Union Perspectives

Union members need to answer just one question. Who do they think is looking out for them and their families? This the same question non-union workers should be asking themselves. Even retired workers and those workers who can’t work should be asking themselves. Now, labor knows the GOP does not want unions, and their billionaire supporters want all unions gone because unions are the only army large enough to slow down the billionaire from taking over this country. Union and non-union workers members now must pick which side they are on and if it is unions then they need to do all they can, like vote for who supports them. And then work with all unions to win in the 2024 election. If we lose this election, we will lose the life we have now for unions will be one of the first protections to go, followed by voting rights. We will not be able to go to the streets to protest against laws that abridge our rights. The next six months will be the life or death of the working people and union...

Can Elon Musk, worth $180 billion, Jeff Bezos, worth $114 billion, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s stop labor? At this time there is a resurgence in the labor movement in the U.S. and Musk and Bezos, with support from Starbucks and Trader Joe’s. Together they are trying to get a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that would eliminate the National Labor Relations Board, which was established in 1935, because they say it it is unconstitutional as it mixes audial and executive functions. They are counting on Justice Samuel Alito, an anti-union zealot who makes no secret of his determination to over turn protections for workers and then unions, will fight on their behalf. This would be the second time that the rich people tried to eliminate the NLRB in 1937, but in those days, the Supreme Court followed the law, not like today. If they succeed they would or could kill the labor movement in the U.S. This is why the Democrats must win the 2024 election for the president, the House and the Senat...

Ignorance is the corporations’ biggest tool against the workers and uninformed. Employment at 4 percent to zero is good for the workers because workers can ask for more wages and benefits, and unions can ask for more and not worry about no one being able to find work if they lose their jobs. Unemployment at 5 percent to 10 percent is good for the corporations for the corporations would have a reserve army of labor force who are desperate enough to agree to whatever work at whatever wage they can receive. Unemployment plays a critical role in the capitalist system, preventing wage growth from threatening the profitability of the corporations. A tight labor market opens the best way for organizing unions, like Starbucks and fast food, and Amazon as well. According to former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, “Corporations tell us they have ‘no choice’ but to raise prices. Meanwhile: Corporate profit margins soared to their highest levels since 1950. Stock buybacks are expected to reac...

California is first in labor again. Unions are back and have been driven by the low wage fast food worker. They fought hard for $15 an hour and it looks like, with the new California fast food law. They could be looking at $22 an hour, and a chance to unionize the enter fast food industry. Next step would be healthcare, pensions and vacation. If this happens California, the next states are Florida, Texas, New York and Idaho. In California, there are a half million fast food workers. This law targets bonafide abuses, but also furthers unions’ goals of collective bargaining with the entire industry instead of trying to organize fast food restaurants one at a time. Workers are now thinking about what is best for their families and are willing to fight for them and joining or forming a union is the best way, and the more that do the more will join for all like to be on the side of the winning team. But California unions now need to go out into the country. We have the large cities, but hav...

The sheet metal unions are losing the war against nonunion sheet metal shops: Local 36 lost five shops; Local 170 lost two; and Local 18 lost three. We should be adding union shops and members not losing them. Are sheet metal unions giving up on organizing union shops and acquiring new members? I live in northern California, specifically Shasta County, north of Marysville, in the jurisdiction of Local 104. There are now no union shops north of Marysville. The nonunion shops number about fifty to sixty shops and that is a lot of union work lost. We, in Shasta-Trinity counties, just passed a $138 million school and union college prevailing wage jobs and no union workers received any of the $138 million in jobs. I have never seen any union reps on the jobs, checking prevailing wages or talking to the nonunion workers about unionizing. It appears like sheet metal unions have just given up the entire northern section of California, where the nonunion shops will just get stronger and keep e...

Unions are being organized at Starbucks, Amazon, Apple and elsewhere. Applications for union elections this year are on pace to approach the highest level in a decade. The people who are organizing are college students, who are taking jobs with the intention of organizing workers. Years ago, unions used college students to help with the groundwork in unionizing companies, and these individuals were referred to as “salts,” and their use as “salting.” This practice was started in the 1860s when the Rochester Trades used “salts” to organize construction jobs. The “salts” educated the less-informed and scared employees of how their work and bodies are being exploited to make the owners wealthy. Once a targeted company has been identified, a college student obtains employment with the company with the full intent of organizing it for a union. According to the National Labor Relation Board, it is illegal to fire a “salt” or refuse to hire a person who makes it know their intentions. Unions...

If passed, Assembly Bill 257 would give the 725,000 franchise fast food employees real bargaining power. The Service Employees International Union is pushing this bill, which would give unions a foothold into the low wage, no benefits industry where unionization has long been elusive. California has been a proving ground for the unions’ efforts to advocate for low wage, no benefit workers. Los Angeles adopted a $15 an hour minimum wage in 2015, and the state followed suit in 2016. There has been some success as these workers wake up to the fact that they hold the true power in their jobs, without them, the franchise holders have nothing. At Starbucks, the employees are voting on unionizing at more and more stores across the country. The difference is, Starbucks is owned by one corporation that does not have franchises. The Assembly Bill covers franchised workers and gives these employees a direct voice with their employers. does have to answer to the National Labor Relations Board....

The only power the working class has is the power to produce wealth—for someone else. The unions’ purpose is to organize the workers to control the use of their labor so that they will be able to stop the production of wealth except upon terms dictated by the workers themselves. This can be done by just putting their hands in their pockets until their terms are met. It looks like the workers are now seeing that they can have unions and even workers at the big corporations, who pay low wages like Starbucks and Amazon. And the more wins there are the more will come for it’s not uncommon for people to want to be on the winning side. So, who will be next? Will it be Walmart, McDonald’s, or Tesla? There will never be a better time for workers in our life time to make gains for workers. The stars have aligned in the workers favor and we can credit the pandemic, which showed the weaknesses that company owners actually have; and in all adversity there can be opportunities to take advantage of,...

The dream of Eugene Debs and the rest of the old union warriors fighting for unions are back. The working people have awoken to the Have Nots and Have Littles and are willing to take on the big boys and win by just staying together and using the existing labor laws to their benefit, knowing the old union organizers bleed in their fight to achieve these protections. Six Starbucks stores in New York signed cards to unionize in the last two days and employees at the Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York put the first crack in giant’s shield by becoming the first warehouse to unionize. The working people, which some call the working poor, have seen that they can win and who does not want to be on the winning team? All unions need to be supporting each other for a win for one union is a win for all unions. This opportunity results in a life time of changes for the Have Nots and Have Littles. It did for me. Our union leaders at the AFL/CIO should not lose this momentum that we have at...

This is the best time in the last fifty years for the union people to get better contracts and for the nonunion workers to get their first union contracts. The stars have alined in the workers’ favor with unemployment at its lowest and lots of jobs not being filled. There are lots of jobs not being filled. There are lots of low-end jobs out there ready to be filled so now is the time for the $15 to $24 hour wage to be established. If employees don’t receive this then they should strike like the food workers—essential workers—at Ralph’s, Albertsons, Vons, and Pavilions. The owners offered employees a 60 cent per hour increase. The workers want $5 per hour. This walk out would be grocery clerks, meat cutters, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. They are represented by seven locals of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union with 47,000 workers in all. Albertsons owns Safeway, which became unionized beginning in 1935. Despite Albertsons making better-than-expected qua...

When Starbucks and Amazon go union they should have no crafts, the union contract should be one union for all Starbucks shops. But, if there are crafts, their contracts should end on the same date or there will be no power for them to weld and there will be no power for sympathy strikes. A crucial elements since Starbucks and Amazon have so many stores or warehouses throughout the United States, it is imperative that the different entities stay in contact with each other. The employees from both these businesses work hard, and they deserve the security of a union. The other way is to not have contracts, just sign a truce for a period of time. This could remedy some of mistakes in past years, such as the meat packing plants, which had 56 different craft union contracts. So, when the craft contracts expired at different times leaving the different crafts with no power and no help from the other unions within the same business. The same thing happened to the street car workers. First they...

What do Apple, Microsoft, Starbucks, Fiat and many other corporations have in common? They all know how to dodge paying their taxes or at most pay very little taxes. One way they do this is to have their headquarters in very low tax nations, such as Ireland. This is about to change. The European Union’s (EU) 28 states agreed in October to share details of tax deals they reached with big companies to make sure they are fair to other countries. The EU has already ordered Starbucks and Fiat to pay millions in back taxes. Italy is making Apple pay $350 million in back taxes. The other way to avoid paying taxes is by using Bermuda as a tax haven. Microsoft stores billions in an entity named R.I. Holdings. It is a law firm in Hamilton, Bermuda, a UK territory that charges no corporate taxes. Microsoft has places like this to hide its money so it does not have to pay taxes around the world. This is just some of the ways large corporations and their stock holders and chief executive officers (...