Unions
I have been a union member 53 years. 43 of those as active member and 10 as a honorary member. Here is what I can tell you about unions:
1. The men who created unions fought like their lives depended on it while creating unions. There were many good men who lost their life for the cause.
2. They provided a standard of living for me that would never been possible without them. For that I will be eternally grateful.
3. Politically they worked to help pass laws that provided working people protection. They did so much for our country by supporting laws that were also good for the population in general.
4. To sum it up they were the driving force in the creation of the middle class.
When I started in the steel mill back in 1959 they fought for right to work laws. Now the companies that want to eliminate the unions have enough political clout to win that battle. Their premise is an individual has the right to work for less. I don't understand who would want to work for less unless you assume you will thrive if everyone else gets less. I am talking about people who don't have the ability to compete on their own merits. Over the years my experience has shown most of them end up in management because they are good at kissing butt but lack any other real ability. If you worked in industry you know who I am talking about.
When unions got political power again they got legislation passed to say you have individual rights, but if the union saves your job or gets you wage/benefits increases you must pay dues to the union for their services. How much more fair can you be than that?
If you know it or not, Milton Friedman the economist came along and put everyone in a box. He told everyone from the top executive to the laborer what their job was. Unfortunately that didn't work out to well for the unions. Because things were going so well and leaders were following Friedman, people lost the connection with their unions. When that happened, they lost the political connection with the membership. An as a result you lost elections and your strength.
That major change affects everyone in the country, I came up with a solution to that problem. Please read and sign my petition below.