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Reasons All Workers Should Support Unions
The current assault on collective-bargaining rights shows that ideology and smash-mouth politics can triumph over economic reality.
Unions did not cause our economic mess: Greedy bankers drove the financial system to the brink of collapse. Moreover, public workers’ desire for decent wages and benefits is not busting state budgets: The same recession is starving states of essential revenue.
Destroying unions will do nothing to create more jobs or balance budgets, but it will further impoverish millions of American workers.
Yet, with the national union membership rate barely more than 10 percent, why should the rest of the work force care about unions? There are three reasons everyone who works for a living should want to rebuild the American labor movement.
First, if you want a job with a living wage and decent benefits, then you want a strong labor movement. When unions decline, many workers — whether organized or not — see a drop in their standard of living. And driving down wages does not help the American economy, which depends on strong consumer spending.
Second, if you like spending time on the weekends with your friends and family, then you want a strong labor movement. Unions struggled for many decades to get laws mandating an eight-hour day, a minimum wage and a ban on child labor. Given what is happening across the country today, with basic rights being heaved out the window, working people need unions to preserve the gains they have made.
Finally, if you believe in a healthy democracy, then you want a strong labor movement. Many unions work for more than just good wages and benefits; organized labor has also campaigned for access to affordable health care and for protecting the rights of immigrant workers.
So regardless of whether you belong to a union, every working American should be worried about the current open season on workers’ rights.
If the labor movement is weakened further, we will lose one of the last bulwarks against unbridled corporate greed and one of the last champions for dignity at work and a decent standard of living.
18 Comments so far
Show All"If you believe in a healthy democracy, then you want a strong labor movement." So true, which is why I believe it is time to let what passes for Unions these days to pass into extinction like the impotent dinosaurs they are. If Unions weren't unilaterally in bed with the management teams they "fight" I'd be more fired up about your zeal David. They also create and lobby laws that benefit themselves as an organization, even to the detriment of their members. If they acted in favor of their members instead of concentrating solely on championing the organizations money flow I'd think they'd be far stronger and wouldn't need "saving." The sooner these organizations are defunct, the sooner a new REAL labor organization can begin again. My viewpoint is the current organizations we call "Union" are good at two things 1) Collecting dues 2) Keeping the natives quiet for management. They have been the authors of their own demise. Let them go, we don't need nor want them.
agreed XGenman - if the article had been "Reasons Unions Should Support All Workers" then I would have read with less cynicism. The Unions with few exceptions support only one political party, a party that has very little interest in protecting the rights of workers. Supporting unions supports the Democratic Party which supports further global corporatization.
throw out the union leaders then, not the unions
Right We don't have a strong labor movement. We've had, since WWII, a compliant labor movement always ready to align itself with the right wing. Always willing to suck resources out of the progressives and give nothing in return.
I would ask XGenman and TwoTurtles which Unions you've belonged to.
Where there are Unions, ALL of the workers get the full benefits bargained for. It doesn't matter what political party they belong to. And there are always a good half of those employees being covered that don't pay dues (and I don't remember anyone ever coming around to collect mine), and do a lot of grouching about the union, although none where I've worked ever refused to take those benefits. Most of those not paying dues were Conservatives. So why shouldn't Union be more pro Democratic. The Republicans have always wanted to bust the Unions.
Like any organization that ever existed, there are problems in the Unions. There are always individuals who get greedy and think only of self. That doesn't mean the organization is corrupt, or that it should be abolished. It'll be a very sad day in the U.S., the day the workers have only the CEOs of the companies deciding what their wages will be - forget workplace safety, decent hours, or retirement and/or health benefits.
I agree.
Although I am required to belong to a union that collects dues and sells out its members, others with whom I work are members of unions that do gun for their members.
I will always support the labor movement...the people who brought us the weekend !
"If .......working men and women are intelligent and sensible as to where their best interests lie on this issue -- "
The point is that there are too many people willing to be "free riders." As someone has already posted, they don't want to pay union dues but they are perfectly happy to get the benefits that unions have negotiated for their own workers.
When pigs can fly we will have unions (and corporations) that are run by altruists who think that their jobs are to look out for their members (or employees). Until then we have to live with the real world. People have forgotten that unions created the middle class. Free riders are not only greedy - they are myopic and have no gratitude.
Unions created the middle class, and yet the middle class is under siege and being destroyed. Where are the Unions? Why is the middle class getting destroyed at record pace? I pay hommage to no man, nor do I use antiquated ineffective tools to get the job done. Gratitude for corruption? Sure, just like I'm grateful for corruption in management or my government. NOT at all thank you.
Unions need to think globally to be truly effective today and, yet, unions do not even collaborate in this country. They work independently which is not only inadequate, it undermines their effectiveness. The masses are there waiting. Something like 70% of the citizens in America want to belong to unions. That is a huge number. All that is needed is for the unions to meet and confer with one another and implement a plan, almost any plan. If unions were to cooperate here they would soon have the interest of the entire world looking to be involved. Workers of the world, in fact citizens of the world face huge problems that continue to grow. There is no global prosperity. That is a myth, a con job. So what do the unions do? At best they protect their own turf and kiss Obama's feet. Not smart; not effective. On top of this unions could unite with peace groups and environmental organizations. While backward and ignorant American citizens choose to deny global warming and peak oil, citizens of the world do not. The potential for a global uprising is huge, far beyond anything the elites could ever even hope to answer. The tools necessary to unite and organize are being used right here at CD. They are universal. And the world is ready.
We have a Union and it is an abomination. It collects dues but the employees have no real rights. No strikes or labor actions, no bargaining rights for pay or benefits. In other words it a worthless organization where Management rules and employees are just glorified slaves.
To embarrassed to name the organization.
On the other hand real unions do work and I do support them.
If you are in a real Union support it.
There seems to be a direct relationship between the work experience of a union leader and the effectiveness of the union he/she leads. When the union president has had no or little experience doing the work that the members do, the focus of the union seems to be increasing the treasury by any means, in otherwords increasing the honey for the queen bee. But when the leaders come only from the ranks of older exerienced worker bees, all the worker bees get to share the honey.
The message being preached today about "Win Win negotiating" is simply a cover for "how can we screw the worker while seeming to care".
To save unions, workers need to accept that conservatives are not on their side
Sorry, but unions don't give hoot about me.
Here's a different take on unions than what's offered up in the liberal media:
"Why Unions Have Failed and Obama should Let Them"
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Why-Unions-Have-Failed-an-by-richard-oconnor-090521-843.html
Unions provide collective strength to the worker and therefore the working class. But unions cannot provide a "healthy democracy". That requires economic democracy (we only have political democracy). They only can reduce the exploitation of working people - which is very important!
Unions exist within capitalism, a system that is based on the exploitation of the working class. The corruption of union leadership or "business unionism" is when union leadership aligns with the interests of business instead of rank and file workers. It happens all the time. This corruption should be expected within capitalism. However, unions remain a key organizational strategy to join together to fight against corporate exploitation.
Can unions be corrupted? Yes. Can democracy be corrupted? Yes. Does that mean that unions and "democracy" are bad? No! It means they are not enough to achieve a just, democratic and sustainable society. But they can be a means to that end. We need a much greater proportion of our society unionized.
Unions aren't all powerful. I remember when Reagan was President, and my Union was bargaining for our COLA, they were only able to get the workers a measly 2.5% wage increase, while the CEO of the company got a whopping 19% increase.
The big reason, I believe, that unions have devolved into their current state is the inactivity of the members. Unions have regular meetings, yet unless those meeting are manditory, few members show up. In all the years I was a union member, I never attended a single meeting. I depended on the union leaders to make the right decisions. That's pretty much the typical mindset, and until it changes, just like all the citizens of this country who leave the running of the country up to the government, never bothering to find out what's going on or voting, unions will be as corrupt as the government is.