Unions have gotten a bad rap for a variety of reasons. The organized crime connection was clearly their fault and caused some very negative and well-justified backlash. Unions also have some pretty antiquated and Byzantine work rules. However, whenever a corporation whose employees have a union has problems with expenses, the right wing always blames the union for increasing costs. Democracy is bad for employees but good for Iraqis.
A union is a group of people who use democratic principals to forward their economic interests. They write by-laws that govern their behavior. Unions elect leaders to represent its members. If the leaders are unresponsive to the needs of the represented, then the represented can vote them out. This looks an awful lot like the democracy Bush wants to create in Iraq. Yet, for some reason it is bad when US employees organize along democratic principals and good when Iraqis do the same thing.
Corporations have legal protections – they are enshrined in law. Each of the 50 states has a corporate statute that creates and enshrines the corporate entity. Like unions, corporations use democratic values such as voting to protect shareholder rights. It is an understood and accepted legal fiction that insulates shareholders from liability. It allows people to pool resources and develop new products and technologies. Corporations have contributed numerous benefits to society. DVDs, computers, telephones …. The list is endless.
Unions have also accomplished many good things. Work rules about the number of hours people can legally work, safe work environments, collective health benefits – these are all fabulous benefits of unions.
From the Republican perspective, when employees get together and use democratic principals to protect their interests, they are bad. But, when corporate interests get together and use democratic principals to protect their interests, they are enshrined in law.
In other words, for Republicans employees are not allowed to use democracy to further their interests.
I am from the Copper Belt in Arizona where the workers have instituted a strike to protest wage freezes and benefit losses. It has now spread to several sites in Arizona and Amarillo, Texas. Full coverage here Thankfully, many of the Democratic congressman have been joining the picketers for support. Rep. Grijalva of Tucson comes to mind. Thx for the diary.
Union strength is something I have only begun to appreciate in the last couple of years. Working in high tech for a tiny company doesn’t expose me to many of the challenges that many unions have fought against. But, I do benefit from the gains unions have made, and I have started paying attention.
Just today I noticed a fine post by David Sirota at the Huffington Post:
I am thrilled to see a House of Labor section start over at TPM Cafe, where Nathan Newman writes:
Note: Sirota pulled some of his story from the above Newman writing.
Thanks for the diary, Bonddad, and for all of your economic postings and diaries.
Asolutely excellent, and not on the main stream of discussion by any means enough.
People must be aware of how all the workers rights, and benfits were brought about, and the suffering many endured to make these possible.
BRAVO…and thanks, would love to see a more indepth diary about these issues.
Actually, I was under the impression (based on my possibly faulty recollections of articles read months ago, possibly over at Common Dreams) that the US-backed provisional government over in Iraq was doing all it could to squash any unionizing among Iraqi workers.
So I guess democracy is good for Iraqis so long as it doesn’t encourage them to form unions… ::sigh::
That’s the hypocrasy of the Republican position.
I don’t think the unions get nearly enough credit for creating the current American middle class. I know that if it weren’t for unions, my four immigrant grandparents would have never been able to make enough money for their children to get decent educations so that by the third generation, every kid went to college and is solidly middle class.
No, they don’t. Although there were problems, there were also great advances put forward by unions.
People died in the struggle for the 8-hour work week. So much of what we take for granted in the workplace was fought for by unions — even for those of us whose professions do not have unions.
Given the changing structure of industry and the workplace, unions need to change also — the old manufacturing paradigm just doesn’t work in the current labor market. But the idea — and necessity — of organized representation for working people is as vital now as it was a century ago.
Thanks for this great diary. I really glad it is on the recommended list. So often labor diaries get no attention.
Most of us are pretty sketchy about American history, so I guess it is not surprising that most of us know next to nothing about labor history.
The protections you mention were hard won. Yes, people actually died in the struggle.
It is imperative that unions reform themselves and it is imperative that they focus more on organizing. Corporations have merged up, down and sideways. Too many unions are busy fighting stupid turf wars against each other.
It will be really interesting to see what transpires at the AFL-CIO convention later this month. Some of the larger and more liberal unions may split off if they bring about major changes in the status quo. Normally, I would be against this kind of thing. In this case, it may be the only way for progressives to make the needed reforms.