Union Perspectives

"We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better." Thurgood Marshall. What will happen if trump steals the 2020 election? What will you do if trump claims victory again? Will you move to to another country? Most cannot do this. They maybe too old, don’t have enough money, are ill or do not want to move or can’t leave their extended families. Then the people who still have jobs and need to work cannot leave. So packing up and leaving just won’t work for most of us and a lot of us just don’t like the idea of running away from a tyrant and would rather stay and fight for their jobs, family, way of life, and their country. So hoping for the best on election day is good, but we need to be ready for the election not turning out the way we desperately need it to. Also, what if trump refuses to leave? What we should be doing is to start building our forces, planning a course of action to get his lard ass out of the White House, bu...

This could be the year of the Have Nots, Have Littles and even the Used to Haves. The year 2015 will have some good things moving for them, such as in many places the $15 to $18 an hour minimum wage has or is being adopted and other wages hikes are being slow walked. Gas prices have put a little extra money in the pockets of U.S. wage slaves. Finally there is talk of free junior college education for everyone, even old people! There is healthcare for more people than ever before. There is a pushback against law enforcement brutality against blacks, poor and anyone recording them. And it looks like Anonymous has our backs. It also looks like workers the world over are talking to each other and supporting each other, like Hong Kong, Ukraine, France, UK, Turkey, Greece, Africa, Canada, Mexico and South America; but, we need to get ready for spring and the fight ahead. The wealthy are going to fight back with everything they have and they are experts in convincing the average person to...

The old International Workers of the World would be proud of the way wage slaves today are standing up for their rights in countries, such as Bangladesh, most of Europe, Israel, Palestine, and now South American countries, such as Ecuador, Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina and Chile, who are now fighting for the rights of day laborers, back pay, who work on the ports. They are being supported by the Longshoremen’s union. This is world solidarity among the wage slaves. The way it is supposed to be, and we should not forget the Ukrainians’ fight for the right to protest. Yes, the tide is turning slowly in favor of the wage slaves, but we must remember what Karl Marx and Frederick Engles said in 1848: That now and then the workers are victorious, but only for a time. The real fruit of their battles lies not in the immediate result, but in the ever expanding union of the workers. The fight must keep moving forward to even up the disparity of a few with so much and so m...

Are we, wage slaves, and retired former wage slaves ready for a general strike? If we are ready I think top of the list on the strike banner should be a minimum wage hike to at least $15 an hour then leave Social Security alone and next strong labor laws to protect wages and the right to have a union. Also to do away with the right to work state laws, which if you belong to a union and receive benefits then you should pay your share—no free rides. You know the GOP way: nothing free. If we get the minimum wage raised we will have a lot of people thankful and see just what the power of union people can do. If the lower wage workers have $5 per hour more to spend it will be better for every worker and they can purchase better transportation to get to work and will spend more; and, in turn, help the consumer economy, which is what we have. The more we buy the more someone has to make or supply, and around it goes; but with no spending power it just doesn’t work. The corporations go to und...

It is time for retired workers to park their motor homes and dock their boats and hit the streets in support of other union workers and the 99%. Besides the support, it will be good physical exercise and give the participant a good feeling about their contributions to the cause. It might even be fun for the retirees, but for sure it would be pay back for us retirees who have healthcare and a good pension. I hope we have all been good union people, but I am pretty sure some of us have sinned and shopped at WalMart and not at our union stores! Most of us have not spent time in jail or been beaten up for being a union member trying to protect our jobs like our forefathers; but now our union brothers and sisters are getting framed on charges, such as the Longshore union in Longview, Wash., and the American Crystal sugar workers, who are locked out and cannot get unemployment. The sugar workers are trying to survive on $100 a week from the unions and their savings. They need food. And s...

American Legislative Exchange Council is pushing the union busting resolutions to make states “right to work” states. Dr. Martin Luther King had said was one of the greatest frauds ever perpetuated on workers. What ‘right to work’ would do is let workers, who are in a union pay dues or opt not to pay. If they opt out they still get the benefits from the union as the dues-paying workers. Some pay, while others get a free ride. I always thought Republicans and the Tea Party members were against free rides – something for nothing. What the ‘right to work’ does is weaken the unions by sharing the benefits in an open shop whereas in a closed shop everyone pays their fair share. Weakening the unions is what ‘right to work’ and ‘pay check protection’ is all about and ALEC and the GOP won’t give up until they succeed in destroying all the protections in place for workers. This is what this is all about. There are currently 23 states with ‘right to work’ legislation; and Arizona is currently...

Labor has few places where we can call attention to the needs of the workers. One of the places that unions do have control is the Longshoremen; they control the docks, the shipping out and the goods coming in from China or wherever. This is a very important high ground for labor for when being attacked, you want the high ground (Art of War). Is this why there is now dissension on the docks of Longview, WA. As I understand it, a new company took over the dock and brought in another so-called union to do the work. The Longshoremen’s union is fighting back very hard, in the tradition of the Wobblies, to keep their work. What and why did this happen? Is this a divide and conquer, antiunion, GOP-corporation-driven strategy? We do not need this at this time. If it is just union driven, our union leaders need to step in and resolve this conflict. If it is antiunion driven then labor needs to cut them off at their knees. The Wobblies would not have stood by and allowed this to happen. Do ...