The Revolution Continues blog is news, views, opinion and other expressions of hope from a leftist point-of-view. (We are not affiliated with any candidate, political party or organization. All are welcome.)
Showing posts with label $15 minimum wage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label $15 minimum wage. Show all posts
I'll give you all I've got to give If you say you love me too I may not have a lot to give But what I've got I'll give to you I don't care too much for money Money can't buy me love –Paul McCartney & John Lennon
The
Beatles are more than the greatest pop group in history. They are the
proletariat’s philosophers. Their catchy song lyrics often express deep
truths that aren’t easily ignored. Their 1964 hit Can’t Buy Me Love is still a favorite of many.
Wonder
why? Could it be because it’s true? Sure, money can buy all the
accouterments of love, but it can’t buy the real deal. One has to earn another person’s love and respect or else… It’s not really love, now is it?
The same could be said for buying votes.
Kamala Harris spent upwards of $1 billion dollars
on her ill-fated “Joy” campaign. She still owes some $20 million to her
campaign workers and some of the celebrities she bribed to endorse her.
Beyonce’s asking price was $10 million—and that didn’t even include her
giving a concert, which was a huge disappointment to the many fans who
came to a Harris event just to see Beyonce perform. Oprah Winfrey’s
production company had an asking price of a cool $1 million. That’s a
lot of incentive to “love” a candidate, isn’t it?
Did
giving tons of money to these celebrities truly earn their love and
respect for Harris? The Beatles had it right, don’t you think?
So, what did Harris get for her record-breaking spending spree on the campaign trail? Well, it didn’t get her the White House...
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Most
of us can remember our “first, real paying job.” For Americans,
we were most likely in high school, and a classmate mentioned to us
between classes how their boss was looking for more summer workers
and that we should apply and make some money. I had been babysitting
for our neighbors since I was about twelve years old, but it was very
hit and miss work, and there was a lot of competition on our street.
This was my chance to enter the “real paying job world” at age
sixteen. I road my bicycle a couple of miles from my home to
interview and got the gig. I worked a long,
hot and stormy summer standing
on my feet for eight hour shifts in
a soft-serve ice cream walk-up stand along Main Street and made the
huge sum of $1.25 per hour for about 32
hours of work per week.
Hard to believe $1.25 an hour was considered "good pay,"but that was the state’s minimum wage for “tipped employees” at
that time. All restaurant workers were paid that amount hourly. It didn’t
matter that we didn’t get tipped making ice cream cones for folks
who walked up to the window. We
were still
considered
“food service workers” and paid that lowly wage. I worked hard
that summer and ended up getting a raise—a
whole
$1.35 per hour.
Wow.
I thought I’d had it made.
The
next summer, a friend told me about a job working at a warehouse
clearance
sale
for a national franchised dress shop located in our local “mall,” a
newfangled place built on the east side of town and not located
downtown where a few of the big
department stores were
still
to be found. I
was
overjoyed
when I heard what this job paid—a whole $2.35 an hour! It was the
federal minimum wage. It was what older people made working similar
jobs, so I really felt like an adult at age seventeen. Even though I
spent a lot on clothes with my employee discount of 10% off that
summer, I saved a bit of money that I later used to get ready for
college.
Almost a
half century and many jobs later, the federal minimum wage hasn’t moved
upward all that much when adjusted for inflation. For the past
fourteen years, the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25.
But
why? Corporate profits are up practically across the board or so we’re told
on the nightly news. CEOs get huge bonus packages. “Bidenomics is working,” neoliberals insist.
What’s wrong with us if we’re struggling to get by in the midst
of all this “booming economy” we’re told exists in the US
today?
Maybe
it’s not us who are wrong about the reality of our situations.
Consider
this:
The
federal minimum wage in the United States would be more than $42 an
hour today if it rose at the same rate as the average Wall Street
bonus over the past four decades, according to an analysis
… by the Institute for Policy Studies.
Citing newly released data
from the New York State Comptroller, IPS noted that the average Wall
Street bonus has increased by 1,165% since 1985, not adjusted for
inflation.
Last year, the average cash
bonus paid to Wall Street employees was $176,700—75% higher than in
2008 but slightly lower than the 2021 level of $240,400.
The federal minimum wage,
meanwhile, has been completely stagnant since 2009, when it was
bumped
up to $7.25 from $5.15. While many
states and localities have approved substantial pay increases in
recent years, 20
states have kept their hourly wage floors at the federal minimum.
So,
where’s our $42 per hour? I
guess it’s in
the same place where
our $600 went when we were promised $2,000 COVID relief checks when
Biden took office, but
we
only
received $1,400, right?
What’s
a working stiff in the US to do? We
can’t even afford to rent an apartment anywhere in the fifty states working
full-time hours (if you can get them) at $7.25 an hour. There have
been talks and protests centered around raising
the federal minimum wage to
$15
an hour, but
can anyone even afford to rent a decent place to live on that amount?
It’s doubtful. Not
even a $25 minimum wage can help a family rent a home in many cities.
American
workers
do have one
powerful option, but it’s rarely been discussed since Reagan took
office. We have the
ability to strike—if we’re not forbidden
to do so by federal law, such as the case with railroad
workers or air traffic controllers, that is. But so many Americans have been
brainwashed into thinking that a strike will cost them their job and
their health insurance, so they simply won’t
consider
it.
Are
Americans cowards? Not necessarily. I’d say we’re realists. We
know
we have
no safety nets like workers
in other
countries who
are blessed with
universal health care and universal basic income or "UBI" payments. With
no way to provide for our families without our lousy paying jobs,
we’d
best stay put and put up with the harsh treatment of the bosses.
But
are strikes really all that risky for workers? Where
did we get this idea that we the working class are essentially powerless and only billionaires can get what they want? Consider
this:
The
Teamsters Union and UPS have reached a tentative
agreement
on a new contract to cover the 340,000 Teamsters who work for the
package shipping giant.
According to a statement
released by the union, the new contract is “the most historic
tentative agreement for workers in the history of UPS,” promising
wage increases, an end to the two-tier wage system, new air
conditioning in vehicles, Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a full
company holiday, and more.
In the days and weeks to
come, members will debate the pros and cons of the proposal as
thousands of UPS Teamsters vote on whether to ratify the contract.
But one thing seems undeniable: Any significant gains won by
Teamsters against a reluctant employer will have come about because
rank-and-file workers showed the company that they were prepared to
strike.
I
put
that last sentence in italics for emphasis. It bears repeating: Any
significant gains won by Teamsters against a reluctant employer will
have come about because rank-and-file workers showed the company that
they were prepared to strike.
Rank-and-file
workers actually have power? Yes,
we do!
Even the possibility of a strike can motivate a reluctant employer to
sit down and discuss the workers’ grievances and demands. And
if push comes to shove, the workers walk out and give the employers
even more to worry about as the company's profits take a hit and its reputation as being a fair and honest employer is thrown into the dumpster.
Fourteen
years of a stagnant federal minimum wage (with no maximum
wage for billionaires set) and no universal health coverage for all Americans should be a wake up call even for the sleepiest of workers.
Our government doesn’t work for us, the people, but for those who
already have more than enough wealth and power and obviously don’t
give care one bit about how many workers can’t even afford to rent an
apartment or put food on the table for their families. Our government
doesn’t care if we or our loved ones get sick, and we have no way
to afford medical care other than to beg strangers for donations via
GoFundMe.
Face
it, America. It’s time to lose the blind loyalty to both your
employers
and to
our
government. They
don’t have our best interests at heart. And we have the power to
make them see things our way—strike!
RBN's Labor Organizing Summit Part 2 Livestream -- featuring Kshama Sawant. I sat on a panel with other Green Party members and former presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein. (It starts at approx. 3:02 and the video should start there.) Hear what I and other Greens have to say about the labor situation in the US currently. (The answer to many of our troubles is to "Go West!")
Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog: The Little Red Book of Revolution
How can you get your e-copy? The easiest way is to subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack as a paying subscriber. Choose what level you'd like to subscribe at via the buttons on any post online at: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com
Martin Luther King Jr. Day was extremely cold and snowy here, causing cancellation of many events, but the "fire" of the slain civil rights activist lives on! Let's follow in Dr. King's footsteps and tackle the challenges that lie ahead of us with the same passion and dedication he did. We're all in this together. This week we take a look at the economic, ecological and social injustices that Dr. King fought over fifty years ago and that we're still fighting today. The more things change... Or do they?
Taking On The Ten Year Challenge by C.A. Matthews
I've never been much for following the
crowd, but I do like challenges. So, when everyone on Facebook started posting a photo
of herself from ten years ago alongside one from today, I ignored it.
Why? Well, to me it's not much of a challenge.
I can't turn back time and magically become the person I was ten years ago, so
why torture people who've become my friends recently with a photo of a person they
could never hope to meet? They've got to put up with me the way I am today. I don't
want them to regret not meeting me earlier--or worse, wishing they had and then
walked away.
But when people began posting before-and-after
pictures contrasting once verdant landscapes with their now-denuded appearance,
I began to see the usefulness of the ten year challenge. It's good to compare
an image of a pristine forest with the strip-mined mud pit it's become. It's a
wake-up call that gets you thinking: How
could it have come to this? The simplest answer is, of course: We're greedy, selfish human beings who don't
care what we're doing to our fellow humans and Mother Earth as long as we get
what we want out of it.
The same could be said of the before-and-after
memes of American drug prices and the federal minimum wage. You're not imagining things--medicine
costs have risen astronomically in the US while real wages have stagnated over
the past decade. So, why have we let it come to this? Are ordinary Americans "greedy" and
"selfish" and don't care what they're doing to each other and our
planet as long as they get what they want out of it?
It could be argued that ordinary Americans
are indeed all those negative things, but it could also be argued the current
system of government that our society functions under encourages these types of
destructive behaviors. Some would argue our system of government practically mandates these actions. Until we
eliminate our governmental system or vastly modify it, it will continue to promote Earth's destruction
in resource and land grabs and the twin travesties of price-gouging and labor-devaluing.
Perhaps it's time all Americans take on
the ten year challenge, first in our local communities, then in our
states, regions and then the nation as a whole. I feel we need to go back a few
more decades and probe even deeper in our comparisons. What was life like for average people thirty years ago? Sixty years ago? One hundred?
While there's no doubt we've all
benefited from recent advances in science and technology, let's seriously
consider this question: Have all Americans
benefited equally from these
advances? If they haven't, then ask yourself the following: Why are only a
handful of Americans benefiting from these advances? Why do we allow only a handful to benefit from
these advances when so many lives could be saved and the country as a whole
could become healthier, happier and more prosperous if these advances were
available to all, regardless of class, race, gender
or income?
At the end of the day, there is really
only one challenge, one question that needs answering: Why do we not simply show compassion to our fellow human beings and the
world that shelters and nourishes all humankind?
If your answer to that question is, "Because
you can't get rich that way," then you have demonstrated what the problem truly
is and how to tackle it.
I believe humanity's challenge for the next ten
years is the dismantling of the destructive system of
late-stage capitalism and the artificial economic system it creates that
prohibits the equitable distribution of life-sustaining necessities such as
food, clean water, clothing, shelter and medicine.
Will the end of capitalism bring
about the end of this evil called "money"
and put to death the class system that degrades most and elevates only a few
based simply on their bank account balance? Will it create a Star Trek-like semi-utopian society
where all people are valued and their physical needs met so they're able to develop fully into the human beings they want to become? I sincerely hope
so.
Until that day, keep challenging your
thought processes--and others'--with intelligent comparisons of how our lives were
then, how they are now, and what they could become. Think about positive ways to bring about those changes and how to meet the obstacles you'll encounter along the way.
You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope one day you'll join us, and the world will live as one. --John Lennon
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Twenty-eight days into the longest government shutdown in U.S. history,
millions of Americans are struggling without a paycheck, and nine
federal departments and agencies are mostly shuttered.
But that hasn’t stopped President Trump from bringing Interior
Department employees back to work — without pay — to push ahead with
plans for expanding oil and gas drilling along our coasts and on our
public lands, including in the Arctic.
The Trump administration just released a draft Environmental Impact
Statement that, if approved, would bring the administration and its
fossil fuel allies one big step closer to tearing open the Arctic
Refuge’s pristine, publicly-owned land for fossil fuel extraction.
But before they can do that, the administration must accept public comments on this assessment — so we need your help to mobilize a massive outcry today.
Often called “America’s Serengeti”, the Arctic Refuge in Alaska is the
largest unspoiled wildlife refuge in America. It’s a haven for iconic
wildlife like Porcupine caribou and imperiled polar bears, vital to the
culture and survival of the region’s Gwich’in people, and ground zero
for climate change.
Moving forward with these reckless plans in the middle of a
government shutdown means that the future of this cherished refuge is
being jeopardized in the dark, with little public oversight.
We can’t allow this administration to open the heart of our greatest wildland to destruction by the fossil fuel industry. If we don’t act now, lease sales for drilling in the Refuge could begin this year.
NRDC is on the frontlines fighting to save the Arctic Refuge and so many
more of our cherished public lands and waters from the Trump
administration’s relentless attacks — in court, in Washington, and in
communities like yours.
In fact, we're in federal court right now fighting to block
Trump and his oil industry allies’ attempts to illegally authorize oil
drilling in the Beaufort Sea, which sits right off the coast of the
Arctic Refuge. An oil spill there could devastate the Refuge,
blanketing its sensitive coastline with a deadly slick of toxic crude
that would be functionally impossible to clean up.
And we’re keeping watch for an expected Trump administration
announcement any day now about a potentially massive expansion of
offshore drilling along nearly all of America’s coastlines, including
along the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts.
Here’s the bottom line: The Arctic Refuge belongs to us — and this fight for our land requires a show of massive public resistance that the Trump administration can’t ignore.
Many people think women are already protected by the United States
Constitution — after all, many other countries have constitutional
protections for women — but the US does not!
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the US
Constitution that guarantees women's rights, unlike laws which can
expire or be changed. The ERA fell just three states short of ratification in 1982, which is why so many Americans think we already have it. We do not!
In March 2017, Nevada surprised the nation and was the first state in
over 30 years to ratify the ERA. In May of 2018 Illinois followed suit. We need just one more state to make history. And that state could be Virginia.
The ratification resolution just passed in the Virginia Senate, but its fate in the House chamber remains unclear. Despite
support for ratification on both sides of the aisle, House Speaker Kirk
Cox is refusing to bring the ERA to the floor for a vote. So the constitutional rights of all American women are essentially riding on the whims of one man.
Donald
Trump’s Department of the Interior is trying to gut a crucial
protection for transparency in our government. It wants to make it even
harder or impossible for people like you and me to gather information
about troublesome land sales, backdoor drilling deals, and any other
shady tactics between Big Oil, Big Ag, and corporate cronies in the
Trump Administration.
The
agency wants to make drastic and likely illegal changes to the rules
for requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act. This is
a blatant rejection of transparency and democracy. It begs the question
-- what could they be hiding?
So we need you to raise your voice and protect the Freedom of Information Act. Can we count on your support?
The
proposed changes would make requesting information from DOI much more
difficult, and in many cases impossible. In one fell swoop, DOI is
aiming to give itself unilateral decision-making power about what
information is made public. This would be a huge blow to the power of
grassroots movements and everyday citizens to hold Trump’s political
appointees accountable for their cozy relationship with Big Oil.
In
short, this is a likely illegal proposal that would make it easier for
the Trump Administration to hide its corruption and conflicts of
interest.
The
good news is, DOI is required to seek public input into the changes. So
we need the help of progressives like you to stop them.
Government
transparency is a bedrock of democracy. But time and again, Trump’s
Administration has proven it doesn't care about the rights of everyday
citizens like you and me -- it only cares about furthering the interests
of big corporations.
The
Freedom of Information Act has been a key tool for holding the
government accountable. It helped expose how the mining industry
influenced Ryan Zinke’s conversations about handing over parts of Bears
Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante to Big Oil.
Now,
this crucial tool against government corruption is in danger. If the
new FOIA regulations are implemented, the ability to protect our public
lands and waters from Big Oil's drilling, Big Ag, and further
environmental destruction will be threatened. But with your help, we can
stop this abysmal misuse of power. Will you show the corrupt Trump
Administration that you will not stand for the degradation of democratic
rights and government transparency?
