All workers need to organize if they ever expect to stand on a level playing field with corporations and the oligarchs. Yes, unions have defects, but so does every human institution, and these can be improved upon. At least unions are democracies, and improvement starts with who the members elect to lead them.
Organized labor is civic infrastructure, and the point about unions mobilizing nonmembers is the strongest argument in the piece.
A worker who votes because her shop steward asked her to is democracy doing its actual job. But the behavioral test for a one-day strike isn’t turnout, it’s leverage, and leverage is density.
Density has been falling for forty years while the rallies have gotten bigger and the rhetoric sharper, which should tell us something.
Build the slow thing that makes a strike costly to ignore, or the visible thing keeps being the only thing we have.
It's not just teachers. If an employer can silence an employee by scanning their online postings or letters to the editor, etc., then there are no first amendment rights except for the unemployed.
It is clear that any exception can and will be abused and expanded into a superhighway to run over citizens' rights. Even though ICE has to have reasonable suspicion that someone is in the US illegally, they can arrest first and require the arrestee to retain a lawyer to challenge the arrest. That means that ICE can show up at polling places and make arrests of everyone who happens to be a registered Democrat. By the time they get out of lockup, the election will be over. Reactive response is incapable of preventing the abuse of the exception. Even if 100% of the arrests are overthrown, none of them will have voted. There needs to be a permanent extension of the 2022 Castañon Nava consent decree or a constraint such as can't retain a registered voter without a warrant requiring proof that the registration was false.
First: Jen, enjoy your time off and your son's wedding.
I love unions! Have been a member of several over my work life. And once or twice tried to start a union in my workplace. But the fact is that in larger unions, the executive level staff, after a while seems to mimic corporate executives in the kind of perks they demand and are given by membership. High salaries, fancy office space, cars, paid travel: more than members get for participating in union activities. Union leaders often enough become a part of the hobnobbing crowd. And let's not forget corruption. In my hometown, Philadelphia, unions have lost a lot of credibility and membership over the years.
Finally, historically some of our most important unions were built on racism, religious bigotry and misogyny. This has changed but there are still miles to go before we sleep.
Yes, Donna, the 1984 paradox hit unions hard and besmirched their reputations as watchdogs, but they still retard Epstein class’ wealth accumulation at workers’ and poor people’s expense. Look at the anti-union rhetoric of Musk, Bezos, and Trump.
I respectfully disagree with “tax the rich”, or “tax the billionaires”. We should ALL pay our fair share. But the Wealthy shouldn’t be discriminated against by being taxed more heavily. We ALL want to be rich. Why be penalized for achieving the American Dream? We CAN eliminate the loopholes, though, that enable the wealthy to escape paying their fair share. THAT would be more equitable.
When by some strange confluence of economic opportunity and law certain people manage to amass more money, assets and property than they and their direct descendants would ever need or even be able to use, there is something very wrong. Excess wealth, beyond what the owners can use, usually gets redirected to buying influence, i.e. power. A political system based on an economics of power doesn't serve the interests of democracy. So let people enjoy what they've made. And require some form of civic responsibility from all. But tax wealth! And tax the wealthy more heavily.
Thanks Jen for pointing this out. It takes a body such as organized labor to be a watchdog in what the government does. The disastrous ruling from the Supreme Court on the Calais case shows just how much we need oversight in just about everything. Voting in particular. This is about democracy. In many if not most cases labor unions can insure that the best trained or skilled employees can apply for or obtain additional training for higher level jobs. In many cases these workers apply and are successful in their pursuit of a better position rather than others who are less skilled or qualified jockeying management for a position they don’t deserve. Still even less skilled workers can be paid a decent livable wage while they are being trained for higher level positions that pay even better. That’s what we need.
Thank you for this, as always. But polite protest may not meet the moment. Let's remember the actual use and meaning of the term "Mayday" - acknowledging an emergency, calling out for help to save us from peril, to pull us out of danger before we sink. Some of those protest signs today must shout out that the biggest danger to the Republic is its demented Commander-in-Chief. No Kings, but also No Lunatics. Name it!
While I agree with the objectives laid out in the post, this event was not at all well-publicized. The fragmented nature of the leadership and mass communication of the anti-MAGA coalition continues to undermine its effectiveness.
Given Pigsbreath's refusal to answer realistic hypothetical questions, we can expect that the US military will be ordered to interfere with civil society in multiple ways. Can a Presidential assertion of national emergency be challenged in court?
Without unions we’d all be sole brothers, serving as the underside of the shoes of the Tech Broligarchs and the Epstein Class. Are Trump’s favorite Florsheim shoes union made? Oh, they are made overseas and mostly in China.
All workers need to organize if they ever expect to stand on a level playing field with corporations and the oligarchs. Yes, unions have defects, but so does every human institution, and these can be improved upon. At least unions are democracies, and improvement starts with who the members elect to lead them.
Organized labor is civic infrastructure, and the point about unions mobilizing nonmembers is the strongest argument in the piece.
A worker who votes because her shop steward asked her to is democracy doing its actual job. But the behavioral test for a one-day strike isn’t turnout, it’s leverage, and leverage is density.
Density has been falling for forty years while the rallies have gotten bigger and the rhetoric sharper, which should tell us something.
Build the slow thing that makes a strike costly to ignore, or the visible thing keeps being the only thing we have.
Johan 🐌
It's not just teachers. If an employer can silence an employee by scanning their online postings or letters to the editor, etc., then there are no first amendment rights except for the unemployed.
Headed to a demostration today. We need to flex our economic muscle. Get out there today. No Work, No School, No Shopping
I agree with Jen! And, if you are in GA, this would be a particularly meaningful day to go out and vote in the Primary Election.
It is clear that any exception can and will be abused and expanded into a superhighway to run over citizens' rights. Even though ICE has to have reasonable suspicion that someone is in the US illegally, they can arrest first and require the arrestee to retain a lawyer to challenge the arrest. That means that ICE can show up at polling places and make arrests of everyone who happens to be a registered Democrat. By the time they get out of lockup, the election will be over. Reactive response is incapable of preventing the abuse of the exception. Even if 100% of the arrests are overthrown, none of them will have voted. There needs to be a permanent extension of the 2022 Castañon Nava consent decree or a constraint such as can't retain a registered voter without a warrant requiring proof that the registration was false.
First: Jen, enjoy your time off and your son's wedding.
I love unions! Have been a member of several over my work life. And once or twice tried to start a union in my workplace. But the fact is that in larger unions, the executive level staff, after a while seems to mimic corporate executives in the kind of perks they demand and are given by membership. High salaries, fancy office space, cars, paid travel: more than members get for participating in union activities. Union leaders often enough become a part of the hobnobbing crowd. And let's not forget corruption. In my hometown, Philadelphia, unions have lost a lot of credibility and membership over the years.
Finally, historically some of our most important unions were built on racism, religious bigotry and misogyny. This has changed but there are still miles to go before we sleep.
Yes, Donna, the 1984 paradox hit unions hard and besmirched their reputations as watchdogs, but they still retard Epstein class’ wealth accumulation at workers’ and poor people’s expense. Look at the anti-union rhetoric of Musk, Bezos, and Trump.
Yes, unions still do good things and "good trouble," Susan. We need to keep at them so they don't forget their roots.
I respectfully disagree with “tax the rich”, or “tax the billionaires”. We should ALL pay our fair share. But the Wealthy shouldn’t be discriminated against by being taxed more heavily. We ALL want to be rich. Why be penalized for achieving the American Dream? We CAN eliminate the loopholes, though, that enable the wealthy to escape paying their fair share. THAT would be more equitable.
When by some strange confluence of economic opportunity and law certain people manage to amass more money, assets and property than they and their direct descendants would ever need or even be able to use, there is something very wrong. Excess wealth, beyond what the owners can use, usually gets redirected to buying influence, i.e. power. A political system based on an economics of power doesn't serve the interests of democracy. So let people enjoy what they've made. And require some form of civic responsibility from all. But tax wealth! And tax the wealthy more heavily.
Thanks Jen for pointing this out. It takes a body such as organized labor to be a watchdog in what the government does. The disastrous ruling from the Supreme Court on the Calais case shows just how much we need oversight in just about everything. Voting in particular. This is about democracy. In many if not most cases labor unions can insure that the best trained or skilled employees can apply for or obtain additional training for higher level jobs. In many cases these workers apply and are successful in their pursuit of a better position rather than others who are less skilled or qualified jockeying management for a position they don’t deserve. Still even less skilled workers can be paid a decent livable wage while they are being trained for higher level positions that pay even better. That’s what we need.
Thank you for this, as always. But polite protest may not meet the moment. Let's remember the actual use and meaning of the term "Mayday" - acknowledging an emergency, calling out for help to save us from peril, to pull us out of danger before we sink. Some of those protest signs today must shout out that the biggest danger to the Republic is its demented Commander-in-Chief. No Kings, but also No Lunatics. Name it!
Nice one. I wonder where the SOS Mayday call originated.
While I agree with the objectives laid out in the post, this event was not at all well-publicized. The fragmented nature of the leadership and mass communication of the anti-MAGA coalition continues to undermine its effectiveness.
Given Pigsbreath's refusal to answer realistic hypothetical questions, we can expect that the US military will be ordered to interfere with civil society in multiple ways. Can a Presidential assertion of national emergency be challenged in court?
Thank you! Wonderfully informative. And thanks for the May Day locations.
Without unions we’d all be sole brothers, serving as the underside of the shoes of the Tech Broligarchs and the Epstein Class. Are Trump’s favorite Florsheim shoes union made? Oh, they are made overseas and mostly in China.
Well said. Jen. Organized labor has been and is an essential pillar of our democracy here and around the world.
May Day is a public holiday everywhere across the world, except in the English-speaking countries.