The Grassroots Are Growing—And Reimagining What’s Possible
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December 4, 2022 at 10:07 PM - Views: 43 #499090
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/12/04/grassroots-are-growing-and-reimagining-whats-possible
The only problem with waging a decade-spanning campaign for fair wages is that the baseline is always shifting. While economists and politicians and labor experts have gotten on board, the economy has changed. The pandemic exposed how reliant Americans are on underpaid essential workers, as well as the disproportionate harm they suffer when crisis hits. Now, inflation has soared to its highest level in 40 years and $15 an hour is no longer enough.
The good news is we have the tools and the momentum to do more. Unions have attained their greatest popularity in decades. Workers all over the country are demanding unions at once-unthinkable giants like Apple, Starbucks, and Amazon. Earlier this month, hundreds of service workers across the south joined together to launch the Union of Southern Service Workers, pledging to fight for higher pay and a seat at the table in a region of the country with the lowest union density in the nation. In California, half a million fast-food workers won a seat at the table following two years of pandemic-era protests when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Fast Recovery Act on Labor Day.
The boldness, vision, and solidarity of today’s workers is palpable—and so are their critiques of massive income inequality, chronic student debt, inaccessible healthcare, and more. Since 2012, the consensus has shifted on how much one needs to make in order to live and save for the future. And more and more, workers are demanding unions as the solution.
In this age of innovation, the true disruptors are those who can turn pie-in-the-sky fantasies into reality. Workers in the Fight for $15 and a Union have shown what’s possible when they organize. Now, let us dare to imagine what’s possible in the next 10 years.
Jesus: Hey, Dad? God: Yes, Son? Jesus: Western civilization followed me home. Can I keep it? God: Certainly not! And put it down this minute--you don't know where it's been! Tom Robbins in Another Roadside Attraction
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December 4, 2022 at 10:10 PM #499092
or, at least, not force them to work without, say, sick leave. IMO, Biden and Congress just made a sick joke out of this.
America is not a country, it's just a business. (Brad Pitt, Killing Them Softly)
"Sometimes when I try to understand a person's motives, I play a little game. I assume the worst. What's the worst reason they could possibly have for saying what they say and doing what they do? Then I ask myself, 'How well does that reason explain what they say and what they do?'" Baelish
VFTBNMW is, IMO, literally "take the blue pill".
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December 4, 2022 at 11:21 PM #499095
When a Democratic House, Senate and President just signed a law that a union must follow a contract that they were going to strike against?
And the same Democratic House, Senate and President wouldn’t support a law at the same time supporting any sick days?
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December 5, 2022 at 1:42 AM #499114
and he said he’d gotten fairer treatment from the Reagan NLRB than the Clinton. Never expect anything but backstabbing from a Democrat.
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December 5, 2022 at 2:56 AM #499123
I think the demands for minimum wage need to be revised, in light of 40-year high inflation, from $25/hour to $28 or so.
The opinions and personal views expressed herein are solely those of the author, and should never be taken seriously.
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December 5, 2022 at 11:57 AM #499132
A pro-labor Democrat is now an oxymoron.
Never let your morals stop you from doing the right thing.--Isaac Asimov
The United States is also a one-party state but, with typical American extravagance, they have two of them.--Julius Nyerere
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December 5, 2022 at 1:44 PM #499134
The Democrats just killed the best chance labor has had to strengthen workers in decades and those clowns at Common Dreams are cheerleading for the capitalist class…
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December 5, 2022 at 2:29 PM #499141
“Dorian Warren is the president of Community Change and vice-president of Community Change Action. Both social justice organizations work to build the power of low-income people, especially people of color.”
Barack Obama was a community organizer – the physical resemblance between Mr. Warren’s profile photo and a younger Obama is striking. Sadly, I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that Mr. Warren is as phony as Obama was/is, but I can’t say for sure, to be fair.
Anyway, I would just reiterate, progressives need to stay optimistic. Dismiss crooks from older generations like Robert Reich or Nancy Pelosi, any of the Sunday morning roundtable neoliberals, expose frauds like AOC and Jamaal Bowman when they start cashing in, and work for third parties and independents.
The opinions and personal views expressed herein are solely those of the author, and should never be taken seriously.
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