Unions: let me try and paint a larger picture for you. I know you are a smart honest person.
But first let me point out the people who fought for unions were not liberals or lefties, the average person was working stiffs who were being brutalized by rich industrialists. And I mean brutalized, and to add insult to injury working for slave wages.
Go do some research on the plight of the worker between say 1850 (the gilded Age) and 1950. Workers were put in the most dangerous situations and they had NO power to say no. If one quit there was always someone to take their place. Not only that they were paid next to nothing.
They had to fight for unions in a blood in the streets fight. And all they were fighting for was basic safety in say big steel mills, factories, mining, etc.
When the plutocrats have all the power on one side, you can be sure they will take advantage of the worker. Think about it, do you really think they will pay you a fair wage on their own or really worry about your health. The evidence is pretty clear.
Just look at black lung disease, or a zillion other examples I can list.
The unions were the cause of our strong middle class. This can be proven with statistics. If you google a chart of the decline in the middle class you will see a near 100% correlation with a decline in unions. The 50's were the strongest the middle class ever was and the period of the most unions. About 35%.
Then in 1980 the plutocrats "hired Raygun" to bust the unions and boy did he do a good job. We went from about 35% down to about 6% today and now half the country lives near the poverty level. And the middle class is at an all time low.
As far as unions for say local or state workers, let me explain how that works. The city councils or state legislatures are filled with people who hate government, and like today want to cut every social program they can. And they start with the personnel budget.
What they cut first are financial officers and regulation folks. So what happens and I have seen it a zillion times one person ends up doing two peoples work e.g. finance officers. People need work, so they try to do it, but it breaks most people who try. I have actually seen them crying or having nervous break downs over th ework load. Just too much work. And no one in the legislature cares.
Or take regs. In our state the time lag to get say state leases or accretion issues resolved takes something like 20 years. Because they need 20 people and they have two. Easy to cut regulators.
I am old, 72, and have worked in many unions and never, not even once, did I get paid more than I was worth. Not once. Sure there is some corruption and sure some union jobs are payola, but overall they are as essential to establsihing a strong middle class as democracy is to civilization
The worker must have counter balancing power to the corporation. The last thing any corporation is going to do is worry about a workers health and welfare. That we can see all over the world where there are no unions. . |
