The Unemployed Now Have Their Own Union, and It's Catching on Quickly

[dreamdancer 0]

sounds a good idea...

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It's been only a month that a union for the unemployed has come into existence through an ingenious grassroots organizing campaign. In case you haven't heard about it, the union's name is "UR Union of the Unemployed" or its nickname, "UCubed," because of its unique method of organizing.

UCubed is the brain-child of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), whose leaders feel that the millions of unemployed workers need a union of their own to join in the struggle for massive jobs programs.

The idea is that if millions of jobless join together and act as an organization, they are more likely to get Congress and the White House to provide the jobs that are urgently needed. They can also apply pressure for health insurance coverage, unemployment insurance and COBRA benefits and food stamps. An unemployed worker is virtually helpless if he or she has to act alone.

Joining a Cube is as simple as it is important. (Please check the union web site: www.unionofunemployed.com). Six people who live in the same zip code address can form a Ucube. Nine such UCubes make a neighborhood. Three neighborhood UCubes form a power block that cntains 162 activists. Politicians cannot easily ignore a multitude of power blocks, nor can merchants avoid them.

The union is built from the ground up. Cube activists will select their own leadership in each cube, neighborhood, block and higher group as well.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/145797/the_unemployed_now_have_their_own_union%2C_and_it%27s_catching_on_quickly/

stay away from moving propellers - they bite
blue skies from thai sky adventures
good solid response-provoking keyboarding

[metalslug 36]

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UCubed is the brain-child of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers...
...Joining a Cube is as simple as it is important...

"We are the Borg. Negotiation is irrelevant..."

[dreamdancer 0]

it did remind me of the borg

stay away from moving propellers - they bite
blue skies from thai sky adventures
good solid response-provoking keyboarding

[VTmotoMike08 0]

Sounds like a lot of effort that could be better spent looking for a job

[Lucky... 0]

Just think, they could strike and sit down on the job they don't have.

[mnealtx 0]

Good point - doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it?

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[VTmotoMike08 0]

I would like to point out that Lucky and mnealtx just agreed on somthing for what must be the FIRST time ever. BEER!

[rhaig 0]

imagine the stop-work protests.

I supposed they could picket. They do have plenty of time. Except that they should be LOOKING FOR JOBS!

--
Rob

[Lucky... 0]

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Good point - doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it?

Nope, altho I think social svs legisltion needs to be addressed, organizing in a labor sense is not what they need. This is just another angle for unions to get dues. Speaking of which, how do they collecct dues, from unemployment?

I think a grassroots-type effort is essential in reagrd to writing to legislators, even picketing outside legislator's offices, but to organize in a union sense is retarded. It's about as retarded as gov unions that cannot strike; they have no teeth. In a corpo-fascist nation, the people with money don't care if you're pissed, all they know is the bottom line. Not working gives you no leverage. Vote for other legislators, have a job and collectively threaten to leave, these things have teeth and get results - where's the leverage with unemployed people? It's not as if this country is based upon compassion.

[mnealtx 0]

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I would like to point out that Lucky and mnealtx just agreed on somthing for what must be the FIRST time ever. BEER!

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[dreamdancer 0]

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I would like to point out that Lucky and mnealtx just agreed on somthing for what must be the FIRST time ever. BEER!

and they're both wrong

stay away from moving propellers - they bite
blue skies from thai sky adventures
good solid response-provoking keyboarding

[Rookie120 0]

Ahhhhh, if you have no job or income how do you pay the union due's?

If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck!

[dreamdancer 0]

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Ahhhhh, if you have no job or income how do you pay the union due's?

two hours free labour a week?

stay away from moving propellers - they bite
blue skies from thai sky adventures
good solid response-provoking keyboarding

[justinb138 0]

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sounds a good idea...

If you ignore the fact that it's a bunch of broke people. How much gets done in Washington without alot of $$$ for "campaign contributions" ?

[VTmotoMike08 0]

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I would like to point out that Lucky and mnealtx just agreed on somthing for what must be the FIRST time ever. BEER!

and they're both wrong

Care to point out why, or will you just state your opinion as fact without any supporting evidence? I would be interested in hearing why you think its a good idea for the unemployed to form a bitching commitee with their time that could be spent looking for a job.

[Rookie120 0]

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two hours free labour a week?

Doing what? If there is no work for them to have a job what will there be for them to do for 2 hours?

If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck!

[Belgian_Draft 0]

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The idea is that if millions of jobless join together and act as an organization, they are more likely to get Congress and the White House to provide the jobs that are urgently needed.

Jobs doing what? Raking leaves on the White House lawn?
And how would these jobs be payed for? Higher taxes or more debt...take your pick.

My take on the potential strikes: Since working people strike by not working, unemployed union people would strike by working! "We demand better pay and working conditions as well as free health care, and we won't stop working for free until we get it!"

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.

[rushmc 23]

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Good point - doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it?

Nope, altho I think social svs legisltion needs to be addressed, organizing in a labor sense is not what they need. This is just another angle for unions to get dues. Speaking of which, how do they collecct dues, from unemployment?

I think a grassroots-type effort is essential in reagrd to writing to legislators, even picketing outside legislator's offices, but to organize in a union sense is retarded. It's about as retarded as gov unions that cannot strike; they have no teeth. In a corpo-fascist nation, the people with money don't care if you're pissed, all they know is the bottom line. Not working gives you no leverage. Vote for other legislators, have a job and collectively threaten to leave, these things have teeth and get results - where's the leverage with unemployed people? It's not as if this country is based upon compassion.

I got it!!

A law could be passed to have the fed gov pay the union dues of those in the un-employed union

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[rehmwa 2]

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Congress and the White House to provide the jobs

- fake work 'created' by congress doesn't help anyone in the long term - you just as well just take money from those working the private industry and just throw it in the street

unless they mean the actual "people" that happen to work in Congress hire the unemployed directly and pay them with their own money - then I can get behind that.
How quickly will they figure out that it's best to have the workers do something productive that turns a profit for them? vs some busy work government program that does nothing but transfer funds (after the administration takes its cut)

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Andrewwhyte 1]

So do you have to sign the card to be a member or after a certain percentage of unemployed in your neighbourhood join are you automatically a member and have the dues come off your unemployment benefits?

[Southern_Man 0]

Thankfully Virginia is a right-to-be-unemployed state. No mandatory membership.

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[hwt 0]

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I would like to point out that Lucky and mnealtx just agreed on somthing for what must be the FIRST time ever. BEER!

Seriously, The machinist unions need to look to China for their jobs..

[kelpdiver 2]

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Politicians cannot easily ignore a multitude of power blocks, nor can merchants avoid them.

Politicians do have to think about angry mobs, but merchants and easily avoid people without money to buy things. What's their alternative - give away stuff for free?

[TrophyHusband 0]

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two hours free labour a week?

Doing what? If there is no work for them to have a job what will there be for them to do for 2 hours?

keying cars and flattening the tires of the non-union unemployed scabs.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[Belgian_Draft 0]

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two hours free labour a week?

Doing what? If there is no work for them to have a job what will there be for them to do for 2 hours?

keying cars and flattening the tires of the non-union unemployed scabs.

Let me get this straight....
If a member of the Unemployed Workers Union (UWU, or U^4) is hired by a company, and another person at that same company is laid off, the newly laid off worker is a scab until he joins UWU ?
I'm confused.

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.