What has organized labor done for you?

[Pacifist Patriot]

My children are getting an education rather than working 12-14 hour days.

Your turn. NEXT....

[Iggo]

1. Damn. That pretty much says it all. (n/t)

[Myrina]

2. Weekends! Workplace safety! Benefits!

... next ...

[FSogol]

3. Saturdays off, 40 hour work week, sick leave, vacation time, overtime pay....

[Sabriel]

4. It kept me in the classroom when admin wanted to can me

My principal wanted me to pass students who didn't show up for class, instead of failing them. The union stopped the harassment.

Thanks, building reps everywhere!

[Brickbat]

5. Directly, it's given Mr. Brickbat and me excellent wages and benefits. He and I are both union

members. He works in an extremely dangerous profession (after switching careers out of another dangerous profession) and he knows he has the union behind him when he refuses to do something illegally unsafe. That helps me sleep at night.

Our children get regular medical, visual and dental check-ups. We have no co-pays at the time of our visits, and our medical bills are reasonable for what we make.

I am grateful every day for what people have paid for in blood so my family can live the way it does. In my house, our religion is union.

[Ozymanithrax]

6. 8 hour day, fourty hour work week, and overtime... n/t

[tridim]

10. Can I get those things in non-union jobs?

My last IT job was typically 60+ hours per week, with no overtime. I didn't get paid for a year of work either, but that's a different story.

It's just the way it is. Labor law means nothing in non-union shops, and why not? They never get punished.

Gawd I'd love to join a union.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

14. Form one.

http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/how/howto.cfm

[blondeatlast]

17. Yes. Organize. The AFL-CIO can help you if there's no

organization that represents IT workers. It's entirely up to you and your colleagues to get the ball rolling, though--and it ain't easy, but it is well worth it.

[Raksha]

25. I thought IT workers should unionize a long time ago.

I always wondered why they didn't, back in the 80s and 90s when they were more in demand and less expendable than they are now. The engineers at my husband's company were still abused and exploited the way you were--having to put in endless hours of unpaid overtime, etc.

[CrispyQ]

29. I added up the hours I worked at my last IT job,

calculated what my hourly rate was & gave my notice the next day. I told my husband, "I haven't worked for this hourly rate in years!" Yeah, they love to bring you in on salary & then work the hell out of you.

[jeff47]

37. The problem is in the geek personality

Geeks very much want to do it themselves when it comes to almost anything. They want to be the ones fixing their cars, making anything mechanical around the house work, strapping together a bunch of electronics instead of buying a TiVo, etc. It's a way of taking control of an illogical world. So even if the result is not nearly as good, and needs frequent repairs, they are at least in control.

As a result of this do-it-yourself attitude, geeks tend to be attracted to libertarianism. They want to believe that they don't need any assistance.

The "do it yourself" mentality makes geeks not like the idea of collective bargaining - they don't want the loss of control. The libertarianism means geeks are prone to believe anti-union propaganda, so they think they'd just lose part of their paycheck for no gain.

In addition the really good geeks don't need union help - they can get a very large paycheck and great hours because they are very, very good at what they do. Every geek wants to believe that they will soon be that guy, despite the fact that they are extremely rare. Joining a union would block that possibility in their mind, because that alpha geek wouldn't have as high a pedestal.

As a result, organizing in IT or other high-tech fields is very difficult. Although it's getting easier as time goes on, because the geeks are regularly taking more abuse. It used to be nobody said the word "union" in the geek world unless they were talking about an SQL query. Now it comes up. I'm guessing if events like WI revitalize the labor movement, you'll see significant unionization in IT in the next 20 years.

[Ozymanithrax]

33. They would not exist if the unions did not force them as a standard.

People who are not members of unions that have these benefits get them because the union fought or them. Chlid labor was abolished because of unions. It was the unons that originally forced corporations to supply medical care as a benefit. Corporatios did not do this out of the goodness in their souls.

The middle-class in this country was built because uions fought for decent living wages.

[socialist_n_TN]

40. That was my answer too..........

:)

[LiberalEsto]

7. When I started working for a union newspaper

I received equal pay for equal work, thanks to the Newspaper Guild. That was not the case at non-union weeklies where I had previously worked.

This was back in the mid-1970s when women did not have many of the work protections we have now.

[Lindsay]

8. What all y'all have said.

And my father (retail clerks union) and my grandfather (typographical workers union) would be glad to know they helped.

[hamsterjill]

9. Rights against the rich.

I don't have a union to join for my job, but the way I see it, the joining together of ordinary working people is the ONLY way to fight back against those that have money and only want more money at the expense of working people. I have decent wages, holidays, sick days, safe working conditions, etc. because someone ELSE fought that fight for me!

I salute those that have stood for unions, both past and present!

[blondeatlast]

11. Overtime. I work with a contract. Medical. Vacations. Weekends. DIGNITY. nt

[tinkerbell41]

12. I make the same as a man!!

I was able to make my way from food stamps to homeowner to putting my kid through college all thanks to my Union!!

[RainDog]

13. k&r n/t

[rucky]

15. The benefits negotiated through my union paid for my daughter's birth.

3 days labor and an emergency c-section

total cost: $5

a healthy child and no medical debt: Priceless

I'll always be grateful to my employer and my union for it.

[HappyMe]

16. I personally don't belong to a union.

My dad was a union mechanic. We never wanted for anything. We had family vacations, went to private school, good medical care, plenty of food... a damn fine childhood.


:thumbsup:

[Pacifist Patriot]

18. I don't belong to a union either.

Actually can't recall anyone in my family who was a member of a union. We still enjoy a better standard of life because of the efforts of organized labor. Anyone who can't see that, needs their high school diploma revoked for failing history. ;-)

[robdogbucky]

19. "What has organized labor done for you?"

Built this country, and most of what is good about it.

Aside from that all those items already mentioned above, all benefits of collective bargaining.

My family "pulled themselves up by their Irish immigrant bootstraps," but they would not have had those bootstraps without the solidarity of their co-workers in organized labor.

Fuck the Mubaraks of the world


I am happy to be corrected if anyone can prove me wrong.


rdb

[HardWorkingDem]

20. An appreciation of work and for workers and what this country could be....

As I age and watch the demand for two income families become greater and greater (along with the need for wage earners needing to hold more than one job to get by) it becomes so clear to me that the loss of the ability of the average American family to get by on one income creates issues all through our country and at all levels.

Labor unions made it possible and easier to have strong families and to really adhere to important things in a family, rather than simply chase the American dollar.

[mulsh]

21. medical coverage

shortly before my twin brother and I were born the school district my dad worked in included comprehensive medical coverage for teachers. this was in 1957. my dad got medical coverage for the rest of his life and a retirement plan that allowed him to keep his house until he died.

40 or so years later my union took over the 401k that our employer had been stealing from (to the tune of over 10 million) and provided us with a reliable and transparent 401k.
personally I got trained and certified in drug and alcohol counseling in order to help start a regional program. I got valuable federal mediation and arbitration training. A bunch of us shop stewards also got training in bargaining and interested based bargaining prior to bargaining our contracts.

I've been a member of a number of unions. the bad ones seem to have been run on the business agent model with little member participation. the very good ones I've been a member of were run exclusively by the members.

here's a question my dad gave me to ask anti union types " Tell me one industry that's been hurt by a unionized workforce?"

[southernyankeebelle]

22. Even if we have never been in a union we have benefitted. (1)..

Help pass a safety bill on the job. (2). Help establish a 5 day work week. (3). Help get vacation times. (4) Help get us minimum wages. (5) Help get us sick days. (6). Help get us Medical Insurance. (7) Established child protection laws.

Unions helped all of us. Yes even people who aren't union members.

[Pacifist Patriot]

28. Exactly

I've never been a member of a union, but I can certainly appreciate the standard of living I enjoy because of collective bargaining!

[Bluenorthwest]

23. Without my Unions, I'd be screwn. Wtih them, my life is good

My Unions have been vital to me at every stage of my life and career, protecting my earnings, my safety and my dignity. My health, my future and my past are all as they are in great part due to my Union memberships. They were there for me when I made tons, and when I made zip. When my dues were huge and paid up, when they were small and falling behind.
I am indebted to each and every one of my Union brothers and sisters, especially those who came before my time, who stood up for what I got later, which many of them did not even benefit from. They did it for those to come, and I thank them. In my Unions, back in the history, some of the people who made key sacrifices and took great risks had absolutely no personal reason to do so, as they were themselves wealthy beyond measure and treated damn well aside from that. They did it for their less fortunate fellows, and like the founders of the United States, they could have lost their own future earnings and status by taking that stand.
When you meet an old man who struck to get what is for you a river of earnings, which he never saw much of, what can you call him but brother? Hero perhaps, savior even. That is what a Union is, that is what my Union brothers and sisters are to me, the makers and guardians of that which gave me virtually everything I have ever wanted or needed, not just my living, but my heart's desires. They are my family. And each of the other Unions in our Industry has also won for themselves things which are good for the rest of us, and I hope the same is thought in return. I've walked the picket line with each of them, and them with us as well.
Everyone should have such things as my Union has won for me. As we have won for ourselves and for those to come, those who will fill our shoes and do it well.

[DemoTex]

24. Saved my life and yours, perhaps (airline safety).

Pilot unions like ALPA and APA have fought for and won (among many more things):

*TCAS (collision avoidance system)
*Cargo compartment fire detection and suppression
*Crew duty limitations
*Airline accident investigations that replaced "probable causes" from "pilot error" to the real causes (USAir 427's rudder actuator and the Boeing 737-300/400 rudder trim, to name but two) and addressed design flaws that resulted in a safer aircraft.

[mrmpa]

26. My voice--

It has allowed me not to fear, and the freedom not to want. Three of the four of FDR's freedoms.

[CrispyQ]

27. My good paying union job allowed me to put myself through college,

while living in an apartment on my own. Oh & I had excellent health benefits, too. It took me 9 years, but I graduated without any debt whatsoever.

[deutsey]

30. As someone from a working-poor background

it empowered me to see myself as much more than just another poor person.

[damntexdem]

31. My father didn't finish 8th grade, my mother didn't graduate from H.S., but a union job ...

allowed them to raise 6 children in a stable family situation, and we all had a chance to go to college.

And I grew up reading "The Machinist," so was already better educated anyway. ;-)

[HardWorkingDem]

35. And is this not what "conservatives" say they want?

This is what floors me about this group of people who claim they are really patriotic about this country.

Have a structure where a family can get by comfortably and excel is supposedly to be the American dream - how parents can make it so their children can do better than them.

And these people want to destroy this capability. Makes no sense other than they want to line their pockets with more wealth than they know what to do with.

[Fire1]

32. My family and I have had full health benefits my entire

career and even now that I am retired.

[philly_bob]

34. I got a first-rate public university education on the cheap.

University of Michigan. Union clout => good public schools.

[upi402]

36. A scholarship, livable wage, coverage!, protection from exploitation

the right to go to the bathroom when I have to go, the right to eat mid day, public education, dignity, a sense of being a worker among workers, education in my career, free continuing education, a political voice I wouldn't have as a lone individual, a chance to be directly active in politics, ad infinitum

[blondeatlast]

38. For the evening shift...

:kick:

[Faygo Kid]

39. I'm from Detroit. Organized labor gave us this country, period.

People like Walter Reuther and Gov. Frank Murphy (who gave the order to the National Guard to PROTECT the Flint strikers) gave us our chance.

I'm standing with the unions.