union members walking pickets today are our heros. help them

[mopinko]

their fight is our fight. they are the last of a race of warriors that saved us the last time the robber barons walked the earth.
walk the line with them for an hour, take them a bag of big macs, or a case of bud. honk your horn, raise you fist, salute them. and buy unionmade. if you can find it.
most importantly, never, ever, ever, ever cross a picket line.

[Lisa0825]

1. My town is a union town.

People today forget that the benefits we enjoy are only ours courtesy of unions.

[havocmom]

2. When I lived in a city in the Southwest, I used to take some cool bottled

water or as many lemonade slushes as I could afford on any given day to the picket line I passed. Always honk, have the windows down and let them hear you care.

[liberal N proud]

3. Most American have no idea what the labor movement has

meant to them.
better working conditions
job security
Fair wages
Benefits

I always respect the union guy. Still carry my old union card as a reminder as well.

[China_cat]

4. I live in the south, where unions aren't welcome

and work for one.

Bumper sticker reads "By the folks who brought you the weekend...the UNION". And, while I don't buy at WalMart, I do go in there occasionally wearing my union shirt and enjoying the looks on the faces when they see it.


edited for too many words.

[kahleefornia]

5. that's a fun idea

The union shirt stroll - I just may have to do that.

[flyarm]

16. AHHH YES THE SOUTH...

were the wages are significantly lower than the northern states, where all the furniture manufacturers have out sourced a proud work forces jobs, where fabric manufacturers have out sourced their jobs, where red necks drive around in trucks they can no longer afford..and where it has become a low waged service area of the nation!!

ohh and where the people continue to vote against themselves ...amd screw the rest of us in their ignorance...

well i hope and think some in the south are finally waking up...katrina could be you..and is many of the good people of souths loss..not just for you but for all of our nation.

we in nj and ny tried to warn you...

you didn't see us vote for these criminals in this white house...

now don't you dare vote for the republican congress next year...
because we in the north have had it!

fly

[China_cat]

17. Excuse me. I didn't realize that just living here

automatically made me part of the enemy.

I will now go commit suicide so you can feel superior in knowing that there is one less DEMOCRAT vote in SC.

[flyarm]

20. opps..i guess i didnt underline..the" good people of the south"

or point it out strong enough...i know there are many good people of the south who do care about this country...and i know that you have the fight of your life with the ignuts you have to put up with...

see i know this because, i not only live up north but i also live in fla 1/2 the year..and i have to deal with the ingorance as well!!

my hat is off to those of " you <good> southerners" who have to deal with the sheeple day in and day out !! and those of you who fight ever so hard for our nation!!

fly

[earth mom]

6. You said it!

It totally amazes me that there isn't total support for Unions in this country because without them this country would be in sorrier shape than it already is! Sometimes, I swear, I think people are their own worst enemies! Because, how can you not support good wages, fair work practices, weekends off (as was posted upthread) vacation and sick pay, medical benefits, solid retirement, etc.?!

EVERY job in this country should be a Union job!

[Hidden Stillness]

7. Unions Made the Middle Class, Not "Capitalism"

Wonderful message--thank you so much for that! The middle class only existed as the majority of the country because of the fought-for rights established by unions, primary among them collective bargaining and health and pension benefits. The middle class is, similarly, being destroyed--helpless--because of the busting of unions, the outsourcing of union jobs, and the downsizing of all manufacturing corporations. Good union jobs then paid the taxes for good schools and city services, healthy local economies, stable families, and all the rest. Now that they are all being replaced by non-skill service jobs, with poverty-level wages, no benefits, and no job security, this will not be a first-rate country on any level for long. There will be a rich, abusive class, and the great mass of people living in squalor, with no way out--and all of them will be smarter than Bush.

[mopinko]

12. don't have time to dig this out now, but here is a link

to the studs terkel archive
he has a great story about riding the bus with yuppies, twisting their arms about labor day, iirc. asking them how many hours a week they work, do they get a vacation, etc. classic studs. i don't know if it is in there. maybe someone would enjoy searching for it.

[CountAllVotes]

8. very pro-union here!

UNION YES!

If it weren't for my union I'd be really screwed right now. I'd have NO health insurance, NO dental insurance, NO vision insurance (they are trying to get a better plan even now) and NO Life insurance either.

I come from a long line of pro-union people. My grandfather was one of the first teamsters in America (c. 1918) and his uncle was a longshoreman during those days when many lost their lives fighting for rights in the work place.

So unions are for We the People. I pay my dues with pride every month!

:kick:

[StellaBlue]

9. Question

What are 'good' unions today? All of them?

I have heard that the AFL-CIO is pointless and dead and in league with the capitalist oligarchs...

I know next to nothing about contemporary unions, only Progressive Era historical information...

Can someone give me a quick overview of union activity and influence in the USA today?

Thanks!

[mopinko]

10. the old hollow ones are collaping

a good thing.
i hope someone can come up with some info about actions, and news about unions. i know the seui purple ocean campaign is a good one, and they were big dean supporters. i am not that plugged in anymore, but i was a union carpenter at one time.
i am also proud to be one of the founding members, and first employee, of this fine organization-
http://www.chicagowomenintrades.org/index.shtml

[StellaBlue]

11. Cool!

You rock!

[madrchsod]

13. speaking of unions

http://www.iww.org/en/node
still around after 100 years!
they have the best union poster art ever produced.....
well tnt`s is pretty dam good

[Toots]

14. Sometimes even Unions betray their own, like the Teamsters

Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle

Teamsters Union 988 is holding the grand opening this weekend for its new union hall, which is expected to feature Teamsters President James P. Hoffa.

But it has become a sour moment for other labor leaders because the Teamsters didn't use union construction workers. They were told by the Teamsters that union contractors cost too much.
<snip>
"There are serious solidarity issues here," said Richard Shaw, secretary-treasurer of the Harris County AFL-CIO.

Unions are supposed to support each other, said Shaw. He recalled how other unions backed the Teamsters during its last strike against United Parcel Service.
<snip>
Other union leaders are still puzzled why the local opted to build nonunion.

Robert "Sarge" Robinson, business manager of Plumbers Local Union 68 in Houston, said he remodeled his union's three-building complex in Houston during 1998 and 1999 and did it with union labor wherever possible.

"We paid a little extra but the quality was better," said Robinson, whose union covers plumbers in Beaumont, College Station, Victoria and Galveston. "Unions have to support one another."
<snip>
But, Wortham added, "I just can't believe the cost issue outweighed the right thing to do."

http://www.teamster.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26

[madrchsod]

15. read what the wobblies think of the northwest strike

http://www.iww.org/en/node
Industrial Workers of the World | One Big Union!

[Karmadillo]

18. Thanks for the link. The IWW doesn't need a weatherman

to know which way the wind blows.

[mopinko]

19. great link, thank you

i wonder if they are picketing at o'hare?

[mopinko]

21. teamsters- a perfect example of rotting from within

imho, the mob takeover of unions is a classic example of the allure and destruction of the dark side. unless i am misunderstanding the history, it was the use of mob thugs to police picket lines and intimidate businesses that opened the door to these psychopaths. it is interesting to note that the thug corrupted unions were the first to suck up to raygun and the rethuglicans. takes one to know one.

[mopinko]

22. kicking myself

c'mon. this is a good topic.

[Hidden Stillness]

23. This is Our Party

"Most importantly, never, ever, ever, ever cross a picket line."

This reminded me of something I was thinking about a while ago, and that is that when the Democratic Party really still was the working/labor union/middle class majority Party, before the takeover of "D"LC, Inc., you would find many, many quotes of this kind from top Democrats. The whole great Kennedy family has always been known as the friend of labor and the middle class and poor, but other Democrats also routinely made it a point to make these statements and do these actions that were supportive of the employees of our country, as against corporate management. That used to be all-American and common sense, until "D"LC, Inc. went on the attack, and made it seem "extremist."

The thing I was remembering was hearing about a truly great thing John Kerry did during the Presidential campaign, I think in Boston, and that was to refuse to cross a picket line. This beautiful act, once so common, was not given the publicity it should have gotten, and I think would have helped Kerry as a true Democrat. What other Democrats could be counted on? Some, not many--and that is where we got lost.

[mopinko]

25. kerry, meh

he knew everyone was watching whether or not he wouls cross that line. somehow i have a feeling he has crossed a few when no one was looking.

[Patiod]

24. My SO is the son of a Teamster negotiator

There is no way he would EVER allow us to cross a picket line (not that I would anyway).