You certainly aren’t wrong, but… at least in my area (and this is with state-level laws that fucking decimated union power), unions are relatively well respected by the population at large, because most of us have some experience with them (big trades area), and they are growing, rather than shrinking, despite having their legs cut off at the knee.
Despite being a super conservative and heavily gerrymandered area, our major trade unions (pipefitters, construction, metalworkers, electricians, etc.) never went away, much as the state (for the past 15 or so years) would have liked otherwise. And it’s making a big resurgence; there are tons of manufacturing plants near me and a lot of them are part of or bound by the unions (not just their workplace, but like regional unions)
I hope the trend continues! We need more collective action in our society. We need unions for non-tradespeople, and we don’t have any of those… but at least the trade unions are unshakeable, and that’s a good gateway for the rest of us.
That’s good to hear. I have first hand experience with manufacturing being part of a regional union. Unfortunately, we were UAW in name only. We were lucky during the strike, the plant we supplied did not strike. The other GM plant in my area went on strike. Anyone that supplied them laid off all of the workers. Where I live, that is $362 per week (you have to file for unemployment). That barely covered rent. Forget about gas, food, the light bill, and medicine.
Without us, GM would have no engines to put in their cars. But the UAW doesn’t look out for the “little guy”.
Sorry, I’ve got skin in the game, and it frustrates me to know end that we didn’t receive ANY of the protections that the GM workers did.
Yeah, I’m jaded. But I still know that strong unions are necessary for the workers to force management to listen.
I’m really sorry to hear that. Genuinely. We all need better.
I am a firm believer in unions and collective action, despite never having the opportunity to be part of a union myself. And like they don’t have a lot of power here… they got most of it removed by law years and years ago.
But it doesn’t stop us trying at least, I suppose. And the general vibe is to support the unions. I’m sure there are tons of scabs here, but… they aren’t winning social favor being scabs at least.
Even if they are largely toothless, it’s better to be toothless together; A pack of starving wolves with one tooth each is enough to do a lot of damage if they attack together often enough.
The real problem is getting them to be part of the pack. I mean each wolf is toothless anyway, so getting them to join the pack is super important for their survival too.
The saddest thing I saw was young people refusing to sign the union card. We are a Right to Work state, so they don’t have to pay the dues to receive union benefits. This starves unions, which contributes to the toothless-ness.
Like I said, it was so sad to see. I tried talking to them, but they wouldn’t do it. They need every penny. I can’t fault them for that. Regardless of anything else, that’s how we see it in a plant. Maximizing your checks because the pay isn’t enough.
I’m sure that I am preaching to the choir here. But I want this up for people who’ve never known the life, to see how it is.
All good friend; we do agree and it really sucks that it’s so difficult to get people to support their own best interest if it costs them in a tangible way (even if the benefits are exponentially more impactful).
This is an education thing and we are fighting a lot of anti-union propaganda, here and everywhere. We see people lose their jobs over joining.
Who can blame them not wanting to sign up?
Union leaders need to fight fire with -water-. They need an unyielding stream of information to fight the fanned flames of disinformation and anti-union propaganda going out to perspective members, and that’s… unfortunately just not generally practical.
I don’t really have a solution, I’m sorry, but I am absolutely behind yours and every other union. I will support you all with every breath in my body, for whatever that’s worth.
You certainly aren’t wrong, but… at least in my area (and this is with state-level laws that fucking decimated union power), unions are relatively well respected by the population at large, because most of us have some experience with them (big trades area), and they are growing, rather than shrinking, despite having their legs cut off at the knee.
Despite being a super conservative and heavily gerrymandered area, our major trade unions (pipefitters, construction, metalworkers, electricians, etc.) never went away, much as the state (for the past 15 or so years) would have liked otherwise. And it’s making a big resurgence; there are tons of manufacturing plants near me and a lot of them are part of or bound by the unions (not just their workplace, but like regional unions)
I hope the trend continues! We need more collective action in our society. We need unions for non-tradespeople, and we don’t have any of those… but at least the trade unions are unshakeable, and that’s a good gateway for the rest of us.
That’s good to hear. I have first hand experience with manufacturing being part of a regional union. Unfortunately, we were UAW in name only. We were lucky during the strike, the plant we supplied did not strike. The other GM plant in my area went on strike. Anyone that supplied them laid off all of the workers. Where I live, that is $362 per week (you have to file for unemployment). That barely covered rent. Forget about gas, food, the light bill, and medicine.
Without us, GM would have no engines to put in their cars. But the UAW doesn’t look out for the “little guy”.
Sorry, I’ve got skin in the game, and it frustrates me to know end that we didn’t receive ANY of the protections that the GM workers did.
Yeah, I’m jaded. But I still know that strong unions are necessary for the workers to force management to listen.
I’m really sorry to hear that. Genuinely. We all need better.
I am a firm believer in unions and collective action, despite never having the opportunity to be part of a union myself. And like they don’t have a lot of power here… they got most of it removed by law years and years ago.
But it doesn’t stop us trying at least, I suppose. And the general vibe is to support the unions. I’m sure there are tons of scabs here, but… they aren’t winning social favor being scabs at least.
Even if they are largely toothless, it’s better to be toothless together; A pack of starving wolves with one tooth each is enough to do a lot of damage if they attack together often enough.
The real problem is getting them to be part of the pack. I mean each wolf is toothless anyway, so getting them to join the pack is super important for their survival too.
We agree on many things.
The saddest thing I saw was young people refusing to sign the union card. We are a Right to Work state, so they don’t have to pay the dues to receive union benefits. This starves unions, which contributes to the toothless-ness.
Like I said, it was so sad to see. I tried talking to them, but they wouldn’t do it. They need every penny. I can’t fault them for that. Regardless of anything else, that’s how we see it in a plant. Maximizing your checks because the pay isn’t enough.
I’m sure that I am preaching to the choir here. But I want this up for people who’ve never known the life, to see how it is.
All good friend; we do agree and it really sucks that it’s so difficult to get people to support their own best interest if it costs them in a tangible way (even if the benefits are exponentially more impactful).
This is an education thing and we are fighting a lot of anti-union propaganda, here and everywhere. We see people lose their jobs over joining.
Who can blame them not wanting to sign up?
Union leaders need to fight fire with -water-. They need an unyielding stream of information to fight the fanned flames of disinformation and anti-union propaganda going out to perspective members, and that’s… unfortunately just not generally practical.
I don’t really have a solution, I’m sorry, but I am absolutely behind yours and every other union. I will support you all with every breath in my body, for whatever that’s worth.
Man, that sucks that your shop union didn’t stand with the rest.
At any rate: solidarity forever ✊