Labor Unions Can Be Very Reactionary

I heard about some strikes that went on down in Phoenix over the weekend. I wish I could find a story on it. There was a biker group trying to gain more legal protections for bikers on the road, some pro-illegal immigration people, and a labor union protesting against illegal immigrants, all at the capital. Anyway, it got really heated, and the police started having to arrest people. The two sides, the union and the immigration people were fighting each other. In my view, this really isn't a good tactic for the labor movement in general, but going after immigrants has always been an old distraction. Back in the 1880's, the railroad unions would attack Chinese immigrants for taking their jobs during strikes. This ultimately lead up to the Chinese Exclusion Act, and it was a political diversion that made unions focus less on the businesses their selves that weren't paying them right. In the same way, they're focusing on illegals, when all the focus should be on the businesses that illegally hire them. If they started prosecuting businesses, this would all stop very quickly. They wouldn't need to build a fence or anything.

I also think there should be more solidarity among all unions and all working class people. This is class warfare, ultimately. The Mexicans have had their economy undermined by multinationals taking all the capital out of their country, so that's why they come up for work. I see them as just as much a part of the labor struggle as any other group. Its an old tactic, and I'm sad to see some of the unions still falling for it. I don't know why Fox News hasn't fixated on this. Maybe its just that they want to maintain that image to their viewers that all trade unions are multi-cultural and therefore evil. Since their viewers hate illegals taking their jobs, they don't want them to discover common ground with conservative unions, even though its something that;s actually negative and counter-productive. I do agree we need to guard the border though. ...not for fruit farmers but those drug lords taking over Mexico. Either that, or they should legalize pot to be grown privately and focus on the drugs, like coke and meth, that have much more value in them per pound. I just see the pot as mostly just bulk that distracts them from getting to the much more dangerous, more valuable drugs. I don't see that happening anytime soon though.