"There is power in a union: Here’s how we beat inequality & rebalance our economy"
"Supporting strong unions isn't just smart policy -- it's also smart politics. 2016 candidates, take note.
On Wednesday, a fast-food worker named Terrence Wise introduced President Obama at the White House Summit on Worker Voice. Terrence spoke about his family’s struggle to scrape by on bottom-of-the-barrel wages despite working hard at multiple jobs. The Summit itself was also a reunion for he and his mother, also a fast-food worker. Because they don’t make a living wage, neither Terrence nor his mother had been able to afford to travel across multiple states to see each other in ten years, a point not lost on the President. Terrence’s story was no doubt all too familiar for the millions of Americans watching the promise of the middle class fade away in the face of growing income inequality.
But they haven’t lost hope. Workers like Terrence are on the frontlines of our nation’s fight to address income inequality and rebuild the middle class. From fast-food workers and pharmacists to reporters and adjunct professors, these workers envision a future where they will be able to support their families without relying on public assistance just to cover the basics. And if you ask them how we can achieve that vision, their answer is clear: unions."
http://www.salon.com/2015/10/12/there_is_power_in_a_union_heres_how_we_beat_inequality_rebalance_our_economy/
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As union membership has declined, so has the economic security of working families. It's that simple. It's why the 1% has spent the last 50 years doing everything possible to destroy unions.
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One after another American, each of them who would benefit tremendously from union jobs, will deny their value, actually tell you why they are bad.
They have been told that unions are out of date because their primary goal is the employee, not the product.
Well DUH, yeah.
You see the product is gonna get made, no matter what, the difference will be the profit margin for the rich vs what an employee is paid.
And without a union, you are guaranteed to be paid the lowest the market will justify.
Eventually a generation grew up that had no memory of how ruthless and amoral corporations are, and how little they care about treating workers with fairness or dignity.
But we're going to re-learn.
