The minimum wage is under attack, and not just in the US, not just on the Netherlands, not just in Britain. You may ask yourself “how did it come to this? Where did it start?”
I’ll tell you where: it started when prisoners were forced to work for pennies and many of us didn’t really try fight it because they were probably bad people, right? It started when disabled people were forced to work for pennies and many of us didn’t really try fight it because their work was just inferior to us, right? It started when unemployed and students were forced to do internship and ‘work experience jobs’ for free and many of us didn’t really fight it because we wanted to focus our intention on ‘real workers’.
But the bosses noticed, and learned, and looked for ways to expand these groups. Because they knew: if you don’t fight for one exploited worker, why fight for the next? If you let me have one forced worker for pennies, why not all of them? So when we say ‘no’ to that, we need to be sure to say it for all of us.In danger of going all Lefty Labour on you guys: THIS IS WHY WE NEED UNIONS.
Actually, most unions do jack shit to fix any of this because they only fight for their own particular group of workers and they will only start fighting once their own members are the target of this, by which time it is far too late.
The basics of unions, that the workers directly effected are the ones that go on strike, doesn’t work here. Prison unions and other unions of super exploited groups have existed and have been effective but they are far harder to organize and those who participate in it pay a far higher price. When prisoners have to organize their own strikes alone, they risk isolation cells and other forms of torture. When migrant workers have to organize their own strikes alone, they risk deportation and death, when disabled people have to organize their own strikes alone they also risk death. The strike funds, the basic human rights,etc. lie with the rest of the workers.
This is why we need radical revolutionary unions that fight for all of us. (or ya know, revolution in general would be good too)
QueerAnarchism 