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| This is a photo from the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911, when 146 young women--mostly recent immigrants from Russia and Italy--died in a factory fire as a result of unsafe working conditions. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, which claimed more lives than any other disaster in New York until 9/11, provided great impetus and moral force to the labor movement. Now, it's all but forgotten by the public. |
Generally, I welcome dissent on my page. I like a good fight, and I've got the kind of vibe going on there where everyone, regardless of their political or religious persuasion feels comfortable commenting on any topic under the sun, so long as they keep it more or less civil. But he'd stepped over the line, in my book, at least, when he said how proud he was of the state of Indiana (where we grew up) for passing "Right to Work"--a law which, essentially, chops the balls off unions by making it illegal to have a closed shop.
That was it for me. I canned the guy. So long. Go shit on labor unions somewhere else, because I'm not putting up with it.*
On no other topic is the Republican party's virtuosity with PR--and the stupidity of their supporters--more evident than on the topic of organized labor. The Republican Party, bless their black and withered little hearts, has done an absolutely masterful job at demonizing American organized labor.
Try a thought experiment with yourself--say the word "union" out loud, and then tell me what's the first image that pops into your head. I bet it's some fat unshaven lazy guy with a bad mustache in a flannel shirt. Or a Mafioso. Or some guys on a picket line beating the shit out of a scab. Or Jimmy Hoffa. We don't think of our uncles. Or our dads. Or people whom we know and love. Nope, the Republican party has firmly taken control of the image and turned it into something vile--and in doing so, they have managed to turn us against our own financial and economic interests.
And you can't change people's minds on the subject. Facts don't work on conservatives. They don't understand statistics, so you can't show them what real wages looked like in the 50s and 60s and what they look like now that American organized labor is an emasculated, whimpering, beaten, bloody shell of its former self. They'll simply never change their minds. Unions are havens for lazy slobs. Unions are responsible for the death of the American auto industry. Unions are anti-jobs (which is a bit like saying, "Butchers are anti-meat," but go reason with a conservative). Unions are ruining America.
Well, since facts, statistics, rational inquiry, and logic don't work on these people, when I argue with them, I take a page out of their favorite philosopher's lesson plan book and use a couple of parables (actually, they aren't parables. They're anecdotes. But your average union-basher isn't going to be smart enough to know the difference. Just say "parables." Jesus taught with parables, so it should be good enough for them).
My great-uncle--my grandmother's brother--dropped out of high school in 1941, when America entered World War II, to go to work for the war effort. He wasn't old enough to enlist (he tried--they figured it out) so he went to work in a munitions factory in St. Louis. He never graduated from high school.
After the war, he got a job as a meat-cutter. And he joined the union. My great-uncle today owns two homes, free and clear, two late-model luxury cars, sent both his children to college, saw both of his grandchildren graduate from college, and will, God willing, see both of his great-grandsons graduate from college as well.
My father-in-law came to this country from Greece in 1956. Had the equivalent of a second-grade education--didn't speak a lick of English. Supported himself and his family by working at Greek restaurants as a waiter until one of his friends got him a job at Anheuser-Busch Brewery in St. Louis--at which point he joined the union.
My father-in-law now owns his own home free and clear, sent all three of his children to college, and is now worth probably upwards of a million in real estate and investments.
The money that these two men plowed back into the American economy during their lifetimes and the increased, enhanced productivity of their families thanks to access to education is due, largely if not entirely, to American organized labor.
No one is saying that there weren't abuses. No one is saying that unsavory characters didn't occasionally get mixed up in union governance. And no one is saying that unions shouldn't do a better job at policing themselves. I also realize that these are just two stories, and anecdotal evidence isn't worth a plugged nickel, but the facts are on my side. American organized labor built America's middle class. Unions built this country. Labor unions made it possible for millions, MILLIONS of Americans--and their dependents--to realize the American dream.
Union-bashing makes me about as mad as anything does because it's so goddamned stupid. When you hear someone doing it, it's pretty much proof positive they've been brainwashed into thinking their interests are those of Mitt Romney and Lloyd Blankfein.Americans would rather believe, by the million, that organized labor is a big, fat, greedy parasite with its suckermouth firmly planted on the neck of American industry, sucking it dry. For some reason, they don't want to believe that management is a big, fat, greedy parasite with its suckermouth grinding into the neck of the American working class, sucking IT dry.
The next time you hear someone going on and on about how unions are responsible for America's economic decline, how they're killing American industry and hurting the country, sit back, let them finish their rant, and then while they're gasping for air, ask them a very simple question: "What do the letters AFL-CIO# stand for?"
And when they can't answer it--as they won't be able to--smile broadly and say, "You're presenting yourself as an expert on the havoc being wreaked on the American economy by organized labor, and you can't tell me the name of the biggest union in the country?"
It probably won't change their minds, but it might make them feel really stupid for a millisecond or two. And as the old Chinese sage said, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step."
*Well, that, and because he was a rude dick about it. Enough of my other friends who didn't know him complained about him to the point where I figured it just wasn't worth having him around. If you're a Facebook friend of mine, feel free to disagree with me about unions. But do it civilly.
#American Federation of Labor-Congress of International Organizations. They might get the first three, but no one ever gets the second three. It's fun to watch them try and figure it out, though.
