I'm sure there are others here more qualified to post this, but I do have some personal knowledge

[Atticus]

of the subject: Dad was a union man.

My Dad was a member of the old "Laborers and Hodcarriers" union. Back in the 50's, when I was still a pup, the minimum wage was $1.25 an hour and the hourly rate for union laborers was just above that.

I recall that, until union laborers walked picket lines and sometimes fought scabs and paid goons to change things, employers provided on-site open water buckets with one shared tin cup for the crew of laborers. Unsurprisingly, hepatitis was much more common in those days as the highly contagious disease spread from one sick thirsty worker to several co-workers. Contractors had to be forced to provide disposable paper cups and provide clean water on-site.

At that time, laborers could be sent down into unbraced trenches12 or 15 feet deep. It was rare not to know someone you'd worked with who was killed or seriously injured when a trench collapsed and buried them under tons of dirt. Union men forced contractors to shore up any trench over 5 feet deep.

Workmen's compensation, the 40 hour work week, overtime pay, holiday pay, "prevailing wage" laws for government work---WEEKENDS, for cryin' out loud. None of these "just happened"; none of these were "given". They were TAKEN by organized labor---unions---from business interests who fought them every step of the way. Please consider that if these benefits to working people had to be pulled from the clutching fingers of wealthy capitalists--- they could be taken back. Given the popularity in some states of the evil "right to work" laws, some would say the take-back has already begun.

As I end this, I can recall that, as a child, I thought that the reason they called them "picket lines" was because they tacked their strike posters to pick handles. Some years later, I heard why the pick handles were necessary.

Unions created the middle class. If we want to keep it, we need to support the right of workers to organize and bargain for the wages and working conditions so many today take for granted.

How was that, Dad?

[ProfessorGAC]

1. My Dad Was A Teamster

He drove a semi to deliver milk to the supermarkets in the south suburbs of Chicago.
Those guys are union wage, but the drivers also got a % of sales because they were their own salesman & bookkeeper.
I know that in 1972, some grants I qualified for, I couldn't get because my family made too much $. He made $30k in '72.
That's around $120k today.
Yeah, unions were massively important to the building of the middle class, leading to, by far, the strongest economy in world history.

[RainCaster]

28. My grandfather was a Teamster driving teams of horsez

He worked for the city of Columbus, OH. He finally retired as a city bus driver. My daughter learned to ride from an old horse whisperer who had been a "real Teamster", in his own words.
Although labor movements have not affected my career, they have certainly been influential in creating the benefits that I enjoy.

[ProfessorGAC]

30. Same Here!

I think my appreciation of the benefits of the union movement is a reason I was popular with the union operators at our manufacturing sites.
They sensed that I respected their work (and I didn't talk down despite being the pompous egghead I am).
I got nothing but full cooperation on all experiments & changes I made to processes, even in sites where I didn't speak their language.
My attitude came from my dad being a union guy.

[GopherGal]

47. You sound a little like my dad.

He was management of a pilot plant.
His attitude toward working with unions was: Sit down with them and have them help you figure out how to get it done.
Much as you said: show some respect for their experience and you're likely to earn their cooperation.

[ProfessorGAC]

51. Your Dad Was Solid!

I managed a scale-up division for about 12 years.
Like a pilot plant, but we started at the bench level, 500-2,000ml flasks. But could do, 50, 100, 250, and 500-1000 gallon. So we were process development & a pilot plant.
For continuous processes, the "bench work" was mostly computational, from theory.
Another thing I think your dad with agree with; when you are going to change something, explain why. "Because I said so" is a rotten way to get buy-in. If I'm 6,000 miles away, and they're working at 1 in the morning, you need them wanting to play by the new rules.

[MLAA]

2. I'm always shocked when a union backs a Republican.

[Bluethroughu]

14. This.

It is usually a member vote. Education is essential.
Candidate education.

[MLAA]

54. Also, I guess racism trumps personal finances and decency

I have a brother whose two kids got federal Pell grants. And what those didn’t cover I made up the difference. I never kept track but I’m guessing it was $10,000 or so. I have always voted for the Democratic Party despite it not being in my best financial interest during my peak earning years. I tried to explain all the benefits his kids were receiving and why it was financially in his best interest let alone the ‘Christian’ thing to do (he is a very hypocritical evangelical). After a couple of years around the George Bush era I gave up on him. When he turned into a trumper and did a few really asshole things to our dad I stopped communicating with him all together.

[Bluethroughu]

71. I lost half my family to rumpitis, and I'm not sad about it.

If that's what they want to align themselves with, then they get that, and not me and my family. I helped most of them at one point or another in their lives, they resent I was able to. Funny thing is, I thought nothing of it, they needed help so I did, and never expected anything in return.

I don't care for them, after they supported a racist that separated children and locked them in walmart cages. They are as gross as rump.

[MLAA]

72. Exactly

[aggiesal]

45. They're idiots! ...

I have a friend who is a Major League Baseball umpire for the last 30 years.
Of course, MLB is a union workplace, which include Umpires.
He makes over $400,000 for 9 to 10 months work per year, and it include vacation time built into their season.

He says he votes conservative.
A rookie umpire makes $175,000.

All because of the union.

Back in the early 80's we used to accrue 2 weeks vacation per year & 2 weeks sick time per year.
After about 5 years, it would increase to accrue 3 weeks vacation per year & 2 weeks sick time per year.
Sick time was mandated by the state, while vacation was supposed to be a perk to entice recruits to work at our company.

Then it turned into 3 weeks Personal Time Off (PTO), that we can use for vacation or sick time.
Why would I use my PTO for sick time?

I told my college age daughter, sorry we left you with crappy benefits. That was completely my generations fault because we got bullied by Reagan's war on unions.

Since WORDS matter, when anyone mentions Right-To-Work,
I always say, "You mean Right-To-Work-For-Less?"

[MLAA]

53. So, so true.

[5X]

3. I've been in a couple of unions

Mostly they are a good thing, but they can be corrupted. Some unions are almost all republican after a time and can work in
the company interest, too.

[Bluethroughu]

13. Remember a Union is only as strong as its members.

If you want change, forge that change. It's a Democratic institution. Get involved, show up for meetings, run for a position, or just learn some Labor history and share it with fellow members. If you want something more than a paycheck, make that happen. You are not alone, you are part of a union, and there are many members that will join with you to inspire and educate, our future is dependent on it.

Solidarity.

[mdbl]

18. Absolutely right!

It starts at the local level. Unions are democratic institutions. Most adhere to the Roberts Rules of Order. Each member is like a congressperson, given a voice and a vote at each member's meeting. If your local isn't doing what's right for the workers, get involved. Start going to the meetings, get on committees. You can watch everything that's going on from the inside if you like. Finances, bylaws and rules are all public knowledge and ever evolving. Nothing gets changed in a minute but your influence can change things for the long term. Just like not voting, if you don't participate you just have to take what you get.

[Bluethroughu]

25. 100%

[soldierant]

22. It would never surprise me

if a police union backed a Republican. Or multiple Republicans.

[brush]

4. Well done. FDR's New Deal Wagner Act legitimized collective bargaining...

and union organizers took it from there. The union movement has a rich and harrowing history with many heroes. The battles against Ford's ruthless Harry Bennett are legend.

[TheBlackAdder]

49. All those gains, the private sector enjoyed to remain competitive in the marketplace.

.

I was chatting with HR folks and compensation is based on 3 major things:

1) Private Sector wages and benefits for comparable duties.

2) Union prevaling wages and benefits.

3) Regional variations to those wages and benefits.


When union jobs gain wages and benefits, the private sector follows them.
When union jobs lose wages and benefits, the private sector jobs take a similar hit.

This is another reason why corporations want to do away with unions, even companies that are 100% private sector. Because if there is less union influence, the private sector employers can cut wages and benefits too.

.

[snowybirdie]

5. Well said

Two Union men in my immediate family. Unions did create the middle class. No doubt.

[RussellCattle]

6. Your Dad would be proud. My father, grandfather and I, all union folk, are proud of you too.

[Bluethroughu]

7. Eugene Debs

I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence.

Eugene Debs

In the Woodstock Square, located in McHenry County IL where the film Groundhog Day was filmed, stands a cream city brick building, former County jail, where Eugene was locked up for years for organizing Strikes that won us some of the benefits as workers we have today.

We always look into the old windows to acknowledge the past and those who made our lives better today, but also to take a deep breath and continue the fight.
Solidarity!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. I am more than sure that your Dad would be so proud of you! I know that I am.

Your post is magnificent and it brought a tear to my eye.

Thank you, my dear Atticus!

[SharonClark]

9. Dad was a Teamster, mom was AFSCME, BIL was IBEW business manager.

All strong progressive local unions at the time, except IBEW where the rank-and-file were repugs because of GUNS.

[5X]

35. IBEW was one of the unions I belonged to.

I was well outnumbered at that one.
All right wing and company men.

[KPN]

10. Hear, hear! Your Dad would say you did well.

Unions were, are and always will be the backbone of the middle class. My Dsd was a teamster who drove truck locally. He and my mom raised 9 kids. Most of us went to college. We may not have had a lot growing up with 9 kids, but we weren’t poor and we all were provided a great opportunity to make a good, economically secure life of our own. I can’t say the same for young people today ... just by seeing what my own 3 adult kids have had to deal with.

[Mr.Bill]

11. Both of my parents belonged to unions.

Dad was IAM, Mom was Retail Clerks. They would say the same thing as you.

I never belonged to a union, my industry (printing) wasn't very unionized very much where I lived. I was paid well, and had good benefits, but I always knew I wouldn't have had those things if others before me hadn't fought for it.

[soldierant]

24. If you ever visit Colorado Springs

be sure to drive down Union Boulevard, and along the way, visit the Union Printers' Home. It is far from new, but was bullt when buildings weren't supposed to look like boxes.

[Mr.Bill]

27. Thanks.

I don't travel a lot, but wherever I go, I try to visit something having to do with printing. The best yet was Benjamin Franklin's Print shop in Philadelphia. That was a bucket list visit. I'm retired now, but I literally ran my first printing press when I was 12 in my grandfather's basement. I have operated machines the were built in the early 20th century. I love machines and art. Printing was just the right combination of the two. Sadly, a declining industry, and a declining art.

[soldierant]

40. Sadly indeed.

Living in Colorado Springs, the Talibangelical Capital of Colorado, if not the nation, it encourages me to remember we once had a Union so thriving that it could buy the land for and build that lovely campus, and get a street named for it which at the time was the eastern boundary of the city, and is still a major artery.

But Ben franklin's Print Shop - wow, wow, and more wows.

[safeinOhio]

12. This May I will have been retired for 19 years

from my 30 and out Union job.

[backtoblue]

15. K &R

[GeoWilliam750]

16. Unions

Yes!

[3Hotdogs]

17. IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) is still active.

Membership $ is on a sliding scale.

[keithbvadu2]

19. Republicans like some unions.

Republicans like some unions.

WASHINGTON — A whistle-blower complaint filed on Monday said a top Trump homeland security official sought to constrain the Biden administration’s immigration agenda by agreeing to hand policy controls to the pro-Trump union representing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142685865

[Normanart]

20. Well done!

UAW

[DeminPennswoods]

21. Heard the same things from my dad

nt

[Wellstone ruled]

23. Okay,do remember walking the

Picket line my first time in 48' with my Dad. The Strike lasted one week and our Teamster local 636 was formed to Represent the Workers in our local Dairy Plant. First contract increased the hourly pay and a 40 hour week with overtime pay at time and a half plus two weeks paid vacation. And the best part,a new pay scale calling for starting pay from 47 cents per hour to a 1.01 per hour plus full insurance coverage all in a four agreement. Talk about top shelf.

Later my first Teamster card came in 1964 ironic as life is some times,same local whom represented Route Sales Drivers in the great city of St Paul. Commission plus Guaranty as well as paid and maintained full health care. Later joined a Wholesale Company and maintained my Membership in the Teamsters . Twenty eight years. And proud to say,it is nice to see those pension checks hit the bank each month.

Talk about a hard dirty job,Hod Carriers had it tough and they took tons of Crap from the Layers. One thing you never did was,P-O a Hod Guy,they were the toughest dudes you ever tangled with. They would pound you butt into the ground with one hand tied behind their back.

[KT2000]

26. Absolutely!

The anti-union workers must think these things did just happen because it is just fair. There is no fair when it comes to exploiting workers. Rather it is called profit.

[PWPippinesq]

29. Thank you for telling yours and your dad's story.

Your dad would be proud! I loved reading it and only wish more could in order better to understand how much better life is for all of us because of unions.

[marieo1]

31. We need unions

I totally believe in Unions!! Nuff said!!

[George II]

32. My father was one of the first white members of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters....

...also known as the Pullman Porters union, when he worked for the Pennsylvania Rail Road in the late 1930s. I still have an ashtray he brought home one day:



My older brother was a union man, and his medical coverage saved his life. I belonged to three different union locals at a younger age, too.

[Blue_true]

38. My dad worked for the railroad before I was born.

I think that he was a destination baggage handler, but I only remember him working at a saw mill. I do know that he got a railroad pension when he retired from working.

[trof]

33. I was Air Line Pilots' Association member for 35 years.

AFL-CIO affiliated.
ALPA did way more to advance safety in the skies than the old Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) or the later FAA.

[Blue_true]

34. Excellent post. nt

[ampm]

36. Your voice is needed

My father was a union man and I'm a union kid as well and it's supported my father to give us great health benefits. And he had a great retirement with life long insurance. Some of that is gone in today's unions they need that back.

[Blue_true]

41. The problem is that too many workers today see their benefits as a given,

too many view Unions negatively, especially the professional people that I was a member of when I worked in corporate America. You won’t believe how anti-Union engineers can be, it was sickening. They have no concept that a lot of THEIR benefits came from Unions fighting for better wages and benefits.

The situation is just as bad among hourly pay workers today, they view Unions negatively, but worship police Unions, go figure.

[Roy Rolling]

37. Union Yes

I’m a member of multiple unions in motion pictures and television. Unions are the rising tide that floats all boats. They make it better for all.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

39. Rotten Ronnie attacked unions from the oval office and propaganda attacked them from radios.

One of the reasons for the decline of unions is attitude. Ask the old cotton-tops and they will talk about "my union"; young ones talk about "the union".

[Blue_true]

43. Young people see the pay and benefits and protections. They never

think about why that is.

[BobTheSubgenius]

42. That is just the way I see it.

People in the past bled and died for rights that are now being stripped away, and all for the benefit of billionaires, ultimately.

I had a technical specialty that kept me fully employed, but that was in no small part because there were few of us qualified to do it. The island where I live is about 300 miles long, and today, about 880,000 people live here. Myself and the guy I worked with were the only two with certification.

So, while simple business pressures kept us working, it was the union - IBEW Local 213 - that got us decent pay and benefits. At one point, I really needed the support, and our unit's business manager could not have been better.

I retired and left that job, and the union, in 1988, but I am a lifelong supporter of, and believer in unions.

[usaf-vet]

44. My dad was a Printer and a lifetime member of the Typographical Union. My understanding was......

..... that he enter the union before WW II. Served in WW II. Went back to his trade and the union after his discharge.

He worked across all printing jobs. He worked for a job shop printing everyday business paper needs. Business cards, letterheads, envelopes, advertising, handbooks, and other business needs.

He then worked in the composting rooms of newspapers in the region. He worked different shifts depending on the needs of the employer or seniority.

Sometime in the mid-1960, the union became insolvent. And my dad said that, in all likelihood, his pension would be worthless. I don't know the specifics as I was in the military mid-1960s to the late-1960s.

He still had years to work before retirement, so he opened his own job shop and ran that for years until he was recruited by a regional state prison system to teach printing in their job training programs. He retired at 65 and collected Social Security and a nice state employee pension.

I don't believe he ever received one penny from all of the money he paid in from his 17th birthday until the early 1960s. When the UNION LEFT HIM.

He loved his trade and raised a family on that one single income.

[SheltieLover]

46. K&R!

[NBachers]

48. Ex-Teamster who took a very active role in our newspaper strike years ago.

[pansypoo53219]

50. born in a unionized family. we need to bring back unions. kill zombie reagan.

[Tink41]

52. Most people have no idea

Unions set the standard for wages and benefits. IIRC it was a fighting point with the ACA because Unions felt their benefit offerings
were superior and is what keeps members active.
IBEW 30 yrs here. We have a large percentage that are Trumpers, guns, gays, god, abortion. They also foolishly believe, someone mentioned here, these wages and benefits we receive just magically appear cause it's fair.
HA!!!! If they take Unions down, THEY will be coming for all the rest. Look how badly they fight against a minimum wage increase.
You'd have to rip my card from my cold dead hand. Best decision I ever made. No regrets. Even weathering, corruption, and scandal. It's the people in charge, not the Union itself.

[drmeow]

55. Rather than saying TGIF

I like to say "Thank a Union it's Friday"

[Stuart G]

56. Thank You for the great post...K and R for all to see...

[electric_blue68]

57. I've read some of Labor & Unions history...

My dad for some reason and he was a liberal was not in a union till his last job. He felt positive about it.

My work situation was more complicated, and earlier there was no unuon for clerical work. There wasn't an union
for commercial artists either when I did that as well.

But I definitely support them.
My college was also only a few blocks away from the infamous Triangle Waistshirt Factory Fire. So, yeah, I knew about that.

And when I did GOTV phone work way back I was at two different places where unions set the phone banks up. 👍

[Luz]

58. My dad was a union man, too. OCAW . I'm proud of the work

and sacrifices he made for ALL of us workers. Union and non-union benefit from it.

[brewens]

59. The last thing the big bosses ever wanted to do was pay people good wages and benefits.

The workers got out the axe handles and made them want to. The only way it could have happened.

[Ingersollman]

60. My

late father was a union man, too. He was a member of the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) for over 50 years. Worked all over the country providing for our family. He was a proud union member and a proud Democrat as well. And he detested the Orange Anus and everything he stood for.

[BleedsBlue]

61. NALC union member here.

My union didn't make me rich but it did allow me to buy a house, a new car every 5-6 years and take a few vacations here and there. I got to retire about 2 years ago at age 56 with 38 years federal service. Even being retired I still pay dues to my local branch, though the dues are less when you retire. My son is in college because we could invest in a pre-paid college plan. There is not a day that goes by that I'm not thankful for my job and the union. We need more unions and union members, that will make the economy SOAR.

[halfulglas]

62. Union, hell yeah.

My grandfather worked in several J&L Steel plants. Was in the CIO before it was AFL-CIO. Worked there even before it was unionized. J&L unfortunately "lost" some of my Grandfather's early records so by the time he retired he only got credit for working there over 25 years but was actually there much longer when he retired. Unfortunately unions then only negotiated for the union member, not the family so my grandfather's pension stopped completely when he died in the early 60s and my grandmother had to live on half Grandpap's Social Security so had to move in with my folks. My father was shop steward during WWII when he worked at the Curtis Wright propeller plant. He had some funny stories about that but most of his working life was nonunion because he worked for family businesses. But we were told never to cross a picket line, no matter what union it was!! One thing, too, was unions made sure workers got paid for seniority and their knowledge.

Unfortunately in many unions we saw people protecting union jobs for their family members and you couldn't get a job unless you had an older family member in that union and that was also used to keep minorities out.

Friends of mine, when the husband graduated from College got a job with GM and moved to Detroit. She worked in bookkeeping. As he was lower rung management (the first in their family) and she had an office job, they weren't union but would be happy when the unions got a pay raise because they got a pay raise too. The company didn't want the nonunion people grumbling. Of course this was before the more sophisticated ways now that companies make engender envy and hatred among nonunion employees toward union.

And yes, get involved in your union!! The best way to keep it is honest is to be involved. Leaders can't treat it like a personal fiefdom if everyone is involved. They become corrupt when leaders treat it like a gang.

[Tommymac]

63. From 1978...

And 1981

And 1976

Solidarity.

[cp]

64. Was chief steward of my union

at the art museum. Covered all workers, art crew, curatorial, design, etc. Museum guards had their own union. We had higher wages than the other--non-unionized--major art museum. One of our accomplishments was making sure temporary workers became regular employees after six months, instead of the previous "indefinitely." Did a lot of problem solving between management and workers, mostly by asking the question, "What happened?" and listening. Being in a union meant both sides could respond. That alone solved many problems.
Best part, when we were about to go on strike (came to agreement just before deadline) the picket signs by our artistic staff were amazing!

[Jakes Progress]

65. Your dad would be proud. If education

wasn't controlled by corporations, this would be common knowledge.

[Loge23]

66. Republicans demonized Unions

This was a long-time goal of theirs and they succeeded.
Unions are still around of course, but many of them have been minimized. In so-called "right-to-work" states, they are often difficult to find at all.
If Unions were still powerful and plenty in this country, universal health care wouldn't be an issue. Paid leave time wouldn't be an issue.
The minimum wage wouldn't be an issue.
Sadly, the corporate interests that control the republican party convinced Americans - ever increasingly gullible Americans - that they would do better at the company store so to speak.
Another great benefit of Unions - apprenticeships - is also largely a thing of the past now. In it's place, the public is now charged with providing vocational training for skilled trades.
Unions do bear some of the blame - corruption and organized crime influence remains an indelible image from the Union heydays.
The government's responsibility was to eliminate organized crimes influence, but, proverbially, they threw out the baby with the bath water.

[Rural_Progressive]

67. My grandfather was a republican

and after WWII he was president and major shareholder of a printing company in Cleveland. I was present when the first copy of "The Cat and the Hat" rolled off the four color, sheet fed press it was printed on.

He insisted on having a union shop and always bargained in good faith with the men and women who made it possible for him to have a company with an exceptional reputation in his industry.

Good guy my grandfather and pretty smart.

[lagomorph777]

68. Perfect, son.

[Atticus]

69. That one got me---thanks. nt

[stopdiggin]

70. another albatross Ronnie Raygun "gifted" the middle class

Globalization was of course the underlying force (IMO) -- but RR made it okay for the general public (and the Ayn Rand-ers) to not give a sh*t while it happened. And now we're all paying ...

[MarcATL]

73. How many black people enjoyed union privileges

At that time?

[Atticus]

74. I don't have the knowledge to answer that in any meaningful way, but I am sure that, nationally,

"not enough" would be accurate. I know my dad's union had black members and the local concrete finishers also did. In the sixties, the laborers admitted several women as members and some of those were black.

Things have changed for the better, but racism remains in nearly all segments of our society.