US: Unions and Big Corporations

Ann Robertson, a lecturer at San Francisco State University and a member of the California Faculty Association, and Bill Leumer, a retired member of Teamsters Local 853, wrote an article entitled, "A Doomed Trajectory: AFL-CIO's Own Oil Disaster."

In 2012 James Hansen, a NASA scientist, in a New York Times op-ed article forcefully argued that Canada's development of its tar sands oil supply, because it contains twice the amount of carbon dioxide as other oil reserves, will tip global warming trends past the point of no return. He concluded: '...it will be game over for the climate...'

"...When wealth becomes concentrated in the hands of corporations, power becomes equally concentrated. For this reason, corporations have been particularly successful at imposing their agenda on the rest of society.

"They have successfully attacked unions and thereby lowered wages, eliminated safety regulations and reduced benefits; they have undermined public education by defunding it and by promoting charter schools that have a dubious record of success; they have undermined health care by insisting that profits be prioritized over the welfare of patients; they have torn the safety net by campaigning for a reduction in government spending; and they have placed the survival of the planet as we know it in jeopardy by refusing to curtail the consumption of fossil fuels. The 1% surges forward at the expense of the 99%...

"...unions could begin to organize and mobilize the 99% in order to create a powerful movement capable of sweeping the country... unions would not only fight for their members' interests, they would fight most tenaciously for working people in general, especially those most in need. They would demand that the government institute a public works program like those in the 1930s that would create good paying jobs for all. They would fight for the protection and extension of Social Security and Medicare, protection of the environment, amnesty for undocumented workers, fully funded public education and social services, all to be paid for by taxing the rich. In this way the unions could begin to create a movement of millions...

"Above all it [unions] must never try to advance the interests of its own members at the expense of other working people and of the survival of the planet. By offering support for the Keystone XL pipeline, the AFL-CIO wins a few construction jobs and a little money; but it sacrifices everything of value."