Thank you unions! Happy Labor Day!

[BigmanPigman]

https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/labor-day-1

"THE FIRST LABOR DAY CELEBRATION WAS SEPTEMBER 5, 1882 IN NEW YORK CITY.
On that Tuesday, 10,000 citizens marched for labor rights down the streets of Manhattan. During this time the average American worked 12 hours a day, six days a week. It wasn't until the Adamson Act passed on September 3, 1916 that our modern eight-hour work day was established."

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a10318921/history-of-labor-day/

[guillaumeb]

1. Recommended.

46 years a Union worker. And 6 of those as a Union retiree.

[BigmanPigman]

2. Yep, I walked the picket line as a kid

with my dad when AT&T/Bell Telephone was on strike during a Summer. Then I became a union rep at my school when I became a teacher (I was harassed for it by every principal I had too). That made me more pro-union since I am stubborn.

[guillaumeb]

3. It is essential to be stubborn.

My father was also a union member, as is my oldest daughter. She is a new union member at the Chicago Tribune, which is in bargaining over a first contract.

[BigmanPigman]

4. It's gratifying to know some unions still exist and are active.

Reagun killed most unions...bastard!

[OrwellwasRight]

5. It makes me sad there aren't more people on DU

who give a crap about unions. Unions are key to solving inequality, not some quaint social club rendered irrelevant b 25 year old libertarians in Silicon Valley. Happy Labor Day and Power to the People! Solidarity!!

[BigmanPigman]

6. A lot of Union members don't give a crap too.

My dad experienced this when he was working for AT&T and I did as a union rep for teachers. We both had the same complaint, his experience was 30 years before mine but both unions had apathetic members and they were usually young and female. As a female myself I find this very, very frustrating and disappointing.

[OrwellwasRight]

7. Well, I've been a member of UFCW, NEA and CWA.

And unions, like other institutions, aren't perfect. If they need to be more responsive to members, that's a two way street, meaning maybe new members need to step up and lead instead of just complain or exhibit apathy. That's why I have repeatedly served in office in my unions.

So I get it. But even non-union folks need to be more supportive of the importance of unions as a critical instrument in society. I understand most workers today have never been in one, as we are only 11% of the workforce -- but we are the only entity dedicated solely to the betterment of the working class. We are not an NGO, we are a democratic, member-led body that exists to raise wages, benefits, and working conditions through worker empowerment, not through the charity and benevolence of the 1%. Democrats generally need to get it through our/their thick skulls that unions have an important role to play. If we (unions) collapse altogether, the labor unrest that will result won't be pretty...

[BigmanPigman]

8. They also bitch endlessly about Union dues.

I always considered paying it as job insurance. They saved me many times and is well worth it. I tried to organize a union when I worked for Macy's and got into trouble. When I changed careers I made a promise to myself that it would be a career that had a good union.

[OrwellwasRight]

9. People who bitch about union dues

are probably the same ones who think fairies build roads for free. I was doing surveys about what people thought of their union (for a union I won't name), and the most gratifying answers were from the people who said, "yeah, I have complaints about x or y, but I'll never leave my union -- my union has my back and will stand up for me when the boss is trying to mess with me." That's what a union is, it has your back. We need this, especially in this country.

Happy Labor Day!

[BigmanPigman]

10. Ditto!

[whathehell]

11. Bruce Springsteen on Labor Day:

Cross posted from General Discussion.

The Boss gets it right:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2473038652785165&id=674745832614465&fs=1&focus_composer=0