Union Perspectives

Time to look at what a $3,000 a month universal basic income (UBI) would do. People would still work, maybe go back to school to improve upon their skills, which would make them a better employee, or maybe some would even start their own business. Some would even take a vacation and spend money to supporting the local economy, spend time with their families or volunteer as a firefighter-first responder, kids sports like Little League or Pop Warner teams, or get involved in local politics, like school or water or fire boards. These are just a few of the things people could do if they had a little extra cash from a UBI. At this time, we have 41 million Americans living below the poverty level. This would end poverty and poverty wages. Wages would go up because people would be spending more, which would mean more jobs to replace the products bought. The UBI idea is not new. The concept was started in England’s Tudor period (1485-1603) basically that every person was to receive a guara

Elections come and go, but nothing changes, and the masses continue to take it in the shorts. Our Democratic president just negotiated a deal with Israel to give that country $38 billion in military aid to “protect” themselves from the carnage they stir up against the Palestinians, stealing the Palestinians land and killing them, and then acting outraged when they fight back. Those billions could help our students with their educational debts, or pay for single-payer healthcare, or rebuild our infrastructure. Then consider these endless wars, which will not end. Why? Because it’s big money to be made in killing people. The costs in lives seems to be ignored by our government, both parties benefit from payoffs and have done nothing to resolve or end the wars. Both parties are at fault so nothing will change with the 2016 election. We are being forced to choose between two lousy candidates. The corporate media pays its part in not reporting on this or any other relevant topic. In the 2

There are other alternatives to banking with the corporately owned big banks that screw over the little guy. Some of these alternatives are being used around the world and in a couple of places in the U.S. Alternative currency keeps local cash locally. Some foreign cities where this is being used is Basel, Switzerland, Nantes, France, and Bristol and Brixton, England. The Banque WIR, an alternative to the Swiss franc, has been using its own currency, the WIR, since 1934. Nantes created its own currency based on the WIR. Also, there are the Bristol pound and the Brixton pound used as alternative versions of the British pound. Here in the U.S., there is Ithaca, New York, called the Ithaca Convertible, one Ithaca dollar equals one U.S. 1 dollar. Then there is the Deli Dollars that arrived in 1989, started by Frank Tortoriello, a deli owner sold $10 for $8 to be used in his refurbished deli; followed by Massachusetts’ Berkshire Farm preserve notes or BerkShares in the early 1990s. Sa

Water is one of the most vital Commons, but who should own it? Who should control it? Who should be responsible for the care of it? I know who should not be involved in any of these questions and it is private stock holders of corporations who want to profit and will or are destroying the water of the world. Water is one of the Commons of the people, but as a whole it is an essential of life not only for drinking but for health and sanitation and to grow our food. Water is more important than gold or oil because without it you die. So why are cities and governments selling or privatizing our water, and do they even have the right to sell our Commons without a vote even? The essentials of life—water, clean air, healthcare, unadulterated food, housing—should be a civil right and one politician should not have the power to take it away from people. All of these things should have oversight by the people as a whole and not by just a few greedy, very rich corporations. This is what will h

Are the workers and countries of the world returning to tribal governments of the old days where countries were made up of family tribes and religions? Just look at places like the Middle East, Africa, and Afghanistan all are reverting to the past like Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Turkey and the list goes on. Are the large countries starting to fade? Are they getting too large to defend or control? Are governments too polarized to govern? Has the 1 percent billionaires of the world gained control and only want more money and power over the workers? And if this is the case it could be the tipping point for the loss of a civilized world and the beginning of a world filled with ISIS types who just hate and kill for their ideology. When money and power is worshipped over the good of people, there will be a revolt and will it be peaceful or a bloodletting? The days of large countries dominating small countries are over. Just how long can the U.S. hang onto our satellite countrie

The world labor market is changing. We are running out of jobs and the people who will be displaced from the workforce will devote their freedom to simple leisure, some will seek to build productive communities outside the workplace, others will fight, passionately, to reclaim their productivity by piecing together jobs in an informal economy. These are the futures of consumption, communal creativity and contingency in any combination it is certain there would be a radical new role for government. The world will be watching Greece now that it has voted no on austerity. The Greeks are done with years of harsh economic conditions inflicted upon them by financial institutions, not for anything they did. One, they will probably take a hard look at the present capitalist system and the Eurozone nations and do they even want to keep the Euro as their currency. Hell, they might even go to Bitcoins or back to the Drachmas. There will be changes in the labor and probably an upswing in the pre

If you have a job that doesn’t pay enough to live on or to take care of your family would $5,000 or $20,000 extra for a family of four help if you received this once a year? This could be done in in the U.S. by charging rent for the use of our commons and for carbon taxes, financial transactions, intellectual property and technological infrastructure seeded with public money. Then there is also our natural resources, such as natural gas, oil, iron, gold, silver, copper, trees, water, clean air—all of these and more is considered sovereign wealth, which belongs to every U.S. citizen. Each citizen should have one share in America and receive each year dividends. Just like the corporations, which are using our commons for the most part free and it is time for them to pay up. This is what is done in the state of Alaska with its oil product. The citizens receive about $2,000 each a year as compensation. Most wage slave people here in the U.S. and around the world do not understand the conce

In the fight for Ukraine’s sovereignty are we seeing the handprint of the U.S. oligarchies? Are the U.S. oligarchies pushing the Ukraine government to slash mining jobs by selling off or shutting down state owned mines, cutting social benefits and carrying out other austerity measures to shore up profits for the capitalists and meet loan conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund? Despite the fact that austerity has been proven time and again that it does not work. Once again, the toilers at the bottom are the ones to take the hit and the fight even carries over to the wage slaves in Russia where U.S. sanctions are squeezing food prices; meat and poultry prices have skyrocketed by 17 percent. It is just like all wars where the wage slaves are the ones who give their lives for the oligarchies of the world. This is where unions must be strong. It is the only hope for the families of the Ukrainian and Russian poor. These fights are worldwide, such as with the Kurds, Turkey, Gr

Don’t forget your best defense strategy is a good offense strategy. So when the money people, who are mostly GOP anti-union people with a strategy of keeping the “have nots” in a defensive mode trying to protect what little they have. This is when a good offense toward higher wages, like $15 to $18 an hour will be the most effective way to defend what’s left and make headway toward a better wage and working conditions. This is the time for all wage slave workers to band together: union, nonunion, Democrat, GOP, independent, Green Peace or Libertarian, which all are being beaten down in life and on the job with low wages and the ones who don’t have jobs and are just trying to survive with no food stamps or unemployment checks. There is no reason why all workers and non- workers cannot work together and vote for people who will look out for your interest. People who have a proven track record and not one who say what you want to hear, but are actually working for the oligarchies, like

The wage inequality of 1870 was less than the wage inequality of today, 2014. The gap between the capitalists and the poor proletarians is much wider and getting wider each year and eventually will spawn a proletarian worldwide revolution unless the gap closes. This isn’t the first time a revolution was waged to end the tyranny of the rich. Wages must be raised from subsistence to a living wage with some disposal income. There was a proletarian revolution about to happen in the 1800s, between 1867 to 1870 in England, western Europe and North America, but was averted by real wages being paid; however, there were some small declines in wages from time to time. Then we had the rise of the so-called third world countries, which some of these countries had just gotten their independence from European colonialism and with this the inequality began to spread because the third world countries were draining jobs from the rich countries so the 1 percent could keep even more of the money made o

Just not in the U.S.A. Big box stores are told by governments that if they want to operate in their countries the stores have to allow unions to exists or form in their stores. For example, Wal*Mart had to allow its stores in South Africa, China, Brazil, Argentina, and even the England to form unions --- everywhere it seems except in the United States. Why is Wal*Mart spending millions of dollars fighting pro-union legislation, when it could be spending that money on its American workers. Why are other countries taking care of their workers, but our country isn’t? What the hell? It looks like these governments are helping their people. Are their workers more appreciated than our people? Like I’ve said before, the corporations can ship our jobs out of country, but they will then ship their goods back to this country to sell. This is when we need to organize. This is our opportunity to organize the big box stores. Our government could help us by passing the Employee Free Choice Act (