Doug Minkler: Labor Posters

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  • Against Forced Overtime

    --Two days off this month.

    --You're kidding me. But I bet you made the bucks.

    --Yeah, bucks for trucks, bucks for beans, bucks for alcohol, bucks for courts and lab reports to find out what's wrong with me.

    Against Forced Overtime
  • All of Us or None

    At the time this poster was conceived my wife worked in the office of a meat warehouse. The secretaries made approximately half of what the dock workers made, and when contract time came the company proposed a % increase in wages. The office workers countered by agreeing only to equal increases for all.

    All of Us or None
  • Chico Mendes

    Chico Mendes (1944-1988) pioneered the creation of rainforest preserves. These preserves are for collecting sustainable forest products such as rubber and Brazil nuts. A father of three, a union organizer, and founder of the Alliance of People of the Forest, he was eventually murdered by the cattle barons and plantation owners who opposed his efforts to hold the land in common.

    Chico Mendes
  • The Communist Manifesto

    The Communist Manifesto has been translated into more languages than any other modern text. It has been banned, burned, censored, and declared dead, yet it only grows more relevant.

    The Communist Manifesto
  • Corporate

    Corporate (cor-por-ate) adj. from the french coeur, heart (sounds like cur-- mongrel dog, base person) porate, from the Latin, flow of excrement (pour-rate) through the Roman aqueduct system. corporate: Heart of flowing shit. Definition and translation provided by Arnie Passman and Doug Minkler.

    Corporate
  • Cycle of Poverty

    Scapegoating the unemployed, the emigrant, people of color, and religious groups has long been a tactic of the well fed capitalist class. They need the smoke screen in order to pick our pockets.

    Cycle of Poverty
  • Demand Protection

    The high tech industry is promoted as a clean industry but in fact is a major polluter. The work force is made up of women of reproductive age and this poster calls attention to fetus harming chemicals.

    Demand Protection
  • Equal Pay

    Equality in the workplace poster is inspired by women in the union movement.

    Equal Pay for Comparable Work
  • Half Way to Hell

    This poster celebrates the first 100% union contract, as it honors the men who fell from the bridge during its construction, and lived to tell about it.

    They called themselves the "Half Way to Hell Club."

    Half Way to Hell
  • Hot Cargo

    "Interfere with the foreign policy of the country?

    ... Sure as hell! That's our job, that's our privilege, that's our right, that's our duty."

    — Harry Bridges 1901-1990

    Hot Cargo
  • Interplanetary Solidarity

    When the world does not conform to my hopes, rather than feel hopeless, I draw my hopes. I am not depending on space creatures to save us from greedy imperialists but they are a captivating vehicle for proposing the future.

    Interplanetary Solidarity
  • More Than a Paycheck

    This is one of the first health and safety posters about the dangers of computers and their monitors. It was created in 1987, when monitors were referred to as video display terminals.

    More Than a Paycheck
  • Occupy Oakland

    In solidarity with the Occupy Oakland — General Strike, Nov. 02, 2011

    Occupy Oakland — General Strike
  • Plant Closures

    Who's the Real Monster?

    Plant Closures
  • Public Schools

    This was placed in every public school in San Francisco, as a reminder to teachers and aids that the United Educators of San Francisco was the union that represents him or her. Though I am opposed to nationalism, and would not have chosen this quote, I am a fan of Mark Twain and felt the quote emphasized the importance of pubic schools rather than the greatness of a nation.

    Public Schools
  • Quota Poem

    This poem is about the time study person / efficiency expert who tries to squeeze more and more labor out of us without giving us any compensation. The poem does not address the fact that most of us have learned a special way to act when we are being observed.

    Quota Poem
  • Self Made

    This poster has been popular with union organizers who regularly run into workers that misidentify with the philosophy of their capitalist rulers. Unfortunately, because of their fear of being called a socialist/communist they are reluctant to purchase this poster.

    Self Made
  • Shop Paper

    I created this graphic to push unions into becoming confrontational, fighting representatives of their members.

    Shop Paper
  • Taking Out the Scabs

    The yellow slug like creatures are parasites that try and take advantage of the strikers' hardship.

    Taking Out the Scabs
  • Training Your Multinationals

    Defend the right to strike and honor picket lines. This 1997 ILWU poster honors the international solidarity exhibited by dock workers in the U.S., Canada and Japan who refused to unload cargo loaded by scab workers in England.

    Training Your Multinationals
  • We Do Mind Dying

    A poster about the rebellious nature of workers put in toxic polluted work environments.

    We Do Mind Dying
  • WELCOME!

    "Let us link arms.
    Together
    We will organize
    For justice and democracy,
    Heal the wounded land
    And create a society
    That serves the people."


    — John Ross, 2008

    Welcome
  • Whole Thing

    Inspired by a Bertolt Brecht poem about dissatisfied seamstresses, I created this variation. In the seventies I was a member of a few less than democratic unions. My experience during those years helped shape this print.

    Whole Thing
  • Wipe Away the Tiers

    The Two Tiers Wage System is designed by employers to destroy worker solidarity and increase profits. New hires and senior workers say same work same wage.

    Wipe Away the Tiers

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