UNIONS OF THE WORLD UNITE: HUMP REPUKE HUMPERS EVERY HUMP-DAY

[Jeffersons Ghost]

What would it accomplish if several Union friendly posters at DU decided to write, kick and vote up Union Pride Threads each Wednesday? Likely the effort will accomplish nothing more than making us feel more united and better about our contributions to America: But isn't that enough?

A Brief History of Union Printing

At the dawn of modern printing around 1880, rotary presses made a debut. By the 1890, the production began to transform a small-scale industry into a trade with craft specializations.

In January 1850, New York journeymen organized the New York Printers' Union, under president Horace Greeley, who started as an apprentice press-man and later founded the New York Tribune. As an outspoken advocate for social justice, Greeley initiated perhaps the most important early advance in the overall Labor movement. The National Typographical Union was organized soon after on May 3, 1852.

Technological developments around 1880 lead to greater specialization, which caused some issues. Pressure for a separate press-operator union quickly arose within the ITU. The International Printing Pressmen Union of North America was founded in 1889.

THREE CHEERS FOR THE ORGANIZATION THAT BUILT AMERICA! HIP, HIP HOORAY

[dogman]

1. I salute several Uncles who were members.

Thanks for the history lesson.

[ClassWarrior]

2. My dad too. And many friends.

Go Labor!

NGU.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

4. neither of you recommended UNIONS UNITING ON HUMP-DAY?

Well, thanks for the kicks and "HI" UNION PALS

[Jeffersons Ghost]

3. In the print industry it was a tiny logo on each printed sheet: THE BUG

and you get one for each uncle!

[mike_c]

5. kicking and recommending....

I'm a proud union member.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

6. Thank you for your VERY important contribution to America Mike

I'm disabled now but as a young-un I was in the UMW and later worked at a Union print shop with an APTA bug for our jobs. We were the oldest shop in the area (100 years) and the best paid. At that shop Union and Management were as content as Union-bugs in a rug. With no Union competitors we got all AFL/CIO area jobs, including the big URWU plant in town. I think if the national had gone on strike some of us would have helped Lewis out for free, he was so good to us.

Management isn't always such a sweetie, especially the villains who go toe to toe with the UMU and get miners killed because they're too cheap to allow safety in their hell-holes. NONE of those mines in the West Va. accidents were union. There's a lesson in that somewhere but media seems to have missed it again.

[dogman]

7. K&R also!

I've belonged to four different Unions in my life and realize their value and the debt I owe. I've been in the Retail Clerks Union, the Brotherhood of Railway Signalmen, the United Transportation Union, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. They've all been good jobs, and that is only because they were UNION. Happy Humpday to all my Brothers and Sisters. Truly, Work Union, Live Better.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

8. MY BLOOD BROTHER IS IN THE IBEW, BROTHER

[Jeffersons Ghost]

9. COME ON BROTHERS AND SISTERS! I KNOW THE LEAD SUX !

but I'll do better next wed. Let's start a tradition of DEMOCRATS HONERING THE HEART OF OUR PARTY! UNIONS!

okay, i'm getting a beer and going out on the deck, kick it if you love it. Did you know Miller has a union bug on the bottles?

[htuttle]

10. Start thinking about the next step -- BUY THE PLACE!

I've been with a worker owned and operated cooperative for 15 years, and would never want to work in a traditional corporation again.

It's harder to run them when you get over 250 employees, but for small and medium sized businesses, they work great. Then again, Mondragón Cooperative Corporation in Spain is massive, with 150 subsidiary cooperatives and it's own university.

In any case, it's not as hard as you might think -- especially if your workplace recently closed and there are lots of skilled employees from the same business also looking for work. Most banks nowdays are familiar with cooperative businesses, and will grant business loans to even new cooperatives if they appear to have a good business plan, etc...

And believe me, when you're not paying a suit hundreds of thousands per year, there's a lot more cash for everything (and everyone) else.

http://www.usworker.coop/
http://www.wisc.edu/uwcc/info/i_pages/work.html
http://www.ncb.coop/

Starting a Coop
http://www.ncb.coop/homepage/contents.nsf/docname/startcoopdoc.htm

The coop I've been in started 25+ years ago after a lockout during a strike turned into bankruptcy (the owner was a HUGE jerk...). The now-unemployed strikers decided that "We could do this!", and did.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

11. how about owning something like this bug? is it too much to do?

[htuttle]

12. Mondragon is bigger than that

But it didn't START that big. That would be the really hard part.

You should be able to do it if you buy a factory at a time. Cars present a whole different problem, though, because you usually need dealerships to even sell your product (as opposed to a bicycle factory cooperative I'm aware of that does also does direct sales). I suppose you could sell them on the net, and offer to drive the car to the person's house. That would be different...(almost Stanley Steamer Corp-like, but on an Amazon.com scale...you'd need lots of drivers).

If you had a really good car. A sensible, economical, easily fixed car that people wouldn't worried about getting 'Yugo'ed with, you might just do it. We need a new Bug for the 21st Century! You guys can do it!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

13. I remember big business just couldn't wait to sink their fangs in Saturn

kill it before it spreads seemed to be their approach. After Saturn was bought out, quality went down.

[htuttle]

14. Most worker cooperatives I'm aware of take a lot of pride in their work

I know we do at my workplace. Most of the products I've bought that were made by cooperatives were generally a cut above the norm in quality. I think when you give people control of their workplace, you attract good people (and they just care more).

And unlike Saturn, while we might put ourselves out of work (and almost did once or twice), nobody else is able to do so.

[Kailassa]

15. I'm wondering if "hump" means the same to Americans as it does

to us Australians.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

16. YEP THEY'RE HUMPING THE UNION IN AMERICA

TIME TO HUMP BACK BROTHERS AND SISTERS.. THEY DON'T EVEN KISS WHILE THEY DO IT!
HUMP THIS BUSCO BITCH!



I just made this one... how do you guys like it?

[Kailassa]

17. Uh-uh ... most definitely not my type.

Too many muscles for my liking. ;-)

[Fierce]

18. Hmmm...I was all about this thread....

....until the rape terminology got out of hand.

-- Fierce, union member

[Jeffersons Ghost]

19. you sure ignored it yesterday fierce considering you were

"all about this thread" don't worry by next Wednesday, I'll fix that issue with another much more pro-union head line. Anyone can make a mistake but only a fool stays the course.

[Fierce]

20. Heh, I was at work, couldn't post.

I didn't have my password.

Thanks for the consideration about the terminology.

[newyawker99]

21. Hi Fierce!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: