Union Perspectives

Is today’s I.C.E. Bone Spur Trump’s equivalent to Hitler’s Brownshirts, which was turned into Hitler’s private army of street thugs? Is I.C.E. the old U.S.’ Silvershirts, who can now threaten and intimidate people at will by splitting up families, even taking children from babies to teens from their parents. They have begun to deport people who have been here, living lawful, peaceful lives some for up to thirty years, some who served honorably in the military and others who are legal immigrants and were awaiting citizenship. Yet Trump’s in-laws quest for citizenship was fast tracked while Trump is denying citizenship to others. These I.C.E. people have a vast statutory power, a chilling new directive from the top inside America’s unfolding immigration tragedy. I.C.E. is the fastest growing bureaucracy than any agency in peacetime. The I.C.E. enforcers are Trump’s private army and they love him because these people are among the less educated, have profound inferiority complexes, an...

Just watch what is happening in France to understand what is going to happen in the U.S. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, sold himself as a radical democrat for the people, but he is governing like a monarchy. He has culled the ranks of local authorities, slashed local budgets, and replaced the housing tax that funds local government with a promise of a block grant. French history teaches that when a monarch oppresses the people, the people revolt. France’s mayors gathered for a congress in Paris last week. They bristled at being labeled spendthrifts and set themselves in opposition to Macron. They will find allies in workers’ unions and the media, since Macron hasn’t held press conference since his inauguration. This is just some of the things that are happening in the U.S. Our people were promised things by our new occupant of the White House is now acting like a monarch. A lot of the people who voted for him are starting to see just what they really voted for and it was not jo...

The workers are losing while our labor leaders sleep or hide out, hoping they can hold onto their position until they retire. Our labor leaders appeared to have given up the rural areas and pulled their efforts into the big cities. This is like having a fort with a moat around it and think they are safe. We all know forts can be conquered in the long run. It’s as if labor leaders learned nothing from the Clinton era. We, at this time, are losing with the Right to Work laws being passed in 27 states, and now there is legislation in Congress for a national Right to Work law. Couple this with legislation in Congress to ban the Davis-Bacon Act on prevailing wage law, and the attacks on union pensions. These things will drive the nail into the heart of unions. This is happening in other countries, like the UK and France, who are electing leaders, such as Marine Le Pen, a far right leader. We, here, in the U.S., cannot just depend on the Bernie Sanders-types. We need new, strong unions wi...

Can workers today make more than their parents? At this time it is 50/50, but people born in 1940, the chance of children making more than their parents was at 92 percent—why? One reason for this is economic growth has slowed from 4 to 5 percent in the past decades to just 2 to 3 percent today; and almost all of the benefits of the 2 to 3 percent growth goes to the top with people in the lower income bracket are stuck with stagnant wages. The Americans at the bottom 50 percent are making an average of just $16,000 a year while the top 1 percent makes $1.3 million, and send their children to elite schools so the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Part of the attack on the 1.7 million poor workers are employed by temporary agencies. Of these 1.7 million workers, 900,000 are on zero hour contracts. This problem is worldwide. Workers in the UK are facing the same problem, some 20 percent of the workers do not know if they will get a full week’s work. The people who are and have be...

Why do the American people let our policies be determined by think tanks, instead of the people who we elect and pay to make our policies? Just who are the people in the think tanks and who do they represent? Most are conservative who represent the largest defense companies and are now pushing our nuclear weapons and U.S. security policies of strategy. This was being pushed by Michaela Dodge, who works for the Heritage Foundation think tank, but just who in the hell is she? Who is she to be deciding that the U.S. needs more nuclear weapons and to modernize the nukes that we have, and yet we and our elected officials look at the ideology of the think tanks as gospel. Most of the time the think tank participants are just carrying the water for the large corporations that fund the think tanks, which is in the multimillions of dollars. So, do you think we get unbiased and information in which to support or not support their findings? Think tanks should be looked at as no more than a ...

The boiling pot of discontent, fear and confusion is slashing over the lid fueled by the election, Black Lives Matter, Standing Rock protests, wage inequality, and a lot of these things are the residue of Occupy Wall Street, which did not solve much, but did start the pot boiling. Most of these concerns are not just felt here in the U.S., but are concerns for the world over. Then there is the wars, which are never ending and propagate the immigrant and refugee onslaught of the world causing more discontent wherever they go. Most of this is the result of greed by the world’s 1 percent, also known as the 1/10th percent, which is destroying the democracies of the world. So, what happens when the pot boils over? Does it extinguish the fire? Or will the world’s oligarchies try to slam a lid on the pot, and if they try the pot will blow up. We already are seeing terrorists’ activities the world over. Just how long will it be until terrorism is here in the U.S. as an everyday event? The s...

When the 2016 election is over, what type of government will we have here in the U.S.? Will our so-called democracy be turned into an anarchy or are we already an aristocracy that has turned into an oligarchy? If so, what should be done and by whom? History has shown that there are six types of government of which there are three considered good ones and three considered bad ones. The good ones are principality, aristocracy and the democracy. Individually, none of these will last as the principality can easily become tyranny, an aristocracy can become an oligarchy, and a democracy can turn into an anarchy. There is no remedy capable of preventing one of the good governments from slipping into its contrary because of the similarity that exists in this case between the virtue and the vice--and human nature of some individuals. Today, the U.S. stands at a crossroad. Will we fail like other governments before us or will we be able to rise above the fray--or is it too late? As more and ...

Why are we in the U.S. buying all these guns? Why are we training with these guns; and who are we afraid of? Gun sales are and have been big bucks, but now firearms’ training is now earning large sums. One of the largest private-sector institution of its kind is in Nevada and has scenarios encouraging others to be on guard against them—who is them? Good question. This institution will have more than 35,000 people in any given year. There are 15 states that require a permit or license to own or purchase a handgun. Six of the 15 states require mandatory training, but the other nine states do not. As of July 2016, 14.5 million Americans have a license to carry a concealed weapon, but 11 states do not require a license. In 2016, institutions were training 125,000 gun owners. Owners are trained on pistol, rifle, shotguns and long-range rifles, and Uzis training in some cases far exceed law enforcement and military standards. In most training institutions, you must be 11 years old, and...

How can a few oligarchies control the masses here in the U.S.? What they do is use the old playbook of the antiunion coal companies in which they would hire different ethnic and racial groups who cannot communicate with the other groups, and they had different religions whereupon a lack of trust was fostered among them. Now, in a larger way, the oligarchies are using states with different laws within each of them to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, which the laws in many states allow businesses to stand on the necks of the poor, who have no power to change the laws punishing them disproportionately. The oligarchies now have their own kingdoms in some states and they can get local governments to privatize all the government services to the detriment of their citizens. Look at Kansas, it not only has privatized a lot of their government services, but they enacted or adopted strict religious ideology in meting out “punishments” toward the poor that benefits the privatized age...

Why do the workers of the world suffer such a high wage inequality? One reason is that about a trillion dollars a year that used to go to wages now goes to profit. The economy is split into the real economy and the parasite economy, according to billionaire entrepreneur Nick Hanauer. The workers who live and work in the real economy solve problems, build things that earn good wages and provide benefits, such as pensions and healthcare. These jobs provide taxes to support the federal government, local and state. The difference between these two economies is very real. The real economy pays the wage earner, which, in turn, drives the consumer demand and the parasite economy erodes. The real economy generates about $5 trillion a year in local, state and federal tax revenues; while the parasite economy is subsidized by taxes. The real economy delivers on the promise of capitalism. The parasite economy relentlessly undermines it. It is not the poor who are the deadbeats, it is the parasi...

The fight for unions worldwide is being fought in France. French workers are like the little boy with his finger in the hole on the dike of anti-unionism worldwide. If the French government wins, so will the fight to make it easier to fire workers and to end the 35-hour workweek. The corporations of the world and governments who cater to them will all be trying the same thing in their countries. It is hard enough for unions to fight corporations and their own governments, but to do it at the same time is overwhelming. Although the Brits just voted for to leave the EU, for better or worse, but the people took their futures into their own hands and won the election over the money people. There is still hope for people power. The workers of the world need to support the French workers on opposing the French government’s planned labor reforms, which the conservatives-led senate is to vote on the bill Tuesday, June 28, 2016. If the workers lose this fight, the loss could reverberate around...

We are headed for another Occupy Wall Street movement and this time there is another army called the Bernie’s Army, people across the U.S. willing to fight for what’s right, thanks to Bernie Sanders. Now we just need more leaders like Bernie and it is time they step forward. The time is ripe and not only here in the U.S., but the world over. Just look at the union busting going on here and throughout the world. The fight between the corporations/oligarchies who are awash in hundreds of millions of dollars are permitted to loot and pillage the last shreds of wealth, human capital, and resources and the Commons of nations where the poor do not eat and there are no jobs, where the sick die and children go hungry. Now that there is a split in the parties, we must pull the other side into our movement. We want the police and National Guard to know that we understand they are not the 1 percent. The goal is not to get every cop and National Guard member, but to get enough to have a division. ...

One of the last things unions can get or have gotten for their members is job protection for 10 years or for life like France has, but this security is under assault. The French government has a bill which will, in the words of the anti-labor government, make France more competitive globally by extending the work, create less jobs and make layoffs easier. All this will do is enrich the companies and their greedy bosses. These French protests were as much against the political status quo as the labor bill. There’s no difference between the right-wing French Republicans and the left-wing Socialists parties. They are both the same just different names. Both are in the service of big business, which is just what is happening here in the U.S. with the Democrats and the GOP. But in France, the hard-left flank of the General Confederation of Labour, a national trade union, is holding nationwide strikes, which the government is saying it won’t back down. If the government wins in France, the ...

Labor the world over at this time has no friends in this corporate world, and there is no political part that will support labor because unions don’t have the kind of money politicians are looking for. The political parties now side with Wall Street, corporations, big banks and lobbyists for this is where the money and political power is and where laws can be written—laws that will make them more money. One only has to look at the U.K., France, Ukraine, Spain, Greece, Turkey, South America, and, of course, here in the U.S. where labor laws have been shot full of holes and probably do more harm than good. Now is the time for a revolution of minimum wage workers, students burdened by student loans, all labor unions, people on Social Security, veterans, minorities and all the rest of us to band together to bring voter pressure on the Democrats, if not them, then a new people’s party because what we have now is not working for either party, Democratic or GOP. Are we in the U.S. reverting b...

The $15 an hour minimum wage has been virtually stopped by governors passing $15 an hour minimum wage laws that will take years for workers to realize. The slow walking of the minimum wage is nothing more than an attempt to pacify workers and those who support them, but nothing more. What good will $15 an hour in six years do for workers today, especially those effected by minimum wage laws that have lots of loopholes. I cautioned about politicians who would slow walk an increase of the minimum wage a year or so ago and, unfortunately, I was right. New York and California are slow walking the states’ minimum wage increase, but they added such safety valves as having state officials who are to conduct annual analysis of the economy in each region to determine whether a temporary suspension of the scheduled increases is necessary, the government press release states. Now, guess who won’t be on the panel making the decisions on whether or not wages should be increased–wage slaves. The wo...

Why would billionaires feel they need to steal and hide money from the 47 percent from the Have Littles when the Have Littles have nothing in comparison? Is greed a sickness? If this is a class war then why do we, the Have Littles, keep sending out sons and daughters to war to protect the 1 percents assets the world over? It should be obvious to the Have Littles that the 1 percent do not care about their countries, and do not want to pay their share in taxes, but they want us to spill our blood and forfeit our lives to protect their interests and corporations. Do you think the poor in these countries benefit in any way by all this money is being hoarded in their countries? With the exposed murky world of shell companies by the Panama Papers, we can see the evidence of just how wealthy oligarchies conceal their money. Twelve current and former world leaders maintain offshore shell companies and we, here in the U.S., will find out who is not paying their taxes to support our country an...

It is not very often in the lifetime of a minimum-wage worker that they can make a monetary investment in their future; but in this election the students and wage slaves can invest in Bernie Sanders’ Revolution. For as little as $3 or an average donation of $27, this investment could provide a lifetime pay out in dividends to you and your family—young and old alike, such as single payer healthcare, unions with pensions, Social Security with raises, free education, a $15 an hour minimum wage, prison reform with the elimination of private prisons, legalization of marijuana, card check for unions, no or new or fair trade policies that help U.S. workers as well as other countries and addressing climate change. If these small donors, who now have skin in the game, vote and support Sanders, it will prove to be just as important as any financial contributions. By giving a small amount in money or time, the donor will have contributed to their and their families’ future. This may be their las...

Where's all the cash? Hint, it's not in your pocket. The need for cash is necessary to alleviate the war on the poor. The latest facts show 1.5 million households with 3 million children have cash incomes of less than $2 a day. The number we usually use to measure third- and fourth-world poverty. Then in order to get the cash to pay rent in some dilapidated housing, buy diapers, and even tampons. They will have to sell their blood or their food stamps at a deep discount and the desperately poor people are willing to lose about 40 percent of the value of their food stamps, which is the going rate to trade some of their stamps for cash. There is about 15 million people who are in deep poverty with annual incomes of about $10,000 below half the poverty line for a family of three. A lot of the $2 a day people are single mothers without a high school diploma whose jobs have been in decline. This is one of many reasons that we need $15 to $18 an hour minimum wage, single payer healt...

Our country is on the brink, balancing on the precipice of feast or famine. If we don’t fix things as they are, we will fall completelyinot an oligarchy. We need to understand what needs fixing in order to know about the wrongs and what they are. Also how we, the U.S., stacks up against the rest of the world. Do you know that 50 percent of all 25 years olds still live with their parents, and a total 47 million of our citizens and one out of five children live in poverty, which places us 36th among the 41 wealthiest nations? If you have no debt and $10 in your pocket, you are better off than 25 percent of your fellow citizens. The average family’s credit card debt is $16,000. Sixty-two percent of our citizens live from paycheck to paycheck, which 21 percent have no savings. Forty-three percent of households spend more than they earn. Median wealth of middle class households dropped 28 percent from 2000 to 2014. Today, 51 percent of workers make less than $30,000 a year. The U.S. now ran...

Could the USA’s corporate capitalist system survive without wars? Probably not and terrorism is good for business. Terrorism will most likely never be defeated because it keeps profits high for the military industrial complex. The Paris attacks occurred on a Friday, when the Stock Market opened on Monday defense industry stocks, like Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop, Grumman, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and Booz Allen Hamilton soared in anticipation of the coming weapons sales and security contracts. There will never be an elected person who wants to stabilize the world and have no wars or unrest. They will not get corporate backing for their elections if they went against these corporate giants. Since 9/11, five countries have disintegrated as nations: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. The destruction of these countries were the result of direct American interventions. The fifth, Syria, came from a flood of U.S. arms to the so-called moderate rebels. The forth, Yemen, ...