Cop unions explictly exempted. Minor thing but always worth mentioning every time.
Republican, lib, or whatever the fuck these Nazis are, when they come for the unions they always make sure to leave alone the 'union' that busts unions.
Just a head's up, anyone not on instagram can't see any of that.
You need to have an account and be logged in. Given the politics of the people who own those platforms, a lot of people on your side won't ever see what you're posting
Having that stuff posted to an independent website you own will help visibility as well as keep Zuck from being able to shut you down with one bad faith compliant.
Its called a "dark pattern" because it tricks dopes.
Never got on any of that social crap. If people look at "profiles" instead of the actual images posted by those profiles to this image-only social media site, well, I guess I'm a weird corner case.
Its very very weird when people cape for someone as malevolent as Mark Zuckerberg and the service that is fundamentally a bad actor in society even before it got degraded to the point it regularly crams the feed with hardcore gore or creepy AI porn for hours at a time till they get control of their own system again.
Weird in real life. Gross as hell in explicitly leftists spaces like this one.
Yea sorry to be mean but as someone who has been on the left and into indie scenes its alternately depressing, isolating, and infuriating that all the people most at risk of:
Having their work and art stolen or displaced by shitheads give it away (there's no way Insta doesn't own copyright to anything you post, before you even think about AI crawlers or the kinda meme thieves who used to be big in the teens)
Being targeted by nazis, misogyinsts, cops you name it all put their shit in one big bucket owned by a bad man explicitly opposed to everything they believe in who is quite explicit about how its shared with cops and or censored in discriminatory, opaque and unappealable ways
Losing access to the commons letting their skills decay or never developing them (literally EVERYONE on the internet until like 2006 knew a little bit about html/javascript. You had to! And its not hard!). A slick front end like Insta or square space versus a shit-looking web 1.0 frontend is absolutely not worth having no options if you get rug pulled.
Being isolated broken up and harassed putting all their stuff solely in a walled garden that excludes anyone serious enough about all that shit we say we care about regarding radicalization, silicon valley's pervasive negative influence, etc to not get on these sites.
Its just such an ugly mess and its going to take a lot of people getting busted and sent to El Salvador before people (and honestly Xers and zoomers are the absolute worst at this. Millenials remember the before times, and no Boomer can expose themselves to the internet without going instantly insane so all left Boomers are by definition not on socials) realize that this was a big fucking mistake functionally mailing all their agitprop, event planning, and networks of associates to the cops.
And yea, I know all about the shitheads in charge of substack. I wish people would get off this platform the same way many prominent leftists already have. Its literally Blogspot plus a payment front end. This site is the definition of "replacement level". All I can say is I take what precautions I can.
All I can say, as both a retired union organizer then a union representative for a big pub sector union, is strikes are our only real power, . Admit it
Waiting to hear from the national union presidents that threw all in with the Dems for nothing in return….easpecislly the big public sector unions… like afscme
If you think backing trump in the election would have saved unions you are sadly mistaken. He is throwing all his retired supporters under the bus by cutting social security workers. There were tons of MAGA union workers wondering why they are being sacrificed by him for the greater good of projecting 2025. The plan that specifically went after the federal government and unions. He has no loyalty to anyone other than himself and his family.
I never understood why anybody accepts the idea that certain unions are barred from striking. No matter what the law says, labor always has the power to withhold their labor. Acting as if oppressive laws are legitimate is just voluntarily giving up our power.
Unionized workers and their supporters should take to the streets. And the Teamsters should be confronted with the question as to why the president of their union spoke to the Republican Convention and in effect endorsed the Orange Man for President. As stated in Hamilton's essay it is now clear, if it was not before. that the current administration is the enemy of all working people and the unions that represent them. The Teamsters should be called upon to lead the way in a public, and disruptive, acknowledgement of this.
I'm getting old and I belong to three unions, all of which have been Godsends to their members, but suddenly a rich- boy fraud, who is getting his orders from someone--hmmm- who is telling him to destroy everything--like Social Security and Unions--that will help the American people. This would be known as treason in any other time in our history, but now Trump is "above the law "and certainly has shown that he HATES AMERICA AND ITS PEOPLE. Where are the people who can stop this? Certainly not the Democrats, God forbid, or the idiots who are sure that Robert Kennedy, Jr. cares about their children, or the courts or---anybody?? I guess it's up to us. Where to start?
It is up to us. As a retiree, and a proud union member who walked the picket line, I’m ready to put on my marching shoes, pick up my sign and join fellow labor unions in solidarity.
This includes my job. I'm going to fight while and where I can but I'm also making hasty arrangements to get my family the fuck out of this country, as it's only too clear where this is headed and it's hard to imagine a united front opposition coming together in time to stop it.
Good read Hamilton. I agree that our backs are against the wall now. Only large scale resistance/fighting will do any good now. It's so outrageous how they treat people like bank accounts just cancel them at will. A general strike with the unions involved is all that's left. Fight!
The other worst thing Trump did to unions was eliminating telework. Half our union contract is telework agreement, and this caused our agency head to unilaterally violate our CBA by terminating all our agreements. Our union head, unfortunately, hasn't done jack and squat, so now the entire CBA is going to go. At least the AFGE is going to bat by taking the administration to court.
One person suggested getting politicians to come out and say that *federal workers striking would be a reasonable response,* in order to make the road to striking (illegally) a little easier for them. Not a bad thing to ask for, for people who aren't in unions. Also generally just getting whatever non-union orgs you're involved in aligned with unions in your area, letting them know you will stand with them.
Be prepared to participate in local demonstrations, and be willing to call in etc on a day or days of national actions. Be careful and thoughtful about who you vote for…
I am more than willing to help any labor union or group of workers. I do political cartoons, illustrations and photos and make all my work available for free. You can check out my work at my Substack: DeMOCKracy.ink
Hamilton - just got off an organizing call from the Federal Union Network across several federal unions with multiple speakers from other unions, with a capstone by Liz Shuler. The ask was to turn out as many people for events on April 5 as possible. Any chance you could do a post on this?
This week DOGE also shut down the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services, which provided independent mediators to solve labor disputes. FMCS is responsible for negotiating ongoing labor disputes so there are fewer stoppages and more collective bargaining agreements ... but now the Trump administration has pulled the plug on the people best equipped to ensure collective bargaining works. It is an extremely dark time.
Just yesterday I heard the Autoworkers Union expressing public support for Trump’s tariffs on imported automobiles because “something something spur consumption of domestic vehicles” meanwhile I’m thinking of the Honda plant in Jim Jordan’s district, rural Ohio, endlessly exploiting a socially and economically disadvantaged employed base while the Autoworkers Union does nothing to organize the plant
Where do a lot of the parts come from? Seems like many are misinformed about how tariffs work. He's building a wall around America as If every other country is our enemy.
Spot on. Though at least the boxer who may lose after fighting chalks one up in the loss column and lives to fight another day. Here, the boxer is exiled from fighting and the matches are suspended indefinitely as the victor just keeps circling the ring, holding their belt aloft, encouraging the adulation of a crowd that will be forced to empty their pockets upon leaving the arena.
I was thinking about how the reality would match the analogy if the person in the ring didn't actually train to be a boxer, didn't sign up to fight, but was just going about their business, respecting the rule of law, keeping up their end of things at their job and then all the things you say happen after the fight.
He's coming after anyone and everything that doesn't support a rich, white male's agenda that he can profit from. The next "Enemy of the State" will be anyone that's ever said anything against him. Be it a Democrat or a Late Night Comedian. He's coming for all of us and he doesn't care who he takes down with him. He has nothing to lose. If he had actually lost the election (which he most likely did) he'd be on his way to jail right now
Yes he lost the election. Musk paid for his “win” and was rewarded with his “bro” post. Musk was even bragging about it (“the big surprise”) before thrump “won”. And yes, he should be on his way to prison. And hopefully will be, once things have a chance to straighten themselves out.
Cop unions explictly exempted. Minor thing but always worth mentioning every time.
Republican, lib, or whatever the fuck these Nazis are, when they come for the unions they always make sure to leave alone the 'union' that busts unions.
Jeezy creezy. Thanks but this is why I
1. Rarely post
2. Mostly post on blogs no one reads
3. Only post things everyone disagrees with
Now I gotta figure out substack settings to mute notifications, god damnit
@seiudropcop
https://www.instagram.com/seiudropcop?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Just a head's up, anyone not on instagram can't see any of that.
You need to have an account and be logged in. Given the politics of the people who own those platforms, a lot of people on your side won't ever see what you're posting
Having that stuff posted to an independent website you own will help visibility as well as keep Zuck from being able to shut you down with one bad faith compliant.
But I can guess what its about, good for you.
You can still see instagram profiles without having an account or being logged in. I just did it.
Click on literally any thumbnail dude.
Its called a "dark pattern" because it tricks dopes.
Never got on any of that social crap. If people look at "profiles" instead of the actual images posted by those profiles to this image-only social media site, well, I guess I'm a weird corner case.
Fair point. I retract my comment.
Its very very weird when people cape for someone as malevolent as Mark Zuckerberg and the service that is fundamentally a bad actor in society even before it got degraded to the point it regularly crams the feed with hardcore gore or creepy AI porn for hours at a time till they get control of their own system again.
Weird in real life. Gross as hell in explicitly leftists spaces like this one.
I agree the platform is trash and everyone should stop using it. Just saying you're able to view the link.
Yea sorry to be mean but as someone who has been on the left and into indie scenes its alternately depressing, isolating, and infuriating that all the people most at risk of:
Having their work and art stolen or displaced by shitheads give it away (there's no way Insta doesn't own copyright to anything you post, before you even think about AI crawlers or the kinda meme thieves who used to be big in the teens)
Being targeted by nazis, misogyinsts, cops you name it all put their shit in one big bucket owned by a bad man explicitly opposed to everything they believe in who is quite explicit about how its shared with cops and or censored in discriminatory, opaque and unappealable ways
Losing access to the commons letting their skills decay or never developing them (literally EVERYONE on the internet until like 2006 knew a little bit about html/javascript. You had to! And its not hard!). A slick front end like Insta or square space versus a shit-looking web 1.0 frontend is absolutely not worth having no options if you get rug pulled.
Being isolated broken up and harassed putting all their stuff solely in a walled garden that excludes anyone serious enough about all that shit we say we care about regarding radicalization, silicon valley's pervasive negative influence, etc to not get on these sites.
Its just such an ugly mess and its going to take a lot of people getting busted and sent to El Salvador before people (and honestly Xers and zoomers are the absolute worst at this. Millenials remember the before times, and no Boomer can expose themselves to the internet without going instantly insane so all left Boomers are by definition not on socials) realize that this was a big fucking mistake functionally mailing all their agitprop, event planning, and networks of associates to the cops.
And yea, I know all about the shitheads in charge of substack. I wish people would get off this platform the same way many prominent leftists already have. Its literally Blogspot plus a payment front end. This site is the definition of "replacement level". All I can say is I take what precautions I can.
All I can say, as both a retired union organizer then a union representative for a big pub sector union, is strikes are our only real power, . Admit it
Waiting to hear from the national union presidents that threw all in with the Dems for nothing in return….easpecislly the big public sector unions… like afscme
If you think backing trump in the election would have saved unions you are sadly mistaken. He is throwing all his retired supporters under the bus by cutting social security workers. There were tons of MAGA union workers wondering why they are being sacrificed by him for the greater good of projecting 2025. The plan that specifically went after the federal government and unions. He has no loyalty to anyone other than himself and his family.
Literally no one but you mentioned backing Trump.
Lighten up on that strawman already.
I agree. Solidarity.
There should be no such thing as an illegal labor strike. That is like one side in a war legislating that the other side is not allowed to resist.
I never understood why anybody accepts the idea that certain unions are barred from striking. No matter what the law says, labor always has the power to withhold their labor. Acting as if oppressive laws are legitimate is just voluntarily giving up our power.
Sounds like a clarion call for a “sick out”.
Unionized workers and their supporters should take to the streets. And the Teamsters should be confronted with the question as to why the president of their union spoke to the Republican Convention and in effect endorsed the Orange Man for President. As stated in Hamilton's essay it is now clear, if it was not before. that the current administration is the enemy of all working people and the unions that represent them. The Teamsters should be called upon to lead the way in a public, and disruptive, acknowledgement of this.
Hear! Hear!
I'm getting old and I belong to three unions, all of which have been Godsends to their members, but suddenly a rich- boy fraud, who is getting his orders from someone--hmmm- who is telling him to destroy everything--like Social Security and Unions--that will help the American people. This would be known as treason in any other time in our history, but now Trump is "above the law "and certainly has shown that he HATES AMERICA AND ITS PEOPLE. Where are the people who can stop this? Certainly not the Democrats, God forbid, or the idiots who are sure that Robert Kennedy, Jr. cares about their children, or the courts or---anybody?? I guess it's up to us. Where to start?
It is up to us. As a retiree, and a proud union member who walked the picket line, I’m ready to put on my marching shoes, pick up my sign and join fellow labor unions in solidarity.
This includes my job. I'm going to fight while and where I can but I'm also making hasty arrangements to get my family the fuck out of this country, as it's only too clear where this is headed and it's hard to imagine a united front opposition coming together in time to stop it.
Democracy is NOT a spectator sport.
💥💥💥 DONT MISS THIS!!! “Hands Off” 🧨🧨🧨
🙋♂️🙋♀️🙋♂️ Gigantic nationwide demonstration! 🙋♂️🙋♀️🙋♂️
Saturday April 5 National “Hands Off” Day of Action
on the National Mall and 657 local demonstrations
Click this link to find a “Hands Off” demonstration near you.
https://handsoff2025.com/
I’ll be at the local one. Please do the same.
Good read Hamilton. I agree that our backs are against the wall now. Only large scale resistance/fighting will do any good now. It's so outrageous how they treat people like bank accounts just cancel them at will. A general strike with the unions involved is all that's left. Fight!
The other worst thing Trump did to unions was eliminating telework. Half our union contract is telework agreement, and this caused our agency head to unilaterally violate our CBA by terminating all our agreements. Our union head, unfortunately, hasn't done jack and squat, so now the entire CBA is going to go. At least the AFGE is going to bat by taking the administration to court.
Is there anything, Hamilton, that those of us not in unions can do right this minute?
One person suggested getting politicians to come out and say that *federal workers striking would be a reasonable response,* in order to make the road to striking (illegally) a little easier for them. Not a bad thing to ask for, for people who aren't in unions. Also generally just getting whatever non-union orgs you're involved in aligned with unions in your area, letting them know you will stand with them.
Also everyone can sign up here to be the list for rapid response actions supporting fed workers:
https://actionnetwork.org/forms/pledge-to-defend/
Join DSA. Join union pickets and other actions as a supporter. Join the "Tesla Takedown" protests.
Be prepared to participate in local demonstrations, and be willing to call in etc on a day or days of national actions. Be careful and thoughtful about who you vote for…
I am more than willing to help any labor union or group of workers. I do political cartoons, illustrations and photos and make all my work available for free. You can check out my work at my Substack: DeMOCKracy.ink
You can link here: https://mark192.substack.com/
Hamilton - just got off an organizing call from the Federal Union Network across several federal unions with multiple speakers from other unions, with a capstone by Liz Shuler. The ask was to turn out as many people for events on April 5 as possible. Any chance you could do a post on this?
This week DOGE also shut down the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services, which provided independent mediators to solve labor disputes. FMCS is responsible for negotiating ongoing labor disputes so there are fewer stoppages and more collective bargaining agreements ... but now the Trump administration has pulled the plug on the people best equipped to ensure collective bargaining works. It is an extremely dark time.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/mar/26/doge-labor-agency-fmcs-trump-order?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Just yesterday I heard the Autoworkers Union expressing public support for Trump’s tariffs on imported automobiles because “something something spur consumption of domestic vehicles” meanwhile I’m thinking of the Honda plant in Jim Jordan’s district, rural Ohio, endlessly exploiting a socially and economically disadvantaged employed base while the Autoworkers Union does nothing to organize the plant
Just horrific, totally only for themselves…
Where do a lot of the parts come from? Seems like many are misinformed about how tariffs work. He's building a wall around America as If every other country is our enemy.
Spot on. Though at least the boxer who may lose after fighting chalks one up in the loss column and lives to fight another day. Here, the boxer is exiled from fighting and the matches are suspended indefinitely as the victor just keeps circling the ring, holding their belt aloft, encouraging the adulation of a crowd that will be forced to empty their pockets upon leaving the arena.
I was thinking about how the reality would match the analogy if the person in the ring didn't actually train to be a boxer, didn't sign up to fight, but was just going about their business, respecting the rule of law, keeping up their end of things at their job and then all the things you say happen after the fight.
He's coming after anyone and everything that doesn't support a rich, white male's agenda that he can profit from. The next "Enemy of the State" will be anyone that's ever said anything against him. Be it a Democrat or a Late Night Comedian. He's coming for all of us and he doesn't care who he takes down with him. He has nothing to lose. If he had actually lost the election (which he most likely did) he'd be on his way to jail right now
Yes he lost the election. Musk paid for his “win” and was rewarded with his “bro” post. Musk was even bragging about it (“the big surprise”) before thrump “won”. And yes, he should be on his way to prison. And hopefully will be, once things have a chance to straighten themselves out.