And, if you were reading the chapter in the book, Base Nation, that I'm on at
the moment, you'd be overwhelmed by the billions spent on all our military
bases, on the military contractors who do what our military used to do, only
much more expensively, and by how the bases are set up to attract our volunteer
service people and keep them happy with gourmet food, luxuries from home, and
imported prostitutes to keep our boys happy.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: Carl Jarvis [mailto:carjar82@xxxxxxxxx] ;
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2016 6:23 PM
To: Miriam Vieni
Subject: Fwd: [blind-democracy] Low-wage workers demand $15 and a union
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Carl Jarvis <carjar82@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2016 09:38:40 -0700
Subject: Re: [blind-democracy] Low-wage workers demand $15 and a union
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
On 6/1/16, Carl Jarvis <carjar82@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
What Americans need is a Universal Income. Every adult would receive
a set amount, and every child would receive an income based upon their
age.
Can we afford such a thing as a Universal Income? The answer is
linked to whether or not we include *All Americans in supporting this
concept. Certainly there is enough money. But as we know, most of
our labor goes into off-shore banks and other holding companies. In
addition to supporting the bloated 1%, we workers also support a
highly inflated military program. This program is putting billions of
American's tax dollars in the pockets of the Military/Industrial
complex. In a word, Boeing. Another word, General Electric.
Check those two corporations out and see how much they are paying in taxes.
So without a doubt, the money is there. We just need to stand
together and take it back. It's not robbery, since it came from the
sweat of our brows in the first place. And while we are debating
Universal Income, let's toss in Universal Education. Free schooling
for our children,. either in academic or vocational school. Free to
the students. Paid for with the money being returned by the
International and American corporations currently stealing it from us.
And another thought. How about Universal Health coverage. Shouldn't
we all be entitled to the same medical care as our Corporate 1%
Corporate Rulers receive?
Another thing we can afford to do is to provide decent Elder Care.
I'm fed up with walking into convalescent centers that stink of feces
and old urine, and the few employees(being paid wage minimum) who are
running about, trying to do the job of three persons. Our elders
deserve dignity in their final days. Most of them carried our nation
through a great depression and a world war, raised their families and
paid their taxes...the same taxes being stolen and hoarded by those
bloated 1%ers.
We might even round off things by bringing our troops home, closing
most of those oversea military posts, and putting the boys and girls
in uniform to the task of rebuilding our slums, highways, bridges,
public parks, national forests and parks, and in general, making our
nation a Garden of Eden, from Sea to Shining Sea..for All Americans.
.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/1/16, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
https://socialistaction.org/2016/05/31/low-wage-workers-demand-15-and
-a-union/
Low-wage workers demand $15 and a union
/ 24 hours ago
June 2016 Fight 15 (2)
By WILLIAM WOOD
— CHICAGO — Despite a torrential downpour and thunderstorms, more
than 2000 low-wage workers and supporters marched up 22nd St. in Oak
Brook, Ill., to the McDonald’s national headquarters on May 25 to
demand a $15 minimum wage and union rights. The company’s annual
shareholders’
meeting was held there the following day.
Earlier, several hundred low-wage workers and supporters rallied
outside Chicago’s Rock N’ Roll McDonald’s restaurant to kick off two
days of protests. Many participants were striking McDonald’s workers.
This is the third straight year that a major Fight for $15
demonstration was held at a McDonald’s shareholders meeting. As they
did last year, anticipating a large crowd of militant protesters,
McDonald’s executives shut down the entire Oak Brook campus, telling
employees to stay home for the day.
The action was organized by Fight for $15 groups around the country,
and supported by Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Many
workers came from the Chicago area, while buses brought others from
cities around the country, including Milwaukee, St. Louis,
Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Columbus, Ohio, Memphis,
Tenn., and Little Rock, Ark.
Tyree Johnson, 48, a Chicago McDonald’s worker and Fight for $15
organizer, explained: “I’m living in poverty after 24 years.” He
earned
$4.25 when he took his job in 1992 and now makes only $10 an hour
doing the same work he was assigned when he started.
Another participant was Shaun Goodwin, 38, from Little Rock, Ark.
Goodwin, a McDonald’s worker for two years and making $8.50 per hour,
told labor news website Progress Illinois: “We’re trying to get $15
and a union. Fifteen dollars is a livable wage.” Noting that a $15
minimum wage equals roughly $31,000 per year, which happens to be the
average cost of keeping a federal inmate in prison for one year, he asked:
“You’re saying I’m more valuable to the country incarcerated than I
am working?”
Many low-wage workers from outside the fast-food industry attended
the protest, and other supporters included contingents from SEIU, the
United Steelworkers Union, the Chicago Teachers Union, American
Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, and Black Lives Matter.
Antoinette Brown, 62, a janitor from St. Louis, works full time at
minimum wage. She told the Chicago Tribune: “We really need to make
more money. … My husband is disabled, and it’s hard to make it
between his check and mine. … It shouldn’t be harder now when I’m 62.”
Despite the nasty weather, hundreds of low-wage workers continued
their protest and camped out overnight in a “tent city” of about 200
tents outside McDonald’s headquarters. They held another rally there
the following day as corporate executives and shareholders gathered
for their annual meeting.
In response to pressure from past protests, McDonald’s made a slight
change to its salary structure prior to its 2015 annual meeting,
increasing wages for restaurant workers about $1. However, this
change only applies to “company-owned” (non-franchise) restaurants.
Ninety percent of McDonald’s stores are franchise-owned, so the vast
majority of its employees did not benefit from even this token wage increase.
McDonald’s has claimed that they are not responsible for salaries of
franchise-owned stores. However, the National Labor Relations Board
has ruled otherwise, saying the corporate headquarters does have liability.
A court case is pending on this issue, which may have an impact on
unionization efforts and wage negotiations.
Eater.com, reporting on the discussion inside the shareholders’
meeting, said there was “much back-and-forth between shareholders
arguing in favor of—and against—minimum wage increases.” Sriram
Madhusoodanan, an activist with Corporate Accountability
International, told the shareholders that McDonald’s “bankrolls the
National Restaurant Association—the largest anti-worker lobby in the
country” and “spends billions, all while miring workers in poverty.”
On the other hand, Justin Danhof, General Counsel for the National
Center for Public Policy Research, representing one of its executives
who is a McDonald’s shareholder, said McDonald’s shouldn’t support
“individuals and organizations that would tax and regulate McDonald’s
out of existence.”
Eater.com reported: “Danhof argued that the company ‘crowed about
increasing wages’ at a shareholder meeting last year, but the [wage]
increase [given in 2015] did nothing to deter protesters. … ‘Look—the
barbarians are back at the gate demanding more. They saw it as a sign
of weakness which they could exploit.’”
It’s clear that Fight for $15 organizing and mass protests are
bringing pressure to bear on McDonald’s. Also, the movement has won
some gains this year with statewide decisions to increase the minimum
wage in New York and California. However, these decisions raise wages
very gradually over multiple years, and include various opt-out
provisions that could nullify future wage increases.
What’s necessary is an unequivocal call for $15 Now! Certainly, much
more needs to be done to build a movement that can win. In addition
to fast-food workers, the movement needs to continue to expand
efforts nationally to draw in the wide range of other low-wage
workers, including home-care and health-care workers, service
industry workers, factory workers, airport ramp workers, logistics
and warehouse workers, laborers, and a host of others. This involves
uniting forces within the U.S. labor movement in an aggressive drive
to unionize unorganized workers across a number of industries.
Photo: Fight for 15
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May 31, 2016 in Chicago, Labor. Tags: 15 Now, Fight for 15,
McDonald's, SEIU
Related posts
May 2016 Chicago $15
Fight for $15 in Chicago
McDonald’s workers win legal victories
April 15: Huge protest by low-wage workers
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