Chuck Grimes wrote:
We, the working class make our labor scarce. We do this with strikes, slowdowns, walk outs, sick ins, and accompany these with demands for higher wages, single payer healthcare, shorter work weeks, shorter work days, and demand a national level social safety net for us. Scarcity drives up the price of labor. We make our demands, or else we shut down the economy. **************
Spoken like a good Wobbly.
********
You also wrote:
Part of the problem of mobilizing any group of working people is their own lack of understanding of what the realities are for them. They see themselves as powerless. ***************
Workers *are* powerless as long as they remain unorganised. Organising as a class is the way to get the most power and, with that, to attain confidence. Generating an nderstanding what the realities of wage-slavery are involves things like putting out literature, speaking to workers and giving them access to democratic organising possibilities. I'll be doing that at a meeting of Perth Praxis this weekend.
http://perthpraxis.blogspot.com/
We Wobs in Perth were passing out this leaflet text on May Day (graphics excluded here). Four workers lined up with the IWW.
***********************************
"A shorter workday for all employed workers would put thousands of unemployed to work. If everybody worked, there would be no poverty."---IWW's 'Little Red Songbook'
May Day marks the beginning of the class struggle of wage workers to limit their working day to 8 hours. It’s been over 100 years since workers began this important fight, yet today we work more than ever. As we all know, 10 and 12 hour shifts are commonplace today and unpaid overtime has become a fact of life.* At the same time, massive layoffs are occurring and the threat of increasing levels of unemployment is creating great anxiety amongst family members.
Employers make massive profits by overworking one section of the working class, while using the unemployed section of the workers to force down wages and threaten effective collective bargaining by your unions.
Did you know that you pay for your daily wage within the first 2 hours of work? That’s how productive you and your mates are as a class. The other 6 to 10 hours of your day’s productivity goes towards costs and profits for the employing classes.**
So what can we do?
Well, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in Australia are agitating for a shorter work day, just like workers did before the original May Day. This is not only better for workers lives, but it could create full employment overnight, which would kill the effects of the current financial crisis on workers.
If all workers worked 4 hours per day they could still claim the same wage as they do now, because that money is made in producing goods and services which are worth that much on the market in the first 2 hours of their labour. The other two or more hours of wealth could go to their employers. The benefit of shorter working hours is that it would oblige employers to hire more of the unemployed and it would enhance the quality of life for working people in that they’d be able to spend more quality time with family, and/or in recreation and relaxation, while still enjoying a decent living wage. Our productivity has increased by leaps and bounds since the first May Day in 1886. After more than 120 years, we should take our cue from those workers who came before us and who demanded the eight hour day. On this May Day, we should begin to fight for the four hour day with no cut in pay.
Check us out...Get wise. Organise! ________________________________________________________________________ * “A survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that almost three million of the country's eight million employees regularly work extra hours and most do not get paid for it.
* ”http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/05/30/1937880.htm
**The productivity of the Australian working class increases on an average of 2.9% a year.
http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/83868/chapter01.pdf
One Big Union, Mike B)
*********************************************************************** http://www.iww.org.au/ Skype: mike.ballard66
Enjoy a safer web experience. Upgrade to the new Internet Explorer 8 optimised for Yahoo!7. Get it now.