When the right wing working class turned its back on unions, they lost ground

[Peacetrain]

and they did do that.. I come from a union family, and the republicans walked away from the unions, and they no longer had anyone to work for them.. to get them a living wage.. keep the 40 hour work week going.. insurance.. etc etc.working people lost ground.

At some point in time, people have to accept that they walked away from the one thing that kept them in the middle class..

Our Grandparents fought and died so we could have unions to protect the interests of the working person.

And people just walked away

[Laffy Kat]

1. Wish I could rec this 1000x. nt

[IADEMO2004]

2. I Rec Your Rec

[teamster633]

3. K&R

[doc03]

4. I worked in a union steel mill for 40 years and I don't have a clue wtf

you are talking about.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

5. Several of them had already "got theirs."

That's what I saw around Dayton, OH anyway, back when I did some "temp" work at a couple GM plants decades ago.

The older union members, who were more likely to make pro-conservative comments, kept their good pay and didn't look out for younger union members during negotiations. The younger (Generation X) ones were doing most of the work, barely above minimum wage.

Maybe my observations didn't comply with the norm across the country, but it's what I saw.

EDIT: Another observation around here are all of the people who worked at Wright-Patt AFB for years -- with good pay, benefits and security -- speaking ill of government and "government jobs." I get the impression that many of them have a "the grass is greener on the other side" attitude after awhile.

[Mariana]

18. My father is like that.

His union made sure he has a pension and supplemental health insurance for him and my mother, along with several other small but nice benefits. When HE was working, he was in favor of the union's position on every item of every contract negotiation. He could see that the company would screw the workers over if they were allowed to. He participated enthusiastically in several strikes.

Nowadays, he has nothing good to say about any unions. He hasn't given up any of HIS benefits, though.

[The_Casual_Observer]

6. The "right to work states" and offshoring

Make it very difficult to sustain union participation also.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. I have been hearing people who ought to know better

demonize unionize for a good forty years now.

And some of the worst in this regards are airline pilots, who thanks to a very strong union had pretty good wages, working conditions, retirement, various benefits, and never gave a flying fuck about anyone other than themselves.

I will never understand why people don't get how important unions have been, and how the fact that they've been eviscerated is a large reason for why they themselves have fallen behind financially. I suppose it can be chalked up to history, least of all labor history, being taught in the schools.

[Wounded Bear]

8. Well, the left wing didn't do much better...

Ever hear of Reagan Democrats?

Time to get that back, nationwide.

[Wellstone ruled]

9. Watergate had a major impact on

Unionization. We Teamsters had to fight some of our own Leaders as well as the Nixon White House. When Carter wiped out the ICC,and then Reagan snuffed out PTCO,that in it's self were two biggies in ideal changes among many workers. They bought the propaganda right to work crap hook line and sinker. Now we see the end results of not paying attention.

After four Careers,two Union and two non-Union,the idea of freedom to improve you lot by self bargaining with your Employer is pure Bullshit my friends. To this day,love the challenge to help organize any Business or Industry in favor of any Union. Something about walking that picket line. Damn it feels good.

[Third Doctor]

10. I agree

I live in a right to work red state and I hear factory workers complain about work conditions while at the same time disparaging unions. They can't see the mountains from the trees. It's sickening.

[mopinko]

11. two tiered wages

when they started letting new hires get screwed while they kept their own high wages, they fucked themselves.

[demosincebirth]

12. I worked as Teamster driver for 40 years in Oakland. Good pension -- good benefits.

[onethatcares]

13. does, or can anyone

hold the same job for 40 years anymore?

Without getting downsized, offshored and just plain screwed?

[teamster633]

14. I've been with the same company for 38 years...

...the same number of years that I've been a Teamster.

[demosincebirth]

20. You have better chance at it if you were in a union.

[Lee-Lee]

15. Sadly much of the left has too aside from lip service

They know they can just say a few words of support for organized labor and how much they love them and they can get under votes and the support from the organizations no matter what. Because the alternative is always worse.

My home state of NC is a prime example of this. In the 1950's the state legislatures outlawed all collective bargaining contacts for any state or local government employee. As a result there are no real public sector unions at the state or local level. No teachers union, no police union, no fire union, no sanitation workers union, no union for workers in state or municipal owned hospitals. It's so screwy when Asheville got grants for its mass transit that required union drivers they had to privatize and contract operation of the transit system to a 3rd party who skims profits off so the union would be contracted with them and not the government.

Unions here are pretty much toothless "professional organizations" with no bargaining power and voluntary membership when it comes to any government sector but Federal employees.

And every year when Democrats talked about changing this for as far back as I can remember. And if they didn't have enough power to do it they talked big about it. When we help power all the way across to be able to do it, as recently as a few years ago, they never did it just talked a lot less about it because there wasn't a barrier to actually doing it.

When I've confronted Democratic lawmakers about I give been given a whole host of nonsense excuses.

But this year again they are talking big about what a problem that law is. I wish o could say I had confidence this time they meant it.

[LWolf]

16. Ronald Reagan.

I'm sure there was more to it, but your thread title immediately brings the Reagan era to mind, and I can hear his damned voice attacking unions.

[colsohlibgal]

17. Those Folks Are Being Used

And must be dumber than a mud fence. The "Reagan Revolution" is dependent on middle class people voting directly against their best interests. They get swayed by racist dog whistles, worrying about who uses what restroom, and propaganda about welfare draining our budget when it is actually the defense budget and ridiculous tax breaks for wealthy people and corporations.

[UTUSN]

19. Most excellent, insightful point in a long time. I remember “RAYGUN Democrats.”

My own personal encounter with one, who said only slightly apologetically to me, “My parents and grandparents were Democrats but I just can’t take (Jimmy CARTER, the hostages, the gas prices, the perceived loss of pride) anymore.”

And among the things they left behind were unions and other “Socialist” smacking things. And the current crop of those Disgruntleders (better name than Deplorables), The Disgruntled, are the RAYGUN Democrats themselves and/or their offspring. They are LEFT BEHIND, most notably ECONOMICALLY, and they don’t know why. Well, they cast their lot with the RULING MANAGERIAL class, their bosses, and still don’t know that those peeps have no interest in “looking out for the Little Guy”, only for greedy exploitation’s sake.