vikingqueef

vikingqueef OP , 2 months ago

The American public seems to have emerged from the initial jolt of the pandemic with a newfound clarity familiar to survivors of catastrophes. Many people experienced an evaporation of the things that lent their lives the illusion of stability. Jobs disappeared and the social safety net’s holes loomed large. For scores of working people, it was—though they might not use this term—a radicalizing experience. Millions suddenly confronted the fact that if we didn’t protect ourselves, nobody else would. “I don’t really know if any amount of money would make working in this environment and being exposed to this level of risk feel worth it,” one grocery worker said early in the pandemic. For “essential” workers, it became clear that the work and the risk were a package deal.

This realization supercharged public interest in organized labor, bolstering a surge of support for union activity, which had already been growing slowly since the Great Recession in 2009. Polls show that public approval of labor unions is now at its highest point since 1965. This is unsurprising. Since the start of the Reagan era, wages for average workers have stagnated, astounding wealth has flowed to a tiny percentage of society, and the resulting rise in economic inequality has destabilized our political landscape. When this slow but steady erosion of the American Dream met the shock of Covid, it became all but impossible to avoid the conclusion that “Organize or Die” could be a literal slogan.

In 2020, we saw the launch of the (ultimately unsuccessful) union drive at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama­—at that point the most serious organizing effort against the Bezos empire. The addition of Covid’s burden to the weight of algorithmically driven warehouse work was the tipping point for fed-up workers unwilling to risk their lives for $15.50 an hour. That effort was followed in 2021 by a series of victories: a successful union vote at the Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, the launch of the still-growing Starbucks union organizing campaign, and a mini-wave of strikes dubbed “Striketober.” The drumbeat grew louder in 2023, with major strikes in Hollywood and at the Big Three automakers. In September, Joe Biden spoke at a picket line in support of United Auto Workers, the first sitting president in history to do so. It was clear that something was happening.

But what, exactly? The long-overdue return of unions to the spotlight is not the sea change that it can appear to be. In the middle of the 20th century, when American unions were at peak membership, about one in three workers was in a union. By 1980, the number had fallen to one in five, and by 2005, one in eight. This unrelenting decline in union density—the percentage of workers who are members—is the biggest problem facing organized labor. And since strong unions tend to improve wages and conditions even for nonunion employees, and make politics more worker-friendly, low union density is a problem for the entire working class and, more broadly, anyone with a job. Each success is meaningful to individual workers. But the wins do not add up to a transformative movement unless they can reverse decades of decline—which has not yet happened.

In 2022, even as the popularity of unions hit a generational high, union density fell to 10.1 percent, the lowest on record. The inability to channel all this excitement, during the most pro-union administration of most voters’ lifetimes, into an economy wide barrage of large-scale organizing drives, should put a lump in the throat of anyone who cares about the class war. The traditional analysis of union decline cites two main causes. The first is the devastating effects of the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act—which restricted how unions could strike; outlawed “closed shops”; and enabled states to pass “right to work” laws, which under the guise of worker freedom allow a member of a unionized workplace to opt out of paying fees. The second cause is corporate America’s decades-long project to perfect its union-busting tactics.

But you can’t just chalk up organized labor’s woes to the old saws of union-­busting businesses and hostile laws. They also reflect the atrophied state of labor’s institutions, a lack of adequate organizing ­infrastructure and budgets, and, in many cases, an attitude of resignation that decades of decline inflicted on some union leaders who should, right now, be rushing to capitalize on the favorable conditions.

vikingqueef OP , 2 months ago

just fyi, its not the whole body. there is more. i don't want to break any rules or upset the publisher by posting the whole article. they need the traffic too

vikingqueef OP , 2 months ago

When Britain’s miners went on strike in March 1984, there were three pits in Kent, with Tilmanstone, Betteshanger, and Snowdon collieries all huddled together near England’s southeast coast. This was a small, remote corner of the coalfield, far from both the old mining heartlands of South Wales, Durham, and Scotland, and the new center of the industry in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire. According to market logic, Kent was “peripheral,” and its collieries were easy targets for closure. Conditions were tough. Betteshanger miner Gary Cox described how the coal seams were “about 3 foot thick. In Nottingham they were 14 foot thick. You could sneeze in Nottingham and get their coal off because it was crap. They actually had to mix our coal with Nottinghamshire coal just to make it any good to sell.”

Kent, known as the “Garden of England,” lies far from what’s popularly considered the core of Britain’s working class. Malcolm Pitt — a ripper at Tilmanstone, a Communist, and Kent area National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) president in 1984 — described the pits as “an industrial intrusion into the agricultural and holiday resort economy of East Kent.” That miners were cut off, a “breed apart,” was always part of their mythology.

But Kent offered its own version of isolation. The workers, often migrants from more established mining areas, figured as outsiders imposed on a hostile population. Some within the local coalfield communities recalled that in the early days of settlement, in the 1920s and ‘30s, housing notices would read “no miners, no dogs, no children.” Social ostracism was experienced most acutely by miners’ wives; the men at least had the camaraderie of the workplace.

vikingqueef OP , 2 months ago

thank god i'm putting my degree to use

vikingqueef , 2 months ago

not much of a democracy you're protecting here when you say you can't be critical of a politcal figure and if you are critical too many times, then you must be my sworn political enemy. y'all keep badjacketing anyone that says anything critical of biden or establishment dems and its really wild to watch.

vikingqueef , 2 months ago

Yea, why read anything that is contrary to your worldview. are you afraid your thoughts and opinions may change? or maybe that you will learn something from something you don't like?

vikingqueef , 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago)

doesn't matter because apparently saying you are not a Trumper somehow makes you more of a trumper. like those people are so proud to support trump, they will make sure you know in no uncertain terms.

vikingqueef , 2 months ago

Phil Ochs has something to say about liberals!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cdqQ2BdgOA

vikingqueef , 2 months ago

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/03d1e34e-6159-47b9-b53d-6545b8b9e5db.jpeg

vikingqueef OP , 2 months ago

tale as old as time 1948

vikingqueef , 2 months ago

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/e3542d47-00ad-4593-9172-88e819bdd2dd.jpeg

vikingqueef , 2 months ago

I'd fuck tor

vikingqueef OP , 2 months ago

The union's executive board reached the endorsement decision on Wednesday night.

"Currently, many voters, and UFCW 3000 executive board, feel that the best path to have the best nominee, and to defeat Trump, is to vote 'uncommitted,'" the union said in a statement. "The hope is that this will strengthen the Democratic party’s ultimate nominee to defeat Trump in the General Election in November."

"We need a nominee who can run and beat Trump to protect workers across this country and around the world," the statement continued.

With over 50,000 members, the union is a force to be reckoned with as Biden seeks to win over voters in the primary contest.

The president is facing an uphill battle as he seeks to mobilize the broad coalition of Americans who delivered his 2020 White House win. His continued supply of weapons and diplomatic cover for Israel's brutal assault on Gaza is one of the major sticking points for young voters and voters of color.

Just this week, more than 100,000 Michigan primary voters cast their ballots "uncommitted" in solidarity with Gazans under siege after a three-week campaign. Biden won the swing state by just over 150,000 votes in 2020.

"We stand in solidarity with our partners in Michigan who sent a clear message in their primary that Biden must do more to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Biden must push for a lasting ceasefire and ending US funding toward this reckless war," the Washington union said.

vikingqueef OP , 2 months ago

It was dead and buried a while ago. this is just the fallout

vikingqueef , 2 months ago

google gonna google.

remember when they used to have "don't be evil" in their company mission statement? i miss that google

vikingqueef , 2 months ago

now they are owned by alphabet too which is funny cause it was founded by the guys that founded google and they just restructured google and all its holdings to be under alphabet.

vikingqueef , 2 months ago

the monopoly on violence that is reserved for the state is what drives that feeling of fearful helplessness. there are no right and easy answers because they have been labeled wrong. i will not advocate for violence but i will point out that we are not allowed to carry out violence against the state or its infrastructure.

if you have been the victim of repeated physical abuse and had the opportunity to physically fight back and took it, then you know how powerful that feeling after is, when you realize that you actually do have power.

vikingqueef , 2 months ago

More on this: Bidens disapproval percentage was 55% before Oct 7th. It is not a wild speculation to think that he would not have the support to defeat Trump. However, I assert that if he secures a permanent ceasefire he will see his approval rating rebound and be better than before Oct 7th and actually have the support needed to defeat Trump. All it takes is one phone call.

vikingqueef , 2 months ago

Multiple times

vikingqueef , 2 months ago

Funny enough, it costs $2350 to renounce your citizenship. Administrative fee for the paperwork apparently. They get your money at every turn in this country, I swear...

https://common.usembassy.gov/en/renounce-citizenship/

vikingqueef , 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago)

Funding and arming a genocide and actively vetoing the rest of the world calling for an end to the genocide = flawed?

Flawed is all you would describe that as?

vikingqueef , 2 months ago

Joe Biden had a disapproval rating of 55% before Oct 7th. He wasn't doing well before Israel's retaliation and he is doing worse now. I don't think its really all the fault of progressives protesting in a primary.

https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-BIDEN/POLL/nmopagnqapa/

vikingqueef , 2 months ago

Flawed now means being a genocide enabler? What happened to the good ol days when flawed meant something benign, like cheating on a test, or your wife.

vikingqueef , 2 months ago

I imagine your parents had to pay for birth cert, SSN if you are in US, record of birth, etc. Just gets rolled into the $500k bill you get when having a kid.

vikingqueef , 2 months ago

I admit i exaggerated it a bit. I think its more like 80k to 150k depending on where and what sort of care is needed for either mother or child. I mean if you have insurance most of this is covered and you just pay deductible etc. I don't think you can like be garnished for it in most cases but it can affect your credit and hard.
The 2350to renounce citizenship is cited in the link I provided in the top of this thread, I didn't exaggerate that at all.

vikingqueef OP , 2 months ago

the whole plan is to get him over here and then kill him or let him die of neglect.

vikingqueef , 2 months ago

Looks like a canadian on dead tour