Strong Unions - The Worst Nightmare for the Financial Elite

[autorank]

Strong Unions - The Worst Nightmare for the Financial Elite by Michael Collins

The antiunion movement in the United States keeps us underpaid and represents a serious impediment to economic growth. Yet antiunion sentiment remains strong among the political establishment and their patrons. Why?

Worker rights and a decent wage represent a toxic brew to the ruling elite. In the past, they expressed their antiunion position in a crude fashion. From the 1870's through the 1920's, industrialists fought union growth with hired thugs and complicit law enforcement officials. Organizers and union members were harassed, maimed, and killed throughout the country for simply acting on the right to organize and participate in a union.

When union power and public decency prevailed, the elite shifted their efforts. The right to work movement emerged. Restrictive laws making it harder to organize unions became the main thread of crony capitalist efforts. Antiunion propaganda ran parallel to this backroom strategy. The image of the lazy worker and corrupt union boss became a mantra of right wing puppets. When unions did succeed, the elite offered union leaders the benefits of insider status in order to moderate their positions.

The tactics varied around the world, but the strategy remained the same: reduce the size an influence of unions as a means of keeping wages low and profits through the roof. The tactics worked.



Economic Populist: http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/strong-unions-worst-nightmare-financial-elite#comment-18340

[kentuck]

1. The oppression continues...

It definitely worked.

[autorank]

7. It's non stop

...and they've had a lot of practice. But the Korean unions cracked the code.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. Yer not from around these parts, are ya?

[autorank]

8. i've been here

Do you come from Australia?

Oh, no, I'm from right here in New York.
I've been there, though. I've been everywhere.
You name a place and I've been there. Go ahead, name a place.
Fairbanks, Alaska!
I've been there, all over Alaska...
Fairbanks, Juneau, Anchorage,
Nome, Sitka, Seward.
- Went there in '38... - Where are you from?

Well...
I'm from Omaha. Guy's from Baltimore.

[Spinny Liberal]

3. It doesn't have to continue working

thanks to the likes of Scott Walker and the Koch Brothers.

[formercia]

4. The Koch brothers are old and won't be here forever

then all the kochroaches will have to go out and find another Sugar Daddy.

[Donnachaidh]

6. and how many kids do they have to take their place?

You must remember -- they are 2nd generation terrorists. I'd really like to know if they are grooming spawn to take up their fight once they are gone. I'll bet they are.

[formercia]

15. New generation of 'Teabagger' politicians

New spawn for 'The Cause.'

[autorank]

9. Won't they be upset

when they are tagged as the ones that ended it all!

[Me.]

5. The Pendulum , Sooner Or Later, Swings In The Opposite Direction

We're due. If the DOJ files against Goldman, cracks will begin to show.

[autorank]

10. If DOJ files against Goldman

It will be due to the people demanding it. Are we loud enough?

[Me.]

14. FYI

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4853486

[autorank]

20. New York has already done it and this is GREAT NEWS

Cuomo went after a number of bad guys, including BoA. Thanks!

[Overseas]

11. K&R.

Thanks for the international picture.

[leftstreet]

12. The group describes its birth during the 1996 Korean GENERAL STRIKE

General Strike General Strike General Strike General Strike
General Strike General Strike General Strike General Strike
General Strike General Strike General Strike General Strike
General Strike General Strike General Strike General Strike

Did I emphasize that KCTU formed this opposition after a GENERAL STRIKE!?

Excellent, excellent solidarity statement from KFTU in that article.

K&R

Lee and Kim warned that the unionists, which number around 1.2 million as of 2009 will vote against the ruling party in the upcoming by-election. “We will cease all dialogue with the administration and will encourage all workers to cast ballots against the ruling party candidates as a show of our power,” they said.

http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110425000850

Could be a lesson there...

[TBF]

13. The sad thing is listening to lower income folks criticize unions -

particularly younger Americans have been influenced by the propaganda and work against their own best interests. These sentences in your article are so important:

At some point, citizens will see that the distinction between the working class and the middle class is arbitrary, divisive, and counterproductive. The vast majority of citizens are victimized by the calculated maneuvers of the financial elite. The politics of race, religion, and national security paranoia deny people the ability to understand and act on the truly global nature of crony capitalist manipulation and control. Hopefully, we will get the point before it's too late.

[Starry Messenger]

17. +1000

[blindpig]

19. Stupid egoism, vastly encouraged in every way by this society

For all of the success they have had with that it will become obvious to many that when they push us to the ground the only way we can rise up is together. Solidarity ain't just some feel good notion, it is necessary for survival.

[Romulox]

16. The US suffers from a cheap labor South that undercuts any potential gains in the unionized North.

:shrug:

[Dawson Leery]

21. +1

[autorank]

18. kick

:kick: