*RANT ON* 60 F@%K!NG YEARS LATER & NO SHOT at meaningful Labor Law reform...

[Earth Bound Misfit]

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

http://history.eserver.org/us-labor-law.txt

60 FUCKING YEARS. 6 FUCKING 0, no, that's not quite right make that 70 FUCKING YEARS. The Wagner Act in 1935 was the LAST Pro-Labor Legislation enacted in this country. 70 FUCKING YEARS OF CHIPPING AWAY AT THE RIGHTS OF WORKERS, RIGHTS EARNED BY PEOPLE WHO FOUGHT FOR THOSE RIGHTS, MANY WHO DIED FOR THOSE RIGHTS. AND FOR WHAT? SO CORPORATIONS CAN PAY HIGHER DIVIDENDS? SO THE FUCKING CRIMINALS ON WALL STREET CAN GET RICHER IN THEIR **CAN'T LOSE** CASINO? FOR DOLLAR HEGEMONY???

I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH MORE OF THIS I CAN TAKE.

Someone please talk me in off the ledge (figuratively speaking, of course)

*RANT OFF*

EBM

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. At least half of that time, unions spent it fighting each other.

The other half of that time they've done very little to convince non-union Americans that unions are a good thing and that these changes are necessary. Yes, they've done a lot of good campaign work, but they've got to get out from behind the scenes. Look at what the U.S. Chamber is doing with their asinine free enterprise campaign thing. Where's the union equivalent?

This is the problem for the left in general. We so believe that our issues are self-evident that we don't bother trying to convince people.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

4. Who will deliver the message? Blecchh? LimpBalls? (Ins)Hannity?

The first thing a dictator does is abolish the free press. Next he abolishes the right of labor to go on strike. Strikes have been labor's weapon of progress in the century of our industrial civilization. Where the strike has been abolished ... labor is reduced to a state of medieval peonage, the standard of living lowered, the nation falls to subsistence level.

George Seldes, Freedom of the Press, 1935

IMO, one way, perhaps the best way, the public can be "convinced" as you put it that "unions are a good thing" would be for the history of the labor movement to be taught extensively in every school in this country. I'm not gonna hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

Nobody should be surprised that business organizations like the Chamber of Commerce ,The National Right to Work Committee and the National Association of Manufacturers are looking out for themselves. The purpose of organizing is to build up membership, and thus the funding, to promote their own common welfare. I find it astonishing how many workers have bought into the lie that unions will destroy our society. One look at the sorry state of employment today should be enough to convince even the harshest critics and the densest of dolts that the C of C, NAM, and every other group or politician who spends considerable amounts of time pretending that unions are evil are not now, and never have been, our BFFs.

You're right about Unions spending "half of that time...fighting each other." Is the glass half empty or half full? They spent the other half doing "stuff" like the following:

......Where did OSHA standards came from? Did somebody in government wake up one day and wonder what could be done to make the workplace safer? Uh-uh. Somebody had to die first, somebody had to get crippled or maimed, somebody had to bring the unsafe working conditions into the light first. Unions lit that torch.

.....How did workers get time and a half for working over 40 hours a week?. Did the boss man just pull that little gift out of his ass? No. Unions fought for that extra pay for extra work.

.....You know that piddly ass little bit of useless overpriced health insurance your boss "gives" you? Never would have happened in the first place if a Union hadn't fought for it.

.....You got a pension plan? Unions fronted that cause, too. Sorry they couldn't do anything about the Wall Street thing that made your pension fund shrivel like a balloon with a slow leak.

Labor Unions raised the standard of living like no other organization ever could or would.

I mean, it would be great if we all worked for Mr. Fezziwig, but we don't. A lot of us work for Mr. Scrooge...before he got the cure.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

5. Aren't you contradicting your own base message then?

That we've gotten these things: ......Where did OSHA standards came from? Did somebody in government wake up one day and wonder what could be done to make the workplace safer? Uh-uh. Somebody had to die first, somebody had to get crippled or maimed, somebody had to bring the unsafe working conditions into the light first. Unions lit that torch.

.....How did workers get time and a half for working over 40 hours a week?. Did the boss man just pull that little gift out of his ass? No. Unions fought for that extra pay for extra work.

.....You know that piddly ass little bit of useless overpriced health insurance your boss "gives" you? Never would have happened in the first place if a Union hadn't fought for it.

.....You got a pension plan? Unions fronted that cause, too. Sorry they couldn't do anything about the Wall Street thing that made your pension fund shrivel like a balloon with a slow leak.

But you also say that nothing's been done for 70 years. Contradictory, no?

[Earth Bound Misfit]

7. Re-read the OP. Nothing's been done

in the way of meaningful Labor Law reform with a link in support.

[daleanime]

2. Dude....

I'm out there with you, and it's getting real crowded out here. Either a lot of lemmings are going to fall or their going to decide that may be their not lemmings after allO8)

[CrispyQ]

3. Back in the late 70s & early 80s,

I had a good paying union job (grocery) that allowed me to live on my own, while I paid my way through college. I graduated with no debt. I had excellent health benefits the entire time.

Last year, the local grocers union was in dispute with management. I asked one of the young clerks how the dispute was going. "Oh, I'm not in the union. I would never join a union!" she said with total contempt. I asked if she got paid for holidays, sick pay, overtime for hours over 40. Did she have health benefits & vacation? "Well of course," she said, smugly. "You can thank a union for that. Read some history & educate yourself. Management is not on your side." What fucking little snot - reaping benefits that unions fought for, with no fucking clue that that's where those bene's came from.

While I think the unions certainly have some blame in this attitude, the brunt of the blame lies with the right wing propganda machine, & the media, which broadcasts only the right wing message. The poster above, who stated that liberals feel their issues are so self-evident that we don't need to get out & push our message, is spot on. And with our increasingly dumbed down society, it's become increasingly easier for the right wing to lie to the People & the People swallow it without question.

BTW, when did it become optional to join the union? It wasn't optional for me & I would not have opted out even if it had been.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

6. Your question: when did it become optional to join the union?

What state do you live in? There are 22 states that are "Right-to-work" states (work for LESS, they neglected to add).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-work_law

Good post, BTW, I'd like to expand on my reply, but I'm pressed for time and headed out the door at the moment.