Poll: labor unions viewed favorably by 58%

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/rasmussen/20060904/pl_rasmussen/laborunions20060904


Poll: labor unions viewed favorably by 58%

rasmussenreports.com Mon Sep 4, 8:27 AM ET

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of Americans have at least a somewhat favorable opinion of labor unions while 33% disagree and have an unfavorable view. Those figures, from a Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,000 adults, include 23% with a "very favorable" opinion and 12% with a "very unfavorable" view.


By way of comparison, 69% of Americans have a favorable opinion of a company the unions love to hate-Walmart. Twenty-nine percent (29%) have an unfavorable opinion of the retail giant.

Forty-eight percent (48%) have a favorable opinion of General Motors while 21% hold the opposite view.

The volunteer Minutemen who organized patrols of the Mexican border are viewed favorably by 54% and unfavorably by 22%.

[stepnw1f]

1. Unions Helped Build This Country

What a disgrace... that number should be higher, but unfortunately the right wing misinfo went unchalleneged and instead ignored for much too long!

You cannot dismiss or ignore the right wing. If you do, they will take advantage of it.

[rodeodance]

4. i was surprized to see that the # was this high.

[skooooo]

15. Me too!

Are they still on the decline though?

[ChiciB1]

2. Well It's About Friggin TIME!!

Had my husband not been able to part of a Union I think we might be in very bad shape today. He retired early because we care for his mother, but had managed through the 50/50 Pension Plan from GTE to save some money.

He retired just at the right time too.... right as Verizon was taking over and they've made a lot of changes. He still talks to old buddies who are still working and even though it's STILL Union, they have "screwed" them out of some of their benefits, or rather "down-graded" them in some fashion!!

I know Unions have gotten a bad rap, but in the end the middle class did get help by being a member in the long run.

I heard yesterday that participation in Unions is down to 9%!!!! Last year it was way down at 15%, this is VERY say IMO!!!

[greccogirl]

17. I read it was less than 8%.

Not sure where I saw those figures, but it's amazing it's come that low.

[ChiciB1]

18. Not Amazing... A DISGRACE! n/t

[Virginia Dare]

3. You'll really miss them when they're gone America..

by the way, I saw Pat Buchanan on the Chris Matthews show the other night blaming the illegal immigration "problem" on labor unions. He said that labor had sold American workers out so that they could get all these immigrants organized.

Yeah, that makes sense Patty my boy, cut loose high wage already organized people for the opportunity to organize low wage immigrants.

His kool-aid is definately spiked with some mighty powerful shit.

:wtf:

[Ninten12]

5. Too bad it took to long to realize the benefits

Unions mean better wages! Yes unions fall victim to corruption and bureaucratic crap like every organization, but the benefits are proven. The unions shot themselves in both feet when they wholeheartedly embraced champion union buster Ronald Reagan.

[michreject]

6. They did me right

I retired last thursday (8-31) at 53 years of age. Full medical and full pension. At least until some elephant worshiper tries to steal it from me.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. That's actually pretty good after years of relentless propaganda from

right wing radio and even more years of anti-union articles from Reader's Digest.

[saltpoint]

11. Excellent point, nicely stated.

:thumbsup:

[Nikki Stone 1]

12. Reader's Digest has an interesting history.

There's a lot about their propagandistic activities in "Cold War Orientalism" by Christina Klein.

[Paranoid Pessimist]

8. Mixed feelings on this

I like the idea of labor unions, of people organizing collectively to extract some benefits from the Powers That Be, and I recognize that most of the changes in working relations in this century, like the 8 hour day, the 5 day week (which all the workaholic corporados are voluntarily giving up) are the result of union activity.

But oftimes the behavior of people in picket lines is just awful -- noisy, self righteous, chanting "What do we want, all that you got, when do we want it ... NOW!", jeering at people who cross the picket line. The fact that a lot of unions had a proven connection to organized crime and have been, at times, just as corrupt and self seeking as the bosses' institutions. Most of the unions now are in the public sector -- I belong to one, and they do a good job of things like struggling to keep the Republicans from "privatizing"
our retirement (public sector union jobs are about the only ones who have a traditional retirement -- for now).

I read Howard Zinn and Studs Terkel and I'm all for unions, but then the hotel workers go on strike and spend their days banging garbage can lids in the predawn outside of hotels to disturb the peace of the tourists, and I don't know what to think. Does being in the right on the issues entitle people to act like assholes?

[physioex]

9. Ohhh....Those Poor Tourists.....

"the hotel workers go on strike and spend their days banging garbage can lids in the predawn outside of hotels to disturb the peace of the tourists"

They are able to afford $300+ for a posh hotel with no concern for the fact that the person cleaning their bathroom is making $5/hr with no benefits.

The point I am making is so what if a few tourists get their feathers ruffled, I say the ends justify the means.

P.S. I always leave some money for the cleaning crews when I stay at a hotel, I know how hard they work for such little income.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. I have no sympathy for anyone who crosses a picket line

If those "poor tourists" knew that the hotel workers were on strike and didn't cancel their reservation, then they deserve every discomfort they get.

[saltpoint]

10. Almost 60% is pretty good, but the number goes way up at my house.

Unions -- Yes.

Tom Harkin, by the way, would not be a bad choice for a veep pick in 08. He's a Senator who has long valued the men and women who work hard in this country. He's brainy but folksy, too.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

13. As a former labor member, and current (evil, not really) supervisor of

collective bargaining staff, let me say, unions rock.

We have top flight people whose rights are represented. I work with stewards who don't hesitate to tell me if I'm inadvertently overstepping contract language, and who recognize the "greater good" at the same time.It makes my job so much more easier.

I've been an NCO and been a supervisor in other settings. Working with a collective bargaining unit is a fair and principled way to conduct business, even if the extra paperwork is a little tedious. :-) MKJ

edited to soften my language and to wonder why it's only 58%. I walked a picket line and will never regret it. It's about the people. MKJ

[BrotherBuzz]

16. That number is too low, and my grandpa would cry....

he was a member of his union for over 65 years. I wear his 63 year union pin proudly on the right occasions, and marvel at his collection of union books he accumulated in his lifetime. His right to work with dignity was created by his father, the founder of his union in Northern California chapter back in 1902. I cry today when I encounter people that are in the labor force but bash the unions because that is the meme of the day they pick up and learn from the gutter.

[Rainscents]

19. You know when I get really really psst?

When my Union brothers and Sisters vote Republican... I go ballistic on them and call them traders!