What Boots might discover, when approaching a traditional union with the proposition that they fight for a $15/hour wage for Walmart workers, is that he will be listened to politely and then the organizers will start trying to manage down his expectations.
The KPFA segment on OWS as means of bypassing legal and contractual limits on strikes and secondary boycotts by having a non-union entity do the organizing omitted to mention that these type of organizations pre-date OWS. There are labor-aligned non-profits that actively seek to circumvent the restrictions on unions by organizing actions by union members outside the formal hierarchy of the unions they belong to.
I guess the question is whether OWS is an informal version of these alternative organizations, or if these alternatives and OWS are a new kind of union.
On 12/17/11 6:13 AM, Charles Turner wrote:
>> From the twitter stream of @BootsRiley, 12/16/2011:
>
>
> Mayor Quan sez she plans to get rid of crime (drug sales&related
> violence) in Oakland by havin cops arrest more ppl.
>
> That's been the status quo for half a century in Oakland
>
> That and asking ppl to "Stop The Violence", etc
>
> However, #OccupyOakland is fighting 4 higher wages and better housing,
> which will eliminate the NEED for selling dope in the 1st place.
>
> Crime is not the problem. Poverty is the problem. Mayor Quan is not
> the problem either. Capitalism is.
>
> When dope dealers get areested they don't even have enuf
> money4adequate legal defense. It's a low-paid job.
>
> Most dope dealers on street wld gladly take a $15/hr job instead of
> sellin dope. How do I kno? Yrs of askin dope dealers.
>
> Fast food corps and places like walmart&walgreens culd pay $15/hr and
> still make billions. #OccupyOakland culd make that happen.
>
> I think that, in Oakland, $15 an hour is the number that would work.
>
> In the past workers at Walmart& fast food who tried to unionize have
> gotten fired due to that activity. #OccupyOakland culd protect those
>
> workers with the threat of shutting them down if they fire the workers.
>
> If we made a fast food workers union, we could focus on one chain in
> Oakland and squeeze it til the corporation renegotiated its deal with
>
> the franchises in order to allow them the ability to pay workers more.
> McD's culdnt pull out of Oakland&leave the market to BK,4instance.
>
> (@alxsm if drugs were legal, dope dealing would b a high paying job
> that Black folks couldnt have.)
>
> @SoulCollabBeats They wouldn't be risking their jobs, cuz
> #Occupyoakland wld back them up.
>
> @adamzilla yes. We'd have to hold out long enuf to make corporations
> re-negotiate w franchise owners.
>
> The point being, w the numbers #OccupyOakland can pull, we can help
> workers get higher wages in jobs where theyd usually get fired4trying.
>
> We can shut places down if they fire workers4fighting4higher wages.
> This wuld set a precedent for class struggle throughout the US.
>
> An #OWS organized fast food workers union w an eye on eventually
> dismantling the system is something that culd b duplicated all over
> US.
>
> Something like that would multiply #OWS movement numbers several times
> over and [t]each lessons on class analysis to millions at the same
> time.
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>