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News & ArtsMonday, September 5, 2011
History Happy Labor Day!
Posted by Goldy on Mon, Sep 5, 2011 at 9:30 AM
Today is Labor Day, the day the federal government and all 50 states reserve to ostensibly celebrate the contribution of workers. Although we don't call it Worker Day or Employee Day, or even Manager-Worker Mutual Appreciation Day, but rather Labor Day, as a deliberate recognition of the contribution of organized labor. You know... unions.
So if the union-busting Scott Walker wing of the Republican Party (or the union-hating editorialists at the Seattle Times) were honest about their politics they wouldn't celebrate the day, or at the very least, would call to change the name to Business Day or Capital Day or Plutonomist Day or White Male Christian Labor Day or something else that better reflected their beliefs about who truly contributes to our economy.
Bonus Labor Day Trivia: Oregon was the first state to officially celebrate Labor Day, on the first Saturday in June of 1887; several other states followed later that year, choosing the first Monday in September. The immediate impetus was the infamous Haymarket Riot and Massacre of 1886. President Grover Cleveland declared Labor Day a national holiday in 1894 in an effort to appease organized labor after the brutal suppression of the Pullman Strike.
Which just goes to show you: The rights and privileges so many working Americans take for granted (the weekend, the 40 hour work week, basic workplace safety, etc.) were not a gift of benevolent capitalists, but were rather won through the spilling of workers' blood, and the threat/fear of even greater economic and social disruption.
1
so when is The Stranger going to unionize?
we thought so.
those crusty brown oozings on your dick aren't the only scabs, Goldy.....
we thought so.
those crusty brown oozings on your dick aren't the only scabs, Goldy.....
3
But the American people don't want collective bargaining. They yearn to embrace freedom and prosperity through individual responsibility. Anyone who has read Christine O'Donnell's bestselling book Troublemaker: Let's Do What It Takes to Make America Great Again knows that.
4
Thank you unions of the past for getting me double-time pay today, plus overtime for my 48 hour work week. I would raise a glass of scotch in your honor tonight, but the fucking liquor store is closed.
6
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/04/140116142/…
Avoiding Last Place: Some Things We Don't Outgrow
A recent paper finds that people near the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder often oppose policies that benefit those below them. The phenomenon, called "last-place aversion," makes sure there's always someone worse off than you...
Avoiding Last Place: Some Things We Don't Outgrow
A recent paper finds that people near the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder often oppose policies that benefit those below them. The phenomenon, called "last-place aversion," makes sure there's always someone worse off than you...
10
That's right, @8. Don't blame the companies making record profits, who could spend a little of that on more jobs and still be profitable. Their hands are completely tied.
11
@8 It's a sentiment you share Michele Bachmann. Think of all the jobs that could be created if we didn't have to pay people! I hear the deep south during slavery had low unemployment.
12
Remember when the Stranger went on strike for 49 days and got their asses handed to them?
Yeah, me neither.
Yeah, me neither.
13
Unions are ok.
if you are in the Union and have a little seniority.
and if the Union hasn't destroyed your industry.
yet.*
if you are a worker but not in the Union you can fuck yourself.
*Unions inevitably destroy EVERY industry they infect.
Steel.
Airlines.
Auto.
Newspaper....
the only holdout is Public "Service".....
the only industry that doesn't compete in the free market.
for decades governments could tax more
and more
to meet the extortionist demands of Public "Service" Unions.
but no more.
states and cities are going bankrupt.
taxpayers are pissed.
The Public "Service" Unions are seen for the menace they are.
They will be broken.
They will be broken.
if you are in the Union and have a little seniority.
and if the Union hasn't destroyed your industry.
yet.*
if you are a worker but not in the Union you can fuck yourself.
*Unions inevitably destroy EVERY industry they infect.
Steel.
Airlines.
Auto.
Newspaper....
the only holdout is Public "Service".....
the only industry that doesn't compete in the free market.
for decades governments could tax more
and more
to meet the extortionist demands of Public "Service" Unions.
but no more.
states and cities are going bankrupt.
taxpayers are pissed.
The Public "Service" Unions are seen for the menace they are.
They will be broken.
They will be broken.
14
Support more worker protection and solidarity.
From the AFL/CIO: CORPORATE Interference by the Numbers (Private-Sector Employers) JANUARY 2009
1. Companies that illegally fire at least one worker for union activity during organizing campaigns: 34%
2. Chance that an active union supporter will be illegally fired for union activity during an organizing campaign:
1 in 5
3. Companies that hire consultants or union-busters to help them fight union organizing drives: 75%
4. Companies that force employees to attend one-on-one meetings with their own supervisors against the union: 77%
5. Companies that force employees to attend mandatory closed-door meetings against the union: 89%
6. Companies that threaten cuts in benefits or wages if the union wins the election: 47%
7. Companies that threaten to close the plant if the union wins the election: 57%
8. Companies that actually close their plants after a successful union election: 15%
9. Workers in FY 2007 who received back pay in cases alleging employer violations of workers' rights under the National Labor Relations Act: 29,559
10. Percentage of unions newly formed by workers pursuant to NLRB process whose employers do not agree to a first contract: 44%
11. Portion of public that supports workers' freedom to bargain for better benefits and wages: 78%
12. Portion of public that knows companies routinely resist unionization efforts by their employees: 47%
13. Number and percentage of U.S. workers that belong to unions: 16.1 million or 12.4%
From the AFL/CIO: CORPORATE Interference by the Numbers (Private-Sector Employers) JANUARY 2009
1. Companies that illegally fire at least one worker for union activity during organizing campaigns: 34%
2. Chance that an active union supporter will be illegally fired for union activity during an organizing campaign:
1 in 5
3. Companies that hire consultants or union-busters to help them fight union organizing drives: 75%
4. Companies that force employees to attend one-on-one meetings with their own supervisors against the union: 77%
5. Companies that force employees to attend mandatory closed-door meetings against the union: 89%
6. Companies that threaten cuts in benefits or wages if the union wins the election: 47%
7. Companies that threaten to close the plant if the union wins the election: 57%
8. Companies that actually close their plants after a successful union election: 15%
9. Workers in FY 2007 who received back pay in cases alleging employer violations of workers' rights under the National Labor Relations Act: 29,559
10. Percentage of unions newly formed by workers pursuant to NLRB process whose employers do not agree to a first contract: 44%
11. Portion of public that supports workers' freedom to bargain for better benefits and wages: 78%
12. Portion of public that knows companies routinely resist unionization efforts by their employees: 47%
13. Number and percentage of U.S. workers that belong to unions: 16.1 million or 12.4%
15
14
sorry.
that shit won't fly.
too many people have first hand experience with unions to buy your pollyanna bullshit.
sorry.
that shit won't fly.
too many people have first hand experience with unions to buy your pollyanna bullshit.
16
Oh dear, I knew the troll would get worked up about this. His Grandfather wasn't bright enough to get into the IBEW, so he had to spend his career as a hair sweeper at a beauty parlor. That understandably made him bitter, so he spent his entire life complaining about unios. Troll is pretty impressionable, and loved his Grandpaw. That's his "first hand experience with unions".
And kittykoder, no wonder you're so desparate for a husband. You can't even find you way to work on a holiday? What happened to personal responsibility?
And kittykoder, no wonder you're so desparate for a husband. You can't even find you way to work on a holiday? What happened to personal responsibility?
17
@13 and 15 Yeah, think about how great America could be if we still had child laborers working 11 hours a day six days a week. Imagine how well the steel industry could compete if they could still murder employees with unsafe working conditions. Are you being paid to be stupid online? Are you in the basement of Fox News blogging flat out lies, and being paid by the hour? If so, enjoy your lunch break, brought to you by unions, you stupid lying piece of shit.
18
The true labor day is May first. The history of radicalism of american unions has been denied to generations of americans. The 8 hour work day, collective bargaining, vacations, sick leave, all things owed to radical anarchists, union organizers from the old days who were killed, tortured, dissapeared, electrecuted, framed for murders, hung...but americas true labor history is denied, and we get this washed down labor days, but dont be fooled, may day started here not in the soviet union. The international Labor Union began here in chicago and new york. You dont have to spouse radical ideology ( most of us dont ) but labor history should be honest and it should be put in the context of radical labor unions like the wobnlies, the coal miner wars...Labors untold story, recognize where it comes from, because sure as hell didnt come from the DEm or republican party.....
20
Justifying current union behaviour because they did some important and productive things 100 years ago is like justifying the US action in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and beyond because they did some important and productive things in WW1 and WW2.
21
Oh troll.....thank you for providing us with the most torturted and ridiculous analogy in the history of Slog. Don't try using that one for any of your college admission essays.
22
@20 And if Unions go away, then we're right back to where we were a hundred years ago. I don't know if you've been brainwashed, or don't believe a word you type, and are trying to brainwash others, but vilifying hard working Americans for daring to fight for their economic freedom is idiotic.
You're arguing for people that believe only the rich should be allowed self-determination, and rule of law should only apply to the poor. Fuck you.
You're arguing for people that believe only the rich should be allowed self-determination, and rule of law should only apply to the poor. Fuck you.
24
Whether or not you think today is the REAL Labor Day, it's a good thing to take into account. Unions might have some suspect politics these days, but they exist to HELP the worker. I think about that as I look across the street at the day laborers who are slaving away in my neighbors yard (probably for peanuts) instead of BBQing with their families at home.
26
I really wish unions had the kind of power the troll thinks they do. The idea that unions brought down any industry ever is so absurd I can't imagine how anyone would believe it. It really only takes a little research and analysis to find that out. You don't even have to leave your mother's basement or put on pants!
27
In all honesty, why is it that politicians, executives and corporations all regularly do horrible, even criminal things, and the answer is a collective shrug. Yet, when the topic of unions - which hardly anyone knows anything about these days, because there's so few of them - all the professionally outraged get up on their soapbox?
As I have said, and I will continue to say: A union is an agent for a group of employees. Actors have agents, Athletes have agents, Executives have agents. Agents negotiate for the best interest of their clients. Why is this such a hard concept to grasp?
As I have said, and I will continue to say: A union is an agent for a group of employees. Actors have agents, Athletes have agents, Executives have agents. Agents negotiate for the best interest of their clients. Why is this such a hard concept to grasp?
28
Repeal the Taft-Hartley Act!
An injury to one is an injury to all!
United we bargain, divided we beg!
Fight or starve!
The labor movement, the folks who brought you the weekend.
Happy Labor Day everyone.
An injury to one is an injury to all!
United we bargain, divided we beg!
Fight or starve!
The labor movement, the folks who brought you the weekend.
Happy Labor Day everyone.
29
27: Regarding unions as agents, I agree with you up to a point, but unions with the most strength tend to be the most democratic and driven by the members themselves, with the help of those that work for the union. It is collective power; the more unified workers are, the more power they have.
30
One of my all time favorite song verses:
If the workers take a notion,
They can stop all speeding trains;
Every ship upon the ocean
They can tie with mighty chains.
Every wheel in the creation,
Every mine and every mill,
Fleets and armies of the nation,
Will at their command stand still.
Joe Hill, 1916
If the workers take a notion,
They can stop all speeding trains;
Every ship upon the ocean
They can tie with mighty chains.
Every wheel in the creation,
Every mine and every mill,
Fleets and armies of the nation,
Will at their command stand still.
Joe Hill, 1916
31
29, that is exactly what I am saying. The union collectively is the agent for the employees. The workers - at least the ones who care to get involved in their union - make their wishes known to the union, and the union, via it's bargaining committee, negotiates with the company.
Which, by the way, is another annoying right wing talking point: Companies are not victims in union environments. It takes two parties to enter into a labor contract - the union and the company. But too many times, the management of the company doesn't take the time to learn the contract or the work rules, and blame their poor management skills on the union workers. It's entirely possible to discipline and fire union workers. It just requires discipline and documentation.
Which, by the way, is another annoying right wing talking point: Companies are not victims in union environments. It takes two parties to enter into a labor contract - the union and the company. But too many times, the management of the company doesn't take the time to learn the contract or the work rules, and blame their poor management skills on the union workers. It's entirely possible to discipline and fire union workers. It just requires discipline and documentation.
32
@15- I have first hand experience with unions. They're fucking AWESOME. The second best job I ever had was unionized, and the best job I ever had was great because it was directly competing for workers with my previous, great, unionized employer. Before the one place unionized neither offered good benefits and paid a mediocre wage. Both institutions are still leaders in their field decades later because (guess what) paying the little guys actually helped them keep a high quality workforce.
34
all workers, even those in management benefit from Union action and existence; shit, there is also an argument to be made that the stability of a contract may help shareholders and corporatist schmucks alike, that is, if they weren't such venal tools willing to sell out anyone and everyone for short term perceived profit.
35
the american progressive:
Conclusion
Nearly three out of five survey respondents from a Peter Hart Research Associates poll report that they would join a union if they could, but workers attempting to unionize currently face a hostile legal environment and are commonly intimidated by aggressive antiunion employers. The Employee Free Choice Act would help workers who want to join a union do so by ensuring fairness in the union selection process with three main provisions: workers would have a fair and direct path to join unions through a simple major¬ity sign-up; employers who break the rules governing the unionization process would face stiffer penalties; and a first contract mediation and arbitration process would be intro¬duced to thwart bad-faith bargaining.
Passing the Employee Free Choice Act and making it harder for management to threaten workers seeking to unionize would be good for American workers. It would help boost workers’ wages and benefits. And putting more money in workers’ pockets would provide a needed boost for the U.S. economy. Increasing unionization is a good way to get out of our current economic troubles.
Conclusion
Nearly three out of five survey respondents from a Peter Hart Research Associates poll report that they would join a union if they could, but workers attempting to unionize currently face a hostile legal environment and are commonly intimidated by aggressive antiunion employers. The Employee Free Choice Act would help workers who want to join a union do so by ensuring fairness in the union selection process with three main provisions: workers would have a fair and direct path to join unions through a simple major¬ity sign-up; employers who break the rules governing the unionization process would face stiffer penalties; and a first contract mediation and arbitration process would be intro¬duced to thwart bad-faith bargaining.
Passing the Employee Free Choice Act and making it harder for management to threaten workers seeking to unionize would be good for American workers. It would help boost workers’ wages and benefits. And putting more money in workers’ pockets would provide a needed boost for the U.S. economy. Increasing unionization is a good way to get out of our current economic troubles.
36
In the industry I work in, when those of us at the bottom collectively bargain, we push up the pay and working conditions of those at the top, just like @34 said. Also, the stability of a contract can prevent expensive litigation when a dispute arises. Most disputes can be settled more quickly at a more local level, rather than in the courts.
37
@20: legacy dissing is a common theme among those who wish to diminish the vanguard struggle and the renewed unity of today.
38
Wasn't Labor Day back in May? Boy you folks missed the boat.
Keep the Socialist dream alive. It's all you got.
Keep the Socialist dream alive. It's all you got.
40
"Keep the Socialist dream alive. It's all you got"
Well, maybe for now, troll darling. But the times - they're a changing. Something's blowing in the wind. As it stands, It's safe and comfortable to be a lackey for the rich, but sometimes lackeys end up with the Romanovs, or the Ceauescu's. Sometimes they just end up like Major Strasser. How do you want to end up?
In any event, I'm sharpening my knitting skills. Jut for people like you, dear.....
http://youtu.be/oROASA1v92U
Well, maybe for now, troll darling. But the times - they're a changing. Something's blowing in the wind. As it stands, It's safe and comfortable to be a lackey for the rich, but sometimes lackeys end up with the Romanovs, or the Ceauescu's. Sometimes they just end up like Major Strasser. How do you want to end up?
In any event, I'm sharpening my knitting skills. Jut for people like you, dear.....
http://youtu.be/oROASA1v92U
41
Long-haired preachers come out every night,
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right;
But when asked how 'bout something to eat
They will answer in voices so sweet
Chorus
You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You'll get pie in the sky when you die
And the Starvation Army, they play,
And they sing and they clap and they pray,
Till they get all your coin on the drum,
Then they tell you when you're on the bum
(Chorus)
Holy Rollers and Jumpers come out
And they holler, they jump and they shout
Give your money to Jesus, they say,
He will cure all diseases today
(Chorus)
If you fight hard for children and wife-
Try to get something good in this life-
You're a sinner and bad man, they tell,
When you die you will sure go to hell.
(Chorus)
Workingmen of all countries, unite
Side by side we for freedom will fight
When the world and its wealth we have gained
To the grafters we'll sing this refrain
Chorus (modified)
You will eat, bye and bye,
When you've learned how to cook and how to fry;
Chop some wood, 'twill do you good
Then you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye
- Joe Hill, 1911
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhhzElzTZ…
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right;
But when asked how 'bout something to eat
They will answer in voices so sweet
Chorus
You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You'll get pie in the sky when you die
And the Starvation Army, they play,
And they sing and they clap and they pray,
Till they get all your coin on the drum,
Then they tell you when you're on the bum
(Chorus)
Holy Rollers and Jumpers come out
And they holler, they jump and they shout
Give your money to Jesus, they say,
He will cure all diseases today
(Chorus)
If you fight hard for children and wife-
Try to get something good in this life-
You're a sinner and bad man, they tell,
When you die you will sure go to hell.
(Chorus)
Workingmen of all countries, unite
Side by side we for freedom will fight
When the world and its wealth we have gained
To the grafters we'll sing this refrain
Chorus (modified)
You will eat, bye and bye,
When you've learned how to cook and how to fry;
Chop some wood, 'twill do you good
Then you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye
- Joe Hill, 1911
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhhzElzTZ…
42
38
That was Memorial Day you ignorant fuck.
Wasn't Labor Day back in May? Boy you folks missed the boat.
Keep the Socialist dream alive. It's all you got.
..Posted by Centrism is the future on September 5, 2011 at 7:13 PM
That was Memorial Day you ignorant fuck.
43
40
its 'trolls', dear.
we atre legion.
we are worried about you, Cat.
you correctly perceive that the winds of change are blowing but you are seriously mistaken about who is whom.
let us provide a cheat-sheet;
the angry mob in the street,
with pitchforks and torches,
'Mad as Hell and Not Going to Take it ANYMORE!'?
that's the teabaggers.
and there long suffering but less vocal brother taxpayers.
who have been paying to support a bloated pampered public sector for too long.
and who are totally unswayed by union ballads and threats to cut their electricity.
and TOTALLY sick of being lectured about their moral duty to pay extortionist taxes to keep the public sector afloat.
the pampered clueless dandies hanging from the trees?
whose heads are those on the pikes?
surely you can guess that part.....
its 'trolls', dear.
we atre legion.
we are worried about you, Cat.
you correctly perceive that the winds of change are blowing but you are seriously mistaken about who is whom.
let us provide a cheat-sheet;
the angry mob in the street,
with pitchforks and torches,
'Mad as Hell and Not Going to Take it ANYMORE!'?
that's the teabaggers.
and there long suffering but less vocal brother taxpayers.
who have been paying to support a bloated pampered public sector for too long.
and who are totally unswayed by union ballads and threats to cut their electricity.
and TOTALLY sick of being lectured about their moral duty to pay extortionist taxes to keep the public sector afloat.
the pampered clueless dandies hanging from the trees?
whose heads are those on the pikes?
surely you can guess that part.....
44
@11, actually the South had very high unemployment when slavery was legal. High unemployment and a large class of heavily impoverished white folks. No sense paying a white guy to work the fields when you can get a slave to work for free right?
45
Here is my little cautionary tale.
Once upon a time every one who controlled access to facilities at my old job was under one designation. The guards at the gates stayed union. The people running the other access points were convinced not to. The guards still get over time and vacation and health care and pensions. The 20 or so positions at the other security access points are all contract jobs now. They are paid less than a third of what that position used to pay. The have no sick days. They have no health benefits. They have no pension or vacation or overtime. So Christmas break? When the company shut down and everybody got vacation? Meant the privilege of two weeks without pay. Oh and indecently, while all those contractors, making 17$ an hour, paid their taxes last year the company itself did not pay any.
So yes, this, as well as a long family history, is why I am, and always will be, pro Union. I have seen first hand what happens with out them.
Once upon a time every one who controlled access to facilities at my old job was under one designation. The guards at the gates stayed union. The people running the other access points were convinced not to. The guards still get over time and vacation and health care and pensions. The 20 or so positions at the other security access points are all contract jobs now. They are paid less than a third of what that position used to pay. The have no sick days. They have no health benefits. They have no pension or vacation or overtime. So Christmas break? When the company shut down and everybody got vacation? Meant the privilege of two weeks without pay. Oh and indecently, while all those contractors, making 17$ an hour, paid their taxes last year the company itself did not pay any.
So yes, this, as well as a long family history, is why I am, and always will be, pro Union. I have seen first hand what happens with out them.
46
Troll, you're so cute. It's nice of you and your various personalities to be worried about me, really it is. But I'll be just fine. By the time the 20 or so actual teabaggers get to me, the batteries on their electric scooters will be practically out, and they'll be cranky because they haven't had their dinner yet. So I'll make them a nice casserole - something easily digestible, with a base of cream of mushroom soup, and no onions or garlic in it - and send them home on a full stomach.
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