It would be difficult to throw a stone in any direction and not find someone who vehemently opposes labor unions. Support for organized labor in America remains near an all time low – with only 52% of Americans saying they have a favorable view of unions. With the economy in the toilet and most of the middle and lower classes struggling to survive, ideas like collective bargaining, fighting for better wages, health care and workers rights in general seem distant and almost foreign. In fact, I often wonder how many younger Americans have actual experience with unions outside of political talking points.
When we couple the sheer amount of angry rhetoric we can find in the media lexicon regarding unions with the relative impotence of most unions and ice the cake with the corrupt ones, our disregard for organized labor isn’t surprising. With many Americans either behind desks or the counters at Walmart (if employed at all), basic concepts like an 8 hour day, health insurance, vacation time – even a fair wage – disappear fast from our minds.
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Karen Looney
Natalie W
cartouche
Rebecca Sarwate
Ann24
Kevin Gosztola
Salon.com
Comments
this may yet happen, when enough people are starving, but '1984' is looking the better bet.
Ardee - While it's true that a union is less helpful when there's no job to work, one might think about the Republic Window and Door factory workers here in Chicago who occupied the factory floor in the face of the factory's closure. By uniting together, the workers were able to get a severance settlement that they would have otherwise not gotten.
In addition, the simple idea that an employee should have a say in their compensation and benefits for labor exchanged is one that Americans have sadly lost sight of.
Al - if it was an evolutionary dead-end, does that mean things like child labor and 12-16 hour workdays in deplorable conditions are the right direction? I'm not sure I understand what you're saying.