UNIONIZE! It's the only solution

[maxrandb]

It seems to me that with the Repukes non-stop assault on the working-class and collective bargaining, there is only one way to put the power of government back in the hands of the people. That way is through "Unionizing".

The American people are beginning to see first-hand what happens when you sit on your a$$ and allow a small, hate-motivated minority of Ass-pickles in "3-corner hats" set the agenda for the country.

Now would be the time to ask..."Why isn't Walmart unionized"? "Why isn't FEDEX unionized"? "Why isn't UPS unionized"? The Americans working for those companies better realize that their wages and quality of life are directly tied to "union negotiated" contracts. If there was any doubt that the Repukes plan is to crush the middle-class and allow corporations to run rough-shod over their employees, that doubt should now be removed.

It's time for Americans to stand-up and fight, or you are going to find yourself working 70-80 hours a week at $7 an hour with no benefits or retirement plans, while the executives at your company pay themselves lavish bonus' with the "cost" they've saved.

You see, that's all you are to a Republican. You are a "cost". Your labor brings no value to the corporation, and you'd best just be "thankful you have a job".

If we don't see a dramatic increase in the number of American workers joining together in solidarity, this country is hosed, and we might as well become serfs...'cause if we ain't willing to fight...that's all we deserve to be.

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I can't take credit for it, but below is the best ever definition of the Tea Party!

Tea Party: A group of white Americans making between $38,000 to $45,000 a year, who have identified their enemy as their fellow Americans making between $39,000 to $47,000 a year.

[Taverner]

1. 'You see, that's all you are to a Republican. You are a "cost"'

Further enforced by the term "Human Resources"

See? Which makes it easier to sleep at night?

A - "We just laid off 2000 people"

or

B - "We eliminated overhead by cutting human resources"

[Bozita]

2. Teamsters represents UPS workers and has done so for over 50 years.

[spedtr90]

3. shared sacrifice defined

Corporations sharing what individuals sacrificed.

sacrificed defined: had taken away, with or without a fight

[Brickbat]

4. UPS is staffed with Teamsters.

Walmart and Fedex aren't union because the cards are currently stacked against labor. These corporations run brutal anti-union campaigns that intimidate their workers -- and if they get called on it, they pay the fine and move on. With politicians taking aim at unions too, WTF are they supposed to think?

On the other hand, I do not believe that Walmart and Fedex are more powerful than U.S. Steel. On the OTHER hand, people organizing at U.S. Steel were willing to die to secure their rights.

[maxrandb]

5. Not one of their well known songs, but from The Who's "Helpless Dancer"

It seems appropriate...


"When a man is running from his boss
Who holds a gun that fires cost
And people die from being old
Or left alone because they're cold
And bombs are dropped on fighting cats
And children's dreams are run with rats
If you complain you disappear
Just like the lesbians and queers
No one can love without the grace
Of some unseen and distant face
And you get beaten up by blacks
Who though they worked still got the sack
And when your soul tells you to hide
Your very right to die's denied
And in the battle on the streets
You fight computers and receipts
And when a man is trying to change
It only causes further pain
You realize that all along
Something in us going wrong...

You stop dancing!"

[speltwon]

6. Proud Union Member here!!!! agree

And it's also a way to attract many more conservative members to the Democratic party and expand our membership. I know a lot of people who are sympathetic with the repubs on a lot of fronts, but can't stand the anti-union anti-gay crap coming out of the their party. This union stuff could be a tipping point for them

[Snoutport]

7. union member who has never participated...just paid dues here

but I'm ready to start giving some of my energy to the unions. we don't have any choice!

[Yavin4]

8. Forming and/or Joining a Union Is Better Than Voting

Too many of us have been lulled into this false mindset that electing this person or that person or this party to office will somehow translate into improved conditions for all, and that is blatantly false.

The only way to effectively raise our standard of living is through forming or joining unions.

[Brickbat]

9. +

[Shagbark Hickory]

10. Please explain how unionizing will put government back in the hands of the people?

You may recall that not even 2 weeks ago, the government of just one state crushed the unions like ants.
And as someone pointed out, UPS does have union workers.

[maxrandb]

11. They were able to "crush" the unions

because they have been extremely successful in weakening the unions.

If we had strong unions, or unions that were growing, instead of declining, do you really think they could get away with it?

Right now, there is no price to pay, because the unions really have no power. The only power they do have is the power of the General Strike, and they are either afraid, or unwilling to use it.

Throw in that both Democratic and Republican administrations have been complicit in enforcing or strengthening Labor laws...and you have a genuine shift of power away from the workers and to the corporations.

It really saddens me. Brave Americans lost their lives to fight for workers rights, and we've been giving them away piece-meal over the past 30 years in the pursuit of some "trickle-down" fantasy world.

My grandfather was active in organizing the coal mines in Ohio, and company hired goons put him in the hospital for his efforts. He died at the age of 61 from Black Lung. Thank god he's dead, and not around to see what absolute self-centered, candy-assed wimps we've become.

[Shagbark Hickory]

13. That didn't answer my question.

That didn't answer my question.

[Kingofalldems]

12. America needs a raise!

Should be our slogan.