labor and business

[luckyleftyme2]

there has always been friction between labor and business! I know a little more about the labor side! My great grandfather on my fathers side was the superintend of pulp and sulfate in (1912- 1930) of a large paper mill on the canadian border!He owned several houses and a boarding house that his wife Kate ran. my grand fathers on both sides along with my dad and my uncles on my mothers side and my cousins all worked for this mill!

from OnTheCommons.org:




When Unions Are Strong, Americans Enjoy The Fruits of Their Labor
The rise and fall of America's unions mirrors the rise and fall of America's middle class

By David Morris


The only effective answer to organized greed is organized labor.
- Thomas Donohue, Former President AFL-CIO


In the early 1980s Ricardo Levins Morales, an artist and labor activist in Minneapolis designed a bumper sticker with a simple eight-word message, “From the people who brought you the weekend. “ Since then, he's sold tens of thousands. In 2007 Ricardo told National Public Radio he often found people “squinting with puzzled looks at the stickers.” "For people who are not steeped in labor history,” he added, “it might take a few minutes to figure out what on earth they are talking about” because most people think the weekend has always been here, "like the weather."

No Virginia, the weekend has not always been here. At the end of the 19th century men, women and children often worked 10 to 16 hour days, seven days a week. The weekend, along with the 8-hour day, rest breaks, decent wages and working conditions were gained only over decades, and at great human cost. And the vehicle used to win these advances was the union.

In the last generation, US unions have shrunk in size and influence, largely as a result of a withering attack by corporations and Republicans. And with that shrinking influence has come a corresponding decrease in the standard of living of most Americans. Indeed, as we shall see, the correlation between the strength of unions and the strength of the middle class is so empirically strong it might well be considered causal.

I put this in here for those that think the union never served a purpose!
LEPAGE,TARRON BRAGDON AND A FEW OTHERS THINK THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO TAKE DOWN A LABOR MURAL
FROM THE LABOR DEPARTMENT!
I SAY LET THEM PUT WHAT EVER MURAL THEY WANT IN THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU -BECAUSE THATS WHERE BUSINESS SHOULD HAVE ITS MURALS!
COME ON ALL THEY WANT TO DO IS BROW BEAT THE WORKER DOWN!-MAKE YA CHEAP MEAT! CRIPPLE YA AND THROW YOU TO THE DOGS WHEN YOUR WORN OUT FROM THEIR ABUSE!
WAKE UP MAINE YOUR ABOUT TO LOOSE IT ALL=VACATIONS,SICK LEAVE,TWO DAY WEEKENDS ETC! BUT MOST OF ALL THE ABILITY TO HAVE HEALTHCARE! YOU CAN'T MOVE BACK TO THE FAMILY FARM-ITS A HOUSING PROJECT OR A STRIP MALL!
IF WE LOOSE THIS BATTLE THE NEXT STEP IS LOOSING OUR FREEDOM! THEY WILL SELL YOUR SOUL IF THEIR IS A BUCK IN IT!