Eleanor Goldfield

Labor Day

Sep 1, 2014

Lee Camp
Stage· 44 messages
Sep 1, 2014

In a special Monday episode of their REVOLTING tawks, Eleanor Goldfield and Lee Camp discuss Labor Day - and the place of labor unions in today's political sphere.

Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:00 PM

Hey everybody! Happy Labor Day!
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:00 PM

Hey everyone! Happy Labor Day!
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:00 PM

Thanks for joining our special Monday edition :)
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:00 PM

Go and tell all your friends who have the day off to join us
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:00 PM

Post this URL on your various pages and get some more people here. Much like an orgy, our tawks need to get to critical mass.
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:01 PM

Today we're talkin about unions, labor, workers, workers rights, etc. etc. We're going to make this Tawk just 45 mins this time. Hope that's cool with everyone.
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:01 PM

Indeed - so let's get the intellectual orgy started, shall we
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:02 PM

Hey John, Hey Lucy.
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:02 PM

Has anyone else noticed that we seem to have forgotten the point of Labor Day in this country?
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:03 PM

If Fox News had their way, they would rename it "the dignity of working for under minimum wage DAY"
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:04 PM

Hahaha - labor unions often get cast as just as bad as corporations
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:04 PM

which is an interesting conversation as well since labor unions are large entities that need to be regulated, but hell, without labor unions, we wouldn't have a weekend - and i would've started working at the ripe old age of 8
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:04 PM

It's true. I think the right has done a great job of pushing that idea and the democrats are corporate too, so they don't try to stop it.
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:06 PM

nor would most people have pensions or retirement funds or sick days or....
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:06 PM

and interestingly enough, the US lags far behind most developed countries in those aspects as it is
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:06 PM

Even as recently as the last election Gingrich said he wanted to bring back child labor.
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:07 PM

meanwhile ceo's say they can't raise minimum wage bc it would bankrupt them but they continue to get raises each year
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:08 PM

Yeah, CEO pay has shot through the roof.
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:08 PM

All the savings from technology (time and money) have gone to the CEO's and the investors rather than going to the workers.
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:08 PM

if minimum wage had risen parallel to inflation, it would be aroun $22
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:08 PM

around
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:08 PM

If we had strong unions, that wouldn't be like that. The savings would've meant more paid vacation, etc.
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:09 PM

I got corrected on this - it's not inflation, it's if min wage had increased parallel to income distribution and buying power.
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:09 PM

unions are in fact illegal in a few states
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:09 PM

It would be close to $22.
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:09 PM

ah, ok
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:10 PM

Are they illegal?
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:10 PM

i should say certain unions
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:10 PM

for example, teachers unions are illegal in texas
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:10 PM

which is really not surprising. i'm surprised anything is legal in texas besides being a racist bigot
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:10 PM

Lucy and Jonathan, are you there? I have a feeling we might have a problem with the site considering we're seeing the same comments several times.
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:11 PM

El - Being a bigot in TX is a sport!
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:11 PM

yeah, i think comments aren't coming through. either that or labor day is in fact now the day to labor all day
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:12 PM

Well, Lucy, if you can see what we're typing, give a holler
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:12 PM

Maybe everyone is too drunk today. I don't blame them.
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:12 PM

good idea. why am i not drinking?
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:13 PM

Hmmm, so what now? It appears the comments are not working. Or at least we can't see them.
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:13 PM

texting blake
Eleanor Goldfield

Eleanor Goldfield · 11:14 PM

i'm also gonna log out and refresh the page. see if that helps
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:15 PM

Well, just in case the people in the room CAN see each others comments, feel free to talk amongst yourself while we try to fix this.
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:16 PM

Okay, I just got a twitter message saying the room can indeed see our comments. Sadly we can't see yours.
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:18 PM

Still trying to figure out a solution. Or maybe we'll have to abort the mission.
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:22 PM

Sorry guys! We can't see your comments so it kinda ruins it for us. You're free to keep chatting with each other. But today seems like a bit of a bust. We'll be back next Tuesday. Very sorry!
Lee Camp

Lee Camp · 11:23 PM

Keep fighting, everybody! Happy Labor Day.