Union Activities v. Send in the Rat! (Chicago, Clinton: health insurance, income)

[MannheimMadman]

Originally Posted by coldwine

NAFTA is the single most important doctrine in our nation right now. Mexico's problems will become our own, as surely as those of Cuba, Colombia and Brasil are already costing us. Our continent is in dire need of unification in the face of a rapidly militarizing China.

I had to cross continents to keep my job, and there are perhaps twelve other people alive right now who are positioned to do what I do. No one is safe, least of all we lawyers, but I cannot stress enough the need for an economic zone that spans everything from Canada to Argentina. It is of critical importance to our survival; so much so that it overrides the needs of those who have the luxury to picket.

not sure if you're serious?

[AmosBanks]

Originally Posted by grapico

is there a current rat? I'd like to go take a photo of it actually...

The last rat I saw was on Ontario E of Michigan Avenue. It was there all last week, but it is not there any longer.

[linicx]

I agree. The unions are not the same. They've made many a concession in the past 20 years. On the other hand if it was not for the unions of old, we would not have OSHA and the standard of living we did until NAFTA creeped in. .

Originally Posted by MannheimMadman

To be fair, I hate NAFTA as much as the next guy. However, the unions of today that I know are nothing like the unions that my grandparents were proud members of.

[Chi-town Native]

I've never belonged to a union, but I'm wise enough to know that every last benefit that is attached to a job is owed to blood, sweat and tears from organized laborers way back in the day.

I don't know what the hell went wrong with unions in this country, but I suspect organized crime's infiltration explains most of it - the mob never went away, and it never could truly become "legit".

No right-thinking person can hear that it costs $200 to plug in a radio at McCormick Place and think that's OK. It's not sustainable for our regional economy to have a system as corrupt to the bone as we've become. Too many people at the top are skimming from the trough, it's not the average union workers getting rich, it's a much larger/deeper problem of collusion, like Daley trading his dad's blue collar constituency for the support of the Fortune 500 execs.

(Does anyone really think we should have given Boeing $50m to move some corporate jobs here? Free market my keister!)

Bill Clinton will be judged harshly by history for NAFTA, this article is the best summation of where we're at (not good), written before the bubble really burst, it should be required reading for every American IMO:

Today's Immigration Battle: Corporatists vs. Racists (and Labor is Left Behind)

A lot of very decent Americans have been totally schnooked by the whole immigration debate - it's not about culture, about speaking English vs Spanish, etc.

It's about dealing with the fact that people who are here illegally live in constant fear of being deported and can't organize and thus can be treated like cattle by big business.

It's a way to undermine all of those hard-earned benefits organized labor earned.

[Chi-town Native]

btw, to add to what Tom said, picket lines here in our area also go back to the days when factory owners were locking up their operations and losing money instead of negotiating.

my dad is also white collar (degree in engineering & law), but you would never find him siding with the big capitalists over working folk. he got sick of Chicago when Lake View "stopped being a place where the rich folks stopped living on the same blocks as the people working at the factory down the street."

class warfare is real - unfortunately way too many people have been brainwashed to not understand that the most insidious (and effective) tactics of the war are done via the financial industry in collusion with the government.

pitchforks and torches can't compete with a system able to bankrupt a man's life savings & pension overnight. thank GOD Bush was never able to privatize social security - anyone remember that genius idea? doesn't look so good now, does it?

[dewthedru]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

...No right-thinking person can hear that it costs $200 to plug in a radio at McCormick Place and think that's OK. It's not sustainable for our regional economy to have a system as corrupt to the bone as we've become....

agreed. the industry i work in used to have a large show at the mccormick but all the vendors were sick of having to pay an electrician a ton of money to change a light bulb in the booth. while i certainly think that unions are a good thing in certain industries, it's a problem when the union forgets that its purpose is to take care of its workers and turns to extorting customers.

Picketing could affect trade show - chicagotribune.com

the places we go to now still often have union members but the cost are more reasonable and you don't have belligerent union bosses walking around with whistles threatening to shut the whole hall down if they see you working on your own backdrop.

[cubssoxfan]

I read an op-ed in the Tribune that the countries we have free trade agreements with result in trade surpluses for us. In the book "The World is Flat" a very compelling argument for free trade is made. IMO many think we have true free trade with China, when IMO they are "gaming" their currency to make it unfair. Unions did a lot of good for a wide range of workers. But the pendulum swung too much towards concessions and large contracts for labor at the expense of the company's health. Please let's leave the ridiculous salaries paid executives out of this for now-it's another topic along with the short term mentality of managing for immediate shareholder wealth instead of long term company health & growth. I'm talking about recent auto-worker contracts and some of the arcane union requirements at McCormick place. How many shows need to leave before the unions there moan "Where did all the shows go? We don't have enough work/as much work as we used to. Come back, we'll change-promise!"
Regarding right to work states, larger companies operating in these states have learned if they do not pay a fair/decent wage, offer benefits and have a healthy relationship with their employees the risk of organizing and forming a union is quite real.

[MassVt]

I have never seen a large, custom-made "rat" statue at a picket sight in any state I've lived in; is this just a Chicago custom? I thought that this was a joke at first..

[grapico]

the world is flat is rather outdated, friedman has several current updates to his theories if you read in the blogosphere. he's a good writer but sometimes a bit one sided (extremely pro u.s./israel)

[linicx]

If McCormick is union, the vendors won't have electricity without IBEW. However, the 1930s mob style graft, greed and squeeze mentality ought to ease up a little if the exhibition hall is to stay in business.