A Case For Unions And Bitcoin

2 years ago

I americium portion of a subset of Local Union (ATU1555) based retired of Oakland, California, proposing that our national allocate a percent of our treasury and monthly national dues to bitcoin.

I privation I could instrumentality recognition for the archetypal ATU1555BITCOIN idea, but I cannot. After our tenth oregon astir apt much similar twentieth bitcoin breakroom discussion, the erstwhile president of our section asked if I had ever considered however bitcoin could beryllium applied to the union.

The reply to that question was “No, I had not.” In fact, I had ne'er attended a national gathering anterior to that constituent and had small enactment with oregon cognition of what the national did different than correspond members who were facing disciplinary action.

ATU1555BITCOIN Is Birthed

November 26, 2020 was the time the ATU155BITCOIN thought was birthed; the day I retrieve lone due to the fact that I was moving a vacation (Thanksgiving) displacement astatine a clip and determination that I haven't worked since.

When the national and bitcoin thought was primitively raised, it went successful 1 receptor and retired the other. Not due to the fact that it wasn't a large idea; I had travel to the decision a mates of years anterior that Bitcoin could and would empower anyone and anything. Still, betwixt my ne'er having stepped ft successful our national hallway and not being alert of immoderate unions that were progressive with bitcoin, it didn't instantly dawn connected maine however our national could specifically payment from it.

Fast-forward a fewer months aboriginal to February 8, 2021, the time Tesla not lone made past with its $1.5 cardinal bitcoin bargain and accept announcement but besides making Bitcoin headlines that time (as if the Tesla bargain wasn't quality enough) was Miami Mayor Francis Suarez's announcement that helium was moving connected a solution to add Bitcoin to the city's equilibrium sheet.

MicroStrategy making their historical $250 cardinal bitcoin acquisition connected August 11, 2020, was a large woody to bitcoin proponents specified arsenic myself, but for a household marque specified arsenic Tesla (which has a 370-acre manufacturing and bureau space 10 miles distant from 1 of our work study locations) to adhd bitcoin to its equilibrium expanse was a communicative anyone could resonate with — Tesla's bitcoin acquisition was a large woody for the world.

Mayor Suarez's bitcoin announcement was the icing to Tesla's bitcoin bargain cake, and it was present wide that it was clip for maine to revisit that good thought from a fewer months backmost to spot if it would beryllium imaginable for our national to travel the pb acceptable by MicroStrategy, Tesla and possibly present adjacent Miami by allocating a percent of our treasury to bitcoin.

Bitcoin Is Code For What Unions Stand For In Theory

Regardless of if you are a die-hard bitcoin maximalist oregon a staunch national activist, chances are you've ne'er considered however aligned unions are with Bitcoin's ethos.

Only aft months of probe and information did I reason that the alignment betwixt unions and bitcoin is truthful beardown that I present contend that bitcoin is codification for galore of the principles that unions basal for successful theory.

The Synergies Between Unions And Bitcoin Include:

Unions Are Universal: Unions correspond and support the interests of moving radical globally.

Bitcoin Is Universal: Bitcoin is permissionless and borderless. Every 2nd of each day, idiosyncratic determination successful the satellite is benefiting from Bitcoin's monetary properties.

Unions Are Decentralized: Unions springiness workers a accidental to beryllium astatine the decision-making array by employing assorted tactics that forestall employers from having a monopoly connected governance.

Bitcoin Is Decentralized: Through and done Bitcoin is decentralized successful ways that can't beryllium replicated. Voluntary and often anonymous web participants are dispersed worldwide, making Bitcoin the astir secure, distributed, and neutral web successful the world.

Unions Are Democratic: Union enactment elections, bylaw amendments, and motions travel the basal norm of 1 person, 1 vote.

Bitcoin Is Democratic: Bitcoin's proof-of-work statement mechanics (how transactions are validated) and Bitcoin's governance (how the protocol's ruleset is decided) are astatine their core, a benignant of vote.

Unions Are Freedom: Unions correspond and support the interests of moving radical by ensuring that workers are treated fairly, with dignity, and person recourse arsenic escaped individuals with rights. The close to adjacent signifier a national is simply a tenet of freedom.

Bitcoin Is Freedom: There’s nary idiosyncratic state without economical freedom, and Bitcoin economically empowers millions of radical successful ways inconceivable anterior to Bitcoin.

Unions Protect Worker Rights: Through striking, legislative reform, corporate bargaining, and different tactics, unions support the rights of moving people.

Bitcoin Protects Property Rights: Bitcoin is permissionless wealth that is uncensorable and unconfiscatable successful that 3rd parties aren't indispensable successful bid to acquire, store oregon transact successful bitcoin.

Unions Are Targeted By Adversarial Managers/Politicians/Employers who look to maintain a presumption quo that unfairly favors them.

Bitcoin Is Targeted By Adversarial Media/Politicians/Bankers who privation to maintain a presumption quo that unfairly favors them.

Unions Evolved Due To A Crisis: The unions that we cognize today, which correspond each workers, were the effect of the Great Depression. Before the Great Depression, unions predominantly represented "skilled" workers and openly discriminated against minorities.

Bitcoin Evolved Due To A Crisis: Bitcoin (the archetypal palmy implementation of "cryptocurrency" which was archetypal coined successful 1998 by Wei Dai) was released connected January 3, 2009, arsenic a grounds of and alternate to a fragile, inequitable and brutal fiscal strategy that came adjacent to imperishable insolvency during the fiscal situation of 2008.

Power Couple

While it's bully that unions and Bitcoin stock overmuch successful common, the existent accidental lies successful the information that if unions and the Bitcoin assemblage were to signifier a coalition, the magnitude of the interaction this affiliation could person would lone beryllium comparable to the AFL/CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations)/Communist/Socialist Parties conjugation of the 1930s which led to arguably the astir important reforms successful the past of America; the New Deal.

Though it is existent that unions are not successful afloat accordance with Bitcoin's ethos, fto america not hide that determination were power grabs, differences of philosophy, mistrust, and adjacent bouts of violence betwixt the AFL/CIO/Communist /Socialist Parties. But due to the fact that these organizations were capable to spot the overlap successful their objectives and align implicit halfway cardinal points, they were capable to execute things unneurotic that they apt would not person been capable to execute arsenic idiosyncratic organizations.

Union Strong

"With each their faults, trade-unions person done much for humanity than immoderate different enactment of men that ever existed. They person done much for decency, for honesty, for education, for the betterment of the race, for the processing of quality successful man, than immoderate different relation of men." - Clarence Darrow, American lawyer and starring subordinate of the American Civil Liberties Union

Unions arguably correspond the radical much truthful than immoderate different instauration and person been liable for galore of the things that contiguous we instrumentality for granted today, specified as:

But arsenic storied and consequential arsenic unions whitethorn be, if you judge the premise that unions beryllium to not conscionable support idiosyncratic rights but to correspond the involvement of the moving person, it becomes wide that unions could beryllium doing a batch much to this extremity than they are presently doing.

Union information rates successful the U.S. person declined from their highest of 35% successful 1945 to 10% successful 2020 portion income, wealth, and accidental gaps haven't been this inequitable since before the Great Depression.

These realities suggest that moving people, unions, and nine arsenic a full would beryllium amended disconnected if unions were much effectual successful the execution of their goals.

If what Bitcoin has achieved successful its thirteen years of beingness is an indicator, Bitcoin is improbable to beryllium going distant anytime soon and arsenic was the lawsuit with corporations, banks and present governments, sooner oregon later, unions volition person to admit Bitcoin and see however it could assistance unions further their agenda.

Bitcoin: What's In It For Unions

U.S. Union Membership Is In Decline

Much of the spot of a national derives from its members and national rank rates successful the U.S. are down from their highest of 35% successful 1945 to astir 10% successful 2020.

For unions to align with Bitcoin would amended presumption unions to

Appeal to younger generations
Provide worth to workers successful caller unsocial ways
Adapt to existent times and situation
Reinvent what it is to beryllium successful a national
Leverage technology

All of which could considerably assistance unions alteration rank attrition.

Unions Can Diversify Their Holdings

"Paper wealth yet returns to its intrinsic value: zero." - Voltaire, French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher

January 21, 2020, famed capitalist Ray Dalio famously declared connected CNBC that "cash is trash, okay? due to the fact that they are going to people more." Then from March 2020 to March 2021 America's cardinal slope proceeded to increase the full wealth supply by implicit 30%.

As if that wasn't atrocious enough, the dollar has mislaid 85% of its worth since 1971 (the twelvemonth President Richard Nixon took the dollar disconnected the golden standard) and 96% of its worth since 1913 (the twelvemonth the Federal Reserve Board was established), according to the Federal Reserve U.S. Inflation Calculator.

For a national to not clasp each of its treasury successful currency oregon currency equivalents by diversifying a percent of its treasury into an alternate wealth and monetary strategy that has generated returns of implicit 200% annualized since inception is not risky successful a satellite wherever the superior reserve currency is experiencing 6.8% user terms inflation and houses are appreciating 20% successful 1 year.

Manifest Union Principles In New Unique Ways

Unions person depended mostly on corporate bargaining, strikes and legislative betterment since the 19th period to incite change.

Employers person been investing successful exertion designed to trim the relation of workers since the employee/employer dynamic began; with bitcoin, unions present person an accidental to beryllium the benefactor of technological advances by adopting what whitethorn beryllium to beryllium the astir disruptive exertion of our generation, that would let unions to proactively further their docket of representing and protecting workers successful ways that person ne'er earlier been possible.

Bitcoin Strength

While immoderate whitethorn worth fiat currency due to the fact that it's backed by "men with guns" arsenic Nobel Prize-winning writer Paul Krugman would say, others similar golden due to the fact that it has “intrinsic value” successful that it's utilized successful bling and compartment phones.

Conversely, Bitcoiners covet bitcoin due to the fact that it is simply a neutral, uncensorable, unconfiscatable, permissionless wealth with superior inherent monetary properties, specified arsenic its portability, scarcity, recognizability, durability and divisibility.

Because of its unsocial qualities and monetary properties, bitcoin has the imaginable to springiness humanity a benignant of economical state the satellite has ne'er known, from the start-up merchants successful El Salvador who deficiency the outgo systems to process integer transactions, to the Micheal Saylors of the satellite who owed to ostentation are watching their companies’ billions melt distant similar an crystal cube connected a summertime day, to the Venezuelas of the satellite who are being crushed by economic sanctions starring to much despair than your emblematic war.

The imaginable bitcoin has to positively interaction humanity is acold excessively large for unions to dismiss. Unions person an accidental to state with a purpose-aligned Bitcoin question that could beryllium a symbiotic narration that would assistance unions regain their influence.

Unions: What's In It For Bitcoin?

"Bitcoin’s top menace is its success" - Ray Dalio - billionaire hedge money laminitis

Defense Against Excessive Regulation

By the Bitcoin assemblage aligning with unions, politicians volition person to see the governmental fallout that would effect from their supporting anti-bitcoin authorities erstwhile a important percent of their constituents understands and has benefited from bitcoin due to the fact that of their nonstop oregon indirect relation with a pro-bitcoin union.

Unions person a past of legislative lobbying, contributing to governmental campaigns and legislative betterment that dates backmost to the precocious 19th century and person a proven way grounds of increasing elector turnout successful governmental elections, among not lone members but nonunion workers arsenic well.

Bitcoin Whales

Since it's intolerable to estimation the fig of radical and institutions who ain aggregate bitcoin wallets, reports that bitcoin inequality is worse than the wealthiness inequality of the United States arsenic a full — wherever according to the Federal Reserve 1% of households ain astir a 3rd of each wealthiness — cannot beryllium accepted arsenic fact.

However, portion of Bitcoin's archetypal committedness was to beryllium much equitable than the fiat dollar-based strategy that we person today, and Bitcoin could beryllium doing amended arsenic it pertains to the attraction of bitcoin successful the hands of whales and non-decentralized institutions.

While Bitcoiners recognize that Bitcoin's equality properties prevarication predominantly successful Bitcoin’s hard, neutral, incorruptible level playing tract qualities that volition effect successful immoderate Bitcoin modular strategy being acold much equitable than the fiat strategy we person today, it would inactive beryllium a triumph for some Bitcoin and the satellite if bitcoin were amended distributed; unions aligning with Bitcoin would beryllium a operator of much divers adoption.

Increased Awareness/Understanding/Adoption

I shudder a spot each clip a national subordinate asks maine "which Bitcoin?" successful effect to maine asking their wide thoughts connected Bitcoin.

The percent of radical who inactive judge you person to bargain a full bitcoin successful bid to acquisition it, presume that bitcoin and cryptocurrency are synonymous, oregon deliberation of bitcoin successful the aforesaid mode they deliberation of stock, is significant.

Bitcoin has a marketplace headdress comparable to Tesla, Meta (Facebook) and Nvidia, yet people's knowing of what Tesla, Meta and adjacent Nvidia does is importantly greater than radical who recognize Bitcoin, which is indicative of a large disconnect arsenic it relates to people's cognition astir Bitcoin.

The Bitcoin assemblage aligning with unions would trim this disconnect.

Conclusion

“A macro forecast that’s casual to make, and that's that the spread betwixt the wealthiest and the poorest, it volition get closed. History ever does it. It typically happens successful 1 of 3 ways either done revolution, higher taxes oregon wars; nary of those are connected my bucket list.” - Paul Tudor Jones - billionaire hedge money laminitis

As described successful this article, some unions and Bitcoin person a erstwhile successful each period accidental to turn bigger, amended and stronger by forming a conjugation with an arsenic formidable question that is successful congruence with their halfway objectives.

Unions and Bitcoin are excessively captious to the trajectory of humanity for this accidental not to beryllium explored.

On January 12, 2022, ATU1555BITCOIN volition ballot connected whether to allocate a percent of our national treasury and monthly dues to bitcoin.

Regardless of whether the money passes oregon not, ATU1555BITCOIN has the gathering blocks for what volition service arsenic a template that unions globally volition beryllium capable to notation to successful their attempts to align with the Bitcoin movement.

The champion clip for unions and the Bitcoin assemblage to signifier a conjugation was yesterday, but the adjacent champion clip is today.

Unions and Bitcoin now, due to the fact that the stakes don't get higher.

This is simply a impermanent station by the ATU1555 Bitcoin Fund. Opinions expressed are wholly their ain and bash not needfully bespeak those of BTC Inc oregon Bitcoin Magazine.

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