Union Perspectives

In this election, labor needs to get it right on whom to support. Labor supported Bill Clinton, whose chief of staff was Rahm Emanuel. Clinton opened the flood gates for union jobs to be shipped out of the country with the passage of North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA, and Emanuel, who is mayor of Chicago, is still union bashing. He would be back if Hillary Clinton is elected. Look at what labor spent on President Obama’s election in hopes of getting the Employee Free Choice Act, which went nowhere. It was shoved aside for healthcare. Clinton’s NAFTA is now about to get Obama’s version in the form of Trans Pacific Partnership or TPP, which is NAFTA on steroids, labor says. Labor needs people elected who will support labor’s fight for $15, free education, sick leave, family leave, single payer healthcare, the right to form a union, climate change, Black Lives Matter, immigration reform, lifestyle and income inequality and payment for Corporate use of our Commons. In order for ...

A teachable moment occurred for a future young toiler by her grandmother as they were leaving a unionized grocery recently. A man was collecting signatures for an initiative to be placed on the upcoming ballot. He confronted the grandmother, asking her if she was registered to vote and if she would sign his petition. It was a perfect example of cognitive dissonance as the grandmother, a strong Democrat and pro-union advocate, stared at the petition before her and asked the man three times what he was collecting signatures for despite having it spelled out before her. Cognitive dissonance is when we’re confronted with conflicting information, attitudes or beliefs and the brain rebels at the new data. The man was collecting signatures to “decrease” the minimum wage. Her first response, forgetting her 8-year-old granddaughter was by her side was, “What the f*#k? Hell no, I won’t sign your petition, you ignorant a$$hole,” before grabbing the young girl’s hand to walk away. The granddaught...