Forum Post: Have Private Unions Gone Soft ?
Posted 11 years ago on Oct. 3, 2012, 9:51 p.m. EST by elf3
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Where is their power ...gone- ? Are they taking payouts from the companies you work for; taking your money then selling you out? Sure seems like it - their demands are soft, they vote out the ability to strike? - all in favor of better pensions... but only for
all the older members who keep voting to screw the newcomers but all that means is down the line weaker union or no union - (less pay, more hours, less rights, less vacation for newcomers) but ultimately that pension - you won't see a dime. Nope, the older members conceded on that. Oh they think they'll think still see it and that only those under 50 - will be the only ones likely to be eating cat food in their glory years. But problem is no union = no pension, when there's no more union standing to protect it. So, have the unions and older ranking members of them been bought out by corporations and greed right alongside our politicians?
Well I guess if they keep getting concessions on younger member benefits, while beefing up their own pensions, eventually when the union busts so will their pensions; because there won't be anyone left or there to look after them. The companies know this. You are voting the union, and your pensions out of existence, IF IT ISN'T ONE FOR ALL (instead of all for senior members) YOU WON"T HAVE A PENSION. To keep your pensions you have to keep the union, to keep the union, you have to keep the younger members contracts strong.
I am one of these older union members you are refering to and I would not say the unions have gone soft, I would say that there has been a long, well funded, well organized effort to de-ball them, and it's working! First, the millionaires/billionaires, via ALEC and other avenues, are buying politicians (Democrats included) left and right. Those pols then make or block legislation to benefit the corporation over the public/workers. Remember the Scott Walker "Divide and Conquer" video? There you had a woman who is worth 3 billion dollars asking Scott Walker what she could do to make Wisconsin "a right to work state and a red state". Then they have an accomplice corporate owned media wing demonizing the union guy who's worked 35 years and is then expecting a pension, claiming he's the cause of the country's ill's. You've got 20 million people listening as Rush Limbaugh calls union members "thugs" a dozen times a day on his show, and that sinks in to the American conscienceness after a while. I do think that people are starting to realize that if unions get wiped out we will ALL soon be working for min wage and no benefits, but it's going to be an uphill battle.
Well I guess if they keep getting concessions on younger member benefits while beefing up their own pensions eventually when the union busts so will their pensions because there won't be anyone left or there to look after them. The companies know this. You are voting the union and your pensions out of existence, if it isn't one for all (instead of all for senior members) you won't have a pension. To keep your pensions you have to keep the union, to keep the union, you have to keep the younger members contracts strong.
Perhaps the thread's title should read: The Nation HAS Gone Soft.
In the fifties and sixties they were shot at and missed.
In the seventies and eighties they were shit at and hit.
They can't get the cons stink off 'em!
Part of the problem is the newer younger union members are not as militant as the older members were. The government as also aided companies in breaking unions, or at the very least have not helped unions.
As long as the 1% can continue to legally buy congress, unions CANNOT win
that must be the first OWS target
Yes, very very soft.
Union formation SHOULD be at an all time high. But its near impossible getting people to come and protest for one saturday afternoon, let alone start organizing and unionizing and all the work that goes into it.
What about the unions that already exist isn't it their JOB to make themselves stronger to gather and build forces to beef up contracts and show they aren't weak - or have they been bought out right along with alongside our politicians?
Well, when they are taking the dues, and the people working dont pay attention to where those dues go, and the they go to the Democratic Party, which along with the republicans have signed into effect all sorts of extremely detrimental legislation, from free trade to corporate loopholes, etc....when this is where their money goes, its no wonder.
The truth is that civil service unions nationwide have been broken; they've been broken because all of these municipalities are running huge deficits, and since the Taylor law prohibits either strike or labor actions, they lack the necessary leverage. Additionally they suffer the same corruption that the private unions do; the board sells out their people for the promise of some preferential status or favor.
We're also losing on the labor law front; judges are ruling in favor of municipalities and corporations on labor rights, and we've come under attack from the private sector which, in today's economy, envies our benefits, our salaries, and our pension plans.
Considering the rather precarious state of "career" in this country, and that of our economy, many consider themselves lucky to even have a job.
And what does this government do? It grants labor rights to the non citizen domestic worker, while stripping us of ours... all serve to undermine the value of American labor.
The two parties know which unions have the good-ol-boys leading them. They accomodate them as needed. I wouldn't say the private unions have gone soft.
The people who are members of the unions may not have gone soft - but they really need to look at their representatives just like we ALL need to look at our elected representatives to office.
The MSM has been thrashing unions, especially public sector unions, for a long time now.
I hate generalized labels - or cliches
all MSM is not the same
I have seen major union leaders like Trumpka on MSNBC almost every week Ed & Rachel were full throttle against walker
That's the Fox News of the left. Try again.
What is on MSNBC that you think is wrong ? or dishonest?
Lets be sure to differentiate private unions from public unions. Private unions like steel workers and machinists are honest associations that need some tariff protection to keep jobs in America.
Public Employee unions have a devout hatred of America and their neighbors.
agree - !