A Human Union
In this election Democrats highlighted how they would protect their various different bases — -young women that needed abortions, LGBTQ+ people that wanted to keep their ability to marry, black people that are scared of police retaliation. The problem is that these various different groups highlight the differences between us, differences that only happen occasionally. While there is one big thing that way too many of us have in common — -we have nothing in our bank accounts and Trump says he will fix it. It is really, really hard to be generous to newcomers and people that look different from you when you have -142.20 in your bank account and if you have a job, it is not providing you with enough money for food much less the security to build a life.
What does a union look like that is made for everyone, white collar and blue collar, women and men, black or white? What can we all agree on and work towards instead of trying to win piece by piece. Instead of critiquing what is bad about what we have now, what is a new vision of what the country could look like?
In the vision in my head, the Democrats should be working to form a Human Union that every American can be a part of, to create an actively new narrative for our country.
What this Union would fight for:
- The abolishment of a minimum wage and in its place a federal living wage that is automatically adjusted to inflation so that we don’t need to spend years fighting for each adjustment.
- Work safety protocols for heat conditions and natural disasters.
- Medicare for All that includes mental health care services and dental.
- One year of parental leave, that can be split between the man or woman, with the man (or other non-birthing parent) needing to take at least six weeks.
- Hour 1 benefits. There are so many jobs where you need to be there a year to be able to get parental leave, or you need to work there ninety days to get health insurance, or you only get benefits if you are full time. It is bullshit.
- Corporations pay a 1% Retraining tax for a nationwide retraining program to help people that have lost their jobs, with an emphasis on providing jobs in sustainability and healthcare fields that will be needed to meet the country’s demands in the coming decades.
- Sick and vacation days must meet a cumulative minimum of 28 days a year for all fields.
- 1% tax on corporations to set up a nationwide pension system that divides the nation’s gains evenly across everyone that reaches retirement. The age of retirement also needs to be automatically adjusted yearly based on the average U.S. life expectancy minus twelve years.
- Abolish non-competes.
- To claim asylum you must apply and wait outside of the country until your hearing.
Like the sound of this? Have comments? This is version one of this idea. If you want to continue the conversation, join in on the Human Union project on Adjacent, available on Apple iOS or Android.
