No worse than the flu?

I've lost track of how many different ways this claim is false. But here's yet another:

Healthcare workers with chronic condition miss more days of work due to COVID than flu

67% vs 12% of absences due to COVID, flu

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/healthcare-workers-chronic-condition-miss-more-days-work-due-covid-flu-data-show

Today in Labor History April 2, 1840: Émile Zola, French novelist, playwright, journalist was born. He was also a liberal activist, playing a significant role in the political liberalization of France, and in the exoneration of Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish army officer falsely convicted and imprisoned on trumped up, antisemitic charges of espionage. He was also a significant influence on mid-20th century journalist-authors, like Thom Wolfe, Truman Capote, Hunter S. Thompson, Norman Mailer and Joan Didion. Wolfe said that his goal in writing fiction was to document contemporary society in the tradition of Steinbeck, Dickens, and Zola.

Zola wrote dozens of novels, but his most famous, Germinal, about a violently repressed coalminers’ strike, is one of the greatest books ever written about working class rebellion. It had a huge influence on future radicals, especially anarchists. Some anarchists named their children Germinal. Rudolf Rocker had a Yiddish-language anarchist journal in London called Germinal, in the 1910s. There were also anarchist papers called Germinal in Mexico and Brazil in the 1910s.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #zola #germinal #anarchism #writer #fiction #strike #dreyfus #antisemitism #rebellion #novel #author #books #france #mining #coal #journalism @bookstadon

Today in Labor History April 2, 1863: Bread riots occurred in Richmond, Virginia, as a result of a drought the previous year, combined with a blockade by the Union Army and overall Civil War-related shortages. Food riots occurred throughout the South around this time, led primarily by women. During the Richmond riot, women broke into storehouses and shops, stealing food, clothing and jewelry before the militia was able to restore order.

Today in Labor History April 2, 1903: Mexican police fired on more than 10,000 protestors, killing 15 and wounding many more. People had been protesting the reelection of General Bernardo Reyes as governor of Nuevo Leon, who was aligned with Mexico's brutal dictator, Porfirio Diaz.

'When #Trump kkkampaigned to be president in 2024, he promised he would help #workingclass Americans. He even did a photo op at a McDonald’s, pretending to be a fast food worker.

When he returned to the #WhiteHouse, however, Trump made it clear that his policies would be serving a small handful of billionaire #oligarchs, not the majority of the country.'

Fake '#populism': How Trump's #billionaires admin serves the rich, and hurts everyone else - Ben Norton
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/03/30/populism-trump-rich-billionaires-taxes/ #plutocracy

"Uptown Girl" is a song written and performed by American musician #BillyJoel from his ninth studio album #AnInnocentMan (1983), released in September 1983 as the album's second single. The lyrics describe a #workingclass "#downtown man" attempting to woo a #wealthy "uptown girl". The 12" EP has the tracks "#MyLife", "#JustTheWayYouAre" and "#ItsStillRockAndRollToMe" (catalogue number TA3775), whereas some 7" single versions featured "Careless Talk" as a B-side.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUZ2TYsEM5Y

Today in Labor History March 31, 1990: 200,000 people protested against the new Poll Tax in London. The new tax shifted the burden from the somewhat progressive tax based on property values, to an entirely regressive tax.

Today in Labor History March 31, 1966: There was a two-day boycott of Seattle schools protesting segregation. The protest was organized by the Central Area Civil Rights Committee (CACRC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The organizers set up eight “Freedom Schools” to educate students who walked out of class. But they had to scramble to come up with dozens more because so many students honored the boycott. The “Freedom Schools” taught African American history and the history of the civil rights movement, among other things.

Today in Labor History March 31, 1927: Birth of Cesar Chavez. In 1965, Chavez led farm workers in California on their first grape boycott. The nationwide protest lasted five years and ended with the first union contract for U.S. farm workers outside of Hawaii. In 1966, Chavez’s organization officially became the United Farm Workers. Chavez was inspired by the nonviolent civil disobedience of Gandhi. In addition to strikes, boycotts and pickets, he was famous for going on hunger strikes. Later he became infatuated with the religious cult, Synanon. He used Synanon’s “game” to punish union members and enforce conformity. Chavez also supported the brutal Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos. This alienated Filipino members of the union, as well as many of the religious organizations that had supported the UFW.

Today in Labor History March 31, 1809: Nikolai Gogol, the Russian-Ukrainian novelist, was born. Gogol was one of the first authors to use surrealism and absurdism (see “The Nose,” “The Overcoat,” and “Nevsky Prospekt.”) Many of his works satirized Russian political corruption, like “Dead Souls,” and the “Government Inspector.” He influenced several generations of writers, including Dostoevsky, Bulgakov, Nabakov, Kafka and Flannery O’Connor. The gypsy punk band, Gogol Bordello, took their name from him.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #gogol #russia #ukraine #fiction #satire #surrealism #kafka #dostoevsky #literature #books #writer #author #courruptiohn #punk @bookstadon

Today in Labor History March 31, 1949: The Canadian Seamen's Union launched a strike that would last six months.

Not a Dad Joke (but relevant to this post):

What's stiff and full of seamen?

.... A submarine.

Today in Labor History March 31, 1883: Cowboys in the Texas panhandle began a 2-and-a-half-month strike for higher wages. Investment firms from the East Coast and Europe were taking over the land and cutting benefits that cowboys had accustomed to, like keeping some horses for themselves and holding some of the land for their own small farming. New ranch owners were more interested in expanding holdings and increasing profits, forcing their hands to work entirely for wages, and maintaining all livestock entirely for the profit of the owners.

Media from as far away as Colorado accused the cowboys of being incendiaries, threatening to burn down the ranches, attacking ranchers, and indiscriminately killing cattle.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #cowboy #strike #texas #wages #books #nonfiction #author #writer @bookstadon

What's stated below happens with great regularity when the Democrats show up at home... which in recent years is almost never.

The intercept has become a noise machine for the blue fascist faction. Look folks... urban libertarians...ie. Corporate pos and techies, got #trump elected, not the RURAL PEOPLE THE #DEMOCRATS BASH, even as THEY SAY they represent the #WorkingClass

"#GOP Leaders Said Don’t Do Town Halls. This Indiana #Republicans Did — and Got an Earful."

https://theintercept.com/2025/03/30/gop-victoria-spartz-town-hall-doge-elon-musk/

What's better than immigrant employees who you can underpay, abuse and threaten to report to ICE if they try to organize?

That's right, Children!

Their tiny fingers and hands are ideal for unclogging gears and conveyor belts. Their youthful exuberance, energy, and sense of invincibility are easily exploitable to get the risky work you need done! Incentivize them with vape pens and pizza parties. Pay them a fraction of what you'd pay adults. And if they organize? Just fire them all and replace them with their younger siblings.

https://truthout.org/articles/fl-gop-bill-would-allow-employers-to-schedule-child-workers-for-overnight-shifts/

Do Protests Work?

New York lawmakers are following the lead of the Tesla Takedown movement by threatening to shut down the state's Tesla stores.

Will this end the fascist takeover of the U.S.? End capitalism? Stop Trump's assaults on trans folks, immigrants, women, people of color, and the working class? His threats to the rest of the planet?

Of course not. But who doesn't enjoy seeing his "ketamine-fueled jester" hemorrhage money?

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/26/new-york-lawmakers-target-tesla-00252361

Today in Labor History March 29, 1797: William Godwin married Mary Wollstonecraft. Godwin was an English journalist, philosopher and novelist. And one of the first modern proponents of anarchism. His most famous books are “An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice” and “Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams,” a mystery novel that attacks aristocratic privilege. Wollstonecraft was a British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights, and is regarded by many as one of the founding feminist philosophers. Her most famous book was “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” (1792). She died 11 days after giving birth to her second daughter, Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #feminism #marywollstonecraft #williamgodwin #philosophy #novel #fiction #frankenstein #maryshelley #books #author #writer #journalism @bookstadon

Today in Labor History March 29, 1935: French illegalist anarchist Clément Duval died. He was a major influence on other illegalist anarchists of the era, including members of the Bonnot Gang. In 1886, Duval robbed the mansion of a Parisian socialite. He was condemned to death, but his sentence was later commuted to hard labor on Devil's Island, French Guiana, setting for the novel Papillon. According to Paul Albert, "The story of Clement Duval was lifted and, shorn of all politics, turned into the bestseller Papillon." In a letter printed in the November 1886 issue of the anarchist paper Le Révolté, Duval famously declared: "Theft is but restitution carried out by an individual to his own benefit, being conscious of another's undue monopolization of collectively produced wealth."

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #prison #devilsisland #papillon #clementduval #bonnotgang #novel #fiction #books #author #writer @bookstadon

Today in Labor History March 29, 1948: Police attacked striking members of the United Financial Employees’ Union and arrested forty-three in the “Battle of Wall Street.” This was the first and only strike in the history of the New York or American Stock Exchanges.

Today in Labor History March 29, 1951: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. They were executed at Sing Sing in 1953. The Rosenberg’s sons, Michael and Robert Meeropol were adopted by Abel Meeropol, the composer of “Strange Fruit,” (made famous by Billie Holiday). The sons maintained their parents’ innocence. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, decoded Soviet cables showed that their father had, in fact, collaborated, but that their mother was innocent. They continued to fight for the mother’s pardon, but Obama refused to grant it. The Rosenberg’s sons were among the last students to attend the anarchist Modern School, in Lakewood, New Jersey, before it finally shut its doors in 1958.

The Modern School movement began in 1901, in Barcelona, Spain, when Francisco Ferrer opened his Escuela Moderna. It was one of the very first Spanish schools to be fully secular, co-educational, and open to all students, regardless of class. His ideas were so popular that 40 more Modern Schools opened in Barcelona in just a few years, while 80 other schools adopted his textbooks. In 1909, there were mass protests and a General Strike against Spanish intervention in Morocco. The state responded with a week of terror and repression, during which they slaughtered over 600 workers and falsely executed Ferrer as an instigator of the protests. His execution led to worldwide protests. Modern Schools started to pop up outside of Spain, inspired by his original Escuela Moderna, including 20 in the U.S.

For more on the Modern School movement, read my article: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2022/04/30/the-modern-school-movement/

Today in Labor History March 29, 1965: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled for the defendant in Textile Workers Union v. Darlington Manufacturing Company. In a 7-0 ruling they ruled that a company could close a recently unionized factory, even if it was done specifically to bust the union.