dagblog - Comments for "The Problem with Unions? They're not Corporations"

Unions are people

rmrd0000 — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 13:19:32 +0000

In reply to The Problem with Unions? They're not Corporations

Unions are people!

Corporations are people too?

I have an experience in this

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 12:10:48 +0000

In reply to Labor Day has become a day to

I have an experience in this from a long time before and i think this can be achieved without any hesitations from now on and this is actually important if there are any new modifications in here from now own.
Q Spray

Thanks, Aunt Sam. It scares

Ramona — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 23:08:01 +0000

In reply to The most effective way to

Thanks, Aunt Sam. It scares me to death that their goal of killing the unions is so effective. Surely there are plenty of people around who can still remember how terrible it was to be working for someone without any kind of security or feelings of safety or control. That's the role of unions: to take care of workers and make sure they're kept safe, they're not being screwed on wages, they're not working overtime for little or no pay, and their grievances are being addressed. All of those safeguards are eroding and for half the country, that's reason to cheer. Terrifying.

Thanks, Doc. And thanks for

Ramona — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 23:02:10 +0000

In reply to Preach it, Ramona! Great

Thanks, Doc. And thanks for linking to it in your piece about the Bread and Roses strike.

LULU, the story about the GM

Ramona — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 23:00:08 +0000

In reply to Labor Day has become a day to

LULU, the story about the GM wife is so telling. So much for Solidarity. We hear gripes about the unions not taking care of every issue for every worker and that's reason enough to hate the unions and resent having to pay dues, as if paying dues gives them an exclusive right to 24/7/365 support. Nowhere else are the requirements so exacting, nor the expectations so rigid.

About the PATCO strikers: I asked my husband your question, since he worked in aeronautics at the time, and he remembers that PATCO was a sort of pseudo-union that felt no real solidarity with trade unions. They didn't ask for help and apparently other unions didn't offer it. I found this, which sort of confirms that:

Appalled by the government’s ignorance and unresponsiveness, the controllers realized that they needed to organize, simply for the sake of preserving the baseline safety standards they were expected to uphold. But talk of workplace solidarity didn’t come naturally to controllers. The vast majority of them had learned their craft in the military, and therefore placed a premium on hierarchical order along with individual heroics on the job. Combined with the comparatively high pay grades available to senior controllers in the federal civil service system, the military background of most controllers meant that they weren’t likely to be found belting out “Joe Hill” at any nearby barricades.

Preach it, Ramona! Great

Doctor Cleveland — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 19:32:22 +0000

In reply to The Problem with Unions? They're not Corporations

Preach it, Ramona! Great post!

The most effective way to

Aunt Sam — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 19:14:06 +0000

In reply to The Problem with Unions? They're not Corporations

The most effective way to vanquish an enemy is to render them less than human. If the powermongers can convince the armies of the night that the people they're destroying are at the bottom of the humanity pit they're on their way to winning the battle.

What's the scariest about this is that there are millions more of the 'workers' than there are the powermongers (bully brigade on steroids).

Unions aren't perfect, but certainly better than the alternative.

Powerful post and timely.

Labor Day has become a day to

A Guy Called LULU — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 18:10:39 +0000

In reply to The Problem with Unions? They're not Corporations

Labor Day has become a day to belabor the plight of unions for those few who bother or are motivated to think about it. For the large majority of Americans it is just a meaningless holiday that gives them a final long weekend before Fall sets in and football begins. The Cowboys play Wednesday night. I bet they get a bigger audience then the Democrats do Thursday.
I am a union man myself in spirit but my own experience working as an elected union representative just about broke my spirit regarding unions. I'll try to explain.
First, an example I experienced first hand. Years ago when I was a railroad employee with fairly strong union representation, good insurance, and a good liveable rate of pay, A General Motors plant nearby went on strike which lasted for a month or so, as I recall. Shortly after they settled with a good contract the R.R. I worked for went out on strike. Our strike lasted a day and a half before an court injunction put us back to work for a thirty day cooling-off period but not before I got a taste of what I see to be the average union beneficiary 's attitude towards the ideal of unionism is. As I stood on a picket line a well dressed woman pulled up in a nice late model car, rolled down her window, and proceeded to chew me out for being on strike. It was because without our daily shipment of just-on-time parts to the G.M. assembly plant that her husband worked for, the plant would have to shut down in a few days. She didn't give a rat's ass that we had issues worth striking over, her husband was back at work, she had got hers and could not even fathom any need or responsibility to support us if it would cost her one dime.

What's frightening is the near-death of collective bargaining, the only working class safety net.

You mentioned the firing of the Air Traffic Controllers by Reagan. Do you recall any other union supporting their strike? What do you suppose would have happened if the unionized pilots had refused to cross the picket line? Or the trucker's union had let the freight pile up in their loaded trucks because they would not cross the picket line but instead parked and chatted up the flight attendants who would not cross? Or if the unionized teachers and other unionized workers had refused to cross even if it meant delaying a vacation? What if the unionized mechanics has respected their union 'brothers'? What then would Reagan's legacy regarding unions be?

The Unions were never given anything they were not powerful enough to demand. They got what they took. But then the average union shop employee came to look at the union as their lawyer, protector of their jobs right or wrong, they began to resent paying dues, they could not be talked into showing up at a meeting, and a hell of a lot of them voted for the Republicans. Not every charge the Republicans throw at the unions is a slander. Unless and until employees come to see different unions as parts of a single cohesive force that they will make some sacrifice for out of necessity that has fostered an ideal they believe in, the unions will have little value except to the Republicans who can use them as a whipping post every election.

Wow, that is Melissa

rmrd0000 — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 17:26:02 +0000

In reply to Look what I found! Talk

Wow, that is Melissa Harris-Perry level geeky :)

Look what I found! Talk

Ramona — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 17:07:48 +0000

In reply to The Problem with Unions? They're not Corporations

Look what I found! Talk about their embarrassing past:

https://www.facebook.com/ramonasvoices/posts/455984704447000

(Sorry, I still don't know how to upload pictures from my computer into comments. Maybe I can't?)