If the Poor Knew How Rich Rich People Are...

[untermensche]

Legit unions have something of an image problem and it's a self-inflicted wound. New members are expected to pay dues for a certain requisite period of time or up to a certain point, before which the union does absolutely nothing for them and doesn't even acknowledge their existence. This is part of the reason scam unions (setup by employers just to be dicks) slip under the radar as often as they do, because a scam union is, to most employees, indistinguishable from a neglectful one.

If unions want to rescue their image, they need to do it one worker at a time. Recruiting new members, introducing themselves to new employees, explaining person-to-person exactly where their dues are going, what the union is doing for them, and how they're all going to work together to improve everyone's careers and working conditions. Some unions aren't all that interested in doing that, and that is to the detriment of everyone, especially the people they are working to help.

The problem is not the unions.

The problem is the government favors ownership and looks away as union activity is illegally hindered and crushed.

Most unions have been eliminated over the last 30 years. The strongest remaining are the public sector unions, like teachers unions, and they are under constant attack. State governors are seeking to deliberately destroy them.

Power is totally in favor of ownership, they own the government, they own the courts, they own the media.

The institution that has done more for workers than any capitalist ever did is dying, and wages are completely stagnant as a result.

Ordinary working people do nothing but work against their own interests when they badmouth unions which are incredibly weak and do a tiny fraction of the harm done by corporate managers.

 

[EricK]

It's a complete mystery to me why people go to church - but I can predict when it is going to happen.

If you go to church, you should have some understanding of why you yourself go to church. If you have some understanding of why you yourself go to church, it's a fair assumption that others go for similar reasons. Therefore you must have some understanding of why people go to church.

But I don't go to church. Nor have I ever felt any inclination to riot, for that matter.