Mental Health workers are on strike at Kaiser Permanente. On Aug. 19 they held a strike rally in Oakland. I was there as the working class socialist candidate for Oakland Mayor and I had a leaflet from my campaign on this strike. I made sure to tell people “I am not a friend of labor; I’m part of labor.”
I talked with one middle age mental health worker who said this was the most radical thing she’s ever done in her life. As we talked about socialism, she said she wanted “capitalism with ethics.” I told her I completely understood and, by the way, I want a wolf who’s a vegetarian. We had a good laugh.
You will also see in the video that I interviewed Sal Roselli, president of the union and asked him about a working class party.
Here’s a video of the strike rally:
Categories: labor, Oakland, workers' struggles