http://blackagendareport.com/content/do-democrats-and-president-obama-really-want-raise-minimum-wage-0
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MORE ON THE MINIMUM WAGE
BSeale - 01/29/2014 - 19:17
Excellent Article Glen
The Minimum Wage Analysis needs to go a bit further. You are correct to point out that Obama welched on the $9.50/hr minimum wage promise. And his chacanery was going further. In 2012 he had whittled down his promise to $9.20/hr. Yes that's right a reduction in his Minimum Wage proposal after Occupy. So why did Obama hawk Harkin's $10.10/hr proposal last night ? Because out of the remnants Occupy and Worker World Party came the initiative in Several Big Cities for a $15/hr. This proposal took off like wildfire amongst Fast Food Workers who SEIU is trying to organize. SEIU decided to take up the issue inorder to push WWP aside. Why is this significant ? Because Ralph Nader had been needling Richard Trumka to get on board with a campaign to boost the minimum wage since Trumka came to power of the AFL-CIO. At the time Nader was proposing $10.30/hr. Trumka had always responded with "we support a hike in the minimum wage...just check our website". Trumka's other dodge was "we need Card Check first". That was another election promise Obama tennis shoed.
Returning to the Minimum Wage the "Fight for $15" Campaign is growing in leaps and bounds. It is high visible in numerous major cities including New York, Chicago and Oakland. The City Council of San Jose passed a Local Ordinance mandating a $15/hr minimum wage. And last fall a Socialist, Kshama Sawant, was elected to the Seattle City Council based in large part a platform plank of raising the minimum wage in that municipality to $15/hr. You can bet that scared the ever loving crap out of the centers of Capitalist Power. So Obama got on his horse, reversed direction and threw in for Harkin's proposal even though it proposed a minimum wage higher than his own proposals. Obama and his Captialist Master saw the fire sweeping across the prairie and decided they had to light a back fire in order to stop the initiative.
The are a number of lessons we should take away from this episode.
1) The Democrat Party is every bit a hand maiden to Capital as their Republican Brothers. Remember that the next time and everytime you see a floor fight in the House of Representatives or the Senate.
2) The Leadership levels of Organized Labor are thorughly corrupt and in the hip pocket of the Democrat Party. Read carefully what I just wrote. I did NOT say labor is corrupt or unneeded. Nothing could be further from the truth. But the Rank and File has to get active and reclaim their unions. They need to tell their leaders this Union is run for our benefit not theat of the Democrat Party.
3) The Grassroots needs to be poked and praised for what they did. It needs to be pointed out what they can do when the stop listening to Democrats and Union Leaders who admonshed them "You can't get that through", or "That's not Politically Feasible". That kind of garbage is a not so subtle form of training. Training them to lower their expectations.
FIGHT FOR $15
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YOUR ANALYSIS IS EXACTLY IMO WHY OBAMA HAD TO COMMIT TO $10/HR
Nixakliel - 01/29/2014 - 23:40
Obama's pretending to be a leader RE a min wage of $10/hr when he's actually a follower or even a reactionary to pressure from a broad-base of rank & file workers' demands for a $15/hr min wage. And ss you say Nader [& others] have been on Obama's case for at-least a $10 - $10.50 /hr min wage since at-least before the 2012 POTUS race.
IMO the min wage should be at-least $11 - $12 /hr- but a hike in the min wage ain't enough unless it's pegged to increases in cost of living & also to increases in productivity. Also IMO the min wage should be linked to a max wage for CEOs. In the 1980s before neo-liberalism & Reaganomics took off, the average CEO's salary was just 25Xs - 40Xs that of the average worker. Now average CEO salary is +250Xs - 300+Xs that of the average worker. IMO CEO salary should be pegged to between 25Xs - 50Xs that of the minimum wage. That way the only way CEOs, CFOs & their ilk can hike their salaries is they'd have to also hike the lowest paid & rank & file workers' pay across the board. And if they cut rank & file workers' salaries they'd be required to also cut their own salaries to maintain the mandated max to min wage ratio.
PS: The Dims have NEVER been a truly progressive party. They started off circa 1828 as a Dixie-crat party w that infamous slave-owning / 'Native American Killer' Andrew Jackson as its original standard bearer. The Dims continued to be heavily influenced by southern 'Good Ole Boy' Dixie-crats [far more so than progressives] up till the LBJ era- which LBJ & HS.Truman themselves were [quasi?] Dixie-crats. This fact is why Blacks faithfully voted for the GOP 'Party of Lincoln' from 1868 till the FDR New Deal era circa 1932. At best the Dims have been a Centrist party w some-what 'liberal' tendencies during the tenures of FDR, JFK & Carter. Then came Slick Willy's & Al Gore's DLC / DNC ['ironically' Clinton, Gore & Carter are all from traditional Dixie-crat states of AR, TN & GA]- which had the Dims competing head to head w the Repugs for Corp $$$. Thus the Billary. Gore, Obama Dims talk disingenuous ['I feel your pain'] rhetoric to their tradition Black, Brown, labor & progressive base- all while continually stabbing them in the back. Or sometimes even outright thumbing their noses at their base- as Obama has done to Blacks ['I'm not the Black Pres. I'm the Pres for everybody {'else'}.'] & progressives ['F--king Retards'].
Now NYC's got so-called 'progressive' Dim Bill DeBlasio who won NYC mayor's chair by running against 'Stop & Frisk' & Wall St Bansterism, but then picks Repug Rude Fooliani's architect of 'Stop & Frisk' Bill Bratton as his NYPD Chief [over 2 qualified Black & Hispanic candidates to boot]. And then he picks an ex-Goldman & Sachs Gal [but perhaps lame-stream feminists are pleased] as one of his key deputy mayors. Then he picks Slick Willy [& wife Billary] to swear [yeah it's enough to make one swear alright] him in as NYC mayor. IMO DeBlasio has all the hallmarks of a Slick Willy, Gore, Obama style Corp DLC Dim.
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MORE INFO ON THE FIGHT FOR 15
BSeale - 01/30/2014 - 12:44
Want to see how big the Fight for 15 Campaign is ? Check out these links.
There will a series of events planned for the coming months. Nunerous demonstrations around the country are planned for Mayday.
Don't keep it a secret
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