Union Perspectives

The $15 minimum wage fight is gaining some ground, but when Los Angeles voted for a $15 an hour minimum wage all they did was slow down the momentum of the fight for the city wants to spread the wage hike out for five years—this is not good and will do more harm than good for the wage inequality fight. When the five years are up and workers are making $15 an hour minimum wage, inflation will negate the increase and workers will need a minimum wage of $18 to $20 an hour. The wage slaves need to demand $15 an hour NOW, not in five years, and a work week of 38 to 40 hours week paid sick leave, regular shifts so workers can plan for childcare or be able to further their education. The $15 an hour minimum wage, like Los Angeles, looks good in the newspaper headlines but the devil is in the details and the details do not look that good. The corporations are losing and what they are doing is just a tactical retreat until they can regroup and try to change public perception and by spreading ou...

April 15 is the big one! This rally will be worldwide for the fight for $15 an hour minimum wage. This fight is for not only fast food workers, but for all low-wage workers, such as adjunct professors at colleges, who are now part-time and non-tenured with no pensions, home healthcare workers, airport workers, childcare workers, Walmart-Target-Kmart-Home Depot, workers, car wash workers, auto lube workers and the list goes on. Corporations have decimated the pay of workers by demeaning the jobs as only unskilled or uneducated or student work jobs as if that had anything to do with the work being done. There will be actions on 170 college campuses, as well as cities around the U.S. and abroad. There will be around 2,000 groups, including Jobs with Justice and the Center for Popular Democracy will show their support, as well. This will be the largest mobilization America has ever seen in decades. This push is being headed and supported by the Service Employees International Union. This ...

On April 15, there will be the largest protest for the Fight for $15. The protest by fast food and retail workers will stage what organizers say will be the largest low-wage worker protest in modern history. The planned rallies, to be held nationwide (and should be worldwide) will be part of the ongoing movement of wage slaves demanding $15 a hour living wage, which should be $18 to $24 had it kept up with inflation, and the right to form a union. At a time when corporate profits are higher than ever before and productivity is at an all-time high, wage slaves are asking why their wages are stagnate, especially in the fast food and retail industries. One reason is that they have no union, and second they have not asked or forced the corporations to pay more and the corporations never will raise wages or provide benefits unless forced to do so. The April 15 tax-day strike, the Fightfor$15, will be backed by the Service Employees International Union. The movement has already won victories...

At this time some of labors best victories have occurred outside the protections of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Some labor organizations, like the National Domestic Workers Alliance or workers centers are achieving wins through activism without identifying as union at all. Farm workers have also had success by working, pressuring, and sometimes boycotting. This sounds a lot like the old IWW Wobblies, who would not engage in labor contracts, because like the Service Employees International Union’s contract which ties their hands and prevents them from doing a secondary boycotts. The NLRB, at this time, is a deterrent to labor rather than a help. If the employers have a way to quash an organizing campaign they do not care if they break the NLRB laws because the win versus the imposed fine is no deterrent to the corporations. The NLRB laws need to be rewritten or done away with. Major unions have abandoned government-run elections in favor of comprehensive attack that l...