and place where is the workers are working and doing the one-on-one peer organizing and build building. it goes back to that, a trusted messenger, and another latina worker who comes the you in spanish to explain the value of the union and what it will mean for you and your family, boom, you are in. that is what it is about and not about going to back to what we used to do, but applying to a new demographic. and also, this argument that alicia is talking about, but why a value to pay the fast food workers more. some people think it is a 17-year-old with the summer job and it does not matter what they are being paid, but it is supplementing the household income, a nd how do we start changing the narrative or unions start changing the narrative so that we understand what unions do for all americans. well sh, i think they one ofe
time to bridge the new and the old and create a model that is not just lame duck session and right to work proof, but sustainable and inclusive. joining us at the table is marc steiner host of the marc steiner show, and founder of the emerging media, and cynthia menend menendez and ed who is active in labor for over 40 years. ed, having looked at that history, is this glass half full or not? well, i would look at it half full, because i am biased. if you think about it, we have gone through 30 years where the workers have faced nothing but suppression of how the whole system is running. what unions do is to defend what people have. when you get into one of the periods where everything is being re-organized, we will play catchup, and the truth is in our
for the labor movement, well, that may be the understatement of the year. let s take a quick review of some of the events that made headlines. in june, wisconsin unions were dealt a blow when efforts to recall anti-union governor scott walker failed. ally labors launched an extensive campaign but no match for the deep pockets of walker s donors. in september, chicago s teachers went on strike for the first time in 25 years. while they did get a pay raise they had to make concession like longer school days. and walmart organizers began to strike for holidays. and there was also michigan passing a right to work and making them the 24th state with such laws. the events of this year can leave anyone with mixed feelings and uncertainty about the future of organized labor, but that is looking at the glass half empty
starting points is to really understand, you know, as we have been talking about the demographics of the people in the unions and what they are paid, and also the hidden costs that are accrued for the american people, and families on food stamps and families who cannot pay for their own basics, and instead of the company actually, you know, standing up and saying that we are going to pay you a living wage, the american people pay a backend wage or backend wage supplement. once we understand that we are in it one way or another, it is a living wage from our tax dollars to supplement a wage that you can t live on and then we understand more that it is not a when if they get paid less, and lose if they get paid more situation. it is a stake in people having a living wage. jonathan, the last one on this,situation.
history, we have trailed behind the changes in capital, if you will, by 25 or 30 or 50 years sometimes so what we saw this year is the beginning where the workers are figuring it out, $8 is not something that you have to accept, and disempowerment in the workplace is not something that you have to move along from one place to place with one low wage job to another and accept what it s. an old fashioned notion is new enagain, real wages and real jobs and respect and dignity on the job. that respect question is where the working people and their community-based organizations, they have been making this fight as immigrants, low-wage worker fworkers for a long time and the unions are partnering up. and the potential longshoreman strike that was just averted, and marc, you were talking about the trailing of capital and on the one hand we live in a new world where people have different information-based jobs and then you realize, and