There is a group in Chicago called Chicago Arise. It is mainly church and community people. Yesterday they had a day of action. It was part of a day of action of similar groups in 35 other US cities. This day of action was against what these groups call "wage theft. The University of Illinois, Chicago, Center for Economic Development, (UIC) estimates that $7.3 million is stolen every week from workers in Cook County alone. Approximately 5 million people live in Cook County. UIC bases its estimate on workers not being paid the minimum wage, not being paid overtime and just flat out not being paid for work they do. All these are illegal. This is a staggering figure. According to these people one worker alone is owed $5,000 in back wages and did not have a day off in 12 weeks. No wonder the rich in the country are as the Wall Street Journal puts it is "awash with cash." The demo here yesterday went to this worker's boss and got $1,000 cash out of him. Not all he was owed but a start.
Our blog here campaigns for a $15.00 minimum wage or a $5.00 wage increase whichever is the greater. We think this is the way to approach this crime. Build a movement of mass direct action to stop the wage theft and for a living minimum wage. Identify the employers who are stealing the wages. Then mobilize to expose them. Not just by demonstrations outside their businesses, yes this, but identify them and bring it to the attention of all who have connections with them that these bosses are engaged in illegal activity and in vicious exploitation of the poorest working people. Take this information into all union locals and workplaces, but also and crucially into all the neighboring workforces, the neighborhoods where these people live, the businesses they frequent, stores, gas stations, electrical, gas, communications, the churches they attend,and so on, and call on workers in these industries and locations not to do any work for or not to consort in any way with these criminal bosses. Our action must be to totally cut them off. To boycott them. To isolate them. If they are going to exploit the working class in this way then let us make sure that they get nothing from the working class. This can build a movement of working people and isolate these criminals and win back the workers pay.
In the 1880's there was a movement for the eight hour day. Eight hour day committees were set up all over the US and a campaign and movement was built. Today we should set up "Stop the Theft of Wages Committees" / "$15.00 minimum wage committees, /$5.00 an hour wage Increase Committees and build a movement around these demands. for a $15.00 an hour. These would still be meagre wages. But they are a step forward from what is and they would build a movement on which we could build an even greater movement. At the same time as we build this campaign we should organize the unorganized into democratic combative trade unions.
4 comments:
Excellent example of the 8 hour working day. We should remember that when these brave men and women fought for that, open class struggle was still in its infancy, they had to organise and fight on their own feet, for themselves. That's what we need to do as well. No boss will give us what we demand and deserve, union bureaucrats will not fight for us, we must do it for ourselves, we need to take back our struggle!
Isn't stop the theft of wages sowing illusions in the working class as wages are theft? I have read some of the blogs on this site that points out that workers are paid less in value than what they produce.
This makes sense to me but just asking.
Workers families need good wages so badly. We need first and foremost,give our kids the best education possible. It is simply not right to turn wonderful little kids into victims of greed. A fair wage for a hard productive days work should be a basic human right.
I have to admit that I know very few idealistic people. Most people I know seem to think it's ok for the filthy rich to have more and more money. Its the people that have nothing that will rise up and protest. There are more and more of these people in the world.
The lust for money has always destroyed great civilizations . Why could we possibly think that it wont destroy ours
I guess my answer to your question anon would be that we are socialists, we do not believe that capitalism can be reformed, be made nice. It is an exploitive system just like feudalism or slavery.
But as socialists it is important to fight fight for every drop of blood we can get from these bastards and also to defend what we have won in the past.
The other important thing is that when workers move in to struggle we move not directly to revolutionary conclusions, the need to change the system, but to make it better. It is through the struggle to make it better that we draw the conclusions that we have to change it entirely and revolutionaries can assist in this process.
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