10 Reasons Why Labor Unions Are Going to Win [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

10 Reasons Why Labor Unions Are Going to Win
by David Macaray / December 30th, 2011

Yes, congressional Democrats and President Obama have been major disappointments, and yes, the forces arrayed against organized labor have done considerable damage. But despite the damage, despite the hype generated by Fox News, and the self-serving propaganda disseminated by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the anti-labor crowd has run out of steam. They’ve lost their momentum. Here are 10 reasons why organized labor will prevail.

1. Ideology. The dynamic that exists between management and labor hasn’t changed since the Industrial Revolution. Despite those catchy slogans about “synergy” and “team-building,” people who earn a wage and people who pay a wage don’t necessarily want the same thing. They want different things, divergent things. One wants a larger slice of the pie for themselves and their families, the other wants to keep the whole pie. Hence, workers collectives.

2. Numbers. Despite the hand-wringing over declining union rolls, there are still (as of 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics) 14.7 million union members in the country. That’s twice the population of Israel. On November 15, 1969, when an estimated 500,000 people participated in an anti-war demonstration in Washington, D.C., it was billed as a historical turnout. Think what 14 million could do if mobilized.

3. Citizens. Those “heroic” workers in the community—cops, firemen and nurses—are going to step up to the plate and remind the public that unions aren’t the horrible monsters the Koch brothers and Mitch McConnell wing of the Republican Party make them out to be. They’re our neighbors, our friends, our benefactors. Demonizing the firefighters and nurses is a tactic that’s guaranteed to backfire.

More:
http://dissidentvoice.org/2011/12/10-reasons-why-labor-unions-are-going-to-win/