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Recent articles by Ed Olsen
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Recent Articles about North America / Mexico Workplace strugglesCinquième édition du bulletin régional Le Pic-Bois, "Pour en finir ave... Oct 24 15 A free film screening Apr 13 15 Professor Power! Educators Sock It To Anti-Union Retailer Oct 30 14 From a Plow Driver: An Open Letter To Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin north america / mexico |
workplace struggles |
non-anarchist press
 Saturday March 07, 2015 00:21 by Ed Olsen - Union Member
 I personally make just over $17 an hour, while the average wage of a plow driver is $38,000 a year. And yet you have made it clear that you will not tax the wealthy (like yourself) who can afford it to cover the budget gap which you created. But I do not expect you to necessarily understand the hardships you are asking us to suffer, as I am told you are personally worth ten million dollars. Maybe you don’t understand that taking $36 a paycheck out of my wages (which on average you are proposing for all plow drivers) is the difference between making or missing a mortgage payment, a utility bill, or buying a pair of shoes for the kids. Maybe you cannot understand. An Open Letter To Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin-Democrat; |
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The documentary Palikari: Louis Tikas and the Ludlow Massacre (2014, Nickos Ventouras) narrates one of the “bleakest and blackest” chapters in American labor history, the Ludlow Massacre.
Picket lines have returned to Insomnia Cookies, less than two weeks after the company settled with four workers who struck in August of 2013. On Friday March 14, two dozen union members and supporters rallied in front of the Boston location of Insomnia Cookies, demanding the reinstatement with back pay of union organizer and bicycle delivery “driver,” Tasia Edmonds. On March 9 the company suspended Edmonds without pay for a month, alleging insubordination, while the union maintains she was disciplined for her union-building efforts. Dylan's Candy Bar workers staged a lively rally outside the store's flagship location Wednesday night. Here is a look at the new campaign of the Portland Solidarity Network, and how their organizing format provides a new avenue for alternative labor. The IWW and members of Common Cause Toronto have been hitting the picket lines in support of striking refuelers employed by Porter Fixed Base Operations (FBO) at the Toronto Island airport. The strike has been bravely fought by a mere 22 workers fed up with unsafe working conditions and low wages.
I started the day feeling pessimistic about what would happen and even though on the whole, people came, yelled and then went home, I was a lot more encouraged by the days events than I thought I’d be. September 15, 2012 north american Day of Solidarity with Aussie Dominos Pizza Drivers. Arizona state employees’ unions were caught off guard this week with news that the state’s Republican-controlled Senate was passing a series of bills which, amongst other provisions, would completely ban unions from engaging in any negotiation which affects the terms of a person's employment with State, county or city government. [Italiano] W.S.A. Labor Commission US Labor Day Statement Workers report widespread illegal activity by company
This is an interesting interview with our comrade Miriam (M1 Detroit) on her history of “Industrialization” with her organization at the time the Revolutionary Socialist League. “Industrialization” was the term that the Left used to describe the strategy of getting mainly University and counter-culture youth activists to commit to point-of-production organizing in factories as part of the working-class. It was different than what is today known as “salting” – as “Industrialization” was not usually seen as a short-term stint around a specific campaign, but rather a long-term commitment to building a revolutionary presence in the class.
Direct action and workplace organization rather than legislation will end inequality
It has been over a month since the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) held their one-day protest of the provincial Liberal Party leadership convention, mobilizing some 15,000 people on the streets of Toronto and then sending them all home again around 4:00 PM. The protest was part of the trade union response to Bill 115, which enabled the provincial government to circumvent collective bargaining and mandate the terms of new “collective agreements”. [Italiano]
This is a report written by two IWW organizers from out of state on the activities of the union during the height of the protests in Madison and Wisconsin. The version is slightly modified from a text sent to the 2011 Delegate Convention and reflects the opinion of the authors.
When a revolutionary begins organizing in a shop, the first step is typically to agitate one's coworkers. In our minds we see a step-by-step process wherein our agitation leads to other opportunities, recruitment, committee building, until we have power and an organization. The problem is that for most workplaces, this way of thinking gives the wrong impression. In some workplaces, particularly in production, there's a state of constant agitation and actions burst out before committees ever get built. In other workplaces agitation just never seems to take hold. What do we do in these situations? What do we do when agitation takes years without much visible result, or in places where workers are clearly in the retreat or a passive state? more >>
The documentary Palikari: Louis Tikas and the Ludlow Massacre (2014, Nickos Ventouras) narrates one of the “bleakest and blackest” chapters in American labor history, the Ludlow Massacre.
Dylan's Candy Bar workers staged a lively rally outside the store's flagship location Wednesday night.
September 15, 2012 north american Day of Solidarity with Aussie Dominos Pizza Drivers.
W.S.A. Labor Commission US Labor Day Statement
Workers report widespread illegal activity by company |
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10The plow driver is RIGHT ON
I have to say that I wholeheartedly agree with the Plow Driver and let it be known Governor Shumlin I did not vote for you this time around nor will i do so again and this is just one of the reasons that being said maybe now you will understand why the vote for Governor was so close this time around.And if you need further insight about it let's just say the people of Vermont are tired of being Overtaxed and pushed out of our State while the rich get richer and the middle class and poor get poorer because of you and the 1 percenters.You Politicians need to wake up and listen or we are going to start voting your asses out of office.
I agree 100% with what this man said. If for one week you had to live off what the middle class people live on then maybe you would think different about your choices. Tax the wealthy more and maybe everyone could live as well. Us that really work for our money and keep you and the likes of you going do our jobs for pennies and I for one love my job but without us you wouldn't be where you are today. The next time you go into a store and see a man or woman running the register ask them if they are making enough money to feed their family or have enough to pay ALL their bills every month. I bet you 9 out of 10 will tell you they are struggling to make ends meet while you off on one of your many vacations that we as the working class has paid for yet we are lucky to be able to take just one vacation a year. Get your head out of your back side and do what you promised to do.
it's time for a Republican again !
Petition, Petition, Petition, This has to stop. Tax the Wealthy is the only way to go. This is how the rich stay rich, they sponge off the working class to send them into the poor house while they keep filling their own pockets. When all the hard working class are gone and only the wealthy ones are left in VT than who will they have to sponge off of and who will do the manual work? I can not see any pencil pushers doing manual work. It might give them a back ache. The wealthy ones need to start appreciating the fact that if it was not for the manual workers they would not be as wealthy as they are today. I love Vermont for it's beauty but the governor has made it a real ugly place to live right now.
I am an X Vermonter and intend to stay that way . The governor of your state only makes 150,000
a year . That seems pretty cheap too me . Why is it that when a person makes it and becomes weathy
In this country that allot of people think that they deserve the money that they earned . Mr Plow Driver
You are a plow driver ,because that is what you chose to do . The Govenor had more ambition then you
And that is why he is Governor. But you still think you deserve his money . I am not rich and don't believe that just because someone is rich , that I deserve there hard earned money . You vote Bernie Sanders in to office even year . I don't agree with hiim , But I don't deserve his money . He earned it because people like yourself, Mr Snowplow Driver , Voted for him . Do you think you deserve 60,000 year to drive a snow plow or 150,000 to drive a snowplow. People become successful because they want too . You Mr Snowplow Driver , As you say , If it ,were not for you . Mr Govenor ,would not make it ,to his 150,000 job . I commend you for doing your job, but don't agree you deserve someone else's money that you did not earn . You see Mr Snow Plow Driver , Your at the wrong part of the Pyramid . You need to be at the top , Then your going to have to stop being a snow plow driver . You see ,the world collapses when there are no wealthy people.
Unfortunately ,Not everyone is going to be weathy . So Mr Snow Plow Driver , You want more money ,work your way up . You live in a state that has the worst Herione traffic in the US . Help fix it and you live a state that has the laziest city in the US , Burlington Vermont . Do you understand what ,they mean by laziest city in the US . It is very easy to figure out , Welfare is the number one job in your state and people like you, Mr Snow Plow driver ,think you deserve rich people's money' that you did not earn . What can I say ,typical Vermont liberalism / Socialism . When I lived and grew up in Vermont , People worked and did not complain about how much someone else made . You want ,150,000 a year go earn it.
I agree with the last writer. I think we working class here in Vermont need not be expected to be supporting the non-workers of this state, the large part being the welfare system. I am in agreement that many people can use some assistance with groceries and fuel assistance but to be supporting a large population who do not work, or who flock here from other states because Vermont has the easiest welfare system is not why I go to work every day. Many of these welfare people have one child after another that they have no means of supporting but depend on the welfare system to support them. No one should get something for nothing. The old saying is"You get what you reap" What are we teaching this generation, that you can sit at home , smoke expensive cigarettes, have cell phones so you can text your buddies all day long, get all the free medical care without spending a dime, afford all the tattoos you want while we work. What is wrong with this picture. How many businesses in this state depend on foreign workers, agriculture, the hotels services, to get their work done while we have a large population on welfare who are perfectly capable of working. I recently heard from someone who came from out of state, that they moved up here because we had the most services available for their special needs kids. This is great if we were a wealthy state but we aren't and these expenses are reflected in our school budgets which are currently making our property taxes among the highest in the country. In Moneywatch 2014 Vermont ranked 7th in the ten highest states in the country.
Lets get the welfare system tightened up and keep out of staters from flocking up to take advantage up all our financial resourses whic in turn drive up our taxes which certainly rise up far more than our wages.
I agree with the last writer. I think we working class here in Vermont need not be expected to be supporting the non-workers of this state, the large part being the welfare system. I am in agreement that many people can use some assistance with groceries and fuel assistance but to be supporting a large population who do not work, or who flock here from other states because Vermont has the easiest welfare system is not why I go to work every day. Many of these welfare people have one child after another that they have no means of supporting but depend on the welfare system to support them. No one should get something for nothing. The old saying is"You get what you reap" What are we teaching this generation, that you can sit at home , smoke expensive cigarettes, have cell phones so you can text your buddies all day long, get all the free medical care without spending a dime, afford all the tattoos you want while we work. What is wrong with this picture. How many businesses in this state depend on foreign workers, agriculture, the hotels services, to get their work done while we have a large population on welfare who are perfectly capable of working. I recently heard from someone who came from out of state, that they moved up here because we had the most services available for their special needs kids. This is great if we were a wealthy state but we aren't and these expenses are reflected in our school budgets which are currently making our property taxes among the highest in the country. In Moneywatch 2014 Vermont ranked 7th in the ten highest states in the country.
Lets get the welfare system tightened up and keep out of staters from flocking up to take advantage up all our financial resourses whic in turn drive up our taxes which certainly rise up far more than our wages.
While I agree you work very hard, appreciate all of your hard work and don't believe that your contract should be opened and renegotiated I don't believe the answer is only to tax the wealthiest either. I think the welfare program as it works now should be completely overhauled. I also believe that when sacrifices need to be made it should be shared with some cuts in benefits to our politicians that are under performing and not representing the constituents best interests. They seem to keep getting gold benefits while giving tin results. Attack their benefits package and their pay then let's see if they can spend less time fighting amongst themselves and more time solving problems. That's just my opinion.
I agree with the plow driver that wrote this letter. The taxes in Vermont keep going up and it's the people that work hard that end up in the poor house because of it. I'm hearing from many young families that they are looking to move south because they can't afford to buy a home here. I make less than the plow driver and have worked for the same company for 25 years. I'm thankful for my job and am proud to work for my money but when so much comes out of my check it becomes quite depressing. I have a family and do not want to take on another job. It's time for money to come from other places instead of out of the pockets of hard working Vermonters.