Unions 101 – We Are All Working Class
Having just left Las Vegas - a trip I set out on with the trepidatious goal of avoiding as much of the traditional Vegas Strip experience as possible, I've been ruminating on the efficiency of the Vegas machine at doing exactly what it is designed to do - extracting wealth from willing victims. Then Digby pointed me to John Cole who posted a George Carlin clip and something Carlin said really stuck in my mind. Speaking of the plight of America's middle class, Carlin says
The table is tilted... the game is rigged...
And I thought to myself, "Gee, just like Las Vegas."
Mandatory Disclaimer: I loved NN10. It was my first, and I can't wait to do it again next year in a city I will feel a little more comfortable in. And I, for one, very happily noted the Union Bugs on the NN10 Made In America t-shirts and swag bags. Netroots Nation sets an awesome example by supporting American Union Workers.
With dozens of bars and restaurants, shops, swimming pools, convention facilities, theaters, bowling alleys, and more all prominently placed just steps from the hotel's colossal central square casino, the only thing I did not see at the massive Rio Hotel complex was a church - I guess they don't want the competition.
Not that that's a bad thing - Vegas is organized religion without so much hypocrisy. Nor the promise of eternal life - Vegas manages to lure its true believers with a slim but instantly gratifying chance at riches and happiness right here and now.
Dizzied by bells and smoke and flesh and booze, the faithful are efficiently bled dry and more and bigger and better cash cathedrals are swiftly erected upon their desiccated remains.
Vegas is totally upfront about what it aims to do to its followers. The marks flock to the city knowing full well that the aim of their host is to leave them penniless, and that the odds are always with the house - the game is rigged, the table is tillted.
At least Vegas uses union labor to separate the masses from their asses - churches tend to find a way to get folks to work for a lot less than their labor is worth. Much like our economy of late.
And for most folks, a trip to Vegas is voluntary. But there's nothing voluntary about being born into an economic world of rigged games and tilted tables. The victims of our economic casino are not willing dupes but the working class - we are all ensnared by a system that is increasingly efficient at extracting our wealth for the exclusive benefit of the ownership class.
It's time to change the odds, to level the table a bit, and to fix the rigged games to ensure that the increasingly elusive American dream is an attainable reward, not a jackpot with impossibly high odds of winning. It's time to join with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and America's Labor Unions and begin to make the odds a little better for America's working class.
Speaking as part of a panel on Building a Progressive Economic Vision, Trumka outlined the need for the the nation to invest in infrastructure, implement fair trade policies, change our tax policies, enact comprehensive immigration reform and reform our broken labor laws. The full panel included consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren, progressive Florida Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson, Center for Community Change Executive Director Deepak Bhargava, Green for All’s Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins and National People’s Action Executive Director George Goehl. (Watch it here.)
Trumka pointed out how the United States is falling behind other countries in creating green technology. While our nation is building 500 miles of high-speed rail, China has begun construction of 5,000 miles and is outspending the United States 2:1 on green technology, making it even far urgent for the United States to invest in green jobs and high-end manufacturing infrastructure now before we fall further behind.
For those who say we can’t afford to make these investments, Trumka explained how we can do it with a financial speculation tax that encourages capital to invest in concrete things and discourages unproductive speculation or paper pushing for a quick buck, all the while raising more than $100 billion. Trumka made it clear that lawmakers must not reduce the federal deficit at the expense of creating jobs.
Next up, Trumka described the need for anintegrated trade policy. The nation can’t focus solely on increasing exports, we need to focus on net exports. We can’t open our markets to other countries who won’t open theirs. We can’t support countries that murder trade unionists. All we want is to compete on a level playing field and to do that we must have fair trade policy.
Third, Trumka laid out what we must do to modify our tax policy:
We need a tax policy that encourages people to produce and manufacture things in this country, not reward those who outsource and produce things abroad. We have to close the loopholes that allow corporations who have record profits to use gimmicks to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.
Fourth, Trumka loudly and proudly spoke out in favor of comprehensive immigration reform and made it clear that every AFL-CIO union has endorsed our five-point plan for immigration reform. Current U.S. immigration policy has allowed corporations to create a permanent underclass of workers who they can take advantage of.
And finally, just as corporations have taken advantage of immigrants, they have skirted, exploited and violated labor laws that empower workers to form a union and bargain for a better life. The good jobs of the past were good jobs because workers organized and fought for fair wages and benefits. Without labor law reform, corporations will continue to take advantage of workers and no matter how much we invest in our economy, how much we increase our productivity, our wages will remain stagnant and we will continue to fall behind.
Immigration reform, a financial transactions tax, fair trade, infrastructure investment (clean energy and high speed rail leap to mind), job creation - The American Labor agenda lines up well with the larger progressive agenda. We're all in the same economic boat - if you cash a paycheck you are working class - and the American Labor movement aims to lift us all up and rebuild a strong American middle class.
ACTION:
If you are not a union member, join Working America and get involved.
If you are a union member, join Working Families and get involved.
If you're interested in forming a union at your workplace (that's a BFD!), start here and stick to it.
Support American workers - use union shops whenever you can and buy from American manufacturers when possible.
Unions 101 – Stickin To The Union
Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,
I'm sticking to the union, I'm sticking to the union.
Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,
I'm sticking to the union 'til the day I die.
Union Maid
by Woody Guthrie
I firmly believe that unions are key to a revitalization of our middle class. I have a good union job. Good pay, great benefits, including free healthcare, and a little bit of democracy in the workplace. I think that what I have is the absolute minimum that any worker anywhere should have, but I know how lucky I am to have what I do.
That's why a certain attitude amongst some of my union brothers and sisters really pisses me off. I'm talking about the mostly white mostly male mostly Limbaugh and Beck fans who are in the exact same position as me but somehow fail to see that if not for the union, they would likely be working for peanuts and eating catfood.
With that in mind, join me over the fold for an open letter to the union brother with whom I worked last night.
Brother,
Please don't take this the wrong way, but you are acting like an inconsiderate parasitic prima donna.
After we finished unclogging those tubes last night, we were talking and you started in with how you were fed up with everything, including the union.
I asked you about the union. You recited some WATB tale about how the hall is letting you down because they refused to settle a grievance by cutting corners and allowing you to change job classification.
When I suggested that you go to the hall sometime and show your face or even just pick up the phone and talk to your rep and work something out, you said you don't have time.
When I asked you why you've never been to a monthly meeting at the hall, same answer.
So then I said that maybe you ought to get a little more involved before you start bashing the union. I mean, really - the hall seems to be doing a good job representing you and they feel that it's best to stick to the contract and play by the rules and they will eventually prevail for you.
But you're a selfish bastard, and you don't have time to let the process work through.
In fact, you told me outright that "it's time to think of myself not the union." And then you said that your union dues give you the right to bash the hall to anyone who will listen.
And then the best part - after I pointed out to you that our non-union competition pays non-union workers about 1/3 less in wages and that they charge for health insurance and that the only fucking reason you make what you do is that we have a collective bargaining agreement in place to ensure that even the dumbasses such as yourself are compensated at the same fair rates as the rest of us, after all that, you had the stupidity to blurt out "I wish I was a contractor with my own vehicle. I would make a killing!"
Did you hear even one fucking work I said to you?
First, if you think your future is in dropping your union membership and becoming a contractor, I urge you to do so. You'll probably never age and never fall ill. You'll be young forever and able to work 12 hour days without ever breaking a sweat. You are super tech.
But if you were just blowing smoke about the whole contractor thing, then you really need to lose the selfish. Unions are never about the individual. There are going to be times that you disagree with your union. There are going to be times when you are frustrated beyond words. Too bad. Suck it up. If you want to change things, get your ass down to the hall and get involved. Otherwise, shut the fuck up.
I hear this whiny ass shit from brothers like you all the time. You're pissed because things aren't going 100 percent your way. You're spoiled, narcissistic twits, endlessly sniveling about your bad lot in life, privileged union members, lucky to have full benefits and a better salary than 90 percent of hourly earners in this area, but self-deluded and convinced that you are somehow a victim and that the union is your oppressor.
Listen: You are the union. I am the union. We are the union. The only way you will become a victim is if you work against the union. Whether you know it or not, your long term interests are being served by the union. By bad mouthing the union for following policy that is designed to make things fair for everybody, you are undermining your own long term security.
So, if you have a legitimate beef, come down to the hall and discuss it. You can even air your concerns to all of your brothers and sisters if you would simply show up and raise your voice at a monthly meeting.
But don't be one of the moochers who sticks around for years sucking up all the benefits of union membership, who never gives anything back to the union and who never, ever passes over an opportunity to denigrate the hard work of those who do take the time to get involved.
We don't need brothers and sisters like that.
In Solidarity,
Norwood
Labor Unions 101 – Words Have Meaning
LaFeminista posted a good Daily Kos diary about unions recently, and reading the diary and comments reminded me that despite my avid pro-union stance, until about 5 years ago when I lucked into a union job, I, like the vast majority of workers who are not as lucky as I am, really had no idea what it means to actually be a union member.
But I've managed to gain a little knowledge in the last few years and I feel that compiling and regurgitating that knowledge in a slightly altered form might be just the thing to clear some of the fog that's clouding the brains of my brothers and sisters on Daily Kos.
Join me over the fold for the first installment of my Labor Unions 101 series - Words Have Meaning.
Labor Union - A group of workers who engage in...
Collective Bargaining - negotiations on a contract that covers a union member's terms of employment. If contract talks break down or if the company grievously harms one or more of us, we may decide to...
Strike - Which is really the nuclear option - it hurts everybody. When there is a less drastic dispute, typically we might form a...
Picket Line - A group of workers demonstrating solidarity by protesting the actions of management. No one crosses picket lines except for...
Scabs - NOT my bothers and sisters. But picket lines and strikes are for bigger disputes. We usually start with a...
Grievance - An assertion by the union that one or more members has been treated unfairly by management. After a grievance is filed, a union representative and a company representative will get together and attempt to hash things out. A grievance must be filed by a representative of...
The Hall - Our collectively run Union Hall and the folks who work there. It can be a rented storefront or a dilapidated shack or just an average looking commercial building. It doesn't really matter what it looks like - it houses our business offices and it's where we get together for meetings and the planning of the revolution. We are...
Brothers and Sisters - Every member of the working class is my brother or my sister and union members are...
Craft - Any Union brother or sister. As opposed to...
Management - A supervisory employee not covered under a collective bargaining agreement. Management is paid to fight the union. Managers cross picket lines (see: Scab) and do our work when we strike. Managers have sold their soul to the company and thrive on carrying out the orders of the corporate suborners. Managers continuously fight amongst themselves and will knife each other in the back for a promotion because they have no...
Solidarity - The core tenet of unionism. Solidarity means I support my brothers and sisters above all. That doesn't mean that unions prevent the firing of horrible employees just because they are union - it means that the company will be made to justify any action against a union member. The company must honor our...
Weingarten Rights - "If this discussion could in any way lead to my being disciplined or terminated or have any effect on my personal working conditions, I respectfully request that my union representative, officer, or steward be present at this meeting. Without union representation I choose NOT to participate in this discussion." (Yes, a lot of us have it memorized.) That's right - a brother or sister is guaranteed representation by a...
Steward - Or Shop Steward - A brother or sister who has taken on extra responsibilities by agreeing to act as the union representative for a group of workers. Unfortunately, we have...
Right-to-work states - States which have passed anti-union laws as encouraged by...
Taft-Hartley - The 1947 federal anti-union act which specifies that the Steward must also represent...
Free Riders - Workers in right-to-work states who decline the chance to join the union and thus weaken the union by enjoying the benefits of union membership without paying...
Union Dues - Used for office expenses and the salaries of union officers as well as the costs of negotiating contracts and...
Organizing - Which is like proselytizing, only for a good cause. Because union shops make life better for all by putting upward pressure on...
Prevailing Wages - The wages and benefits in a region are affected by union contracts - non-union shops must be competitive if they are to attract good...
Workers - Anyone who works for a living. If you are not independently wealthy, if you rely on a paycheck to pay the bills and grow your savings, then you are a worker. If you are a worker and you are not pro-union, then you are a traitor to the...
Working Class - "The working class and the employing class have nothing in common." So says the preamble of the constitution of the...
Wobblies - The Industrial Workers of the World, or IWW, or Wobblies, are a legendary international union of workers which you can join. Formed in 1905 by socialists and anarchists, the Wobblies continue to organize oppressed American workers to this day, including Starbucks baristas and bicycle messengers, two groups who could really use a...
Break - Which I am going to take right now. If you got a problem with that, talk to my steward.