Union Bosses Headed to Vegas to Salivate Over Obama's Amnesty Plan - Twitchy US Politics
Excerpt:
"Just in case you had any remaining delusions that the modern labor
movement cares about its members’ jobs, note that the union top brass
are all coming to President Obama’s big rally tomorrow in favor of 'immigration reform.' ...What does Obama’s
accelerated path to citizenship do for American union workers? Well,
nothing — except maybe put them out of work in favor of lower wage
non-union former-illegals. However, if you’re a labor mafia boss, amnesty means lots more people from whom to extort money. "
According to an article in The Arizona Daily Star, January 24, 2013, "Union membership plummeted last year to the lowest level since the 1930s..." (Unions Suffer Sharp Drop in Membership).
I'm not a fan of unions (although I love the pro-union song, Solidarity Forever, written by Ralph Chaplin in 1915). I realize that many of the things we take for granted today have come either directly or indirectly from labor union. For example, consider the following list from What Have Unions Done For America?):
End child labor
8 hour work day
40 hour work week
Paid Overtime
Weekends (yes, they didn’t exist as days off before unions)
Workers compensation for people injured on the job
Unemployment insurance
Paid sick leave, vacations, and holidays as standard benefits for most workers
Health Insurance for many workers
Pensions or 401Ks for many workers
Improve workplace safety and reduce on the job fatalities
Pushed
for Civil Right Acts and Title VII which outlaws job discrimination
based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin
Occupational Safety and Health Act
Family Medical Leave Act
Push for livable minimum wage
I would like to think that employers would respect their workers enough to provide all these benefits without unions (or the government) getting involved and basically forcing them to do so. I realize that is not the case.
But I don't want to comment on the pros or cons of unions here. Rather I just want to take this opportunity, to plug Patrick Buchanan's excellent book: The Great Betrayal: How American Sovereignty and Social Justice are Being Sacrificed to the Gods of the Global Economy.
Recommended reading (my posts):
Attention Wal Mart Shoppers: Just Remember, Scabs Will Die!
So Mr. Obama, Tell Us: Where Did the Jobs Go?
