10 Reasons to be against unions.

[madfloridian]

From AFSCME on Twitter

[BlueJazz]

1. I can't even count how many times those words have come from my mouth.

I'm fairly schooled on the things that Unions/Democrats have done to help the American worker.
I LOVE to debate people on the subject. I rip their "Conservative BS" to ribbons.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”--Steinbeck

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Love that quote, I've heard a mangled, shorter version of it before ...

the full version is much more to the point.

[deurbano]

9. Great quote!

[SkyIsGrey]

18. Not a direct Steinbeck quote.

From Wikiquote: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires".


As quoted in A Short History of Progress (2005) by Ronald Wright, p. 124; though this has since been cited as a direct quote by some, the remark may simply be a paraphrase, as no quotation marks appear around the statement and earlier publication of this phrasing have not been located.


This is perhaps an incorrect quote from "A Primer on the '30s." Esquire, June 1960: 85-93

"Except for the field organizers of strikes, who were pretty tough monkeys and devoted, most of the so-called Communists I met were middle-class, middle-aged people playing a game of dreams. I remember a woman in easy circumstances saying to another even more affluent: 'After the revolution even we will have more, won't we, dear?' Then there was another lover of proletarians who used to raise hell with Sunday picknickers on her property.
"I guess the trouble was that we didn't have any self-admitted proletarians. Everyone was a temporarily embarrassed capitalist. Maybe the Communists so closely questioned by the investigation committees were a danger to America, but the ones I knew—at least they claimed to be Communists—couldn't have disrupted a Sunday-school picnic. Besides they were too busy fighting among themselves."

[PatrickforO]

40. That's an outstanding quote, and its very true

[Populist_Prole]

3. That's excellent! You'd have to be a corporate bootlicker to be anti-union

But man oh man I know plenty of them.

[Thinkingabout]

4. I was listening to RW telling how unions have messed up things

I ask her if she had ever worked on a union job and she said no. I ask her how does she gather her information on unions and she stated FOX. I told her it was interested someone who had never before longed to a union "knows" so much for I was an active union member for 31 years and I thought information about unions should come from hose who are familiar with unions such as myself.
I know what unions do and hoe contracts are negotiated, she wasn't aware how this occurs
FOX news is not an expert on unions

[DAngelo136]

8. Always remember this...

The technicians that work on FoxNews; lighting, electricians, cameramen, and even the technical directors all are union members. The writers likely belong to SAG/AFTRA and i'll even bet that Billo and Hannity belong to a union also (NABET)

[7962]

13. I imagine they're both SAG members too. They've been in movies & TV, too I think.

[TiredOfNo]

25. I bet Bill and Hannity have agents that do their negotiating for them.

They criticize workers for wanting unions to protect their interests, while they themselves pay agents to do the same thing.

[mountain grammy]

45. Fox news is an expert on unions, that's why they lie about them.

[Laelth]

5. k&r for the truth. n/t

-Laelth

[lame54]

6. The Unions Are To Blame...

[GeoWilliam750]

10. Thanks for posting that

I really do not understand how anyone can be anti-union - but I hear it all the time, often from union members and people receiving benefits because of the unions.

ORGANIZE!!!

[johnp3907]

14. Yes!

Zimmerman's great!

[MrsBrady]

29. roy is always a good choice.

he's great live.

[lame54]

39. saw him in Atlanta - lots of fun

[mountain grammy]

46. 'cause someday I'll be rich! Ha great song, love Roy Zimmerman.

[joshcryer]

11. If Unions lobby for crap like SOPA/PIPA it's wrong.

[Lithos]

12. Eh...

I'm from the South... It was the UNION army which caused all the destruction. That's why I'm against the Union!

</badonionimitation>

L-

[Spitfire of ATJ]

16. I've actually HEARD that one before.

[lpbk2713]

15. Which reminds me ...

A CEO, a Teabagger, and a Union worker are all sitting at a table when a plate with a dozen freshly baked cookies arrives. Before anyone else can make a move, the CEO reaches out to rake in eleven of the cookies. When the other two look at him in speechless surprise, the CEO locks eyes with the Teabagger. “You better watch that guy,” the executive grumbles with a scornful nod toward the Union worker. “He wants a piece of your cookie.”

[L0oniX]

36. Posting that to FB. Thanks

[mountain grammy]

47. one of my favorites.. so true and to the point.

[Wolf Frankula]

17. Without a Union When You Face the Boss

you face him alone. With a Union, when you face the boss, you have somebody on your side.

Wolf

[madfloridian]

19. Once I had reason to be very thankful for that .

My principal would not let me leave to go to my mother in a severe health crisis. Severe. I said I would wait for the office to send someone to cover my class, then I was leaving.

I was thankful for my union rep then. Luckily she knew she had crossed the line, so it was not as bad as it could have been. It was a rough time, and I could not have done it alone right then.

[Diclotican]

20. madfloridian

madfloridian


In Europe - the employee is afraid of the worker - because "he" know the worker can strike - and get support from it from millions of others - in US is it opposite -there the worker is afraid of the employee - and "he" know the employee can get support from millions of others...

If enough workers had get enough - and was fighting for their rights - then the employees really would be afraid of the worker instead of the worker been afraid of the employeer...

When workers can be so afraid of their employees or others - that they would vote against organization a UNION as they did at one of the Volkswagen factories in the US - against the wish of the WV to boot - then you know something is absolutely wrong in the workplace...

Diclotican

[madfloridian]

22. Excellent points, Diclotican.

Good to see you around again. I guess we haven't crossed paths in a while.

[Diclotican]

27. madfloridian

madfloridian

I have been around here - but not crossed path with you for a while I guess But I am here - and have read a few of your posts about things you have in your life

Diclotican

[blkmusclmachine]

21. ,

,

[The Magistrate]

23. Excellent, Ma'am

Thank you for sharing it.

[bleedinglib]

24. Unions!!

Unions built the middle class in this country during the 40's,50's & 60's.
Mom could stay home & make sure the kids were raised properly. Now that's family values!!
I was a union lather in Calif. for 40 years & when I was hurt on the job, the union protected me & made sure I was cared for. See how that works in a non-union Co.??
I remember when the union bashing started during the RR admin. It seemed like over nite the whole country hated unions. They were blamed for high prices & were ruining the country.
People were told that if we get rid of union's, prices will come down. (how'd that work out)??
When I was a kid, there were about 600 millionaires in the U S. Now there are about 600 Billionaires. Boy, those unions did ruin the country!!

[Lee-Lee]

31. We can support unions without patriarchal bullshit

Mom could stay home & make sure the kids were raised properly. Now that's family values!!

Oppressive patriarchal values keeping the women at home "where they belong" is right wing fundie bullshit with no place in a progressive movement.

[L0oniX]

35. It also has no place on DU IMO.

[L0oniX]

34. Ah the good ol days when women stayed at home where they belong ...pffft!

Mom could stay home & make sure the kids were raised properly. Now that's family values!!

WTF buddy ...you should delete that shit while you can.

[Populist_Prole]

26. Good timing: Had an "argument" on an online forum with a corporatist douchebag

A non political message board but the random A-hole always pops up to politicize things. The bottom panel of the comic, 2nd from the left being the issue I want to highlight.

Jerk went on about "special interest" lobbying, unions the most pointed subject. I mentioned and asked what he thought about business interests lobbying, and their wads of cash. Through a couple of increasingly heated back and forth exchanges of clarification of obfuscations, I found he believed that business is NOT a special interest: That business looking out for #1 is like some form of natural law of the way things should be.

These are the people ( apparently that's what they are ) we are up against. I mean, to be deliberately obtuse to defend an ideology, rather than a result.

[olegramps]

28. Unions are the conscience and soul that corporations lack.

Corporations are not evil. It is simply the nature of the beast to maximize profits for their investors. When government and unions fail to regulate their profit driven motives it is their failure, not the corporations. Who can blame them when CEOs and upper management awards themselves astronomical benefits. The failure in that case is the very investors who elect boards who are to be their representatives that are populated by CEOs. The members of the boards of major corporations are little more than a corporate country club in which they nominate each other to sit on various boards. They just rubber stamp the rip off in a quid pro quo agreement.

[ctsnowman]

30. Nailed it.

[Starry Messenger]

32. Anyone against unionism has no reason to be here, IMO.

[L0oniX]

33. So how is the Third Way and unions getting along these days?

[MannyGoldstein]

38. IIRC, Richard Trumka said...

"I've had a snoot full of that #/^&."

[leftstreet]

37. DURec

[octoberlib]

41. K&R

[Zorra]

42. Thanks, that's a keeper. nt

[B Calm]

43. #11 If you are a cheap labor conservative!

[tea and oranges]

44. K&R Excellent Cartoon. Thanks for posting!

[11 Bravo]

48. I resisted clicking on this post for fear that I would say something ...

that might possibly get me a hide or even a TS. Boy, was I mistaken. A (belated) K&R!
11 Bravo (Proud union member since 1976)

[mountain grammy]

49. Perfect!

[colsohlibgal]

50. The Phrase "Right To Work" Is Comical

If it is any right to wok it's to work for less in worse conditions.

I think socialism has never taken off here because people don't get that it's an economic term, not a political one. Also they confuse it with totalitarianism.

So to thwart that evil socialism we let the top 1% have about half the money. We let the Waltons get obscenely wealthy while they pay their employees low, low wages with crappy benefits.

Too many of the people in this country have been so misinformed and/or uninformed that they have worked hard against their own self interest. It's remarkable as well as maddening.

[WillyT]

51. K & R !!!

[ymetca]

52. "Union" does not equal "Labor"

It seems to me that we tend to confuse the terms "union" and "labor". They aren't really the same thing. Moreover, unions are organized on the same hierarchical principle that capital is --a way of ordering human behavior that is as old (and obsolete) as the ancient pyramids.

For a modern global union to succeed in today's world it needs to be non-hierarchical, and include everybody by default. I.e. a global, one-person/one-vote Democracy. That means cloud computing and cheap, rugged, satellite-connected handheld units that allow every person on the planet to vote for everything everywhere.

While the competing, hierarchical, capitalist/socialist systems are racing to establish dominance over pretty much every resource on Earth, a "Union of All Peoples" should be arising to combat these global systems of coercion and control.

R. Buckminster Fuller once suggested that the objective of modern civilization was to eliminate "labor" in the sense that our survival should be more and more assured by technological, robotic means, while individual human leisure, innovation, and self-actualization needs should be realized by as many people as possible as quickly as possible. Such goal is completely contrary to the so-called "work ethic", and the institutions that tend to stratify "labor" vs. "capital".

The eons-old dialectic of hierarchical systems of human self-organization must come to an end.

In the immortal words of Bob Black, "No one should ever have to work."