Great time for unions

[Otis Mayfield]

Thousands of workers have gone on strike across the country, showing their growing power in a tightening economy. The leverage U.S. employees have over the people signing their paychecks was amplified in Friday’s jobs report.

President Joe Biden said he wanted to be “the most pro-union President leading the most pro-union administration in American history.” Labor has support at the state and local levels too: California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed a packet of pro-worker bills, including one that prohibits companies from imposing quotas on warehouse workers that prevent them from following health and safety law, and another that prohibits employers from paying workers with disabilities less than the state’s minimum wage. And in January, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill that forbids fast food restaurants from firing workers unless the employer has just cause, making New York City the first jurisdiction in the country that essentially ended at-will employment.

U.S. Workers Are Realizing It’s the Perfect Time to Go on Strike

The strikes and walkouts show the growing power of workers who are in high demand in a tightening economy.

time.com

Are you pro-union?

 

[Crepitus]

Thousands of workers have gone on strike across the country, showing their growing power in a tightening economy. The leverage U.S. employees have over the people signing their paychecks was amplified in Friday’s jobs report.

President Joe Biden said he wanted to be “the most pro-union President leading the most pro-union administration in American history.” Labor has support at the state and local levels too: California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed a packet of pro-worker bills, including one that prohibits companies from imposing quotas on warehouse workers that prevent them from following health and safety law, and another that prohibits employers from paying workers with disabilities less than the state’s minimum wage. And in January, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill that forbids fast food restaurants from firing workers unless the employer has just cause, making New York City the first jurisdiction in the country that essentially ended at-will employment.

U.S. Workers Are Realizing It’s the Perfect Time to Go on Strike

The strikes and walkouts show the growing power of workers who are in high demand in a tightening economy.

time.com

Are you pro-union?

I believe unions are a good thing, even when I don't necessarily agree with what they are doing.

 

[danielpalos]

Would unions be better off if Labor had recourse to unemployment compensation for simply being unemployed under any form of Capitalism?

 

[InstantOn]

It's being called "the Silent Strike". Workers, especially the lowest paid, have been taking it on the chin for a long, long while. In addition to low pay, they're tired of erratic hours, and in the hospitality industry, nasty customers.

 

[Mr Natural]

Are you pro-union?

Yes.

Although I’ve never been a union member, I’ve worked at companies with unions and whenever they got a bump up, we so called “professional staffers “ also got something.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Thousands of workers have gone on strike across the country,

Thousands? Literally?

 

[boedicca]

Thousands of workers have gone on strike across the country, showing their growing power in a tightening economy. The leverage U.S. employees have over the people signing their paychecks was amplified in Friday’s jobs report.

President Joe Biden said he wanted to be “the most pro-union President leading the most pro-union administration in American history.” Labor has support at the state and local levels too: California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed a packet of pro-worker bills, including one that prohibits companies from imposing quotas on warehouse workers that prevent them from following health and safety law, and another that prohibits employers from paying workers with disabilities less than the state’s minimum wage. And in January, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill that forbids fast food restaurants from firing workers unless the employer has just cause, making New York City the first jurisdiction in the country that essentially ended at-will employment.

U.S. Workers Are Realizing It’s the Perfect Time to Go on Strike

The strikes and walkouts show the growing power of workers who are in high demand in a tightening economy.

time.com

Are you pro-union?

Plugs Xiden is really going to enjoy it when those unions file class action lawsuits against his Vaxx mandate.

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

“Are you pro-union?”

Absolutely yes. I was a union activist for many years. But like most other institutions, it takes hard work to keep a union healthy, democratic and relevant — especially in these days when capital has all the advantages and basic industries have been gutted or moved abroad.

There are of course many jobs that do not lend themselves to unionization. Even when union protections are desperately needed there are many ways work is organized today by corporations that make unionization almost impossible.

There are all kinds of unions — they are not by any means all the same! There are industrial unions, craft unions, government unions, even … “police unions.” They all work under different conditions and different legal frameworks. Most unions that still exist, but perhaps not all, really benefit their members. Some make important contributions to their communities and society as a whole. But like (and unlike) our political institutions, most unions deal with pressures from above and below, and so usually the leaders running unions — even very democratic and “uncorrupted” ones — have to make difficult concessions and compromises.

The loss of union power and membership throughout our nation has been so dramatic that today many people can’t even imagine unions as worthwhile, positive contributors to economic and social well-being.

I am glad if — as the OP implies — there are more strikes and more union consciousness these days in some areas, but I am not optimistic future generations will ever enjoy the union benefits that I did. Today it is necessary that government itself guarantee basic retirement benefits, healthcare, and decent conditions that many ordinary workers once won through union struggles.

 

[danielpalos]

Employers should be required to respond to market changes if they want to make a profit under any form of Capitalism.

From 1978 to 2018, CEO compensation grew by 1,007.5% (940.3% under the options-realized measure), far outstripping S&P stock market growth (706.7%) and the wage growth of very high earners (339.2%). In contrast, wages for the typical worker grew by just 11.9%.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Employers should be required to respond to market changes if they want to make a profit under any form of Capitalism.

From 1978 to 2018, CEO compensation grew by 1,007.5%

For the CEOs of 350 of the largest corporations in the world.

 

[fncceo]

Are you pro-union?

Only pro police union.

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

Police unions, unfortunately, are there always to protect the big money boys, and to break strikes of ordinary workers, so they are a distinct kind of “union.”

Society will always need that “Thin Blue Line,” and good men and women to hold it. But like soldiers, over time they are often terribly corrupted by their jobs, and give their allegiance to the enemies of the working people as a whole. It is a tough job. Police “benevolent associations” are almost always not normal “labor unions.”

 

[fncceo]

Police unions, unfortunately, are there always to protect the big money boys

Trust me... there are no cops making 'big money'.

 

[fncceo]

From 1978 to 2018, CEO compensation grew by 1,007.5%

Good for them... being a CEO is a pretty tough job.

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

Trust me... there are no cops making 'big money'.

That’s not what I meant. I meant only that they (collectively) protect the system that serves and is controlled by big money. Your local cop is something else. Of course the mega-wealthy and most powerful have private security as well! I’m not even talking of working “CEOs” here …

 

[fncceo]

That’s not what I meant. I meant only that they (collectively) protect the system that serves and is controlled by big money. Your local cop is something else. Of course the mega-wealthy and most powerful have private security as well! I’m not even talking of working “CEOs” here …

If we're going to have a system... I'd much rather it was controlled by big money than by chump change.

For one thing, big money dresses nicer.

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

If we're going to have a system... I'd much rather it was controlled by big money than by chump change.

For one thing, big money dresses nicer.

I understand completely. That’s one of the reasons I find fascism so much worse than “liberal democracy.”

Clothes don’t make the man, of course, but who doesn’t like the good things in life?

Of course a good and healthy culture and a decent future for our grandchildren is another thing worth working for. That may be one of the reasons I so dislike Donald Trump and (speaking of more than clothes) grifters like Steve Bannon.

 

[justinacolmena]

Thousands of workers have gone on strike across the country, showing their growing power in a tightening economy.

So they're striking their bosses at work and striking their wives and children at home. Wonder why the labor union garnishes so many paychecks for child support & alimony.

The leverage U.S. employees have over the people signing their paychecks was amplified in Friday’s jobs report.

And they're extortioners and blackmailers too. Extorting money from their employers and ripping off paying customers.

Other people have jobs, too, in other fields of work. They aren't so bloody aggressive collecting a paycheck on Friday night with a six pack of beer.

 

[initforme]

These strikes are encouraging. Maybe a growing trend. Try and chance on your labor be prepared for them to counter....as it SHOULD be

 

[justinacolmena]

These strikes are encouraging. Maybe a growing trend. Try and chance on your labor be prepared for them to counter....as it SHOULD be

Bust those bloody life-ruining hammer-and-sickle police unions in America, and crack a few psychiatrists skulls while you're at it. Those bloody union bosses are blacklisting and sh!tlisting people left and right and ruining more lives than any corporation that ever fired anyone from a good paying job.