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...

What do the jobs look like today compared to the past? One is very few jobs today will last until retirement. Another is jobs today will probably be lost to automation of some type. All workers should have skills in a profession and a trade of some sort. Most jobs today do not pay enough for one person to support a family, which was not true in 1950s—1980s. It was in the 1980s—the Nixon and Reagan years when unions came under attacked by the anti-union GOP and amped up in the 1990s when the corporate Democrats helped the GOP—in the Clinton years. The work available today is becoming more gig jobs or part-time jobs than full-time work. It’s only part-time jobs coming out of labor centers like the temp agencies, Labor Ready, Adecco or Professional Staffing Solutions. The temp agencies convince company owners that they will save money them by doing all the paperwork connected to employees, and, in return, the company pays the hired workers and the temp agency. If a hired workers gets $1...

The vilification of the union name and labor movements started around World War I, when the U.S. government broke the back of the International Workers of the World (IWW). Some of IWW members were against the war despite that fact that many IWW members served honorably in military. The next onslaught against labor was brought on by the actions of Jimmy Hoffa for abuse of the Teamsters’ union members pensions. The McClellan Committee, led by Attorney General Robert Kennedy. When the McClellan investigation was over, Senator Barry Goldwater went after the Reuther brothers, mostly Walter, who was the United Auto Workers president. The AFL then supported the Vietnam War and fought in the streets against fellow union members, who were mostly Democrats protesting the U.S. invasion of Vietnam. This did not earn the AFL any points with the GOP; in fact, they viewed the AFL members as suckers. Walter Reuther was sickened by the news coverage of union workers beating up protesters. He said it ...