Where is the voice of the UNIONS

[Toots]

The policies of this Administration are the death knell of the UNIONS and yet they remain silent. Price of fuel is rising drastically and that has great effect on Union jobs. When materials start costing so much that profits can not be made where do you think Contractors will cut back? Everything in America is trucked and truckers are starting to reel. Freight costs are beginning to soar yet not one peep from the Unions. Sure Mechanics are on strike at Northwestern but it isn't being recognized by any other Unions. Every Union in America should stand UNITED or what is the point. If Unions want me to honor their picket lines then they need to honor American Ideals and not War Profiteering. I can see the same thing happening to the Unions as is happening to the Democratic Party. They are making themselves irrelevent by lack of action. If they don't care why should I.

[LARED]

1. American Ideals

are War Profiteering.

[CornField]

2. The unions have been compromised

For them to once again become effective tools for society, they need to return to their social (not just employment) roots.

[rman]

3. unions to depend on the media,

those darn liberal media...

[oscar111]

5. LOCALS can buy radio stations, put AAR on air

IBEW in anchorage just did it.

KUDO, bought it and put AAR on.

electrical workers union local

UAW used to have a tiny network,
"ieAmerica" was the clumsy, meaningless, dumb name, but new UAW honcho pulled the plug two or so yrs ago. Idiot.

Right, unions have been stupid overall for forty years.

urge AFLCIO, SEIU/TEAMSTERS, AND DNC to give grants to AAR for expansion.

for now, also talk to LOCALS to do what IBEW local did.

incredibly stupid leadership at AFLCIO for decades, to exist with no voice. "a movement with no voice is doomed" said another post at DU.

ps. The AFLCIO site now has pages that are lame attempts to create a forum. FLAWS: no threads allowed.. only posts, no replies to them.
--only five posts / page on screen, so it is laborors to keep downloading another tiny group.
=== no titles for each post, so you must read to figure the point.

Again, stupidity rules at HQ.

[Double T]

4. The Unions began to be SILENCED during another Neocon regime.......

while Reagan was President. It has been a slow downhill loss of position and power for the unions from that time to the present. It is unfortunate that we have returned to a time where the most very wealthy have all the power and the corporations abuse their power over their employees.

[oscar111]

6. Sweden 90 % union

last i checked years ago.

95% in heavy industry.

That shows what is possible.

Here, eighteen eighty or so,

KNIGHTS OF LABOR were equally popular.. had to stop taking applications, so many wanted to join... overwhelmed the clerks.
Even farmers joined.

[Occulus]

7. It wasn't reagan, sadly

goes back further, to when Nixon threatened the postal workers who went on strike. The unions lined up in support like dominos back then. Since, we've been spoonfed the backward idea that we have to "cooperate" with managers, and keep a "relationship" with them- usually meaning, we are expected to make backroom deals which, taken individually, each themselves violate the contract in some way.

We have to do this, because managers managed (ha) to muck up our process. Even in cases where we know something violates the contract, we can't simply tell them "no" and walk away; we have to do as they say and file a grievance. There are now well over 10,000 of those backlogged at the national level.

We were just told, a few days ago, during a bioterror drill in our postal plant (we were testing our employee response to the new biodetection systems' alarms going off), that if the system finds something in the mail, and the alarms go off, everything we have gets confiscated and we don't get it back, including cash. This also includes everything in our lockers. We were told we wouldn't even get to keep our car keys, driver's licenses, etc.

Union didn't make a peep. They can't even decontaminate my cash on site? WTF are my dues going toward, again, exactly?

[kahleefornia]

8. Apathy

Members think that "The Union" is some group of strongmen who go around doing everything for them. My co-workers have it great, but always gripe about "the union" not doing things for them. They don't go to meetings, or even vote in union elections.

I've heard guys complain about some particular grievance, and say that the union hasn't done anything about it. I ask if they have actually called a rep and told them about it - "Uh....no....I don't know who to call, and I don't want to attract any attention, seem like I'm a troublemaker".

Hello - YOU are the Union!