I had this amazing dream last night. I dreamed that I was in a union. We were having a union meeting and everyone was celebrating because we had just negotiated an increase in our salaries. In my dream I think it was this astounding figure like a 300% increase. Anyway, it was beautiful and everyone was so happy.
Then I woke up. Oh well. In my real life I've never been in a union and have never had any bargaining power. I'm a computer programmer. I haven't had a salary increase in years. My current job has gotten more and more stressful because for the past three years they have been laying off workers but expecting not only the same amount of work from those that remain --- but an actual increase. Recently we had a meeting where our manager explained that we have to bring in even more revenue this year than in the past, although we have fewer people. A couple of years ago they did away with the categories "sick time", "vacation", and "personal days", and now it's all just "paid time off". Then this year they explained that our productivity will be measured based on how much billable time we work as a percentage of the hours in the quarter, and that paid time off will not be considered in this formula. So reading between the lines, it's best not to use all of the vacation time we actually are allowed since if we do, it will count against us. And certainly we had better not get seriously ill because that will most definitely decrease our productivity.
I think what the conservatives have been trying to do as long as I can remember is to get people like me who are not in unions to be resentful of those who are. We are supposed to believe that prosperity is like a pie that only has so many slices, and that unions take more slices of the pie leaving less for the rest of us. But in reality, it's not like that at all. The unions that do exist make it better for all workers in the long run. I know that what has been happening in Wisconsin has made me think more about this than I have in many years. I hope that I'm not the only one who realizes now more than ever how important unions are to the well being of our nation and our way of life.