You guys can bash unions all you want, but talkj to anybody with a job worth having, and odds are they're union, even though union jobs are now something like 10% of the labor market.
Personally, I couldn't do what I do without my wife's SEIU-protected job with the SF public library. And if you think she's too stupid and lazy to get a "real" job let me just say,
.
40-hour work week? Thank unions
Anti-child labor laws? Thank unions
Workplace safety regs? Thank Unions
An eight hour workday
A five day work week
Paid sick days, vacation days, and holidays
Family and medical leave
Health, life, and disability insurance
A pension
Safe and healthy working conditions
Proper job training
Union, union, union, union union.
Oh, but now we don't need them anymore? Working people's wages are as low as they've been since the 1960s, health benefits are being slashed, and the minimum wage, even at $7.25 an hour, is a joke. If you think that management and capital would let us keep these things, you are a sucker. We'd all be making $1.25 an hour in a second. You think Nike cares if their workers in China barely make enough money to live on and can only dream of buying its shitty sneakers?
Unions may be imperfect but they are the ONLY thing protecting the great mass of workers from hideous exploitation a la China, India, etc. Think about that the next time you say "unions have outlived their usefullness."
Oh, and before somebody jumps into my shit for getting political on this thread, jump on GsxrGirl:
May I respectfully submit that you know about as much about labor relations as Var knows about bedding in brakes?
and...........
