Union Perspectives

What does the USA, Sweden and Switzerland have in common? It is the fight about the inequality between labor and the oligarchies. Today in Switzerland, one of the fighters against inequality is Marilule Wili. Years ago, many of fighters of inequality came from Sweden. In 1905, the USA had a labor hero by the name of Joe Hill, but he was born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund and also known as Joseph Hillstrom in a Gävle, a Swedish village. He came to America and first reached prominence on the West Coast while he worked to organize the International Workers of the World (IWW) Wobblies; and Hill was also a song writer and was known as the “Troubadour of Discontent." Hill was framed for murdering a grocer and his son and shot to death in Salt Lake City, Utah. After his execution thousands of Wobblies made him their martyr and his work continued on. His last famous words just before he died were, “Don’t waste any time mourning. Organize,” and it looks like the spirit is still here and in Swede...

There are now 23 work for less states in the U.S. How did this happen? Well, one way was how the legislation was worded. The bill was written as ‘The Right to Work.’ So who would vote against the right to work? For everyone has the right to work, but that was not the real issue. The real reason was to weaken labor unions by letting workers be in a union shop and not pay dues. A large group of union members voted for this not understanding what it would do to them. To make matters worse there are a lot of union members who joined the GOP because the GOP was successful in hijacking outdoor sports, such as hunting, fishing and shooting sports with the fear of gun laws, environmental laws and it was - and is – just bull. A lot of fire personnel, law enforcement and postal workers vote GOP. Maybe they thought that the GOP would not attack them. How did that work for the Air Traffic Controllers? Now the most recent attacks are on the civil workers in Arizona, New Hampshire, Utah and Ca...