Time to draw line in the dust here. Do YOU support UNIONS or not?......

[KoKo]

Because the fate of 2008 Election and in many ways '06 HINGES on DU'ers Comments.

So...WHERE do YOU STAND on Viability of UNIONS? Are they important or not in the 21st CENTURY? Would you support "White Collar Unions" who might be against "Outsourcing?"

Is STRONG LABOR a GOOD THING or LEADS TO LOSS OF WAGES IN A GLOBALIZED ECONOMY...? (Full Caps to make a point here.)
:shrug:

[Fridays Child]

1. I do. Period.

[Warpy]

2. I've had union jobs and nonunion jobs and a bad union

is always better than no union.

Hell yes. I support unions 100%.

[PVK]

3. Unions forever. n/t

[ET Awful]

4. They are more important now than at any time since the first quarter

of the last century.

[LincolnMcGrath]

5. Full-On Union Thug Here!

:hi:

[LisaLynne]

6. I support unions!

How the RW was able to turn a lot of the very people that unions help against unions is just another one of their magic, propaganda tricks.

Unions are as important now as they ever were. Things are slipping back to the way things were pre-unions for labor. It's sickening what can be done to workers these days and the goal of the RW is to make the corporations above the law. That's where I stand.

[napi21]

I support them, but something is very wrong inside the unions.

I don't know if it's leadership or what, but they can't seem to muster the support of the workers like they used to. I'd love to see them cure that problem and get their power back.

[dogman]

23. Because some workers have issues they find more important.

There are workers who have a moral conviction that being anti-abortion is more important than their working conditions, others feel that gun ownership is more important. When people have one issue that trumps all others, there is not much the Union can say or do. These people feel the Unions have betrayed them. Unfortunately the Unions cannot conduct sanity tests for membership.

[demosincebirth]

39. I was a union a member (and steward) for 40 years and your

statement says it all. I worked with many of the union members you have described, and I still scratch my head trying to figure out those that you talk about.

There is an old story that I heard about a guy who didn't have a pot to piss in nor a window to throw it out of. But yet he voted the republican ticket right down the line. He kept saying that the democrats would let all the immigrants in. That was his beef. Hard to believe...isn't it?

[bobbieinok]

113. post 2000 selection, union people at OK county democratic meeting

were nearly in tears......they said the last union member in the OK legislature had been defeated.....they talked about going door-to-door, talking to union members and hearing 'I'm against abortion' and 'democrats want to confiscate my guns'

there was a vehement discussion between union people who thought maybe democrats should tone down abortion talk and older women (IMO, not of the same socio-economic class as the union people) nearly in tears, saying they could never compromise on an issue that had cost so many lives in botched illegal abortions

(discussion may have actually happened later; the date is forgotten, but the emotions expressed will be with me for a long time)

[cssmall]

25. Let me give you a simple explanation:

Large companies, fearing loss of power from strong unionized workers, have set on a propaganda tour against the unions (which have given themselves enough of a black eye). Look at Wal-Mart: why do they now package meat? Because in ONE meat department in ONE store in ONE city in the nation, all of the butchers at Wal-Mart decided to unionize and were promptly firedly for violation of company policy, then all other butchers were fired and replaced by prepackaged meat.

It's a fairly straight forward policy: preach against the union, fire anyone that wants to attempt to get their rights and fair pay and reap in the benefits.

I am strongly union and will now only by my jeans (I have yet to find an underwear or shirt unionized company) from the Union Jean Company.

[napi21]

33. What happened to the law where a Company cannot punish an

employee for trying to form a union? Did the Pubs do away with that one too?

[demosincebirth]

40. I think that happen a couple of years ago in texas.

Also in Canada, last year, WMart employees voted for a union and WM closed the store.

[DeadManInc]

29. The problem is that companies are allowed

to have closed door meetings and pressure employees to vote against it. I know from experience. I have tried to unionize my workplace 3 times already. The company had their supervisors follow me all around the plant. They asked people what they were talking to me about. They constantly kept surveillance on me. I was written up for bullshit that I didn't do. I had to take them to the labor relations board, where I won all of my charges. I filed 10 charges and won all 10. What sucks is all they get is a slap on the hand for harassing employees. We were having meetings a couple times a week so they could tell us how bad unions are. When you get a bunch of 18 to 25 year olds making 15 bucks an hour they think that everything is great in the world.

[mdmc]

54. the problem is profit

it is cheaper to ditch the union.

[Sparkman]

79. No union = crappy work conditions= poor job performance = plant closure.

[mdmc]

85. = outsourced to china = imported by wall mart

= unpacked by former union members.

I understand what happens. The reason it happens is because people are unwilling to invest in the quality of life that union membership produces.:kick:

[Sparkman]

78. BAD media coverage, NO statistics EVER offered in MSM on wage stats is why

the battle to organize is uphill. Many non-union hospital or factory workers think that organizers just take their dues and don't really represent. Union workers KNOW that w/o organized labor, ALL blue collar would be working at HALF their world class wages. The STRIKE on Calif. grocery chains lasted months, and cost VONS/RALPHS/SAFEWAY a hundred million dollars...AND just like lobbyists with similar corporate deals on that magnitude, money talks.
So you tell me unions don't support wages, I tell you to go work in MEXICO.

[brainshrub]

7. Hinges on DU comments?

"Hinges on DU comments?"

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of DU. I spend at least an hour or two here a day... but don't kid yourself: DU is simply the internal conversation that Dems and Liberals have among ourselves. Elections don't hinge on what anyone posts.

Unless it's me.

I am the most important poster on DU. Every time I make a post, the entire political structure trembles in sheer anticipation.

The next time there is a DU name-change amnesty, I'm going to start writing as "SkinnerPitt."

ON EDIT: And by the way, I am definitely pro-Union. To be pro-Union is to be pro-American.

[Jim Sagle]

8. Unions RRRRRAWWWWWWWWWWK!!!!!!!!!

[roguevalley]

9. There will never come a day I don't support unions. UNIONS

FOREVER!

[lumpy]

35. Yes is the answer, right way to go.

Who else is going to protect workers right to protest but the workers themselves ? Who else can demand dialogue between workers and management ?

[spindrifter]

10. Solidarity!

We need to stand with our union brothers and sisters. The Neocons have been on a several-decade campaign to marginalize the union movement. It is time we stood up and said no to outrageous management shenanigans.

[Bluzmann57]

11. Unions are vitally important

I belong to a Union, and it's doubtful that the pay would be as good, and the health insurance as good without a Union. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded.
Look at history. Before we had organized Labor in this country, we did not have child labor laws, we had no overtime pay, we had no health insurance, we basically were not considered anything but "the help". Then Unions were formed, often at great cost, both money wise and human life wise, and things got better. Things are regressing now, but we can never ever give up the struggle. We must elect Labor friendly candidates. We have to. Our country's future depends on it. Everybody wants their kids to go to college, but there will always be a working class in this country. Therefore, Unions are vitally important in the 21st century. And always.

[lumpy]

38. "Do you support worker's unions ? "

A question that should be asked of our Congressional representatives. This should be discussed in every Congressional campaign, pro or con.

[Sparkman]

80. right. some cultures support workers rights w/o unions, BUT not the U.S.!

The U.S. has consistantly FOUGHT collective bargaining, police riots in the 30's, KILLINGs by hired goons in Detroit and NY and Jersey. Plants FIRING long time employees for "consorting" with organizers...this hard fought battle cost the lives of thousands. BLACKLISTED union advocates and McCarthy slander tactics for being COMMUNIST SYMPATHISERS has disgraced the U.S. and is even now ruining the lives of college professors.
Solidarity or Fascism, that simple.

[leftstreet]

12. Working America - check it out!

http://www.workingamerica.org/home.cfm

About Working America
WORKING AMERICA, a community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, is a powerful force for working people. With the combined strength of 9 million union men and women and millions of nonunion workers who share common challenges and goals, we fight in communities, states and nationally for what really matters—good jobs, affordable health care, world-class education, secure retirements, real homeland security and more.

And we work against wrong-headed priorities favoring the rich and corporate special interests over America’s well-being.

WORKING AMERICA uses professional research, communication, education, canvassing, lobbying and community organizing to demand that politicians address the priorities that matter most to working people—not just wealthy special interests. Make a difference for your community, for America and for your working family.

[emulatorloo]

13. Hell yeah -- N/t

[Dr.Phool]

14. Fuckin'A!! 100% pro- union!

I'd never be where I am today without a good union!

[Janice325]

15. HELL YES!!!

and that's all I have to say on the subject.

[Daylin Byak]

18. Hell yeah!

My grandfather was in the plasters union for 40 years and he said it's the greatest thing to be apart.

[lumpy]

42. My father was very supportive of

unions having lived in the era when workers had no representation regarding wages and safety regulations. The strong labor union movement needs to be revived. The latest mine fatalities says a lot about what is needed to protect our workers. Union busting' and regulatory measures has been a Republican tactic for far too long.

[Bushknew]

16. No union next would be no minimum wage.

[misternormal]

17. I've never had a Union job...

... but I live in a "right-to-work" state, and I see people getting screwed all of the time because they have no representation... Restaurant workers get below minimum wage and are supposed to make the rest up in tips... And if they don't make it up, the business is supposed to make up the difference... But that is kind of an unwritten thing, so unless someone knows about it, they get screwed without even a kiss...

So... I would have to say I support them.

[lumpy]

43. The response is absolutely negative

when workers in the medical area (i.e. nursing homes. etc.hospiotals). Where I worked, aides, with support from nursing staff were threatened with firing when nursing home workers tried to unionize.

[Sparkman]

84. My cousin is hospital "staff", HATES unions, does NON of the sh*t work.

ANY corporate type LOATHES the idea of SHARING the oppulent wealth that goes to the golden club of administrators, "professionals" and contractors/suppliers. Face it, the REPUKES hate punitive legal recourse, public safety net, non-private insurance/retirement, campaign funding & lobbyist neutralization by public funding of political races or democracy in any form. Collective Bargaining is the strongest tool we have of reigning in the corporate control over government and guaranteeing a share of the pot for the workers.

[raccoon]

73. Same here. I live in a "right to work" state where the pay scale

is low (surprise, surprise) and "employee's rights" is an oxymoron. Employers can basically get away with just about anything. Unless you could prove something like racial discrimination, you're screwed.

Yes, I support unions.

[Zynx]

19. I support labor unions 100%!

[ncrainbowgrrl]

20. My grandfather fought for the right to have unions.

He was physically attacked, beaten, etc... Yet, he managed to pull it off. He died early- some think because of the physical stress he put his body through during those hard times.

Union Forever!

I will always stand by my union brothers and sisters

[blue cat]

21. Hell yes!

[KoKo]

22. We need to get our "white collar workers" INVOLVED! because all those

Service, Real Estate, Investment folks ..need to know...that the next shoe to drop could be on YOUR INCOME!

[lumpy]

44. Yes, people in those jobs

need union support.

[HockeyMom]

24. Containerization

My Dad was a Longshoreman. Way back when, when the piers were containerized, the Union fought for the men who would be put out of their jobs because of this. The Union got a contract which said that every member would receive their pay, even if there was no work for them. My Dad shaped every day for about 10 years. There was no work for him, but as long as he went down to the docks every day, he got paid. Without this, as a man in his 50s at the time, he would have been in dire straights finding work. Do I support Unions? No Question, I do.

As far as white collar workers, my husband's IT jobs were outsourced to India -- twice. I remember the second time there was something going around about Unionizing the IT workers, but I don't think anything came of it. I remember some saying that their salaries would go down. Hell, anything is better an a $400 a week unemployment check. Been there, done that. As I said, my Dad got his FULL SALARY when there was no work from that Union contract.

As an aside, I think the dockworkers should stage a wildcat strike against this port deal. Not just a demonstration, a full strike across the country. ONLY way for it make the headlines. The country is AGAINST this sale of the ports. Bring the Unions back into the Publics mind, in a good light.

[Gman]

26. Any DU'er not supporting unions doesn't belong here

unless they can learn and get it.

[LincolnMcGrath]

36. Unfortunately there are a few.

[Idioteque]

90. That's kinda harsh.

Just because somebody disagrees with you doesn't mean they don't belong. I support the right of workers to organize, although I am a bit wary of closed shop agreements. I also think unions do a good job fighting for progressive legislation, such as single payer health care.

At the same time, unions have some very misguided policies that they are supporting. They have turned the Democratic party into a vehicle for protectionism. Outsourcing and globalization are going to happen. Instead of trying to protect inefficient industries, unions should focus their efforts on trade adjustment and health care.

[la la]

27. Do I support Unions?

YES

YES

HELL, YES !

[land of the free]

28. Americans became prosperous because of Unions

and America became prosperous because of Unions.

Unions are absolutely viable and vital to our society. They have to be flexible to the changing world... but if we have no unions, we have no solidarity, no power, and no hope.

[The Gunslinger]

30. Unions - Yes

[we can do it]

31. Strong Unions Lift EVERYONE UP

[tulip]

32. YES

I support them.......and have been a member of 2 unions.

[suigeneris]

34. I Do. Period. nt

[BootinUp]

37. What matters

is do union members believe the union is helping them. I have never been in a union. If the company bales and shuts down the issue becomes moot. Its up to the union to work with management to make the company profitable.

As far as laws protecting unions and the right to organize, I will always support that.

[caligirl]

41. Democracy= rebirth of Unions now, its essential if we want freedom

[fade2bluz]

45. Solidarity

United we stand, divided we crawl.

[radio4progressives]

46. DLC Defenders are against the Working Class

a lot of workers are not in Unions, not by choice, but because the Democratic Party were useless in repair or protesting the damage done beginning with Ronald Reagan and then more damage continued on with Poppy Bush and then when Clinton came into office, we all thought that it will be a new revival of the Unions again - and even though at first it seemed like it would be so, it never the level of support by the party it needed to have in order to and were eventually pretty much left to falter and weaken again.

So Labor has enough apparently, and forming their own political party apparently just like the Black Party ... which i think is interesting.

It will probably not be up and running strong in 08, but whose to say?

[The Magistrate]

57. Is There Anything That Damned D.L.C. Does Not Do, Ma'am?

[LincolnMcGrath]

59. Point of order, Sir

I witnessed a debate between A From and N Gingrich in front of the National Chamber of Commerce. It was as frightening as it was disheartening. If Mr From is to be considered a friend of Labor , I would very much hate to meet our enemy. lol

[radio4progressives]

96. Good Question, Magistrate..

though I detect a tone of contempt towards me for mentioning it.

This morning Senator Bill Nelson of Flordia raises "concerns" that Venezuela had the audacity to purchase a few helicopters and other defense weapons and suggested this was a security issue for the United States, even raised the specter of importing al queda - which they're going to speak about in further detail in closed session - i know it isn't necessary to explain to you personally why our imperialistic arrogance, particularly regarding the southern hemisphere, is INSANE. Nor, do I need to explain to you personally why United States policy makers must cease continuing down this path of imperialism and arrogance with regard to soverign nations.

Our imperialism knows no limits and it is fascistic, it is also about oppression of working peoples within and without our borders and it is the nature of the policies developed and supported by the fascists within our own government and it's policy institutions that must be opposed by we, the people here in the united states.

[radio4progressives]

99. to clarify a bit..

the notion that perhaps Venezuela is fortifying their defenses based on both veiled and direct threats by the United States, and as a soverign nation, like any other has an inherent to right to protect it's country from aggressors such as the United States, wasn't even hinted at.

Should the fact that a Democratic Senator posturing on behalf of this war mongering position be dismissed or at best simply ignored by any of us?

[The Magistrate]

104. Please Forgive My Attempt At Humor, Ma'am

I have had a trying week, and do not always judge what will amuse others, as well as myself, correctly. Contempt was not in my mind at all.

But the point behind my jest does remain. It really does seem hard to connect in any meaningful fashion the D.L.C. with the decades long decline in Union economic and political power in the United States, most of which took place long before that organization was founded. Invocation of it in that connection seems to suggest a "one size fits all" approach to issues that is often not helpful in analyzng serious problems.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

47. Yes, I worked a bunch of non-unionized temp jobs in the early 1980s

and the working conditions were terrible.

I've never had a union job, but I don't cross picket lines. When the grocery workers in Portland struck against the Fred Meyer chain, I was discouraged to see how many working class people crossed the picket lines.

[mitchum]

48. Absolutely!

[WCGreen]

49. 100%.....

I wish they, like any other organization, would police themselves better...

But if it wasn't for the Unions....

There would be no middle class.... Period....

[unkachuck]

50. I wholeheartedly....

....support UNIONS! A good Union with a good Contract will allow you to live and raise a family with the security you need....

[The Magistrate]

51. Absolutely, Ma'am

The Union is the only recourse workers have against the tyranny of capital; it is the only means by which they have even a hope of matching the strength of money power.

To answer your more specific question of support for "white collar" unions, the answer is: of course! The dea that so-called whitre collar workers are not workers like so-called blue collar workers is nonesense. In the grand scheme of things in our economic life, even lower and middle management types are workers. One of the great difficulties of our present political life is the utter delusion of amny people that they are not lagorers because they work at a desk, and that they are middle-class because they receive a salary instead of an hourly wage and pay on a mortage instead of paying rent. As a matter of practical fact, easily ninety pecent of the populace in out country constitute a peasantry, in terms of command over their income, and its level relative to the wealth of the upper reaches of society. Now household earning less than about two hundred thousand dollars a year can command the prerogatives that were considered "middle class" a century ago.

[Zodiak]

121. I agree completely

In fact, I am considering the importance and efficacy potential of a Professors/Academics union. No longer can a professor be considered anything les than a simple worker since long ago they have given more and more power to their M.B.A.-laden Administration.

The conditions at colleges are sometimes deplorable and academic no longer take to protests...they just keep their heads down. Saddening.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

52. i strongly support unions.,

[mdmc]

53. Go Union!

fuck the DLC!

[hopeisaplace]

55. Yes.

[BigYawn]

56. Support unions so long as they don't make the employer bankrupt

[The Magistrate]

58. An Odd Position, Sir

It amounts to stating that an employer deserves a subsidy from those employed in his or her enterprise. Whenever an employer pays too little, all the rest of us are forced to provide a subsidy to that employer, through a variety of public costs imposed by the lacks of the underpaid workers. Why should we do this for a person possessed of capital goods? For make no mistake about it, Sir, what is really subsidized by such things as food stamps and medicare is not the immediate recipient, but the employer who pays as cheap as can wrung from a workforce: we all make up the lack in pay the employer provides, and that person enjoys the benefit in terms of profit and investment, as well as conspicuous consumption.

[DemBones DemBones]

61. Well said, Sir. nt

[BigYawn]

100. I was basing my opinion on my 35 years of jobs in the Chicago area

where I saw company after manufacturing company either
go bankrupt or move businesses elsewhere where unions
were not as strong.

I am 100% behind unions for forcing safe working conditions.
I back unions for forcing rest periods after many hours of
work. I am also for collective bargaining instead of the
company screwing employees individually.

And I am for many other good things unions do.

But I am against unions forcing the wages beyond what
the market will bear. It does no good to union employees
when the company closes shop and moves elsewhere. This is
the main reason union membership has dropped over the years.

[The Magistrate]

103. And Do You Seriously Think, Sir

That in even the majority of those moves and closures the owners were being honest about the matter? You should know perfectly well that was not the case, that the fact was that they simply could not stomach making four or five percent when there seemed a possibility of managing seven or eight percent by some other course. It is not the work of Unions in securing a more equitabe division of the spoils of capitalsit enterprise that is the problem: it is the unwillinmgness of the bosses to abide by a more equitable distribution of those spoils.

The idea that wages are forced beyond what the market will bear is simple nonesense. The periods of greatest prosperity coincide with the periods of highest wage earning: the higher wages are, the more demand there is for products and services, and the more opportunity there is for profitable investment to satisfy that demand. The real problem is that bosses seek to force wages down to match the subsistence level, in the short-sighted view that this will give them personally more, when in fact what it does is reduce economic activity and demand for products and services, and make the over-all business climate worse for every proprietor.

[BigYawn]

107. Whatever the reason, end result being that good union jobs are lost

when a business shuts down or moves. Businesses are not
run for some altruistic purpose.
Do not expect business decisions to be based on
fairness, or even long term benefit. The bottom
line for the next quarter is what the CEO thinks about.

What I really would like to see is a ceiling on
executive pay. For example, while K-Mart and
United Airlines were going bankrupt while at the
same time paying obscene compensation packages to
the CEO's.

I think all workers at low and mid-level in every
corporation get cheated when higher management awards
unjustifiable pay levels to themselves. We desperately
need a MAXIMUM ratio between the highest paid/lowest paid
employee in every business. That way if business is very
profitable, all will benefit.

[The Magistrate]

108. It is Only Proper Identification Of The Cause, Sir, That Concerns Me

When what is presented as a result of Union greed and economic ignorance is actually the result of a boss' greed and economic ignorance, all concerned are done a great disservice.

The two proposals you make are excellent ones, that woud have some helpful effects if enacted.

[LincolnMcGrath]

60. We've had this discussion before.

Management is responsible for staffing levels and payroll.

[TankLV]

62. Absolutely. Long familiy line of union members.

Without them, we would not have 90% of the rights we have now - that are fast fading into history as fast as unions have been disappearing.

[eridani]

63. Enjoying your weekend?

Thank a union member! (a bumpersticker favorite)

[DemBones DemBones]

64. HELL YES!!! The American people need to wake up and fight

for unions.

Sadly, many are misinformed about the importance of unions, how they help everybody and how unions gave us our greatest years of prosperity. Guess who spread the misinformation?

[MyshkinCommaPrince]

65. Yes.

Yes. Very much, yes.

[cyberia]

66. Well, of course!

Unions are dangerous. That's why the corporatists hate them. That's why Reagan killed the Air Traffic Controlers. That's why the Kennedy's went after the Teamsters. If we want to wrest the Democratic Party from the corporate interests, the unions will have to be part of that struggle.

PS: Let's hear no BS apologetics about the Teamsters being corrupt. Of course, there was corruption. Is that a reason to crush a working class defense organization, or an excuse? Why do corrupt CEOs get promoted instead of crushed?

[Janice325]

67. Actually, I thought I'd add a bit more than my comment up thread.

I've worked for a telecom a great bit of my working career. In 1987 I was making more per hour than I've made per hour the last 4 years. In 2001 I was making almost twice per hour what I've been making the last 4 years. I had company paid medical, night differential, time and a half on Sunday, double time on holidays, and triple time on Mother's Day. (I was in Operator Services). I was a member of the Communications Workers of America.
Then I got laid off-bumped by someone with more service in another state who relocated to keep their job. (Darn!!)
I was a member of the Communications Workers of America.
So, even though I lost a good job, I say HELL YES to unions.

[TheBaldyMan]

68. it's a no-brainer - strong unions are good for their members

they are good for the country
they are good for the economy
they benefit everybody

[PBass]

69. Pro union, all the way.

I've had a union job. The union rep was a jerk, but that's neither here nor there. Without the union in place, we who actually did all the hard work and kept the business running, would have been thoroughly screwed over by the management.

As far as 'Why do union guys vote against their own best interests?" It comes down to information/education. The union needs to be pro-active on a local level and have local meetings and explain what the election issues are... pass out some info, make sure everyone is registered, and encourage guys to show up at the polls. If unions are not voting in their own best interests, it's due to a failure of leadership... leadership in the party and leadership in the union.

[tirechewer]

70. I do support unions....

I have noticed with the waning strength of unions, wages have fallen while time at work has increased. Safety standards for workers are at an all time low. More jobs come without health or meaningful retirement benefits. More and more corporations are outsourcing to countries, while workers here beg for employment.

I was a shop steward for the union at my job. My employer systematically broke the back of the union and took away our power to negotiate. I worked for the feds. They ignored federal personnel laws without any check at all on their actions. The union spent most of its time in court trying to stop them. There was not too much that we as employees could do to help out. There was a federal law that kept us from going out on strike. Ironic, isn't it?

Union busting bled into the private sector with a vengeance and look at what workers are facing there now. There was a reason that people formed unions in the first place. Go ask the coal miners, or the people who work at Walmart if they might like a strong effective union to protect their safety, their working conditions and their ability to earn a good wage.

When the market chains were being struck here in California, I never crossed a picket line. I was surprised at the number of other people who went out of their way not to cross them either. I found a smaller market to buy food, and I have not gone back to the chains yet. Niether have a lot of other people. That, at least is gratifying.

The big chains being struck, essentially conspired together to break the strike and now one of the chains is facing 53 charges on actions they knowingly took to break the strike and damage the workers. Nothing at all has happened legally with the other chain, even though they were equally culpable. With the courts packed the way they are with guppa guppa right wingers, I wonder what will happen at trial?

[obreaslan]

71. YES!!!!

No explanation needed, no questions asked. :applause:

[Broke In Jersey]

72. The unions are helping to destroy themselves actually.

Here in NYC, the unions lost a lot of credibility and bit of support when the transit union shut down the city during the busy holiday season with their strike & went back to the table with NOTHING. The average working person got screwed. The white color workers could afford to simply take the day(s) off.

[LynneSin]

74. No doubts here - Unions are awesome!!

My dad was Union (state employee) and my stepfather was union (Steelworkers)

It's amazing to understand and appreciate what Unions have done for this country. My stepfather gave us a tour the Steel plant that where he worked and showed us the area where they would take the dead bodies.

Can you imagine a job where they have an area where they take the dead bodies?

Unions made sure that working conditions were safe - this is important!

[NoFederales]

75. As a former steel worker--YES

Strong labor has been suffering for the last 25 yrs and it is time to turn things around for the skilled union laborer.

NoFederales

[GregW]

76. Sadly, no.

Unions made me leave the beautiful country of Australia. Their constant striking at the most inopportune moments to cause maximum disruption and increase their bargaining power was targeted at just one segment - the people most impacted by the strike - who usually had NOTHING to do with it.

The final straw for me was the electricity workers going on strike which resulted in massive, rolling blackouts throughout the state. My company (a retailer) was driven to the brink of bankruptcy as we lost millions in potential sales. As an average Joe consumer, I was forced to suffer blackouts on a three-off-one-on schedule.

Why?

WTF cares - I had no beef with the SEQEB guys and they had no right to impact me or my company.

[Solon]

94. What the hell were they supposed to do, suck it up and bend over for....

Management and YOU? Why the fuck should workers put their own livelihoods on the line for your Convenience? Apparently you like the idea of corporate slavery, you don't belong here in that case.

[blondeatlast]

77. Indeed I do. nt

[ChiciB1]

81. Yes, I Do... If It Weren't For The Union, I Wouldn't Even Have

a retirement IRA!!

However, I wish they didn't LET themselves get such a BAD Rap!!! There have been things in the past that have made them look pretty bad, but NOTHING compares to THIS WH!!!

[Sparkman]

82. Collective Bargaining rights limit the corporate stranglehold on governmen

Proffessors are being targeted, anti-communist rants are used to attack COLLECTIVE BARGAINING proponents. Why? Because Fascism is corporate dominance over government, and raiding the public treasury into all time debt and deficits has been the REPUKES=FASCISTS goal since Eisenhower.
Goals:
NO public safety net
NO Social Security AND privitization of ALL retirement Insurance.
NO legal remedy against corporate polluting or government contract theft.
NO class action lawsuits
NO penalty awards to victims of corporate abuses
NO regulations of corporate raids on wetlands or National Parks
NO public funding for political campaigns
NO equal time in media commercials
NO public support for strong schools, with liberal education, arts or science
RELIGION in the public schools equals STATE RELIGION APPROVAL

If this isn't FASCISM...it's something new and worse.

[jdadd]

83. Second generation here

My father was a Westinghouse employee before unions....He told me stories of having to clock out when a machine would break down and go outside and sit on the curb...as soon as repairs were made you would clock back in and return to work....those that didn't wait outside were terminated..

Union....Hell yes!!...I've had membership in four...IUE,SMWI,URW,USWA.
I've also worked in non Union jobs...places where "suckority" is more important than seniority.

[Coexist]

86. Not just Yes, but HELL YES!

[Fox Mulder]

87. Heck yeah I do!

[KansDem]

88. Support the 5-day workweek, 8-hour workday, health & safety on the job?

Along with numerous other protections and improvements for the working class?

Count me in!!! :thumbsup:

edited to control my emotions

[Narraback]

89. Yes

nt

[Libby2]

91. 100% n/t

[KansDem]

92. I *don't* support unions, now get down on your knees and clean up

...all that dust you're drawing a line in...NOWWWWWWW!!!!

But before you do that, get me a cup of coffee, NOWWWWWWW!!!!

DO IT!!! Or I'll have your job...NOWWWWWW!!!!

:sarcasm:

[Sparkman]

101. And that's no lie. Children were channeled into factories, at 7 years old

NOT THAT LONG AGO!
Imagine the hell that Sears & Roebuck overlooked, in those factories that produced the stuff on their shelves and catalogs!
Even today, in sweat shops in L.A. and TEXAS and New York, immegrants work under distress and abuse for peanuts.
We are right, the Repuk corporatists that tell government to privatize Social Security, ignore plant conditions & environmental destruction etc, etc, would dwindle our middle class. Minimum wage is a joke.

[Rainscents]

93. 100% support the Union!

[Harald Ragnarsson]

95. I've never had the opportunity to belong to one

Any place I've worked said they lock the doors if anyone ever tried to bring one in. In jobs I made a decent living at, it didn't bother me. In jobs I didn't, I wished there was such a thing.

We definitely need some representation for workers at the bottom end of the wage spectrum, I know that. The middle class is terrified at the attack on them, well, the poor folks have been feeling this for 26 years and more now.

Unions, yes, sounds great. Representation for everybody.

[Ino]

97. Hell yes!

Workers would have NOTHING if not for unions.

[ThomCat]

98. Hell, Yes.

I support Unions.

[BlueCollar]

102. YES...eom

[riona]

105. we need unions

i don't even want to think of slipping back to the days before unions were formed. unions add to the middle class. without the middle class, we lose our identity.

[Bandit]

106. Not the Teamster's Union I don't

Teamsters used scab labor to build their new Union Hall in Houston in 2000 because they said Union Labor was too expensive. They also have done many things to undermine other Unions on Environmental issues such as ANWR. Fuck the Teamsters and for that matter where have the UNIONS been for the last five years? If they really wanted to stop this Administration they could but they have not done so. Unions control almost all shipping and transport of good in this country. They could litterally stop the flow of all goods if they chose to do so. :shrug: Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country and Unions have been mostly silent.

[Blue_Tires]

109. solidarity, brothers and sisters!

[Tom Rinaldo]

110. Damn straight I do

No organization created by humans will ever be perfect, but without Unions a lot of us would be working 60 hour weeks and still owe money to the company store.

[jschurchin]

111. Very Proud Member of.........

Local 2035 of the Transport Workers Union. Let us never forget the battles our forefathers fought and died in to bring the working standards we enjoy today.

To do so would belittle their memory.

[mdmc]

112. kick for your union membership!

link to bernie video http://www.canofun.com/cof/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=17297

[nadinbrzezinski]

114. YES

ALL THE WAY

[RedstDem]

115. I'm A Patriotic American

So Of Course I Stand Behind Unions.
They Are As American As Apple Pie.

[Douglas Carpenter]

116. Progressives are always on the side of labor

When has any viable democracy survived without strong trade unions? It is intrinsic to a functioning democracy and anything remotely resembling a free society.

[earth mom]

117. We need Unions, Unions and More Unions!

:applause:

[NoSheep]

118. Absolutely.

We should have policies that keep jobs here. It's all about balance and common sense.

[Blue_Tires]

119. back ttt where you belong!

[laugle]

120. Hell Yes I support unions...without them there will be no MIDDLE CLASS,

just the rich and the working poor!!

The master agenda of the neo-cons....

[donsu]

122. YES support unions

and I support global unions to protect all workers in the world the same

that way the corporations can't exploit anyone

imagine that

[electron_blue]

123. Yes!

[laylah]

124. Unions are a MUST!

That said, I feel that some of them go overboard and get greedy; however, overall, they do have the best interest of their members in mind. As we all know, leave that to the capitalist corporations and we'd all be fNcked much more than we alread are. Just my vho.

JEnn