Samuel ColemanCalifornia is world-renowned for two things — sunny beaches and moonbat politics.
Collectively, the perfect mix of status quo and labor-friendly politicians should make California a union organizer’s dream. After all, we recently learned that Palm Springs was a favorite location of the recently charged and arrested corrupt leaders of the United Auto Workers (UAW) for spending embezzled union dues.
However not everyone in the labor movement is happy with the current state of affairs.
If you ask them, California has a long way to go before it’s truly a friend to big labor. And the Labor Slate, a new brainchild of AFSCME staffers and other union organizers, aims to change that.
The organization, according to its website, is “a coalition of union and community members running strong working-class leaders for public office like city council and school board in districts across the Bay Area.”
Gaelan Ash, a current AFSCME staffer and one of the Labor Slates’ organizers, explained, “It’s a pain in the ass going up against so-called progressive politicians who do not end up prioritizing the needs of the working class. There are so many amazing labor leaders who would make better politicians.”
In case you’re wondering what the Labor Slates’ pro-working-class standpoints its 2020 platform was also spelled out on the website. It includes:
- ensuring public work contracts go only to unionized work forces;
- closing all charter schools, returning their students to the tender mercies of the public school system;
- ending policing in schools;
- defunding the police; and,
- supporting sanctuary cities and workplaces.
Other ideas, such as Medicare for All, would do little for working-class Californians who need a raise or, thanks to the recent government mandated shutdowns, just need a job.
But as most Californians are painfully aware, middle-class families already foot an incredibly high tax bill, one of the highest of any state in the nation.
Middle- and low-income families are already fleeing the state in record numbers, and it isn’t because of the state’s “anti-worker” bent, either. The over-regulation of the state and sky-high rents due to a lack of housing — almost entirely caused by the liberal policies pushed by labor unions — are almost universally recognized as the chief cause of the exodus.
Currently, the Labor Slate is mostly focused on a few select seats in local government in the Bay Area. In the next four to six years, its supporters hope to break into the California Legislature and expand their influence further.
Just what California needs — more bad ideas, and bad people to peddle them.