According to an article posted on MSNBC, the UAW is taking on its biggest challenge in years. The union will attempt to organize auto plants in the U.S.owned by non-American manufacturers. It’s about time that the union reaches out to these workers. The article tries to claim that the workers might not want to be organized. That’s a great assumption, but it’s based on no evidence. The union will also have to fight laws that limit workers’ rights to organize. However, that’s a fight that should have been going on for several years now.
How do we know this article was posted on a corporate media website (“Lean Forward” Really?)? The subhead reads: “It’s a battle the union cannot afford to lose.” Sheer nonsense and fear mongering. What the union and working people cannot afford to do is lie down like a welcome mat as it has for decades. When we look at the way wealth has been distributed over the past 30 years, the message of the 99% should be pretty obvious: It’s our turn.
Related: In Huffington Post, Laura Clawson provides a chart comparing hourly wages of manufacturing workers throughout the world. U.S. manufacturing workers make an average of $34.74. German manufacturing workers make $43.76. In Norway the average rate is $57.53. These numbers tell an interesting story, and they have nothing to do with tax cuts or unicorn-like “job creators.”
