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Shake Up Walmart

The sleeping giant awakes: Walmart “associates” are disassociating themselves from the race to the bottom of the working class. Three cheers – and songs – for them!

tune: Bella Ciao
We’ve got to wake up
Walmart let’s shake up
Discrimination keeps women from management
We’ve got to build a better future
To fight for freedom this we vowThey’re cutting corners
Making us mourners
While banking billions in profits
But not for us
We’ve got to build a better future
And we’re gonna start right nowTheir reach is global
But it’s not noble
They pay the least they can pay
Workers everywhere
We’ve got to build a better future
And we’re gonna start right nowSo let’s all wake up
Walmart let’s shake up
No more stealing of wages and health care rights
We’re gonna build a better future
And we’re gonna start right now

When Walmart Cuts

When Walmart cuts our working week
For health care we are up a creek
Oh, I don’t want to be in that number,
When Walmart cuts our working weekWhen Walmart pays minimum wage
And on our hours slaps a cap
No one wants to be in that number,
Hard-working folks reduced to SNAPWhen government picks up the slack
Cause Walmart policies are wack
Then it’s time to pay proper wages
To put the workers in the blackYes we are here to tell Walmart
Our workers’ rights we’re fighting for
Oh, I want to be in that number,
When workers’ rights we’re fighting forWhen we stand up for our fair share
When we stand up for our fair share
Well, I want to be in that number,
When we stand up for our fair shareWhen we stand up, and when we shout
Respect is what it’s all about
Well, I want to be in that number,
Respect is what it’s all about

Battle Hymn of the Associates

We have worked part-time
And had our hours cut and changed at whim
We’ve been forced to go on food stamps
Cause our wages are so slim
We’ve signed up for Medicaid
Cause in this job it’s sink or swim
But we’ll go marching onChorus:
Glory glory to a living wage
Glory glory place it on the page
With the wages you propose
We’ll be homeless when it snows
So we’ll go marching onNobody should go bankrupt
With gigantic doctor bills
Nor should people have to choose
Between their dinner and their pills
The studies are already done,
And lack of healthcare kills
So we’ll go marching on
ChorusWe are your friends and neighbors
And you see us every day
We work our asses to the bone
So hear us when we say
That when we aren’t respected
We don’t meekly go away
No, we go marching on
Chorus

When the State Steals Medicaid

Half the states are refusing to accept free money to save lives. People are on the move in these red states. In Texas, in Georgia. In South Carolina, a Healthy Democracy roadshow.

Oh, when the state steals Medicaid
Oh, when the state steals Medicaid
Oh, I don’t want to be in that number,
When the state steals Medicaid

When money’s out of politics
We’ll dump the rich folks’ bag of tricks
Oh, I want to be in that number,
When money’s out of politics

Yes we are here to tell the state
Our human rights you may not negate
Oh, I want to be in that number,
You know our health care will not wait

When we stand up for our fair share
When we stand up for our fair share
Well, I want to be in that number,
When we stand up for our fair share

When we stand up, and when we shout
Respect is what it’s all about
Well, I want to be in that number,
Respect is what it’s all about

Battle Hymn of the Caregivers

Some caregivers at nursing homes work without a contract, for low wages, with prohibitive costs for their dependents’ health care. They’re mobilizing.

We have slopped up your excretions
Emptied bedpans by the gross
We have mopped your fevered brow
And given you your daily dose
But the thanks we get from management
Do not come even close
So we’ll go marching on

Chorus:
Glory glory to a living wage
Glory glory place it on the page
With the wages you propose
We’ll be homeless when it snows
So we’ll go marching on

Nobody should go bankrupt
With gigantic doctor bills
Nor should people have to choose between their dinner and their pills
The studies are already done,
And lack of healthcare kills
So we’ll go marching on
Chorus

We are your friends and neighbors and You see us every day
We help the aged and infirm
So hear us when we say
That when we aren’t respected
We don’t meekly go away
No, we go marching on
Chorus

We Shall Not Be De-Climatized

We marched, and will march again, and then will lie down in front of the liars, and stand up to the climate-killing profiteers.

Chorus:
We shall not, we shall not be moved
We shall not, we shall not be moved
Just like a tree that’s planted by the water,
We shall not be moved

Oil and coal destroy the earth
We shall not be moved
We’re gonna fight for all we’re worth
We shall not be moved
Just like a tree that’s planted by the water,
We shall not be moved

The 1% steals everything
We shall not be moved
Economic justice we will bring
We shall not be moved
Just like a tree that’s planted by the water,
We shall not be moved

They’re fracking here, they’re drilling there
We shall not be moved
To benefit some billionaire
We shall not be moved
Just like a tree that’s planted by the water,
We shall not be moved

Oil war hawks are swarming
We shall not be moved
Bringing global warming
We shall not be moved
Just like a tree that’s planted by the water,
We shall not be moved

Fossil fuel pollution
We shall not be moved
Clean energy solution
We shall not be moved
Just like a tree that’s planted by the water,
We shall not be moved

We shall not, we shall not be moved
We shall not, we shall not be moved
Just like a tree that’s planted by the water,
We shall not be moved

In the Hummertime

Burying a pink Hummer in an art park in Detroit – world’s most unsingable singalong.

In the summertime when pollution is high
You can drive a hummer and darken the sky
When the weather’s hot
We got oil wars and pollution on our mind
Have a drink, have a drive
Go see whose pocket’s being linedIf your daddy’s rich he can make oil plumes
If your daddy’s poor you can suck on the fumes
Speed along the lane,
Weighs 3 tons, or 3 tons and twenty-five.
When the sun goes down, no one’s lookin’
So you’re better on a bikeThey’re a threat, people, they’re dirty and mean
They’re civilian tanks for civilian marines
They need so much oil
They destroy most of the Caribbean sea
Don’t make us happy,
Life’s for destroying yeah that’s their philosophySing along with us, dee-dee-dee-dee-dee
Da da da da da, hum vee vee vee
We will bury you
Never again see your chassis on TV
Now we’re happy
Life’s for living yeah that’s our philosophyWhen the wind is here, then it’s party time
Bring the solar power, we’ll be doin’ fine
We’ll build buses and trains
That run on seaweed, seltzer and two buck chuck wine
No more guzzling gas
No more war for oil in our lifetimeIf your daddy’s rich which he must be
Takes a shitload o dough to drive a hum-fuckin-vee
Either that or you’re maxin’, maxin’ out your visa credit card
We’ll be better off
Now that we’ve buried it in Heidelberg Yard

Sing along with us, dee-dee-dee-dee-dee
Da da da da da, hum vee vee vee
We will bury you
Never again to see your chassis on TV
Now we’re happy
Life’s for living yeah that’s our philosophy

This Brand’s Not Made for You and Me

A jaunt through the history of boycotts – the ones I’ve joined in, anyway – to help us realize the power of putting the wallet back in the pocket.

This brand’s not my brand
This brand’s not your brand
From Delano grape fields
To Montgomery buses
From Nestle’s formula to fossil fuel stocks
This brand’s not made for you and meI’ve roamed and rambled
And followed the footsteps
Of corporate criminals,
Government accessories
And all around me a voice was sounding
This brand’s not made for you and meAs I went walking
I saw South Africa
An apartheid system
With Polaroid passbooks
I didn’t play Sun City, I’m not that shitty
That boycott was made for you and meTo keep us buying
Sometimes they’re lying
Maybe domination
Is their occupation
Do they do aggression, even dispossession
That brand’s not made for you and meIf you’re ever wonderin’
Is the seller plunderin’
Let your conscience wake up
Give the thing a smell test
Is it bad for the planet or indigenous people
That brand’s not made for you and meThis brand’s not my brand
This brand’s not your brand
It oppresses workers
It oppresses women
So don’t buy bombers
Tear gas or land grabs
This brand’s not made for you and me

This brand’s not my brand
This brand’s not your brand
If it steals the wages
If it steals the farmland
If it takes the power
For one tenth of one percent
This brand’s not made for you and me