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Unions for workers rights are like chemotherapy for a cancer patient. They are necessary to a point but too much will kill the patient. I can't deny that there was a time where unionization was crucial and successful but now for the most part they are a poison.
Virtually all of the workplace rights we enjoy today originated with unions. However, these rights were achieved at a time when unions were legitimately controlled by the workers themselves.
Unfortunately, modern trade unions are little more than management-controlled buffers between workers and management. They have become "professional" organizations, run by a highly-compensated president, designed to see to it that things run smoothly.
So, kudos to the early, militant unionists...many of whom died for the very rights we're speaking of.
Unions were created to protect white workers from emancipated slaves and chinese who would do the same work for less. "Look for the union label" was code for "this garment made by whites".
Many say that if it wasn't for the unions, we wouldn't have weekends or vacations. How true is that statement?
This is absolutely true. And it was not just the places where unions were established that have benefited. In order to get workers at non-union places employers had to follow suit and start matching what union shops were giving their workers. Without the unions fighting for what is listed in the post quoted below we'd have no middle class. And if unions disappear so would all these gains they've gotten for the middle class.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hammertime33
Things we have to thank unions for:
Weekends
Sick and Vacation Days
End of Child Labor
Safety Rules in the Workplace
40 Hour Work Week
Overtime Laws
Maternity Leave
Worker Compensation Insurance
Minimum Wage Laws
Anti-Discrimination Laws in the Workplace
Laws the Protect Whistleblowers
Family Medical Leave Act
Employer Based Healthcare (maybe not the greatest thing now, but it was then)
Unions were created to protect white workers from emancipated slaves and chinese who would do the same work for less. "Look for the union label" was code for "this garment made by whites".
That's total BS. We didn't even have slaves when the "Look for the Union Label" slogan was used. You're confusing the union label used on cigars in the 1869 which the American cigars makers used to fight the influx of imports from China. That label showed a white person making cigars. Period. No code for anything but to protect USA workers against imports.
The 'Look for the Union Label' was used by the garment industry in the 1970s and the song that went with the label campaign was parodied on Saturday Night Live in the late 1970s in a fake commercial for dope growers union.
Original commercial song: Look for the union label, When you are buying a coat, dress, or blouse, Remember somewhere our union's sewing, Our wages going to feed the kids and run the house, We work hard, but who's complaining? Thanks to the ILG, we're paying our way, So always look for the union label, It says we're able to make it in the USA!
Last edited by Wayland Woman; 11-30-2011 at 09:06 AM..
Unions certainly had their time and place and did grant us many of the labor protections that we have today. However, today unions have largely outlived their necessity. In many cases, they cripple the labor market and encourage outsourcing. They've become a the labor arm of the political left and are the biggest financial contributors in politics and among the greatest influencing forces on Democratic politicians.
We're grateful for unions giving us sensible working conditions, but they've grown into a political machine that needs to be taken down a few notches.
<<They've become a the labor arm of the political left and are the biggest financial contributors in politics and among the greatest influencing forces on Democratic politicians.>>
You say that like it's a bad thing!
Seriously, yes, with the exception of the Vietnam Era, the American Labor Movement has largely been aligned with the Left in this country, and thus the modern Democratic Party gets the vast majority of union contributions. That is because the Democratic Party has, for the most part, at least nominally been the party that best represents the interests of the of the Working Class.
On the other hand, the modern GOP has been the party of the wealthy elite, and represents the interests of the Capitalists. So that's where the majority of THEIR contributions come from.
Why would you think that Labor money flowing to the Democrats in exchange for supportive policies is a problem, while Capitalist money flowing to the GOP for the same reason is acceptable?
Unless, of course, you just don't want to see the Dems win elections.
Many say that if it wasn't for the unions, we wouldn't have weekends or vacations. How true is that statement?
I think its true. Before the people rose up to demand employee protections to many greedy businessmen used their power and political influence to act like tyrants and do whatever the hell they wanted to. Now we have civic protections and labor laws.
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