"Unions helped secure benefits, fair pay for all"

[Arctic Dave]

According to the U.S. Department of Labor web page, Labor Day is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It is a tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country.
It became a federal holiday in 1894, following the deaths of 13 workers and injuries to an additional 57 workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. marshals who were mobilized by railroad owners in the now infamous Pullman railcar strike. Legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike as President Grover Cleveland feared further conflict.

Today we are several generations removed from the dark days of labor when labor leaders were jailed or fired upon by goon squads because they simply dared to stand up for decent and safe work conditions and a fair wage.

Some however, still seem to want to hearken back to those darker days and actually appear to bask in the feeling of sticking it to workers, particularly those who happen to belong to a union.



Read more: http://www.adn.com/2011/09/04/2049238/unions-helped-secure-benefits.html#ixzz1X8LYrM2t

[DianaForRussFeingold]

1. K&R Informative and also frightening

"Some however, still seem to want to hearken back to those darker days and actually appear to bask in the feeling of sticking it to workers, particularly those who happen to belong to a union."
:scared: 'The past is prologue'

[Arctic Dave]

2. There seems to be an anti-union chorus developing up here

I believe we are the next koch bros target for anti-union propaganda. Having a anti-union mayor doesn't help either.

[Trajan]

3. K and R indeed ....

Unions secured a decent life for worker families across the board .... Even if employees didn't belong to a union ....

Just the mere fact they existed elevated the lot of labor in the whole marketplace .... Non-union shops had to pay enough to attract good workers away from union shops ....

Back in the good ole days, that is ....

[SheilaT]

4. You Communist!

At least that's what the right wing would say to you and everyone else who supports union rights.

I am so incredibly sick of hearing people say things like, "Well, unions are okay but they've gone too far in various ways." Too far, as in an eight hour work day is going too far, sick leave, paid vacations, overtime. Of course, now that unions are so weak here, all those things are disappearing.

[Arctic Dave]

7. Seems to be the meme up here.

"Unions aren't necessary because there are enough laws to protect the worker already".

These are laws today because of unions. That is like saying we don't need a legal system because we have enough laws already.

[SheilaT]

9. It's scary. Unions have been demonized

since the very beginning. I'm not sure just when it was that working class people not themselves in unions started believing that they were no good, they did more harm than good, that you could trust management to treat you fairly. Ever since the 1970's I've seen that attitude on the part of working class people who simply had no clue what unions had actually done for everyone.

Example: I was an airline ticket agent at National Airport in Washington DC from 1969 to 1979. Even though our employee group was not unionized (and management was very effective in undermining unionization efforts) we benefitted in various important ways. For instance, if you worked more than eight hours in any given day, you earned time and a half for the time worked over the eight hours, even if you wound up not going over 40 hours in the week.

I worked for a different airline in 1982, in Minneapolis, and their ticket counter agents were unionized. I was just part time, and if I went over the part time hours -- either 20 or 16 hours a week -- I was paid time and a half. It was nice.

Most people today under the age of 40 have probably never worked in a job where they had real protection from management abuse, and they have no idea that it really can be different.

[classysassy]

5. Destroying the Unions

the aim of the wealthy criminals.Why would the average citizen help the very people that want to deprive them of fair wages,health care and safety of the workers want to vote for supporters of that greedy group?The brain dead among us need to be informed about the aim of the rich rogues.The propaganda specialist such as Limbaugh,Fox News should be ignored and denounced as shills of the rich criminals.

[raccoon]

6. What really chaps me is how many people who have benefited from unions, or would benefit from them,

are so anti-union. They're as much against unions as against a plague of zombies.

Do these people actually think employers pay more than the minimum wage and provide benefits (that is, for those employers who DO still provide benefits) out of the goodness of their hearts? :sarcasm:

[Arctic Dave]

8. Most of the anti-union zombies have an odd belief that they are more special

and they get what they have because they are "blessed". Never realizing they are standing on the shoulder of giants.