I was working for two companies in the 1980's that were involved in forming unions. The first time we won the vote to have a union. The company promptly closed its doors and quit. They changed their name and reopened in another state. The second time we lost the vote and the company found reasons to fire everyone involved in the organizing including me. Laws don't protect workers against these things or they're not enforced. It's definitely going to be a steep uphill battle for unions but well worth the fight to avoid complete annihilation . As always a great lucid read.
I’ve been saying for years that unions need to work together and support each other They are far stronger if they combine forces.
To see how unions shouldn’t behave or I should probably say union presidents look no further than the Sean O’Brien. Cosy-ing up to Republicans will not benefit the teamsters, it may benefit Sean O’Brien, but the teamsters themselves won’t be getting any benefits out of that relationship. I suspect many teamsters have already figured this out with UPS not only reneging on creating 25,000 jobs over the next 5 years per the new contract they’re also cutting an additional 20,00.
The recent victory over AC in Canada should provide at least a partial model for moving forward in that Carney pulled off his best Biden impersonation with attempts at strike breaking, the workers invited them to Fuck Right Off regarding RTW and other Unions had their backs.
The attached video tells the whole story with the stunned response from the head of Air Canada.
I won’t argue regarding your assertion that Biden was a “pro-labor” president though I feel that almost every action Biden performed was a theater production that primarily served the needs and desires of Finance and Capital while pretending toward the middle and working class.
I DO know that the Rail-workers I am familiar with completely remembered Biden and Kam’s self serving politically motivated strike busting right before the midterms and didn’t show up for any creature with a (D) next to their name.
That’s one thing with Labor…
Maybe not the most articulate crowd, but memories like fucking elephants.
Thanks again for your efforts on this topic. Well done.
Perhaps the hardest thing to grasp is that collapse doesn’t happen in institutions, but in people who stop believing they have power. Oligarchy is only the reflection of that inner surrender. If organizing does not return as a personal act of resistance, then the question is no longer politics, but survival itself.
100!!! We didn’t get into this overnight. The right wing have been playing the long game, and we need to do the same thing. That means doing the hard work, getting in front of people and convincing them, promoting our brands, and stop fighting with people who agree with us on most of the important things.
If the state is going to tear up your laws governing union behaviour, you may as well start over entirely, beginning with scrapping the unionization by individual firm model and going back to the general strike and sympathy strikes. The old model resulted in a long, slow death by a thousand cuts as the union movement got atomized into oblivion by the oldest oligarch strategy of them all — divide and conquer. You won’t get power unless you take it, and all the legal and political avenues have been slammed shut. Are there enough with the courage to sacrifice themselves in the coming civil conflict as those who came before you, or are you going to submit?
One of the reasons that unions were so easily busted was because members saw in many (not all, of course) the same tendencies as politicians & future oligachs: those at the top did ever better while pedestrian workers saw incremental gains.
What's needed in the immediate is a general strike. Hardships notwithstanding to the lower 90%, what will corporations and institutions (looking at youFAA with no Air Traffic Controllers) do if we shut it all down? No goods. No services. No movement. Off-grid helping one another but no commerce. Period.
How long do you think the oligarchs can last? Politicians?
Let's learn from the French who know how to shut it down to make seismic changes quickly. I mean, if we're throwing out the Constitution anyway, and this regime is, why not shut it down, call for immediate elections, and reboot? We can return to unions and scheduled elections later.
part of me wonders whether abolishing the NLRB might actually be beneficial for labor. The entire history of the NLRB is nothing but a constant decline for labor power. Settling things with lawyers and judges has been a mistake. We need to take it to the streets
Well unions do need certification and that isn't possible now with Chump firing a Democratic board member, basically nullifying the NLRB. I see your point though and agree.
Nolan writes: "Climbing out of the hole ... will require shifting that underlying balance of power away from the oligarchs and their allies, and back towards the rest of us."
Shifting power toward the rest of us requires a culture that sees value in Oneness--infinite value in every individual--which occurs when Ego is identified, side-lined, seen-through, and eradicated. Humans mature when we consciously choose to eradicate Ego similar to how children mature after baby-teeth fall out. An adult's life is not built on a strong Ego, but a strong Self.
Nothing will change until we value and understand sidelining Ego.
HJR-54. Withhold your vote from anyone who won’t co-sponsor or aggressively endorse. It’s a litmus test for anyone running for or holding office; a way to separate those who actually put workers first from the posers.
It can aid in creating enthusiasm in the movement building process towards a political end, and is the only way to overrule copious SCOTUS corporate-friendly precedents upon passage. Let’s walk and chew gum.
Information is power. Information has been used for 50 years against the middle class. Accurate and meaningful information would change the balance of power between the elite and the middle class. If workers organized around an Informed Citizens legislation, current and potential politicians would get behind it and leave MAGA, liberal, and conservative movements. Democracy is the greatest union of all if voters are organized around an approach that could change both our political and economic systems for good. See www.informedcitizens.com.
The union battles of yesteryear were bloody and ruthless. The workers will never get power back voting. Yes, the DNC is always happy to take union money but what do they for it? Labor always goes on the backburner unless there's an election coming. Unions must
A) become non-partisan
B) focus on members
C) pick their balls up off the floor.
The early strikes were hobo camps where the strikers looked communally. Think we still got that in us?
I was working for two companies in the 1980's that were involved in forming unions. The first time we won the vote to have a union. The company promptly closed its doors and quit. They changed their name and reopened in another state. The second time we lost the vote and the company found reasons to fire everyone involved in the organizing including me. Laws don't protect workers against these things or they're not enforced. It's definitely going to be a steep uphill battle for unions but well worth the fight to avoid complete annihilation . As always a great lucid read.
I’ve been saying for years that unions need to work together and support each other They are far stronger if they combine forces.
To see how unions shouldn’t behave or I should probably say union presidents look no further than the Sean O’Brien. Cosy-ing up to Republicans will not benefit the teamsters, it may benefit Sean O’Brien, but the teamsters themselves won’t be getting any benefits out of that relationship. I suspect many teamsters have already figured this out with UPS not only reneging on creating 25,000 jobs over the next 5 years per the new contract they’re also cutting an additional 20,00.
The recent victory over AC in Canada should provide at least a partial model for moving forward in that Carney pulled off his best Biden impersonation with attempts at strike breaking, the workers invited them to Fuck Right Off regarding RTW and other Unions had their backs.
The attached video tells the whole story with the stunned response from the head of Air Canada.
I won’t argue regarding your assertion that Biden was a “pro-labor” president though I feel that almost every action Biden performed was a theater production that primarily served the needs and desires of Finance and Capital while pretending toward the middle and working class.
I DO know that the Rail-workers I am familiar with completely remembered Biden and Kam’s self serving politically motivated strike busting right before the midterms and didn’t show up for any creature with a (D) next to their name.
That’s one thing with Labor…
Maybe not the most articulate crowd, but memories like fucking elephants.
Thanks again for your efforts on this topic. Well done.
https://youtu.be/TSM3owBmFhg?si=lUdp9owczRohjqiS
Perhaps the hardest thing to grasp is that collapse doesn’t happen in institutions, but in people who stop believing they have power. Oligarchy is only the reflection of that inner surrender. If organizing does not return as a personal act of resistance, then the question is no longer politics, but survival itself.
Once again, much gratitude for such clear truth-telling.
100!!! We didn’t get into this overnight. The right wing have been playing the long game, and we need to do the same thing. That means doing the hard work, getting in front of people and convincing them, promoting our brands, and stop fighting with people who agree with us on most of the important things.
If the state is going to tear up your laws governing union behaviour, you may as well start over entirely, beginning with scrapping the unionization by individual firm model and going back to the general strike and sympathy strikes. The old model resulted in a long, slow death by a thousand cuts as the union movement got atomized into oblivion by the oldest oligarch strategy of them all — divide and conquer. You won’t get power unless you take it, and all the legal and political avenues have been slammed shut. Are there enough with the courage to sacrifice themselves in the coming civil conflict as those who came before you, or are you going to submit?
time to shake off the doldrums -- the unfolding crisis only gets worse...
One of the reasons that unions were so easily busted was because members saw in many (not all, of course) the same tendencies as politicians & future oligachs: those at the top did ever better while pedestrian workers saw incremental gains.
What's needed in the immediate is a general strike. Hardships notwithstanding to the lower 90%, what will corporations and institutions (looking at youFAA with no Air Traffic Controllers) do if we shut it all down? No goods. No services. No movement. Off-grid helping one another but no commerce. Period.
How long do you think the oligarchs can last? Politicians?
Let's learn from the French who know how to shut it down to make seismic changes quickly. I mean, if we're throwing out the Constitution anyway, and this regime is, why not shut it down, call for immediate elections, and reboot? We can return to unions and scheduled elections later.
part of me wonders whether abolishing the NLRB might actually be beneficial for labor. The entire history of the NLRB is nothing but a constant decline for labor power. Settling things with lawyers and judges has been a mistake. We need to take it to the streets
Well unions do need certification and that isn't possible now with Chump firing a Democratic board member, basically nullifying the NLRB. I see your point though and agree.
Nolan writes: "Climbing out of the hole ... will require shifting that underlying balance of power away from the oligarchs and their allies, and back towards the rest of us."
Shifting power toward the rest of us requires a culture that sees value in Oneness--infinite value in every individual--which occurs when Ego is identified, side-lined, seen-through, and eradicated. Humans mature when we consciously choose to eradicate Ego similar to how children mature after baby-teeth fall out. An adult's life is not built on a strong Ego, but a strong Self.
Nothing will change until we value and understand sidelining Ego.
https://noegoodyssey.com/
HJR-54. Withhold your vote from anyone who won’t co-sponsor or aggressively endorse. It’s a litmus test for anyone running for or holding office; a way to separate those who actually put workers first from the posers.
It can aid in creating enthusiasm in the movement building process towards a political end, and is the only way to overrule copious SCOTUS corporate-friendly precedents upon passage. Let’s walk and chew gum.
That’s a double dose of reality today: good!
Information is power. Information has been used for 50 years against the middle class. Accurate and meaningful information would change the balance of power between the elite and the middle class. If workers organized around an Informed Citizens legislation, current and potential politicians would get behind it and leave MAGA, liberal, and conservative movements. Democracy is the greatest union of all if voters are organized around an approach that could change both our political and economic systems for good. See www.informedcitizens.com.
Worthless: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/opinion/trump-unions-labor.html
The union battles of yesteryear were bloody and ruthless. The workers will never get power back voting. Yes, the DNC is always happy to take union money but what do they for it? Labor always goes on the backburner unless there's an election coming. Unions must
A) become non-partisan
B) focus on members
C) pick their balls up off the floor.
The early strikes were hobo camps where the strikers looked communally. Think we still got that in us?