politics for the 99%

Published on Worker’s Action, by Shamus Coke, Feb 24, 2014.

… And although Sawant has been assured by the Seattle mayor that $15 is a done deal, she’s warning the Seattle public otherwise. Sawant recently spoke at a conference organized by the coalition “$15 Now,” and blasted the intrigue of the mayor’s committee set up to implement the new wage. Sawant knows the inner workings of the committee because she’s on it.

Sawant’s speech warned Seattle that the Seattle 1% are plotting a counter-offensive, aimed at undermining $15 by adding a variety of exceptions, loopholes, and extending the implementation time. In response Sawant demanded “$15 now, no exceptions.” The “$15 Now” coalition is staying on the offensive, going into the neighborhoods to ensure that $15 is implemented — they’ve given the Mayor’s committee a deadline and are preparing to organize a ballot initiative if necessary. 

The demand of a $15 minimum wage has crept into the national consciousness, beginning as a national campaign by SEIU to organize fast food workers under the demand of “$15 and a union.” And although SEIU has since pulled back from the $15 demand, Sawant and others are seizing the moment, having realized the inherently powerful potential of $15, which has become an inspirational rallying cry that the U.S. working class hasn’t experienced in decades.

Now another mayoral candidate, Dan Siegel in Oakland, CA, has wisely jumped on the $15 bandwagon. And just as his campaign was gaining steam, a coalition of labor and community groups sucked the air out his demand for $15: “Lift Up Oakland” recently came out in favor of a $12.25 minimum wage (?!).

Instead of using the Siegel mayoral campaign to boost the local labor movement, some unions chose to make concessions before they even got to the bargaining table; they didn’t wait for the 1% to try to water down $15, they took the initiative themselves. Either “Lift Up Oakland” doesn’t believe $15 is achievable — in which case they should visit Seattle — or there is another, even worse logic at play.

One key reason labor unions haven’t been able to inspire their members —let alone the broader working class — is their insistence on making demands that are acceptable to the Democratic Party. This pragmatic approach to politics has been suicidal for the labor movement, and forgets a fundamental law of working class politics: the vast majority of working people only became active in politics when they are inspired — $15 inspires, $12.25 now falls flat.

Even flatter was Obama’s flaccid attempt to head off the gaining momentum of $15 an hour on the national stage, when he took the “radical” action of issuing an Executive Order that decreed federal contract workers will get paid $10.10 an hour — on new contracts issued in the future.

The Democrats are now opportunistically preparing for mid-term elections by morphing into the party that wants to raise the minimum wage to $10.10. But they have zero intention of actually implementing it. Once these Democrats get elected they’ll simply blame the Republicans for blocking the effort, and since $10.10 is so bland, nobody will mobilize in D.C. to pressure Congress to act (nor will the Democrats ask people to mobilize). The whole sleazy ordeal will eventually fade from memory, like the pile of other promises Obama and the Democrats have spewed during campaign season and that were left to rot afterwards.

With inequality already beyond comprehension and the labor movement suffering defeat after defeat, you’d imagine that unions would accept $15 as a gift-wrapped campaign sent from the heavens. Instead they’re hiding from this revelation, seemingly terrified.

If all workers made $15, the leverage of unions at the bargaining table would increase exponentially. If unions organized campaigns nationwide for $15 they’d win the support and admiration of the broader working class, who would then join unions by the hundreds of thousands — a labor movement on life support would receive a massive injection of oxygen … //

… (full text).

Links:

Democracy Murdered By Protest: Ukraine Falls To Intrigue and Violence, on Global Research.ca, by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, Feb 24, 2014;

Brazil presses EU for progress on undersea cable to circumvent US spying, on Russia Today RT, Feb 24, 2014;

Congressmen fear NSA leaks will end data sharing among allies,  on Russia Today RT, Dec 16, 2013.