Reply #32: Our unions need to be democratized. I was sold out by union leadership too.

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My union just didn't want to pay strike benefits anymore, so it crushed our strike. It never wanted us to strike in the first place, really. Part of the labor problems in this country are that our unions are often lead by lawyers and accountants who've never been workers OR on strike, and most union leaders spend more time in bed with the Democratic Party playing the politics of lesser evildom than actually standing by strikers. I've found that local union presidents are bad-ass, amazing people who are fighting hard to change the world, and that the higher-ups are bought off bureaucrats who barter with the Democrats after the Democrats have barted with the Republicans. It's a sorry state of affairs, really.

We need fighting unions, not lobbying or begging unions.