The epic, decades long SELF destruction of the working class, blue collar workers continues.

[shockey80]

People who live pay check to pay check once again voted for trickle down economics. Giant tax cuts for the rich and massive deregulation. Complete self destruction. The working class, blue collar people of america have destroyed their own way of life period. I have been working for 40 years and i have witnessed how most, not all, working people voted against their own best interests and i saw how they conducted themselves at the workplace. Like cowards.

Most working people won't hesitate to give giant tax cuts to the rich and corporations. If you mention the word union to them they look at you like you have the ebola virus. Most working people won't hesitate to deregulate banks and wall street. At work you can take away their health benefits, paid time off, overtime pay and they will not say a word. There terrified. They are cowards. I have seen this with my own eyes.

Most, not all, working people don't want to organize, join unions and fight for a better way of life. They would rather backstab fellow employees to get ahead. They would rather brownnose the boss to get ahead. Most working people are selfish. I have witnessed this for most of my work career.

I have worked union and non union jobs. Many union workers vote to destroy unions. Thats self destruction.
There are workers who refuse to join the unions. When you ask them why, they say " Why should i pay dues, what has a union ever done for me". They say this as they collect their good union pay, benefits, healthcare, pension. Selfish bastards.

Working class americans now believe trump is the answer. He will bring all their jobs back. They don't understand that you have to fight for a better way of life. It just doesn't happen. No president can do it by himself. You have to organize to protect your way of life . There is no other way. Unions must grow and become stonger. They must become a political force. It's a fact of life.

I am a working class, blue collar voter. I have fought against management my whole life. Many times i had to fight alone. I have fought against crazy bosses alone. Some have lost their jobs. I have beaten management when they tried to steal the workers pay. These fights took a heavy toll on me. It's tough when you have to fight alone.

I refuse to be a hypocrite like most,not all, working class americans and blame our problems on everybody else. We are to blame period.

Please understand, i know there are lots of working people who fight the good fight. There is simply not enough.

[HassleCat]

1. Union forever!

[treestar]

2. I have to agree

They simply fail to understand. I never did understand the dissing of unions. Just dumb.

[awoke_in_2003]

11. Thirty years of brainwashing

with a heaping helping of lack of support (other than lip service at election time) of either party.

[Turbineguy]

3. The water-transportation Unions

are loaded with those who vote against themselves.

[Chakab]

6. Police and firefighters are the worst. The vast majority vote straight ticket Republicans.

It's gotten to the point where UAW and several other unions have demanded that the AFL-CIO expel police unions.

[mopinko]

4. i was in the carpenters union during raygun.

lots of those guys hated their unions. mostly just because they "took" their money. but also because they were pretty corrupt. this is chicago. the mob runs all that shit.
everybody knew i was a token female because i had no relatives in the trades, and i didnt know anybody in the union.

the rank and file? they wouldnt honor picket lines AT.ALL.
they wouldnt honor their own strikes. i was allowed to say i wouldnt work during a brief strike, and because i was just an apprentice, the bosses didnt really care. but the long timers, they "needed" the money, they couldnt strike.
the company "let" them go work at the jobs that were off the beaten path.
the many european wwII dp's, many who still had crappy english, were hardly the guys to go fight for the union's right to make them take a few unpaid days off.

i was in the restaurant union for a while, too. here they fight for your right to earn the minimum wage, and have zero bennies. at least the dues were cheap.

what you say is exactly true. the raygun dems are now crying their little eyes out at what they have done to themselves.

[shockey80]

5. Bad unions

I agree there are bad unions. But unions are what the workers make of them. I have been to union meetings. Not to many people show up. Its up to the workers to make the unions work the way there supposed to.


Unions will never be perfect. They will never be clean. Just like corporations and politicians will never be clean. Its about balance. Its the only power the working man has. This is a never ending war.

[Fichefinder]

12. The only thing your Union dues pay for

is admission to the monthly meeting. Nobody is going to walk a picket line for you. Nobody is going to pay you for a "sick-out". We didn't get a 5 day, 40 hour week with overtime because union members fought for them. We got them because union members DIED for them.

Well said Shockey80! The greatest victory of the Rich in the last 20 years is the erosion of confidence in Government and Unions, the only institutions that can put the rich in their place.

Retired Military
Proud Retired Union Brother!
Lifelong Democrat!!!

[OhioBlue]

17. welcome to DU! Solidarity. n/t

[asuhornets]

7. Welcome to DU!!!!I hope you stay awhile!!!!!...n/t

[Ligyron]

8. The first post I've read by you Shocky and it's a good one.

Keep it up, we need people like you around!

[JI7]

9. They voted to ban or make certain people less eaual

[TomCADem]

10. MLK On How The RW Elites Use Racism To Oppress the White Working Class. Still True Today

Much of the discussion in the MSM poses the presents the question of racial and gender equality as being mutually exclusive of reaching out to the white working class. Indeed, in an effort to avoid discussions of race, Trump's victory is portrayed as a triumph of populism even though his policies are extremely anti-poor and anti-working class. Tax cuts for the rich? School vouchers? Privatizing medicare?

So, do Democrats need a new paradigm? Do we need to walk away from fighting racism and sexism in an effort to reach out to the white working class? The answer is no. Democrats do not need a new paradigm. They just need to return to an old one.

Here is Martin Luther King's sermon explaining how racism and prejudice are used not only to oppress minorities, but to oppress and distract working class whites by giving them a scapegoat as the focus of their problems. To fight the racism and oppression being pushed by the right, we need to reach out and bear witness to the Republican base that notwithstanding the election of Donald Trump, their lot has not improved, but with huge tax cuts to the rich and cuts in benefits, their lives will suffer, and all Trump has given them is a scapegoat.

http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_the_drum_major_instinct/

Now the other thing is, that it leads to tragic—and we've seen it happen so often—tragic race prejudice. Many who have written about this problem—Lillian Smith used to say it beautifully in some of her books. And she would say it to the point of getting men and women to see the source of the problem. Do you know that a lot of the race problem grows out of the drum major instinct? A need that some people have to feel superior. A need that some people have to feel that they are first, and to feel that their white skin ordained them to be first. (Make it plain, today, ‘cause I’m against it, so help me God) And they have said over and over again in ways that we see with our own eyes. In fact, not too long ago, a man down in Mississippi said that God was a charter member of the White Citizens Council. And so God being the charter member means that everybody who's in that has a kind of divinity, a kind of superiority. And think of what has happened in history as a result of this perverted use of the drum major instinct. It has led to the most tragic prejudice, the most tragic expressions of man's inhumanity to man.

The other day I was saying, I always try to do a little converting when I'm in jail. And when we were in jail in Birmingham the other day, the white wardens and all enjoyed coming around the cell to talk about the race problem. And they were showing us where we were so wrong demonstrating. And they were showing us where segregation was so right. And they were showing us where intermarriage was so wrong. So I would get to preaching, and we would get to talking—calmly, because they wanted to talk about it. And then we got down one day to the point—that was the second or third day—to talk about where they lived, and how much they were earning. And when those brothers told me what they were earning, I said, "Now, you know what? You ought to be marching with us. (laughter) You're just as poor as Negroes." And I said, "You are put in the position of supporting your oppressor, because through prejudice and blindness, you fail to see that the same forces that oppress Negroes in American society oppress poor white people. (Yes) And all you are living on is the satisfaction of your skin being white, and the drum major instinct of thinking that you are somebody big because you are white. And you're so poor you can't send your children to school. You ought to be out here marching with every one of us every time we have a march."

Now that's a fact. That the poor white has been put into this position, where through blindness and prejudice, (Make it plain) he is forced to support his oppressors. And the only thing he has going for him is the false feeling that he’s superior because his skin is white—and can't hardly eat and make his ends meet week in and week out. (Amen)

[Omaha Steve]

13. Yet Trump Killed Obama's TPP

Demonstrators protested the Carrier Corporation at the Indiana State Capitol in April. The company plans to move two factories to Monterrey, Mexico. Officials with knowledge of the talks said on Friday that President-elect Donald J. Trump and the company were seeking a compromise. Credit Eric Thayer for The New York Times

And is fighting to keep the Carrier jobs here in the US: Trump Leans on Carrier to Keep 2,000 U.S. Jobs From Moving to Mexico

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/business/international/trump-leans-on-carrier-to-keep-2000-us-jobs-from-moving-to-mexico.html?_r=0

By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ NOV. 25, 2016

The value of the bully pulpit of the president of the United States can’t be measured on a corporate spreadsheet or the Excel file of a Wall Street analyst.

But as President-elect Donald J. Trump tries to stop Carrier from moving more than 2,000 jobs to Mexico, the company is learning that the pulpit can be powerful indeed.

Carrier, in the middle of negotiations with the incoming administration, may end up keeping some of the jobs in Indiana. In exchange, the incoming administration could ease up on regulation for businesses and cool campaign rhetoric on imposing tariffs.

Officials familiar with the situation, who insisted on anonymity because talks were still underway, described the discussion on Friday as a two-way negotiation, with both sides seeking a compromise.

FULL story at link.

[TomCADem]

16. Ease Up Regulations Like Minimum Wage, Union Protections and Environmental Protections?

If the key to keep American businesses from going abroad to third world countries is to make the U.S. more like a third world country, then you should be careful what you wish for.

[Omaha Steve]

18. Just glad TPP is dead in the water

[TomCADem]

19. Well, If The Trump Presidency Turns Out to Be Good for Poor and Middle Class...

...then I think we should all re-examine our opposition to his right wing agenda. Maybe Democrats should rethink their views on tax cuts, environmental protections, etc., if the income disparities decrease and real household incomes go up.

[True_Blue]

14. People keep voting against their own best interest.

I remember back in the 60s/70s it was considered downright unAmerican to cross a picket line. My mother worked for Mountain Bell for 35 yrs and belonged to the United Workers of America. She made a decent wage, had health & dental insurance for the family and received a nice pension when she retired.

After 4 yrs of Trump, we'll be lucky if we still have a minimum wage, SS, ACA, Medicare, unemployment insurance, food assistance,...etc. We'll probably wind up in the next Great Depression after Trump slashes all the safety nets and give massive tax breaks to his wealthy friends.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

15. They've been told their boss would LOVE to give them a raise but can't afford it....

....and it's all the fault of the government.

[louis c]

20. My sentiments, exactly

I live with this every day.

I'm in Massachusetts, so more people here "get it" then in most other parts of the country. But we have our share here, too.

[DemonGoddess]

21. What you're saying

proves the POINT of WHY unions need to be.