Tag: Workers

Labor Day 2019

Today we Americans celebrate what passes for Labor Day……we go about BBQ and beer and games and seldom remember that the brave people a hundred years ago had to fight for the benefits that Americans take for granted today.

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So as a service to my readers I give them a history of the labor movement….

The labor movement in the United States grew out of the need to protect the common interest of workers. For those in the industrial sector, organized labor unions fought for better wages, reasonable hours and safer working conditions. The labor movement led efforts to stop child labor, give health benefits and provide aid to workers who were injured or retired.

The origins of the labor movement lay in the formative years of the American nation, when a free wage-labor market emerged in the artisan trades late in the colonial period. The earliest recorded strike occurred in 1768 when New York journeymen tailors protested a wage reduction. The formation of the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers (shoemakers) in Philadelphia in 1794 marks the beginning of sustained trade union organization among American workers. 

https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/labor

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Labor strikes?  When was the very first labor strike in history?

The most important cultural value in ancient Egypt was harmony; known to the Egyptians as ma’at. Ma’at was the concept of universal, communal, and personal balance which allowed for the world to function as it should according to the will of the gods. Throughout most of Egypt’s history this belief served the culture well. The king’s primary duty was to uphold ma’at and maintain balance between the people and their gods. In doing so, he needed to make sure that all of those below him were well cared for, that the borders were secure, and that rites and rituals were performed according to the accepted tradition. All of these considerations provided for the good of the people and the land as the king’s mandate meant that everyone had a job and knew their place in the hierarchy of society.

At certain times, however, the king found it difficult to maintain this harmony due to the press of circumstance and a lack of resources. This situation is clearly apparent toward the end of each of the three periods known as “kingdoms” and sometimes during but an especially interesting incident during the New Kingdom (c. 1570- c.1069 BCE) stands out because it occurred before the actual decline of New Kingdom power and, according to some scholars, marks the beginning of the end: the first labor strike in recorded history.

https://www.ancient.eu/article/1089/the-first-labor-strike-in-history/

Labor is a subject I like to keep my knowledge flowing…… for back years ago I was a labor organizer for the IWW……so I give you some of the songs from the past labor fights…..enjoy some tunes.

Finally Americans are starting to wake up to how damn important the labor movement is as well as unions…..

Sixty-four percent of Americans approve of labor unions, surpassing 60% for the third consecutive year and up 16 percentage points from its 2009 low point. This comes 125 years after President Grover Cleveland signed a law establishing the Labor Day holiday after a period of labor unrest in the U.S.

Union approval averaged 68% between Gallup’s initial measurement in 1936 and 1967, and consistently exceeded 60% during that time. Since 1967, approval has been 10 points lower on average, and has only occasionally surpassed 60%. The current 64% reading is one of the highest union approval ratings Gallup has recorded over the past 50 years, topped only in March 1999 (66%), August 1999 (65%) and August 2003 (65%) surveys.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/265916/labor-day-turns-125-union-approval-near-year-high.aspx

I hope everyone has a good day enjoy family, food and fun….Be well and Be safe!

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Please take some time out of your day’s activities to remember those that were and are in the path of Hurricane Dorian…..

cone graphic

This will be my only post for the day…..As Always Be Well, Be Safe……

Learn Stuff!

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

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Closing Thought–28Aug19

We hear from our beloved monarch that our manufacturing sector is doing well and that we will be opening 6 or 7 news steel mills soon.

He spent all day Tweeting his ass off about the Fed and manufacturing……..according to His Majesty our manufacturing is doing really well.

But just how well is our manufacturing really doing?

Trump has long claimed that he and his policies would be a boon to workers, especially blue-collar ones. But since he became president, over 716,000 American workers have received pink slips from their employers as jobs are eliminated and plants close.

“716,341 workers have been notified of plant closings and layoffs,” American Bridge 21st Century said in a statement on Wednesday, citing their analysis of the publicly available information.

The numbers may actually be worse, since several states — Arkansas, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and Wyoming — haven’t provided data.

https://shareblue.com/over-716000-plant-workers-lost-jobs-us-trump/

Just lots of lies or as we say the Trump spin…..which means nothing out of his mouth is truthful.

Keep this in mind as you prepare to vote.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

VOTE!

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

May Day–2019

Closing Thought–01May19

Today is the International Day of the Worker……he world with the exception of the US will celebrate the worker and his/her contribution to society….the US has to be different and ours is in September….

Knowing me as you do…I must offer some clarification and some history….(it is in my nature)…….

To help my readers with the history of this day I will post a couple of short videos……

As a closing question……who was the first person to use the term….”workers of the world unite”  (oh Hell use Google if you must)…………

I hope that my reader has learned something…..

Learn Stuff!

Class Dismissed!

Chipping The Workers!

I am a dog person and I love my friends so I have them micro-chipped so they can be quickly identified and they can be returned home in the shortest space of time safely.

Look at that face!

It is wonderful technology……but only it used properly.

But would you consider being micro-chipped by your employer?

The prospect of UK firms implanting their staff with microchips in order to improve security and efficiency has raised concerns among trade unions.

Several legal and financial firms in the UK are reportedly in discussions with a company responsible for fitting thousands of people with chips in Scandinavia.

The chips, which are about the size of a grain of rice, are usually implanted beneath the skin between the thumb and forefinger and use radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to allow people to replace physical key cards, IDs and even train tickets.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/microchip-uk-workers-employees-privacy-bioteq-biohax-cbi-tuc-trade-union-a8629656.html

Personally, I do not want my employer chipping me….that would give they way too much control over my life….a control that they want to possess.

Anyone else have a thought on this?

Then I shall say TTFN…be well. be safe……chuq

Closing Thought–10Sep18

Strike!

Something that is not in the news much these days….a labor strike.  Seems that the industry that may benefit most from Our Dear Leader’s tariffs is the steel industry and they may go on strike……

US Steel workers are fired up and ready to strike if a new contract isn’t reached soon, the Times of Northwest Indiana reports. Workers for the Pittsburgh-based company voted nationwide this week to approve a strike if talks involving health care costs, retiree benefits, and wage increases don’t work out—at a time when their employer is apparently rolling in money. “Angry USW members conducted strike authorization meetings at each US Steel local over the past week,” the United Steelworkers said in a statement to workers, adding that there was “an overwhelming ‘yes’ vote in every local. Many locals reported that their results were unanimous.” A three-year US Steel contract for roughly 16,000 USW workers ran out Saturday.

Don Furko, president of USW Local 1557 in Clairton, Pa., says workers are pushing back at a time when President Trump’s policies are benefitting US Steel: “Between the tariffs and the tax break for corporations, they stand to make $2 billion this year,” he tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. US Steel says it’s offering workers profit-sharing of at least $6,000, a signing bonus of $4,000, wage increases starting at 4%, a 15-cent hourly increase to 401(k) retirement plans, and a one-time $5,000 health-care bonus. But Farko says workers still have too many out-of-pocket health care costs for family coverage. The pro-strike vote surprised steel-industry sources, says the Post-Gazette. There hasn’t been a US Steel work stoppage since the company locked out workers for six months in 1986.

As an old labor activist it is good to see the workers taking control once again.  No matter the outcome…..the workers are asserting themselves once again…..but the “Man” will make sure this goes nowhere.

Will the National Guard be called in to “break” any strike….

But the gauzy, halcyon portrait of the New Deal does not stand up to the reality of the Little Steel Strike of 1937 that is the subject of Ahmed White’s magisterial The Last Great Strike: Little Steel, the CIO, and the Struggle for Labor Rights in New Deal America that I discussed in a previous CounterPunch article focused on identity politics and the racism endured by Black steelworkers. For those new to the topic, “little” refers to the group of companies that blocked the CIO from organizing its workers, as opposed to US Steel, the “big” company that had they had come to terms with in March 1937. Little Steel consisted of Republic Steel Corporation, Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company and Inland Steel Company. Despite being called “little” in comparison to US Steel, each ranked among the hundred largest firms in America

https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/23/fdr-and-the-little-steel-strike/

Would Our Dear Leader call out the Guard to break a strike?

Economic News Round-up

Economics is one of those subjects that when it is mentioned most people glaze over….they could care less about the term as long as they are making money they are happy…..that is until someone mentions socialism then they have an opinion…..usually it is not well informed but it is an opinion.

I try to help my readers understand a wide array of subjects and I try to keep them as simple as possible so they can be understood.

In his attempt to “Make America Great Again” our Dear Leader has started with imposing tariffs on our biggest competitors…..and these tariffs are starting to effect our farmers…..

New trade data provides tangible evidence that some elements of President Trump’s trade wars are backfiring.

Prices for agricultural exports fell 5.3% in July, the biggest drop since 2011. The price of soybeans fell 14.1%, accounting for most of the overall drop. There were also small declines in the price of corn, wheat, fruit and nut exports. Overall export prices fell 0.5%, the biggest drop in more than a year, with agriculture causing most of the decline.

Beginning July 6, China imposed 25% tariffs on a variety of American agricultural products, including soybeans, corn, poultry and pork. Tariffs are a tax that instantly raise the cost of the targeted product, so $100 of soybeans would cost $125 with China’s 25% tariff. The tariffs have led some purchasers in China to cancel orders for U.S. agricultural products and seek cheaper commodities from other nations not subject to the new tariffs. Diminished demand pushes down prices and lowers farmers’ incomes.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trumps-trade-war-starting-hurt-us-farmers-184608387.html

How long will his tariffs plug away at our farmers?

Almost daily reports are to the people that the markets are setting new highs and corporate earnings are up and unemployment is hitting new lows and…….

But does that mean everything is alright?

The Lamestream Fake News Lyin’ Media is often accused of never reporting the good news when it comes to Donald Trump, American president. So here are some fair tidings: the stock market is mostly up! So are corporate earnings! GDP growth is strong! Unemployment is near historic lows! That includes black unemployment, although the president mostly uses the stat as a cudgel against accurate assessments of his rhetoric on race!

Now, it’s important to keep in mind that these findings are actually continuations of longstanding trends that began a few years into the Obama administration. Take the S&P 500:

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a22716745/donald-trump-economy-real-wages-stock-market-unemployment/

Wages is the big problem……while CEOs are raking in historically high bonuses and incomes the normal worker is not making the same ….their wages are stagnant and have been for decades…..

Some say the US is overdue for another “market correction”……

Economists debate, inconclusively, this question: Do economic expansions die of old age (the current one began in June 2009) or are they slain by big events or bad policies? What is known is that all expansions end. God, a wit has warned, is going to come down and pull civilization over for speeding. When He, or something, decides that today’s expansion, currently in its 111th month (approaching twice the 58-month average length of post-1945 expansions), has gone on long enough, the contraction probably will begin with the annual budget deficit exceeding $1 trillion.

The president’s Office of Management and Budget – not that there really is a meaningful budget getting actual management – projects that the deficit for fiscal year 2019, which begins in six weeks, will be $1.085 trillion. This is while the economy is, according to the economic historian in the Oval Office, “as good as it’s ever been, ever.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-08-21/america-overdue-another-economic-disaster

Capitalism is always just one “correction” away from disaster…….

It’s Vacation Time

July and August are the typical month that Americans take a vacation if they take one at all…….me?  No need to worry for I am on a permanent vacation….it is called retirement.

When I was working I seldom took any time off…..a workaholic…….but I read something that made me think about all this time off stuff…..

Life for the medieval peasant was certainly no picnic. His life was shadowed by fear of famine, disease and bursts of warfare. His diet and personal hygiene left much to be desired.

But despite his reputation as a miserable wretch, you might envy him one thing: his vacations.

Plowing and harvesting were backbreaking toil, but the peasant enjoyed anywhere from eight weeks to half the year off.

http://www.businessinsider.com/american-worker-less-vacation-medieval-peasant-2016-11

Let’s be honest most Americans cannot afford to take the time off……plus if married trying to get the spouses off at the same time is a bit of a juggling act.

But if you do get the stuff all in line and take a holiday to the beach then you might want to try a new bathing suit…..

We call this bikini “duct tape chic”

And now duct-tape bikinis have officially made their runaway debut. Yes, you read that correctly.

Last week, models took to the runway for fashion brand Black Tape Project to show off the experimental style.

As part of a Miami Swim Week show, the styles ranged from glitzy gold swimwear chic to the more obvious “I’ve wrapped myself in black duct tape” look.

But if donning tape instead of a conventional cossie wasn’t daring enough, let’s just say this style isn’t for the faint of heart.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/6788937/duct-tape-bikinis-catwalk-miami-swim-week/

I knew Duct Tape had many many uses….but as a bathing suit….that is a new one….Who Knew?

In a generation that thinks there is something wrong will all body hair the removal of the bikini would not be too painful…so there is that.

Thoughts?