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I fail to see where unions prevented any of that from happening.
Mexican trucks are on our roads.
The Mexican railroad and their workers are riding our US tracks.
Mexicans have all but taken over the construction industry.
Most union mfg jobs are long gone to other countries.
And min wage laws have NOTHING to do with being in a union.
Missing the point - the examples listed are reasons why we shouldn't trust our leadership to protect the American worker. Have unions done much about any of this? They've probably protested some of it, but since most of them are weak and/or corrupt these days, they are failing in their duties. Which is why they need to be remade into something better, stronger, and more accountable to the American people vs. union bosses.
Long story short, the failure of our leadership and weak unions is apparent in the laws above. That is not evidence to "get rid of unions" anymore than a large fire is "proof that the fire department is a failure and should be eliminated."
Missing the point - the examples listed are reasons why we shouldn't trust our leadership to protect the American worker. Have unions done much about any of this? They've probably protested some of it, but since most of them are weak and/or corrupt these days, they are failing in their duties. Which is why they need to be remade into something better, stronger, and more accountable to the American people vs. union bosses.
Long story short, the failure of our leadership and weak unions is apparent in the laws above. That is not evidence to "get rid of unions" anymore than a large fire is "proof that the fire department is a failure and should be eliminated."
And having a class in HS (elective no less) about the history of labor is going to change all that ?
This thread is about a class in school, not getting rid of unions.
The ethnic groups are pushing for their own classes. Now the union wants their own class.
Is this what you want public education turning into ?
Next the political parties will be pushing for their own dedicated classes.
And having a class in HS (elective no less) about the history of labor is going to change all that ?
Of course not, and note that I'm not in favor of a course devoted just to unions.
My replies were to those people who immediately started up on the "all unions suck and nobody needs them anymore" band-wagon.
I'm very tired of people who can't tell the difference between "we need to get rid of X" vs. "We need to reform X and make it accountable to the people." I'm also equally sick of the people who believe in organizing for the rights that matter to them (guns, religion, etc.) but who feel they have the right to deny other's the ability to organize for their own important issues (labor laws, worker's rights, etc.) - and that double-standard is extremely common the far-right, where they spit in the face of people who organize to protect their pay or benefits, but then attend an NRA rally in the afternoon because "we can't trust any of our leaders with our gun rights." How are the same leaders suddenly trust-worthy when it comes to labor laws?
It's all or nothing guys - either we can trust our leaders FULLY with ALL our rights, or we must be ever-vigilant and hold them accountable. Sure, the average union today is weak and/or corrupt, but that can be fixed, like everything else, by the people - given enough time and effort, of course.
Less than 9% of the working population is union in the US, and without public employee unions that even FDR said were dangerous folly, it would less than 4%. Given that sobering fact, I think we can dispense with the "unions am teh bulwark vs corporate oppression" meme going on in this thread.
See, there's this new whacky stuff like Strategic Management, the Extended Stakeholder Model, goodwill being an actual accounting category, etc that makes corporations better citizens than ever, and without unions artificially jacking up labor costs.
Unions were useful in the era they were born in, i.e. the 1920/30s. Since the creation of a few bazillion federal and state labor laws that followed that era, they exist now only to ensure people who should fired aren't, to artificially jack up labor cost and employment numbers, and to give the Mafia/politicians a good place from which to run their various rackets.
Of course not, and note that I'm not in favor of a course devoted just to unions.
My replies were to those people who immediately started up on the "all unions suck and nobody needs them anymore" band-wagon.
I'm very tired of people who can't tell the difference between "we need to get rid of X" vs. "We need to reform X and make it accountable to the people." I'm also equally sick of the people who believe in organizing for the rights that matter to them (guns, religion, etc.) but who feel they have the right to deny other's the ability to organize for their own important issues (labor laws, worker's rights, etc.) - and that double-standard is extremely common the far-right, where they spit in the face of people who organize to protect their pay or benefits, but then attend an NRA rally in the afternoon because "we can't trust any of our leaders with our gun rights." How are the same leaders suddenly trust-worthy when it comes to labor laws?
It's all or nothing guys - either we can trust our leaders FULLY with ALL our rights, or we must be ever-vigilant and hold them accountable. Sure, the average union today is weak and/or corrupt, but that can be fixed, like everything else, by the people - given enough time and effort, of course.
Well this thread is about a school course dedicated to the history of labor/unions.
And all my comments were directed to that topic.
My first comment in this thread was "well let's drop Math and Science" so this course can be taught.
Special interest groups are pushing their way into K-12 education to have dedicated courses on their history, their plight, their infinite quest for equality, etc.
It's no longer enough to have a paragraph, page or chapter on them in a history class.
I find these ethnic, gender, etc. specific courses tend to be very biased. They are one sided, narrow views of a bigger picture.
K-12 is not the place for this. K-12 is the place for foundational skills and more complete views.
You don't want to be producing HS graduates with narrow focused education that favors one group over the other because that is all they have knowledge of.
Yeah and as union membership has declined the more third worldly we get. We are backsliding into the 1890s and the right is pushing full steam for it.
What happened to the construction industry ?
They used to be all unionized according to specialty.
Now it's full of illegals doing work that union workers used to do.
The only areas that I hear are not overrun with illegal is electrical and plumbing (probably cause you need a state/county/city license).
Did the unions just step back and let the illegals walk in and take their jobs ?
You also have TFA folks taking union jobs from teachers.
And the union is just sitting back letting it happen.
Gee, I wonder why our corporate masters wouldn't want people to learn about unions, particularly in this time of vanishing jobs and diminishing wages and benefits?
Do you like the standard 40-hour work week with overtime? Thank a union.
Do you like having the weekends off? Thank a union.
Do you like working in a place that's not a death-trap? Thank a union.
Do you like the fact that we don't have child labor in this nation? Thank a union.
Yeah, sure - many unions have fallen from grace over the years, but to turn around and claim they ALL are "terrible, liberal things!" is just laughable and ignores the positive benefits they have given us over the years.
I find it ironic that those on the far-right believe in "taking a stand against the excessive power and wealth of big government." But when it comes to unions - the very groups that do the SAME THING in the corporate world - they want to meekly roll over and kiss the corporate boot on their neck instead.
Most unions anymore are not private, they are public unions and they are politically entrenched in exchange for votes and money.
I have no issue at all with private unions and value their many contributions.
The public unions have in many places just been a giant leech on the backs of the public and have been co-opted politically such that the politically connected people get jobs while others (often minorities) are froze out and that the unions make decisions to enrich their leaders and political allies at the cost of the rank and file.
So in short, the bulk of the unions anymore in the US aren't what you are describing in terms of fighting for the little guy. They are an appendage of the excessive power and wealth of big government.
What happened to the construction industry ?
They used to be all unionized according to specialty.
Now it's full of illegals doing work that union workers used to do.
The only areas that I hear are not overrun with illegal is electrical and plumbing (probably cause you need a state/county/city license).
Did the unions just step back and let the illegals walk in and take their jobs ?
You also have TFA folks taking union jobs from teachers.
And the union is just sitting back letting it happen.
The union leadership threw their own members under the bus so as not to cost their political cronies any of the emerging latino vote.
In the case of NAFTA, there were some token protests but after it passed....leading to the loss of hundreds of thousands of union jobs....there were no protests or reprisals against the signatories and supporters that included Hillary, Kennedy, Biden, Gore and more.
The good union workers of this country got sold out by their own leadership.
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