Get down on your knees and thank unions #2

[nedbal]

Since this has scrolled off the greatest page with 94 recommendations , let's see if a repost is allowed. A post like this means a lot to us union workers battling with corporations, city and state governments and the repugs..
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5647433&mesg_id=5647433

by senseandsensibility

Unions have triumphed over INCREDIBLE odds to win concessions from corporations. Their members have given their lives so that even non-unionized workers have a forty hour work week, paid vacation, a safe workplace, and breaks.

There's a lot of anti-worker rhetoric on the board today. Much of it is from low-post count new members. Their timing is odd, to say the least.

Will you help by keeping this thread kicked? Will you take a few moments to thank the union members who have sacrificed over the years for all workers?

Give your thanks here, brothers and sisters.

Go, strikers! Management, negotiate in good faith with our fellow working men and woman!

[autorank]

1. Recommended

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YES UNIONS. THANK YOU

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[shraby]

2. Unions have made a huge difference in

the lives of the people who work, and even after they retire.

[Bozita]

4. Without unions, retirement would occur after one's last heartbeat

There wasn't any "retirement" before unions.

[Bluebear]

3. SOLIDARITY

[SammyWinstonJack]

5. Let me just say this, I was raised in a Union household, I walked many

a picket line. My Dad was a Union organizer and a Union arbitrator. Unions were a way of life for my family. Unions were responsible for everyday Americans having a 40 hour work week and weekends off and benefits. Thank Unions for much of what American workers now enjoy.

[Ksec]

7. Me also

Dad was a steelworker and my Mom worked in a pottery that was union. Both made decent wages and benefits because of the union. I have worked in non union and union shops. There is a huge difference in the way youre treated . Union jobs enable you to be treated like human beings. There are lots of non union places who also treat people well and those are OK. But for the large % that dont a Union would change all that.

[SammyWinstonJack]

8. Unions are responsible for average American workers being treated

decently and make no mistake about that! :-)

[Celeborn Skywalker]

6. Thank God for Unions!

I hope to God there is a resurgence in the labor movement soon. We desperately need one.

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. Yes!

:thumbsup:

[lvx35]

9. God gave us the week, but unions gave us the weekend! :) nt

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. Indeed!

:yourock:

[Ksec]

13. and 8 hour days

and vacation time, health care bennies and most other good things you get at your job. People died getting these things.

[lvx35]

14. That's why I want to be involved so bad.

I work at a little company that doesn't need one, but I really want to get involved with unions in general, on a volunteer basis. I asked about this yesterday and got the link to workingamerica.org, which I am going to check out.

[SammyWinstonJack]

15. Yes indeed!

[PinkyisBlue]

32. And protection against arbitrary firing

for perhaps being a member of a different political party?

And unions have improved the working situations and lives of all employees, even those who work in a non-union company, as many of the benefits provided to unionized workers were also provided to non-unionized workers, to attract and keep good employees and, perhaps, to discourage that company's employees from also unionizing.

[Rebelry]

10. Thanks!

Unions are vital to stop the erosion of worker rights.

Unfortunately my post count is too low to recommend! I keep trying though.

[SammyWinstonJack]

I will recommend for you!

Welcome to DU!

[nofurylike]

16. SOLIDARITY

[MrSlayer]

17. Local Union 98 I.B.E.W. checking in.

What's wrong with a fair fucking wage, safe working conditions, fairness and equality?

[nedbal]

18. some union history - let's not make going backwards easy

http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Eco_Unionization.htm

In 1911 a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. on New York's lower east side. About 150 employees almost all of them young women-perished when the fire swept through the upper floors of the loft building in which they worked. Many burned to death; others jumped and died. Why so large a casualty list? The safety exits on the burning floors had been securely locked, allegedly to prevent "loss of goods." New York and the country were aroused by the tragedy. A state factory investigation committee headed by Frances Perkins (she was to become Franklin Roosevelt's secretary of labor in 1933, the first woman cabinet member in history) paved the way for many long needed reforms in industrial safety and fire prevention measures.

Another of the historic industrial conflicts prior to World War I occurred in 1912 in the textile mills of Lawrence, Mass. It was led not by an AFL union but by the radical Industrial Workers of the World-the IWW, or the Wobblies, as they were generally known -an organization in frequent verbal and physical conflict with the AFL and its affiliates. The strike in Lawrence started when the mill owners, responding to a state legislature action reducing the work week from 54 to 52, coldly and without prior notice cut the pay rates by a 31/2 percent. The move produced predictable results: a strike of 50,000 textile workers; arrests; fiery statements by the IWW leaders; police and militia attacks on peaceful meetings; and broad public support for the strikers. Some 400 children of strikers were "adopted" by sympathizers. When women strikers and their children were attacked at the railroad station by the police after authorities had decided no more youngsters could leave town, an enraged public protest finally forced the mill owners not only to restore the pay cuts but to increase the workers' wages to more realistic levels.

[bobbieinok]

21. what in the world was going on???? women strikers and their children were

...women strikers and their children were attacked at the railroad station by the police after authorities had decided no more youngsters could leave town,...

[Greyhound]

28. Just another day in paradise (the real amerika). n/t

[bobbieinok]

22. dupe

[Sapphire Blue]

19. K & R... in honor of my father, grandfather, & uncle, who shed their blood

... for unionization... literally shed their blood, guns fired @ them by the police, beaten to bloody pulps w/clubs by the police, my uncle suffering permanent brain damage from a massive skull fracture... a result of being savagely beaten in the head. Unions were established w/the blood of our brothers & sisters before us. They deserve no less than for us to carry on the struggle.

I remember a time, 50 years ago, when people weren't riding their city's buses... for 382 days... the city was Montgomery. It happened after Rosa Parks refused to give her seat up to a white man.

How long have NYers been w/o riding buses?

[MrSlayer]

23. All Right, something we can agree on!

I'm with you 100% on this. People really have no idea these days of what they take for granted.

[rman]

20. k&r

[LincolnMcGrath]

24. The Union Busters and Corporate Sympathizers here on DU

Can go pound sand as far as I am concerned.

UNION YES;

For my Family

For Our Future

[LostinVA]

Agreed -- Solidarity!

[Peace Patriot]

25. 100% pro-union here! If you can't shop for Christmas, put Christmas off

until later, and give your kids the greatest gift you could ever give them--a country with WORKERS' RIGHTS!

Workers do not HAVE any rights if they do not have the RIGHT TO STRIKE, and furthermore to strike at the right moment to put maximum pressure on the Corporate Shits who rule our world.

Period. End of story. You support the Transit Workers or you are one of THEM--the Corporate Shits, the killers of democracy, the liars, the exploiters, the sweatshop promoters, the people who consider the rest of us slave labor and cannon fodder, the poisoners of our planetary environment, the warmongers and the war profiteers. THAT's who you are, if you fail to support a strike.

Workers NEVER take a strike vote lightly. The main hardship falls on THEM! They are the ones WITHOUT PAY--not the CEOs, not management, not the corporate lawyers, not the people in suits, not the police, and not anybody who is being "inconvenienced" by their strike. THEY take the hit. And they are risking their lives, their jobs, their families and their futures. It is a SACRIFICE FOR ALL. Sometimes the strike issue doesn't even directly benefit the people who vote for it. They're thinking of the benefit to the entire work force, and to all of us. They are establishing principles for all of us. They are acting to stop a trend in this country toward slave labor--toward CEOs and fatcats making millions and the rest us unable to pay our medical bills or buy food.

A strike throws down the gauntlet. It says: NO MORE! It DRAWS THE LINE IN THE SAND.

And it is the most potent political organizing tool ever devised. A striking worker is someone who is learning, real fast, who actually runs this country: the workers! We may be cowed and disempowered and disenfranchised in BushWorld, but WE hold the key to their profits, and if they deny us political representation--which they are doing--then we can act together, in solidarity, to turn that key and unlock the full power of the American workforce on the traitors who are destroying this country. That is the threat that we pose: a general strike. And the Transit strike is mini-version of it. 'We will shut you down. Here is the line. You cross it, and you can kiss your cash-cow goodbye.'

Workers of the world, unite!

[bread_and_roses]

36. YES YES YES to all that! (n/t)

[mcscajun]

45. A great post that deserves its own thread.

Seriously.

Get this out there.

[bobalu]

26. UNIONS: The anti-theft device for working people!!

[dennisnyc]

27. Too many employees have internalized reagonite rhetoric.

They say things like "those union guys have better benefits than me" in such a whining way.

I suggest "HOW can I ORGANIZE and get benefits AS GOOD AS THEM?" as the replacement.

If this were on the lips of everyone in NYC now, we'd see how inspiring the TWU is!

[Sabriel]

29. Thanks, teacher unions!

Thanks for making sure I'm treated like a worker, and not a model of virtue and morality. Thanks for health care, scheduled observations rather than unannounced, legal advice, mandatory prep periods, arbitration, and all the other little things that make teaching better today than it was 50 years ago.

[YOY]

30. I think some people have to remember that

Unions, like Democrats are generally good, but not infallible. You can criticize something and still feel that it is generally good thing.

(Yes, I agree with the strikers and am Pro-Union...I just can't stand someone telling me I have to worship Unions out of their misconstrued principals.)

[pberq]

31. Union Yes! K&R

I am an officer with the local musicians union, and I have seen first hand the attempts of management to get whatever they can. These are not necessarily bad people, it's just that collective bargaining is needed.

[senseandsensibility]

33. My original thread was so well received by my brothers and

sisters here at DU that it blew me away. Kind of made me wish I'd spent a little more time writing it, and had included a few more facts. But sometimes short and sweet is best. DUers got what I was trying to say. I read some grumbling from some posters that disagreed with the few anti-union comments that showed up. Don't let it bother you. There is a particularly galling post at the end of the original thread that momentarily irked me. But on this occasion, I decided not to reply. I prefer to dwell on the incredible support (94 recommendations!) from my fellow DUers, the vast majority of whom are intelligent, well read, and compassionate human beings. Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and solidarity forever! Peace! Oh, and I get to recommend this one!


senseandsensibility:yourock:

[ohtransplant]

34. Unions work for working people.

I'd love to see the day when we don't need unions - that management can be trusted to do the best thing for everyone. I'd also love to see pigs fly.:evilgrin:

In the interim we need unions to protect us from *'s "ownership society".

God bless all members, stewards, officers and activists. You take the heat and carry the load for those who can't or won't. Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings!

[Lone_Wolf]

35. Virtually all of the gains worker's made in the last century....

was because of unions.

I guess some people think working conditions in the 1800's were just peachy. 16 hour workdays 7 days a week, workers not allowed to take breaks, being locking into a factory, employers hiring the Pinkertons to kill striking workers occurred not that long ago.

The only thing the TWU has to fight with is withholding their labor. Those who think they should be forced to go back to work probably forget that the 13th Amendment prohibits involuntary servitude.

The real thugs are the Bloomberg and Pataki administrations who are using coercive financial measures, corrupt courts, and a dishonest media to the TWU. Hell, the Bloomberg administration is even proposing freezing worker's bank accounts to force them back to work.

[Pathwalker]

37. Please read this thread - it will show you what UNIONS

have given you!!!!


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=5429904

[nosmokes]

38. proud IA and AEA/SAG member here!

we must all hang together, or we shall most certainly hang sparately, to paraphrase mr franklin, i believe it is.

[PleadTheFirst]

39. I support Unions, 100%

I come from a Union family (my father was head of his Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers chapter and my mother was in the Bell Telephone union back in the day), and I strongly support the work, sacrifice and efforts that each and every Union worker has made to help America grow and prosper.

Thank you all. :yourock:

[kath]

40. Hurrah for Unions! Both my grandfathers were union organizers in

mill towns near Pittsburgh back in the 30s and 40s. At least one of them was blacklisted because of this. My dad was head of the faculty union at his college in southern Ohio, and led them out on strike at least once. He just recently retired, and is itching at the thought of trying to organize Wal-Mart.

[Snotcicles]

41. Unions level the playing field.

If you are a nonunion worker in a field that has union workers to compete against.
What would you think would make your wages and fringe benefits increase more?
Having collective bargaining set the bar height for your labor or having the job market determine it?
Don't forget to include guest workers Wal Mart style benefit packages.

[BigYawn]

42. I support unions in all matters EXCEPT ONE

I support collective bargaining
I support fighting for humane working conditions
I support fighting for health care & pension.

What I do not support is when union demands make the
employer either go bankrupt, move out of state, move
to another country or cause incredible hardship on the
general public.

Back in the 60's there were many heavy manufacturing
outfits in Chicago area, employing thousands at decent
wages. Unions made that possible (good wages). But then
in my opinion the unions went too far. Result was there
is practically no heavy manufacturing left. Where is the
logic in killing the goose that was laying golden eggs?

Same thing is about to happen at GM & United Airlines.
Why can't the unions and management reach a happy medium?

[Lars39]

47. Those are RW talking points. Got any links to back up those assertions?

[LincolnMcGrath]

49. No he doesn't

Because there is absolutely zero truth to any of it.

[Lars39]

51. Yep, cue the crickets. :^)

[juajen]

43. My father was a union rep for TCI when I was a little girl.

I got a large dose of unionization as a little girl and have never forgotten it. Long live unions and the lives they've saved and enriched.

[greiner3]

44. Up with unions. Down with big business and government! n/t

[novak goes postal]

46. SOLIDARITY

:toast:

[LincolnMcGrath]

48. Kick

[mark414]

50. UFCW Local 1444 behind you and all union brothers and sisters 100%

:salute:

[Clara T]

52. rec'd n/t

[BrklynLiberal]

53. K&R!!

How can we ever expect to fight BushCo and get its ilk out of the government if we cannot even unite behind the TWU for the rights of the workers?
Unions are the backbone of the middle class, and ergo of the country!!!

[tonka023]

54. well said

I can't believe sheeple are so quick to critisize them. They
defend us all.