Workers Have The World To Win
May 6, 2019 9:32 AM   Subscribe

The Spliter Series On The Future Of Labor “ Her general differences with the current AFL-CIO administration are clear: More agitating, more diversity, more focus on worker power, and less dependence on elected officials in the Democratic Party. She is outspoken in her belief that much of the money that the union world has poured into political donations would be better spent on new organizing, to try to turn around the decline in union membership. “ Sara Nelson Wants to Run That Militant Line All The Way to the Highest Seat in Labor “The relationship (between Unions and Democrats) was flawed from the start, though; the New Deal coalition had a very large, vocal Southern faction that was opposed to unions, mostly on the basis that they could help build racial solidarity among black and white workers.” Labor Needs A Party “Workers, of course, shouldn’t be reduced to using online petitions for basic needs that ought to be mandatory, like paid leave and fair wages, or apps which tell them what meager rights they have.” Labor Apps Won’t Save Us “While the United States has done far less than many peer nations to support social reproduction via the welfare state, there are heartening hints that the tide may be turning” The Revolution Will Be Cooked.
posted by The Whelk (22 comments total) 26 users marked this as a favorite
 
In a world of global capitalism, twinned with mass migration and free movement of labour the idea of the political potential of a union is not been trying to square a circle, it’s trying to square a flat line.

My criticism of the contemporary labour movement is that the know this, they understand this and are even supportive of this, all the while cutting its own throat and sending money to the very same leftists who make it happen.

Even in state run monopolies the effectiveness of unions is basic, to say the least, while in the rest the unions have nothing to offer, and they know it.

Mass participation being dead, they try and maintain an illusion of relevance by chasing after the bourgeois and boutique. It’s all nice in the woke dreamland of co-op coffee shops and arty consumer goods, but the relevance of the labour movement is getting less and less.

It’s a shame as I’ve joined every union in every workplace that has offered one. Though like my fellow members I’m in no illusions about any of it, and any of them, sadly.
posted by Middlemarch at 11:05 AM on May 6, 2019


“The industry itself is broken, but those responsible for its decline are doing just fine.” Seize The Media, the time has come for the fourth estate to own itself,
posted by The Whelk at 9:04 AM on May 7, 2019 [3 favorites]


Workers at Wetherspoons, the British pub chain, were tired of low wages and grueling conditions. So they formed a union, went on strike — and won. How to organize in precarious workplaces
posted by The Whelk at 9:31 AM on May 7, 2019 [3 favorites]




“In his brilliant, exhaustive look at the recent education uprisings, Eric Blanc chronicles how this hard work laid the basis for the strike and our victory in Red State Revolt. “Before they occur, successful strikes appear impossible to most people” he writes. “Afterwards, they seem almost inevitable. And underlying both of these mistaken assumptions is a failure to account for the agency of organizers.” Blanc’s book draws critical lessons from the teachers’ strike wave that swept West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arizona by centering the voices of striking workers, particularly those of rank-and-file organizers taking the lead.” Red State Revolt
posted by The Whelk at 10:31 AM on May 7, 2019 [3 favorites]




"We talk to Drew Edmonds, a Burgerville worker in Portland, Oregon, and an organizer with the Burgerville Workers Union. We talk about the fight Drew and his coworkers led to form the nation’s first federally recognized fast food union (followed by workers at Little Big Burger, another Portland chain)" - Working People Podcast
posted by The Whelk at 3:22 PM on May 7, 2019 [1 favorite]






“When I started two years ago, I could put in a solid 40 hours a week and do well; now I’m doing 50 to 60 hours just to make the same amount. When I leave this job, I’ll probably be in debt just in order to feed my children.”
posted by The Whelk at 10:46 AM on May 8, 2019 [2 favorites]


Thanks for all the links, The Whelk!
posted by JHarris at 2:36 AM on May 9, 2019


Fuck Off Delta
posted by The Whelk at 8:52 AM on May 9, 2019 [1 favorite]


25,000 educators and supporters rallied for school funding in Portland yesterday, check out this aerial shot of the crowd
posted by The Whelk at 9:52 AM on May 9, 2019 [1 favorite]






Next article in the future of labor series: Abortion Is A Labor Issue
posted by The Whelk at 12:27 PM on May 9, 2019 [1 favorite]






On the immense power of dockworker unions to control and influence the global supply chain notably by refusing to unload ships from fascist countries or South Africa during apartheid

Worker Power at the Swedish docks

A history of the radical longshoreman union
posted by The Whelk at 12:20 PM on May 10, 2019


I'm sad no one else is replying to these. Thanks again, The Whelk!
posted by JHarris at 8:22 PM on May 10, 2019






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