting wi...

As of April 1, there are 288 new billionaires added to the list for a total of 3,028 billionaires with a total net worth of $16.1 trillion. This is what is against us. They want slaves and slave wages here like they pay in other countries. Trump’s Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick wants the slave labor corporations use in other countries to be brought back and have Americans do the work. “The army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little, little screws to make iPhones, that kind of thing is going to come to America.” It is save to assume if this happened, it will not be at union wages or a livable wage. Unions memers have to be prepared. Our old ways of doing things will no longer work and the oligarchs know this. All union members must start saving money and not go into debt. It’s time to question the difference between a “need” from a “want” before making purchases of any kind. It’s imperative that we become self-sufficient as possible, even to the point of gr...