#General strikes 2028

[decolonize-the-everything]

GENERAL STRIKE TIME BABEY. READ THE WHOLE POST.

While we're all mad at government sending money to Israel that police budgets are so inflated because of how often they pay settlements.

And also that it's a verified fact that our police train with Israeli soldiers. Remember when they were black bagging people in PDX? It reminded me of this ex-Israeli soldier talking about how they'd do the same thing to innocent Palestinians just to terrorize them and their neighbors. It was intentional terrorism when they did it.

Police budgets pay for all that.

Correction, we pay.

To put it more bluntly,

We pay for them to kill and terrorize people.

Just as our taxes pay for the deaths of Black and Brown people all over the world from Turtle Island to Sudan and Palestine.

In Dec. 2022, Louisville Metro Government agreed to pay Walker $2 million to settle lawsuits against the city. Metro government previously paid a $12 million settlement to Taylor’s family in Sept. 2020

We paid for Breonna Taylor's death.

And her murderers were never arrested btw. Not that there aren't still people trying to arrest them of course. But our money paid for their lawyers and wouldn't you know it, no charges have stuck.

Four years to the day after Breonna Taylor’s death, federal prosecutors are moving forward with a re-trial of one of the officers involved in the botched raid that ended her life. At a status conference Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings scheduled Brett Hankison’s final pre-trial hearing for September 13th. His re-trial is scheduled to begin on Oct. 15. In November of last year, Hankinson was tried for violating the Constitutional rights of Breonna Taylor, her boyfriend, and three neighbors when he fired through two covered windows during the raid. Prosecutors argued he used excessive force when he shot into the apartment complex blindly. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, had fired at officers executing the search, claiming he thought they were intruders.

And Myles Cosgrove?

Yeah we're paying him to terrorize more people. He got a job as a fucking sheriff's deputy.

Myles Cosgrove, the former Louisville police officer, who was fired for fatally shooting Breonna Taylor in a botched 2020 police raid and hired earlier this year as a sheriff’s deputy in Carroll County, rammed a resident’s truck with his cruiser Monday and then pointed a gun at the owner and several bystanders, witnesses said.

Witnesses told The Courier Journal that Cosgrove barreled into Happy Hollow Private Resort Park trailer park at a high rate of speed without his emergency lights on, then struck William Joshua Short’s pickup truck with such force that it sent the vehicle flying into a building, breaking off two cinder blocks.

And Johnathan Mattingly wrote a fucking book about it to make money off of his role in her murder. $15 on Amazon.

He also wanted to sue Kenneth Walker, Breonna's boyfriend. You know why? For damages and injuries he sustained while killing Breonna Taylor.

WE PAID FOR ALL THAT. ALL OF IT.

Our power is in our dollar.

American politics and officials don't care for our lives. It's why they're content to watch us protest for months. Because we're still going to work. We are the worker ants simply fulfilling our duty, receiving the bare minimum to survive for our labor.

We're still building their bombs. Paying our taxes, so much that hardly any of us could afford more than rent.

We are just drones fulfilling our purpose to the upper class who doesn't give a shit about us beyond what we do for them and how little we will do it for.

If we want change we're gonna have to stop working. We're going to have to deprive them of products they sell, of our taxes, of our low cost labor.

And the strike that UAW is planning in May 2028 has inspired a lot of others to start looking at the opportunity to join in.

If you haven't heard of it yet, a strike is when workers organize and stop showing up for work. And a general strike is a mass strike across various industries around similar demands or bargaining positions.

There have been multiple calls for a general strike since then, predominantly from individuals and groups on social media, which has often resulted in confusion about what a general strike would actually look like. To be clear, a general strike is not a protest or a rally, a single picket line, or a boycott. It is, as I’ve previously defined, “a labor action in which a significant number of workers from a number of different industries who comprise a majority of the total labor force within a particular city, region, or country come together to take collective action.”

Throughout history, workers have used this tactic as a nuclear option to shut down entire cities when needed, including Philadelphia in 1835, Seattle in 1919, and beyond.[...]

If even four or five of the unions representing the workers mentioned above banded together in a nationwide general strike, the entire country would grind to a halt. When Shawn Fain asks his fellow unions to set the timer for May 2028, what he’s really saying is, get ready to shut sh*t down and level the playing field between bosses and workers once and for all.

JOIN A UNION. AND TALK ABOUT THIS.

And make one of the demands out to be an end of American support to countries participating in apartheid and genocide.

End the taxes for police budgets and settlements. If they want police departments so bad then they should FIND funding for themselves like the government makes USPS do.

One of the biggest pushbacks we hear is that there is never any official backing for calls to a general strike. Well here it is! Make sure you tell EVERYONE

This could be a global strike if other countries choose to participate on the same date

No, I don't think Palestine has 3 years so in the mean time join a union, keep protesting, start rioting, answer Every call to action coming from a Palestine and Sudan and the DRC and sign this strike card

[thoughtportal]

general strike that is actually being organized

[small-witch-big-hat]

The time to start preparing is now. Save up a strike fund. Organize with your coworkers. We have a date, and we have the time to get ready for it.

If you cannot strike, then prepare to support those who are. This means you personally.

Spread the word.

[dungeonsandfierceorangecats]

“Speaking to union members at the UAW national political conference in Washington DC, Fain said it was time for union members to come together.

‘We have to pay for our sins of the past. Back in 1980 when Reagan at the time fired patco workers, everybody in this country should have stood up and walked the hell out,’Fain said. ‘We missed the opportunity then, but we’re not going to miss it in 2028. That’s the plan. We want a general strike. We want everybody walking out just like they do in other countries.’”

And

“The UAW rescheduled the expiration of their union contracts with the US’s big three automakers to align on this day [May 1, 2028] in the contracts it reached late last year and has been encouraging other labor unions to schedule contracts to expire on this day to maximize the participation from workers across different industries.”

THIS IS SEPARATE FROM ANY AND ALL STRIKES FOR CEASEFIRE, (WHICH SHAWN FAIN ALSO OPENLY SUPPORTS)

THIS IS STRICTLY ABOUT CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS AND DOES NOT MEAN THAT WE SHOULD WAIT TO CALL FOR OR PARTICIPATE IN OTHER STRIKES NOW !

[macleod]

UPS has reached an agreement with the Teamsters union to avert a strike. These are the highlights of the tentative 2023-2028 agreement:

Historic wage increases. Existing full- and part-time UPS Teamsters will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023, and $7.50 more per hour over the length of the contract.

Existing part-timers will be raised up to no less than $21 per hour immediately, and part-time seniority workers earning more under a market rate adjustment would still receive all new general wage increases.

General wage increases for part-time workers will be double the amount obtained in the previous UPS Teamsters contract — and existing part-time workers will receive a 48 percent average total wage increase over the next five years.

Wage increases for full-timers will keep UPS Teamsters the highest paid delivery drivers in the nation, improving their average top rate to $49 per hour.

Current UPS Teamsters working part-time would receive longevity wage increases of up to $1.50 per hour on top of new hourly raises, compounding their earnings.

New part-time hires at UPS would start at $21 per hour and advance to $23 per hour.

All UPS Teamster drivers classified as 22.4s would be reclassified immediately to Regular Package Car Drivers and placed into seniority, ending the unfair two-tier wage system at UPS.

Safety and health protections, including vehicle air conditioning and cargo ventilation. UPS will equip in-cab A/C in all larger delivery vehicles, sprinter vans, and package cars purchased after Jan. 1, 2024. All cars get two fans and air induction vents in the cargo compartments.

All UPS Teamsters would receive Martin Luther King Day as a full holiday for the first time.

No more forced overtime on Teamster drivers’ days off. Drivers would keep one of two workweek schedules and could not be forced into overtime on scheduled off-days.

UPS Teamster part-timers will have priority to perform all seasonal support work using their own vehicles with a locked-in eight-hour guarantee. For the first time, seasonal work will be contained to five weeks only from November-December.

The creation of 7,500 new full-time Teamster jobs at UPS and the fulfillment of 22,500 open positions, establishing more opportunities through the life of the agreement for part-timers to transition to full-time work.

More than 60 total changes and improvements to the National Master Agreement — more than any other time in Teamsters history — and zero concessions from the rank-and-file.

Unions work, unionize.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Housing is a labor issue

There's a reason Reagan declared war on unions before he declared war on everything else – environmental protection, health care, consumer rights, financial regulation. Unions are how working people fight for a better world for all of us. They're how everyday people come together to resist oligarchy, extraction and exploitation.

Take the 2019 LA teachers' strike. As Jane McAlevey writes in A Collective Bargain, the LA teachers didn't just win higher pay for their members! They also demanded (and got) an end to immigration sweeps of parents waiting for their kids at the school gate; a guarantee of green space near every public school in the city; and on-site immigration counselors in LA schools:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/23/a-collective-bargain/

Unionization is enjoying an historic renaissance. The Hot Labor Summer transitioned to an Eternal Labor September, and it's still going strong, with UAW president Shawn Fain celebrating his members victory over the Big Three automakers by calling for a 2028 general strike:

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/uaw-general-strike-no-class

The rising labor movement has powerful allies in the Biden Administration. NLRB general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo is systematically gutting the "union avoidance" playbook. She's banned the use of temp-work app blacklists that force workers to cross picket lines:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/30/computer-says-scab/#instawork

She's changed the penalty for bosses who violate labor law during union drives. It used to be the boss would pay a fine, which was an easy price to pay in exchange for killing your workers' union. Now, the penalty is automatic recognition of the union:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/06/goons-ginks-and-company-finks/#if-blood-be-the-price-of-your-cursed-wealth

And while the law doesn't allow Abruzzo to impose a contract on companies that refuse to bargain their unions, she's set to force those companies to honor other employers' union contracts until they agree to a contract with their own workers:

https://onlabor.org/gc-abruzzo-just-asked-the-nlrb-to-overturn-ex-cell-o-heres-why-that-matters/

She's also nuking TRAPs, the deals that force workers to repay their employers for their "training expenses" if they have the audacity to quit and get a better job somewhere else:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/14/prop-22-never-again/#norms-code-laws-markets

(As with every aspect of the Biden White House, its labor policy is contradictory and self-defeating, with other Biden appointees working to smash worker power, including when Biden broke the railworkers' strike:)

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/18/co-determination/#now-make-me-do-it

A surging labor movement opens up all kinds of possibilities for a better world. Writing for the Law and Political Economy Project, UNITE Here attorney Zoe Tucker makes the case for unions as a way out of America's brutal housing crisis:

https://lpeproject.org/blog/why-unions-should-join-the-housing-fight/

She describes how low-waged LA hotel workers have been pushed out of neighborhoods close to their jobs, with UNITE Here members commuting three hours in each direction, starting their work-days at 3AM in order to clock in on time:

https://twitter.com/MorePerfectUS/status/1669088899769987079

UNITE Here members are striking against 50 hotels in LA and Orange County, and their demands include significant cost-of-living raises. But more money won't give them back the time they give up to those bruising daily commutes. For that, unions need to make housing itself a demand.

As Tucker writes, most workers are tenants and vice-versa. What's more, bad landlords are apt to be bad bosses, too. Stepan Kazaryan, the same guy who owns the strip club whose conditions were so bad that it prompted the creation of Equity Strippers NoHo, the first strippers' union in a generation, is also a shitty landlord whose tenants went on a rent-strike:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/20/the-missing-links/#plunderphonics

So it was only natural that Kazaryan's tenants walked the picket line with the Equity Stripper Noho workers:

https://twitter.com/glendaletenants/status/1733290276599570736?s=46

While scumbag bosses/evil landlords like Kazaryan deal out misery retail, one apartment building at a time, the wholesale destruction of workers' lives comes from private equity giants who are the most prolific source of TRAPs, robo-scabbing apps, illegal union busting, and indefinite contract delays – and these are the very same PE firms that are buying up millions of single-family homes and turning them into slums:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/08/wall-street-landlords/#the-new-slumlords

Tucker's point is that when a worker clocks out of their bad job, commutes home for three hours, and gets back to their black-mold-saturated, overpriced apartment to find a notice of a new junk fee (like a surcharge for paying your rent in cash, by check, or by direct payment), they're fighting the very same corporations.

Unions who defend their workers' right to shelter do every tenant a service. A coalition of LA unions succeeded in passing Measure ULA, which uses a surcharge on real estate transactions over $5m to fund "the largest municipal housing program in the country":

https://unitedtohousela.com/app/uploads/2022/05/LA_City_Affordable_Housing_Petition_H.pdf

LA unions are fighting for rules to limit Airbnbs and other platforms that transform the city's rental stock into illegal, unlicensed hotels:

https://upgo.lab.mcgill.ca/publication/strs-in-los-angeles-2022/Wachsmuth_LA_2022.pdf

And the hotel workers organized under UNITE Here are fighting their own employers: the hoteliers who are aggressively buying up residences, evicting their long-term tenants, tearing down the building and putting up a luxury hotel. They got LA council to pass a law requiring hotels to build new housing to replace any residences they displace:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-11-28/airbnb-operators-would-need-police-permit-in-l-a-under-proposed-law

UNITE Here is bargaining for a per-room hotel surcharge to fund housing specifically for hotel workers, so the people who change the sheets and clean the toilets don't have to waste six hours a day commuting to do so.

Labor unions and tenant unions have a long history of collaboration in the USA. NYC's first housing coop was midwifed by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America in 1927. The Penn South coop was created by the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union. The 1949 Federal Housing Act passed after American unions pushed hard for it:

http://www.peterdreier.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Labors-Love-Lost.pdf

It goes both ways. Strong unions can create sound housing – and precarious housing makes unions weaker. Remember during the Hollywood writers' strike, when an anonymous studio ghoul told the press the plans was to "allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses?"

Vienna has the most successful housing in any major city in the world. It's the city where people of every income and background live in comfort without being rent-burdened and without worry about eviction, mold, or leaks. That's the legacy of Red Vienna, the Austrian period of Social Democratic Workers' Party rule and built vast tracts of high-quality public housing. The system was so robust that it rebounded after World War II and continues to this day:

https://www.politico.eu/article/vienna-social-housing-architecture-austria-stigma/

Today, the rest of the world is mired in a terrible housing crisis. It's not merely that the rent's too damned high (though it is) – housing precarity is driving dangerous political instability:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/06/the-rents-too-damned-high/

Turning the human necessity of shelter into a market commodity is a failure. The economic orthodoxy that insists that public housing, rent control, and high-density zoning will lead to less housing has failed. rent control works:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/16/mortgages-are-rent-control/#housing-is-a-human-right-not-an-asset

Leaving housing to the market only produces losers. If you have the bad luck to invest everything you have into a home in a city that contracts, you're wiped out. If you have the bad luck into invest everything into a home in a "superstar city" where prices go up, you also lose, because your city becomes uninhabitable and your children can't afford to live there:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/09/27/lethal-dysfunction/#yimby

A strong labor movement is the best chance we have for breaking the housing deadlock. And housing is just for starters. Labor is the key to opening every frozen-in-place dysfunction. Take care work: the aging, increasingly chronically ill American population is being tortured and murdered by private equity hospices, long-term care facilities and health services that have been rolled up by the same private equity firms that destroyed work and housing:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/26/death-panels/#what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-CMS

In her interview with Capital & Main's Jessica Goodheart, National Domestic Workers Alliance president Ai-jen Poo describes how making things better for care workers will make things better for everyone:

https://prospect.org/labor/2023-12-13-labor-leader-ai-jen-poo-interview/

Care work is a "triple dignity investment": first, it makes life better for the worker (most often a woman of color), then, it allows family members of people who need care to move into higher paid work; and of course, it makes life better for people who need care: "It delivers human potential and agency. It delivers a future workforce. It delivers quality of life."

The failure to fund care work is a massive driver of inequality. America's sole federal public provision for care is Medicaid, which only kicks in after a family it totally impoverished. Funding care with tax increases polls high with both Democrats and Republicans, making it good politics:

https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2021/4/7/voters-support-investing-in-the-care-economy

Congress stripped many of the care provisions from Build Back Better, missing a chance for an "unprecedented, transformational investment in care." But the administrative agencies picked up where Congress failed, following a detailed executive order that identifies existing, previously unused powers to improve care in America. The EO "expands access to care, supports family caregivers and improves wages and conditions for the workforce":

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/04/18/executive-order-on-increasing-access-to-high-quality-care-and-supporting-caregivers/

States are also filling the void. Washington just created a long-term care benefit:

https://apnews.com/article/washington-long-term-care-tax-disability-cb54b04b025223dbdba7199db1d254e4

New Mexicans passed a ballot initiative that establishes permanent funding for child care:

https://www.cwla.org/new-mexico-votes-for-child-care/

New York care workers won a $3/hour across the board raise:

https://inequality.org/great-divide/new-york-budget-fair-pay-home-care/

The fight is being led by women of color, and they're kicking ass – and they're doing it through their unions. Worker power is the foundation that we build a better world upon, and it's surging.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/13/i-want-a-roof-over-my-head/#and-bread-on-the-table

[cherryjamandtoast]

UPS TEAMSTERS-UNION WON !!!!!!!!!!!

From the article:

[(WASHINGTON) – Today, the Teamsters reached the most historic tentative agreement for workers in the history of UPS, protecting and rewarding more than 340,000 UPS Teamsters nationwide. The overwhelmingly lucrative contract raises wages for all workers, creates more full-time jobs, and includes dozens of workplace protections and improvements. The UPS Teamsters National Negotiating Committee unanimously endorsed the five-year tentative agreement.

“Rank-and-file UPS Teamsters sacrificed everything to get this country through a pandemic and enabled UPS to reap record-setting profits. Teamster labor moves America. The union went into this fight committed to winning for our members. We demanded the best contract in the history of UPS, and we got it,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. ... This contract sets a new standard in the labor movement and raises the bar for all workers.”

“UPS came dangerously close to putting itself on strike, but we kept firm on our demands. In my more than 40 years in Louisville representing members at Worldport — the largest UPS hub in the country — I have never seen a national contract that levels the playing field for workers so dramatically as this one....” said Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman. “We stayed focused on our members and fought like hell to get everything that full-time and part-time UPS Teamsters deserve.”

“Rank-and-file members served on the committee for the first time, ... “Our hard work has paid off — from those members and leaders negotiating for more at the table to my sisters and brothers building a credible strike threat around the country. Our union was organized and we were relentless. We’ve hit every goal that UPS Teamster members wanted and asked for with this agreement. It’s a ‘yes’ vote for the most historic contract we’ve ever had.”

Highlights of the tentative 2023-2028 UPS Teamsters National Master Agreement include:

Historic wage increases. Existing full- and part-time UPS Teamsters will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023, and $7.50 more per hour over the length of the contract.

Existing part-timers will be raised up to no less than $21 per hour immediately, and part-time seniority workers earning more under a market rate adjustment would still receive all new general wage increases.

Wage increases for full-timers will keep UPS Teamsters the highest paid delivery drivers in the nation, improving their average top rate to $49 per hour.

New part-time hires at UPS would start at $21 per hour and advance to $23 per hour.

All UPS Teamster drivers classified as 22.4s would be reclassified immediately to Regular Package Car Drivers and placed into seniority, ending the unfair two-tier wage system at UPS.

Safety and health protections, including vehicle air conditioning and cargo ventilation. UPS will equip in-cab A/C in all larger delivery vehicles, sprinter vans, and package cars purchased after Jan. 1, 2024. All cars get two fans and air induction vents in the cargo compartments.

All UPS Teamsters would receive Martin Luther King Day as a full holiday for the first time.

No more forced overtime on Teamster drivers’ days off. Drivers would keep one of two workweek schedules and could not be forced into overtime on scheduled off-days.

UPS Teamster part-timers will have priority to perform all seasonal support work using their own vehicles with a locked-in eight-hour guarantee. For the first time, seasonal work will be contained to five weeks only from November-December.

On July 31, representatives ... will meet to review and recommend the tentative agreement. All UPS rank-and-file members will receive a list of improvements in the contract. ... Member voting begins August 3 and concludes August 22.

The UPS Teamsters National Master Agreement is the single largest private-sector collective bargaining agreement in North America.]

Check the article for the full list; but ho ho holy shit.

This is huge. It shows the collective bargaining WORKS. The Teamsters sent a message to UPS and this win will send a message to Corporate America that unions can WIN for rank-and-file workers!!!

[zvaigzdelasas]

Shawn Fain, the United Auto Workers president, criticized Donald Trump on Monday but declined to back Joe Biden as he reaffirmed plans to lead a general strike in the US in 2028.

Speaking to union members at the UAW national political conference in Washington DC, Fain said it was time for union members to come together.

“We have to pay for our sins of the past. Back in 1980 when Reagan at the time fired patco workers, everybody in this country should have stood up and walked the hell out,” Fain said. “We missed the opportunity then, but we’re not going to miss it in 2028. That’s the plan. We want a general strike. We want everybody walking out just like they do in other countries.”

He reaffirmed ambitious plans to organize a general strike for 1 May 2028, coinciding with International Solidarity Day or May Day.

22 Jan 24

[silly-inky]

First meeting

So I've writien a short booigi fic to go along with this after, the first part of it is after the art, I hope you like it (^^)

The fic ⬇️

Word count: 2028

Mario decided to visit Island Delfino again despite what happened last time, Peach unfortunately wasn't able to come this time due a very full schedule, but this meant he could instead bring his amazing twin brother Luigi who declined last time because he didn't want to be stuck third wheeling the couples vacation. They are both looking forward to a much needed brake.

But unfortunately their bad luck strikes again, and who decides to go on a vacation at the same time to the same place? Why our dear scaly friend Bowser of course. Now this is also a vacation for him so although he's pissed he has to be around Mario and Luigi, he has no intention of doing any evil on his stay. This does not mean he suddenly turns into a more polite person however.

Mario wants to stay at the Casino this time round since he enjoys a good bit of gambling every now and then, and if he has Luigi with him, he at least has a good chance at winning in a few games of poker, and he is able to get himself a good discount from the owner himself for a fun battle last time and helping to deal with Bowser and his antics yet again.

Bowser was actually banned from most places on the island because of his troublemaking, including the Casino itself, but Bowser decided to Bully himself into the establishment. He was being rude and shouting at the poor workers, pushing through crowds and generally being a mennace, so after Mario and Luigi have situated themselves in their rooms, they decide to go down and deal with Bowser

Mario is much more direct and tells Bowser that he doesn't want to start a fight but he needs to stop being an ass to the workers and to quit scaring people off, Bowser with his infamously short tempor quickly looses his cool and deicides to start a fight anyways.

Luigi not wanting any of that to happen, grabs onto Bowser's tail before the Koopa can try and land a punch on Mario and spins him around. Not hard, but just enough to throw him off balance and ends up falling to floor. Luigi is now between him and Mario.

this has pissed Bowser off even more and now goes for Luigi, chasing after him. Luigi runs off with Bowser in hot pursuit, Mario tells the staff to get the bouncers while he chances after them, but Luigi and Bowser being the two faster ones out of the three, he struggles to keep up and falls behind.

After running around for a while, Luigi manages to slip into the restaurant area before Bowser could see where he went, in a panic Luigi slips into the first seemingly available booth he can find before Bowser comes in looking for him.

However, In his haste to get onto the slightly larger than normal seat, he didn’t notice the man who was sat across from him until he turned his head around when he figured he was in the clear for the moment.

Sat across from him was a very big man, no, not just big, he was a giant, he could have easily been as tall, if not taller than Princess Rosalina who was a proud 7’7. He was wide too, his sheer size was intimidating to say the least, but his appearance didn’t really play into that, he proudly wore a Hawaiian shirt completely open exposing his stomach and chest with two big gold chains hung around his neck.

His hair was long and half was loosely tied back in a bun, parts wrapping around his ears and framing his face, it was a lovely pale pink with streaks of white shining though.

On top of his head was a crown encrusted with lovely red gems which insinuated he was a royal from somewhere, but with how he was currently dressed, it didn’t exactly scream royalty to Luigi. But even with the mismatch of jewelry and clothes, the man somehow managed to pull it off the look.

His face somewhat reminded him of King Boo’s but his eyes where much different and surrounded by blue, not to mention he was happily out in the sunlight not looking uncomfortable at all with the lights. He looked to be a very laid back individual, although he did look to be just a little startled by his surprise visitor.

“Umm, heeeyyyy there..?? You doing alright my guy?” The man asked, a twinge of concern lacing his voice, it wasn’t as deep as Luigi was expecting, it was actually quite smooth and welcoming

“Oh my stars, I’m so sorry! I was trying to hide from someone and I didn’t relize anyone was sat here- I was in a bit of a rush! I-I’ll leave, I’m sorry for disturbing you sir-" luigi stumbled out an apology feeling mortified, but as he started to shift to get out of the seat, he was stopped by the other

"Woah! Slow down dude, just sit there for a minute okay? Take a breather. Are you alright?" the man reassured Luigi, gesturing to stay seated while he peared out to see if he could spot any culprit that could have been after this very distressed itallian

"I'm alright, just trying to hide, having to deal with that guy is a pain sometimes, I just wanted to relax for once.." Luigi sighed, calming down a bit

"Do I need to call security? when i deal with someone physically it can turn south pretty quick so that Amy not be the best option" the man nervously chuckled at his comment, scanning Luigi's face to try and get a read on him

"No no, I think it will be fine, I'm good at blending into crowds so I should be able to hide somewhat easily, but he's a guy that isn't exactly easy to throw out of places, I wouldn't trouble yourself about Sir, really. he'll calm down soon enough and head somewhere else"

"You'd be surprised with the guys we have to throw out of here, and second, no need for all this 'sir' stuff, you can just call me Sunny. But seriously if you need him gone, we'll make it happen, no matter how big this guy is" Sunny reassured

Sunny definitely suited the man, he seemed to be a big ball of sunshine, but again a bit informal for someone he assumed to be royal

".. How well do you think you'll be able to handle King Bowser?" Luigi asked nervously

"Seriously?! That guy is back again?? I thought I told the staff not to let that damn lizzard back in here after the last damn time, that Mario guy had to come in here and sort all of that out" Sunny complained, not seeming to be intimidated by the mention of Bowser at all

"Told the staff? Do you run a business here? And uhh.. Bowser sort of shoved his way in here, the staff didn't have much of a chance, me and my brother called him out for it along with some other things and he got cross with me" Luigi questioned

"A business? This whole place is my business, I'm the owner of the casino, and now he's being rude to my staff?? I'm going to teach him a lesson. Did he hurt you at all? He better not have! " he started to get up to search for Bowser

"No! Bowser didn't hurt me, not this time anyways, your staff are fine thankfully, he wasn't really causing much of an issue, and I'm sure your bouncers can handle it, plus my brother is here, I don't want you to get hurt Mr Sunny" Luigi grabbed a hold of the man's arm and pulled him back into the booth

The man wanted to argue back but stopped when he saw how distressed the other man was

"Alright... But you stay here until I know for certain he's gone alright? I'll tell the staff to keep me in the loop. But what is your brother going to do?? "

"Ah! Uhh- my brother- he's- my brother is Mario" Luigi struggled to get out what he wanted to say

"Mario is your brother?? It makes so much sense now, ha! I thought you looked familiar, you guys look so similar, you're much cuter tho" Sunny laughed

"So that would make you Luigi right? He told me about you last time, glad to finally be able to put a face to the name, he said you would freak out if you met me"

"Why would i freak out??" Luigi asked. A little flustered at the compliment. Why would he be scared of this guy?? Sure he was big but he didn't seem scary at all, in fact he was actually more nervous because he was a bit attracted to the man

"Well, you see I'm one of the King Boo's? I know I don't exactly look like a normal Boo, but I can assure you I am one" Sunny said slowly, trying to not freak Luigi out. From what Mario has heard last time, and what the other Kings have told him, Luigi doesn't do great around ghosts, to be fair, neither does Mario.

"Ah... " Luigi sat there for a moment, processing the information

He just looked between Sunny and the table gathering his composure, he was hoping with all his might that Sunny wasn't about to attack him with any hidden frames or lightning bolts or something.

"Well.. You don't seem evil..?" Luigi winced

"Pfft, of course not, I mean I know I don't exactly have the best morals and stuff, but I'm not going around trapping people in paintings, too much effort, I prefer to sit around and eat or just chill in the sun" Sunny replied

Luigi seemed relieved with that response. Sunny mostly spoke for the next few minutes, hoping to get Luigi to calm down and trust him while he got a few good jokes in, Luigi wasn't a big talker anyways unless it came to special interest of his.

"well I appreciate this, I haven't been able to sit down and rest all day, I'm so thirsty, thank you for letting me sit here with you again" sighed out

"don't mention it, I don't usually have people coming down to sit with me, it's a nice treat. Hey wait! I have an idea if your down?" He looked between his food which had been sat beside him this whole time, and Luigi

"an idea?" Luigi asked

"well if you want, we can share my smoothie? I always get a very large cause (Pat's stomach) yo mans likes to eat, but it's meant for the couples and all that crap, so they always give me an extra straw" Sunny chuckles as he reaches for the extra straw he put to the side

"really?? You wouldn't mind that? " Luigi sputtered, a bit flushed

"nah dude, don't worry I don't have any germs to contaminate the drink with" he chuckled "plus it ain't like I'm gonna starve (hands Luigi the straw) it's nice to actually be able to use it for once. Just between you and me, I think the staff here keep giving it to me thinking it'll incourage me to bring in a date

Luigi taking a sip of the smoothie "oh that's really good- wait, so do you think they will assume we are on a date??"

"pfft, who knows, maybe it'll turn into a real date, who am i to turn down a handsome guy who isn't scared to share a meal with me" Sunny winked

"well you haven't asked me out yet" Luigi nervously chuckled

well we are literally drinking from the same cup at the same time" he takes a sip while Luigi is doing so to to add emphasis "I mean, what else you want me to say? (gently grabs Luigi's hand) Luigi, would you like to turn this into a date~?" he laughs and let's go of Luigi's hand " I joke I joke" he smirks at the very flustered look on Luigi's face

---------------------------------------------

And that's all I have for now, I may make this into an actual fic, who knows ✨

@skulls-soul @brosif40

[invisibleicewands]

Welsh should stand up to attack on culture - Sheen

Actor Michael Sheen says the Welsh public must rise up and defend its cultural institutions to prevent an "unthinkable" end to the Welsh arts sector.

He listed funding cuts at Welsh National Opera, National Theatre Wales and Museum Wales as examples of "an attack on culture" in Wales.

His comments came ahead of the Welsh debut of the play Nye, in which Sheen portrays Welsh politician Aneurin Bevan, the architect of the NHS.

The Welsh government said it has had to take “extremely difficult decisions” to focus funding on core public services, including the NHS.

Sheen, from Port Talbot, said it would "an outrage... terrible" if a continuation of funding cuts meant an end for the Welsh arts sector and insisted the public would not let that happen.

“We are not going to let our country die, are we. We are not going to let it culturally die and wither on the vine," he said.

"We have to do something about it. We’re not going to sit here and let people take everything away from us.”

On taking on the role of Aneurin - or Nye - Bevan, Sheen said he felt an "emotional and passionate connection" to the Tredegar politician, but said it was also "a lot to live up to".

The play was written by Welsh playwright Time Price and is a co-production between Wales Millennium Theatre and the National Theatre in London, where it premiered in April - it will play in Cardiff from 18 May to 1 June.

It tells the story of Nye in a series of flashbacks as a morphine-induced Bevan lies in a hospital bed battling terminal stomach cancer in 1960.

Sheen said it is now time for Wales to tell its own stories - despite the squeeze on public funding.

"Walking in here yesterday, walking onto the stage I got a real excitement about the potential for this space, for plays telling Welsh stories, the story of Wales," he said.

"No one else is doing it. Where is the great play about the Chartists, the Miner’s Strike, our cultural life and history?

"We have to make sure our voices are heard. Even if the opportunities for those voices to be heard are being shut down, then we have to shout louder don't we."

The Welsh government said: “Wales’ culture, art and sports institutions are an integral part of our society and well-being, enriching our communities and inspiring future generations.

"We have acted to mitigate the full scale of the budget pressures on these sectors.

"However, we have been clear our budget is up to £700m less in real terms than when it was set in 2021.

"We have had to take extremely difficult decisions to focus funding on core public services, including the NHS.

"Based on [the UK government's] plans our budget will be lower per person in real terms in 2028/29 than it was in 2022/23.”

[iww-gnv]

Last year, populist reformer Shawn Fain won the UAW presidency. He embraced slogans such as “EAT THE RICH” and used new strategies to secure record victories in contract talks for around 150,000 workers the union represents at Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., and Stellantis NV. After a six-week strike, the union secured terms that will raise many workers’ pay 33% by 2028. Fain is now trying to translate the momentum from those victories into unionization at companies that have long eluded the UAW. The Alabama plant is the biggest of Mercedes’s U.S. plants. In the U.S., European and Asian automakers compete both with Detroit’s three big unionized automakers and with non-union firms such as Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. Unionization can cause companies to pay their workers more, and restricts management’s ability to unilaterally dictate workplace conditions and policies. That would mean less flexibility for executives, and more say for workers. The Mercedes speech signals a contentious struggle ahead with the UAW, which is mounting an audacious campaign to organize the non-union U.S. plants of 13 automakers, including several European and Asian firms. The UAW’s executive board this week voted to commit $40 million to organizing campaigns among auto and battery workers. The Mercedes plant in Vance is one of three where the union has signed up more than 30% of the workforce. The others are a Hyundai Motor Co. site that’s also in Alabama and a Volkswagen AG facility in Tennessee. Once the percentage reaches 70%, the UAW will seek formal recognition and collective bargaining.

[decolonize-the-everything]

Actually I think we should spend some time confronting the fact that CEOs know exactly how many cents to change individual prices and wages by, when to do it, what year is most profitable, how many hours employees need to work to meet quarterly goals, how many need to be fired, etc.

They run businesses down to the second and last penny you know?

They know what they're doing, how much it cost, how much they'll profit, and exactly how much time they need.

Doesnt it seem malicious in that context that our "free" time is just enough to do chores and sleep? For wages to be Just Enough to survive on?

They convinced us to live and breathe for them at a cost so low that we can barely afford to survive when we're not at work.

And they know that its a steal of a deal.

So why don't we?

Why don't we do something about it?

Start talking about a general strike.

“We have to pay for our sins of the past. Back in 1980 when Reagan at the time fired patco workers, everybody in this country should have stood up and walked the hell out,” Fain said. “We missed the opportunity then, but we’re not going to miss it in 2028. That’s the plan. We want a general strike. We want everybody walking out just like they do in other countries.” He reaffirmed ambitious plans to organize a general strike for 1 May 2028, coinciding with International Solidarity Day or May Day.

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A post shared by General Strike US 🍉 (@thegeneralstrikeus)

[fremedon]

So, that general strike? It's (potentially) on for 2028.

[thefirsthogokage]

From the article:

Highlights of the tentative 2023-2028 UPS Teamsters National Master Agreement include:

Historic wage increases. Existing full- and part-time UPS Teamsters will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023, and $7.50 more per hour over the length of the contract.

Existing part-timers will be raised up to no less than $21 per hour immediately, and part-time seniority workers earning more under a market rate adjustment would still receive all new general wage increases.

General wage increases for part-time workers will be double the amount obtained in the previous UPS Teamsters contract — and existing part-time workers will receive a 48 percent average total wage increase over the next five years.

Wage increases for full-timers will keep UPS Teamsters the highest paid delivery drivers in the nation, improving their average top rate to $49 per hour.

Current UPS Teamsters working part-time would receive longevity wage increases of up to $1.50 per hour on top of new hourly raises, compounding their earnings.

New part-time hires at UPS would start at $21 per hour and advance to $23 per hour.

All UPS Teamster drivers classified as 22.4s would be reclassified immediately to Regular Package Car Drivers and placed into seniority, ending the unfair two-tier wage system at UPS.

Safety and health protections, including vehicle air conditioning and cargo ventilation. UPS will equip in-cab A/C in all larger delivery vehicles, sprinter vans, and package cars purchased after Jan. 1, 2024. All cars get two fans and air induction vents in the cargo compartments.

All UPS Teamsters would receive Martin Luther King Day as a full holiday for the first time.

No more forced overtime on Teamster drivers’ days off. Drivers would keep one of two workweek schedules and could not be forced into overtime on scheduled off-days.

UPS Teamster part-timers will have priority to perform all seasonal support work using their own vehicles with a locked-in eight-hour guarantee. For the first time, seasonal work will be contained to five weeks only from November-December.

The creation of 7,500 new full-time Teamster jobs at UPS and the fulfillment of 22,500 open positions, establishing more opportunities through the life of the agreement for part-timers to transition to full-time work.

More than 60 total changes and improvements to the National Master Agreement — more than any other time in Teamsters history — and zero concessions from the rank-and-file.

Nice work Teamsters! Congratulations UPS drivers! And big thank you to the 3,300 pilots who said they wouldn't fly if the drivers went on strike!

[incarnateirony]

I see. So another long running series like Supernatural could still show up on tv instead of just streaming in streaming, it’s just that there will be less shows in general. Like a few good ones instead of a sea of shows. Is that what you meant? And do you think tv will ever have a Peak Era again in the future or that’s just in the past?

Right, but don't expect many shows ordered straight to TV anymore, most things are going to be developed for streaming, short of like, reality, unscripted and sports, news, that kind of thing. TV as you know it like. Bleach your brain. Get a conceptual shotgun and start to lobotomize yourself of the idea that classic broadcast or even cable ever existed. By 2028 even those are going to be offline, and that's a generous stretch at this point. CW is just a symptom early from size and us kicking it in the nuts and breaking WB's kneecaps. But all the strikes, and all that, it's the whole industry contracting, so unless it diversifies out into decentralized methods more suited to indie, youtube and twitch types, most entertainment will be in streaming methods wholesale by 2030, even the news and stuff by then. Broadcast will be limited to very local stations like [podunk town daily news and random syndicated reruns]

Hopefully that makes sense.

This is also why the battle over AI you've been seeing me kick at on several levels is so important, as humans lean more and more into the digital, and frankly surrender parts of themselves to it.