Union Perspectives

  Union members at the ballot box to pretend this election cycle is business as usual is to engage in a dangerous form of political malpractice. Not only do we, union members, have to get out and vote, we have to vote smart and elect people who are union supporters. Every vote matters. Then we must show just how much power unions have by getting our members to vote for people who will stand up for our rights and support. More than twenty-eight countries are fighting for four-day work weeks in Europe, North America, Asia, Oceania, South America and Africa.   The United Arab Emirates has the most averaged hours worked a week at 46.5 hours followed by South Africa at 42.5 hours. The U.S. has been 40 hours a week. We have to vote smart, not by political parties, but vote for candidates who support unions and workers. We have to show just how much power we have by getting our members to vote for people who will stand for better working hours at the same pay, fight against right t...

Have FBI agitators infiltrated our labor unions like the FBI did during black rights movement, feminist movement, and anti-Vietnam protests to sow the seeds of division between the factions and Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammed—to control and disrupt our labor movements from the inside? We don’t know at this time, and is anyone in the media or government looking into this? The war on labor and the effort to drag us back to serf wages is coming from within the White House with some labor union and MAGA members. Corporations are padding their accounts and of one greedy man instead of its workers. The war on labor is and will be fought between corporation titans and labor, and at this time the corporations will use the White House, courts and the FBI and even those at Homeland Security and I.C.E. against us. Labor must educate our members on how counter and what tactics are being used by the corporations and government against labor and the average person in general. How many people have lost...

Unions best weapon is the right to go to the streets. It is great to see our unions out in the streets with the public protesting ICE and the abuses they are using against innocent people and the things ICE are doing, like killing people. We must keep supporting these protests around the country. If we back down and lose the right to protest we, the unions, will lose the biggest weapon we have—our right to go to the street when we are wronged by the corporations or the government. So we can never lose this weapon of union labor and the people. Union members know that Trump and his corporate buddies do not like or want unions so why in the hell would any union member support or vote for any person who runs as a Republican Trump supporter--Trump and the GOP hate unions? If this is what you support then just go nonunion and lose all the benefits unions have fought for and become one of the poorly educated that Trump “loves,” though he’s incapable of any emotion aside from greed. Unions do...

It’s time for all union members to get rid of the union members and leaders who support the GOP and its Right to Work agenda. Trump, billionaires, the GOP, and the corporate people all hate unions and any union member who votes for these GOP candidates are just scabs who are not only riding on the backs of good hard working union people but also they are dragging their feet to keep the unions from moving forward. If these so called union people cannot see their way to vote and support people who fight and support unions then they should not vote or just get the hell out of our union labor because you are killing us by your foot dragging interference. All of our union people need to understand this is an ‘us against them’ situation and Trump and his anti union corporations are not your friend and if a union person thinks they are you are dumber than a post. Trump and the corporations do not care at all about you or your family. Once they have your vote you’re of no use to them. Trump’s ...

The AFL is with Senator Bernie Sanders and it is the people’s only chance to push back against Elon Musk, who wants to dismantle our government. Musk family is said to have left South Africa because they could no longer exploit The native/black Africans so he bought Trump and now he’s laying waste to America in the name of progress. With Senator Sanders’ leadership and backing of all labor unions, we could put together the whole of 99 percent of the people and beat back the 2 percent destroying we what once had and stood for while also saving Social Security, healthcare for all, elder care, child care, while working on the climate change crisis (we are running out of time, as the weather is showing us). The workers need to go big, such as a four-day work week like other countries have; universal basic income (UBI) and Medicare for all for unhoused people, which would help get them off the streets. UBI goes right back into the local economies, which supports jobs for the other working p...

Labor’s war is a David vs Goliath fight, but sometimes Goliath wins the battle but ultimately David will win the war, and here is one way it can be done in rural areas. Small towns that sit 40 to 50 miles away from larger cities have power for the low-wage workers have power for the low wage workers have nothing to lose for they have nothing, so they can and should use that nothing, which is a power, for better working conditions, such as good wages, regular working hours, healthcare—maybe even childcare. Employees can withhold their labor or just move. Businesses don’t have that option. So, labor in small towns should stand together for a good minimum wage and benefits. Wages should be $26 per hour. Given the income corporations are raking in today, they can well afford to pay their employees better. Healthcare workers, food workers, house keeping and any worker in town can join the town union (as the UAW has shown) and the unions could be the ones to join: fire, police and country ...

We have an election in two months, where the hell are the building Trade Unions? Members and organizers should be touting their wages, benefits and seeking out new members and union shops. So far, I’m only hearing crickets. While the Trade Unions sit back, the UAW have been striking and winning big benefits for their members. Then there is the Teamsters, who have taken on the Holy Grail—Amazon, the corporation. Again, just crickets from the Trade Unions. Then there is the Minnesota State model—-we can win more together than we can on our own. So why are all unions not working together? Why are all unions not talking with each other? There are two months left until the election—an election that could conceivably be the death null of unions. If we lose this election to the GOP, Trump and Project 2025, our unions will be destroyed and we’ll be back to the days of trying to make ends meet as the GOP will cut our wages, benefits will be eliminated and there will be nothing we can do abou...

The success of the GOP has been its long game. They started what they call “The Transformations” during the Reagan’s election to reshape the American Society. Now they have Project 2025 and Agenda 47 aka Trump’s shadow government, which is essentially Project 2025, but Trump’s version. Labor and the working people are the only ones who can beat back these regressive, anti-worker plans. Labor must take these remaining 80-plus days before the election and organize more members. If your union doesn’t have the need or resources to expand to expand their unions then at least support others who want a union or are on the picket line, like Cornell University employees. This could be labor’s last stand. In 80 days, all bets are off if the GOP wins. Your vote could be the one that wins to keep labor unions and Social Security fore retirees or your vote could take it away and Project 2025 will be the law of the land. We, in labor, must start to defend our union jobs and our pensions and learn h...

Could union members lose their pensions plus their Social Security? Yes, they can if Project 2025 is acted upon. As unions are distracted by the right to work states and soon the whole country by the attacks from all sides, it could happen. If they succeed in implementing Project 2025, the right to own a gun will become against the law. There will be no working union people to keep their unions solvent resulting in people losing their union pensions and their Social Security. This is the plan of the GOP and corporations is to rid the country of unions and if Project 2025 is implement we can kiss pensions, safe working conditions and laws and protecting our children from slave labor goodbye. Already, the large corporations think unions are irrelevant and with owning the Supreme Court, they are mostly right. It is now or never for our members to push our union leaders to close ranks for the fight of our life time. We need two plans: one to stop the GOP and its Project 2025 plan, and a ...

Will we have a democracy in 2025 or a dictatorship? We are one vote either way. There are times in life when we must put aside our own beliefs and do what must be done for the betterment of all of us and our way of life, such as having unions, free speech, healthcare, Social Security/Medicare in retirement and good education for all. If Project 2025 and Agenda 47 go into effect, all bets are off. Project 2025 is a 920-page mandate for leadership that Trump’s handlers want to become law. All of this will be done at their discretion and we will not be able to go to the streets to protest and if we do, we will be shot like Trump wanted to do to protesters when he was in office. Project 2025 would include firing all Department of State heads by the end of the day on Jan. 20, 2025. Senior State Department appointment leaders will be acting roles so they won’t need Senate confirmation. The plan is a collection of policy transition plans should Trump succeed in stealing the election again, a...

For the last twenty to thirty years, labor fell victim to cultural amnesia. However, labor is seeing a resurgence as it remembers what strong unions can do. Labor is back in a big way, and we are winning with public support. It’s looking like the stars have come in line for labor is kicking ass. We cannot slow down and we must go for the big things, like a four-day work week with same pay, healthcare for all, free education to a bachelor’s degree or a trade school, child care and elder care. These are things commonly provided to workers in other counties. We must get most of our contracts to end on April 1 at 12 in 2025. Brothers and sisters, this is real power and we will use it to labor’s benefit. We must build hardcore unions and then fight to get these rights enshrined into law, if not the Constitution. To do this, we have unionize workers; Then we have to educate these employees about unions, and how to keep them; Educate them about the importance of voting and voting for those ...

This is the year of labor. We have had some very good wins, but now the work begins for the big fight in 2028 when a lot of the contracts expire at midnight on May Day, May 30. On this day we, labor people, could pull off a nationwide strike to get a four-day work week with full pay, healthcare with no out of pocket costs, better pensions and a universal basic income for those who fall through the cracks. This can be paid for by the mega millionaires and billionaires. These money hoarders need to pony up and pay their fair share instead of getting on their ponies and riding off to one of their tax havens. To counter the rich, we must elect labor-friendly people from the bottom up who will tax the greedy, instead of taking their “political contributions.” Volkswagen recently had a union vote. The final tally was 2,628 in favor of a union, 985 against. What the hell is wrong with these 985 workers? This is where organizers could begin their unionizing by educating workers on labor histor...

The working people and unions need to be thinking big and way ahead to keep up with the working conditions, which continue to change with the advancement of automation and artificial intelligence, which is going to put people out of work. A.I. is an inevitable by product of progress and unions have t be prepared for the changes that come with it. These workers are not going away. They will still need shelter, food, and healthcare. They are the spenders who buys the goods and products that the corporations market. So, one way to keep the money flowing is a universal basic income. This way, people can work for less if their union negotiate a good contract. Then there is the possibility of a four-day work week, which will be a big change in the work environment. There are some good things which can come from the four-day work week. Our unions are the ones that should be upfront and at the table to get the best deal for their union workers. The corporations will be looking out for their...

The death of the labor movement will be from the infighting of our labor unions. We have labor unions never speaking to each other. These are our bothers and sisters. This hate can be found in our AFL/CIO or any union group and is a gift to the GOP anti-union anti labor people and we are giving this to them as a gift, and they are using it against us while unions stand around squabbling. Now, it will take time to work out the jurisdictional problems among the trades, but in the meantime we must unite and work together as one to elect the politicians who are staunch labor supporters. We must forget about the pettiness some unions engage in thinking their type of labor is better, more significant than others, but this arrogance forgets that one without the others is nothing. A home without plumbing is incomplete. A home without electricity is incomplete. A home without a roof is incomplete. A home without cabinets is incomplete. You get my drift. It takes all of the trades to keep this c...

Unions do not do well in a dictatorship because unions are the first thing dictators destroy, and rest assured the workers won’t be allowed to hit the streets in protest. If Trump is elected he will invoke the Insurrection Act and send troops into the cities to crush them and send a message that he will terminate and dissent. They will eliminate unions and unionized workers. We are standing at the precipice and it's up to us to fight the fall into a dictatorship. By voting for the GOP, maga people and anyone else will be able to keep their guns until Trump says, “No.” By then, he will have already amassed an Army of foot soldiers in place to take over the government jobs. They will be Trump’s people and they will do whatever he tells them to do. The only way this can be stopped is for all unions and their members to put aside their political and social differences and stand strong for democracy, unions, workers rights and workers safety. This is not a drill. It will happen just loo...

We are seeing the highest labor unionization since 1965. Business owners and workers have nothing in common. Owners want profits and political clout and workers want respect for their work and proper compensation for that work that makes the owner rich. The rich, like the Charles Koch Foundation, the Bradley Foundation, the Freedom Foundation, the Heritage Foundation and the State Policy Network are antiunion organizations that fund GOP conservative think tanks. The people behind these foundations are motivated by one thing and that is to destroy unions and weaken workers’ rights. Every time Republicans get into office, they have the same strategy to cut safety nets for the rest of the population while giving tax breaks to the wealthy and then threaten to shut down the government in a tantrum like a three-year-old child. It is estimated that the wealthy American evaded almost $66 billion in federal taxes. The top 2,000 highest earning tax dodgers owe $923 million in taxes so that expla...

Now is the time for all families and union members to learn the best way to take care of each other in all events, such as fires, floods, earthquakes, traffic wrecks, shooting and just everyday incidents. All people with children should know basic first aid and CPR. As a first responder with a volunteer fire department, I once went on a medical call where an infant fell into a hot tub and lost his life because the six people at the scene did not know CPR. This should not have happened. We are our "brothers keeper", to use a biblical phrase, and we have a certain responsibility to our fellow workers and our country, we move away from "otherness," "us vs them," "hostility toward those who don't believe as you" and run toward seeing the good in others, showing compassion for others, being responsive toward others--it's imperative that we find a way. If these last six or seven years haven't taught us anything it is that we get ahead in l...

S.A.G.-AFTRA is a strike that working people cannot afford to lose for many reasons. First, is that the S.A.G.-AFTRA members need and should have a fair share of the profits their work brings. It is not the CEOs who make the money, but the creativity of those they hire to write and act. We need this people and their union because if we lose them, the right wing followers will control most of all forms of communication and entertainment the public will see in movies, television shows and news. We, the 99 percent need these 160,000 people to keep things fair and we cannot afford to lose these talented and creative minds, which can and often do show all sides of the stories and history they write. It looks like some union contracts expire next year. Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA and this could help the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the union that represents nearly all crew members. A win for these workers is a win for all unions. It will show just how str...

The U.S. Labor Movement … “Workers of the world awaken. Break your chains. Demand your rights. All the wealth you make is taken, by exploiting parasites. Shall you kneel in deep submission from your cradle to your grave? Is the height of your ambition to be a good and willing slave?” Joe Hill Workers of the world, 1910 “When silence isn’t golden. It is we who plowed the prairies, built the cities where They trade, dug the mines and built the work shops; endless miles of railroad land. Now we stand outcast and starving, midst the wonders we have made; but the union makes us strong.” Ralph Chaplin Solidarity Forever, 1915 “The Revolution will not be televised. when you get too old to produce anymore, they hand you your hat and they show you the door. Too old to work, too old to work, when you’re too old to work and you’re too young to die. Who will take care of you, how will you get by when you’re too old to work and you’re too young to die?” Joe Glazer Too Old To Work, 1956 These a...

Why are the building trades not organizing? At this time when there are and will be lots of prevailing wage jobs starting. This is the time to go after non-union trade workers to get new members, which will turn into more union shops or out non-union shops out of business since they will not have trades people, who will work for them. We need to keep our money for organizing, and tell the politicians we will give you votes but not our money until you are elected and do something, like better fund the National Labor Relations Board and vote for the Protecting the Right to Organize Act or PRO Act. The trades people need to stop giving up on the rural part of the country, like the Democrats have done, retreating and holding up in cities with larger populations, which turned out not to be as effective a strategy as they thought it would be. All it did or does is slow the bleeding. So we, labor and labor friendly political people need to go back to the counties, like in far northern and eas...