A POLL: Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been A Union Member?

[Itsthetruth]

Poll question: A POLL: Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been A Union Member?

The union movement has declined in the past few decades. Thirty years ago about one out of every three workers was a member of a labor union. Today only about 12% of workers are union members.

I guess this decline in union membership will be reflected in this poll.

[GalleryGod]

1. United Steelworkers of America

2nd Generation.
Now, retired!

And in academe.

[livvy]

2. Teacher's Union-MEA/NEA n/t

[joe1991]

3. Union Sheet Metal Worker here

Sheet Metal Worker's International Association
http://www.smwia.org/

[Stinky The Clown]

4. I was a union member in the 1970s

A Teamster. I worked a year at Sikorsky Aircraft (helicopters) in Stratford, CT., after the Navy and before I went back to school. My Dad was a union member there, too. He was also a union member at Singer (sewing machines) in Bridgeport, CT, before that. I recall walking a picket line with him when I just little boy. It was the first time I heard the word "fuck". I remember that as if it were yesterday. The men on the line were discussing the crossing of lines with other men. The words "fucking" and "scab" seemed as one. :)

[Zomby Woof]

5. 2 unions in previous jobs

NEA as a teacher, and NTEU when with the government.

[mike_c]

6. California Faculty Association....

Used to be a Communications Workers of America member.

[K8-EEE]

7. My Husband Is Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists #839

Thank GOD....because if not for the Union we would have no health insurance when he is between projects which is normal for his job, when you work in TV animation you work a few months very long hours and then are off looking for work another 3-4 weeks at least, that is how it is for him. As long as you bank enough hours you are covered. I'm really grateful for that!

[Catbird]

8. Former union member

I was a union member at a previous job. I am now doing exactly the same kind of work for an employer where there is no union. I think the previous employer still has the union, however.

[Jensen]

9. Union and proud! IAM member

[spanone]

10. Musicians Union

[davsand]

11. Former UNITE member.

I am now in appointed political office and unable to be unionized. I would pick up a union card in a heartbeat, however, if I ever have the opportunity to do so again.

My husband is a proud member of the local labor movement--active with the Central Labor Council--and is also organized under UNITE. In his capacity as a labor leader he has walked any number of picket lines and spoken at any number of labor events. I have been with him for as many of them as I could.

My car has multiple labor bumper stickers and even our kid has marched/appeared with us in labor events. This is a way of life for us, not just an occasional thing. The right to unionize and to collective bargaining has been and will remain a core value for us.

In solidarity!


Laura

PS: My sig lines are almost always Eugene Debs or Mother Jones--that should be pretty big clue! :)

[Hubert Flottz]

12. Yes

And Yes!

And HELL YES!!!

[davsand]

13. Hubert!!!!

I am so GLAD to see you! Haven't seen you since forever, and I am delighted to run into you! Were your ears burning the other day? I was just saying then that I'd not seen you in a coon's age!

:hi:


Laura

[Itsthetruth]

15. I've Been A Member Of Five Unions In My Life

Five unions including two industrial unions, the United Steelworkers and United Auto Workers unions.

[Hubert Flottz]

16. I've been doing some fishing!

Fishing and thinking about all this Bull$hit that's been going on in DC!

Been working on my house some too, while the weather is Just Rite!

Very GTSY too!

EDIT...BTW, In April 2005 I marked my 32nd year in the building trades. I've worked as a Carpenter, Pile Driver, Iron Worker, Boiler Maker and Millwright in my 32 years in the UBC&J of America AFL/CIO. When there was no work for the people in my craft, my brothers in the other building trade unions always found a good union job for me, working in their crafts as a permit hand!(boomer) I've never been sorry I joined the union. Never!

The union hall is where I became interested and active in politics.

[intheflow]

14. Union decline would most likely NOT be reflected in this poll.

Dems--and active Dems in particular--are more likely to be in unions than the general public, in my experience.

I did some volunteer work for the Denver Area Labor Federation a couple years ago, and have taken quite a few graduate classes in labor issues. Your 12% figure is right on the money.

[judy]

17. IATSE Theater and Stage Employees

Projectionist.

I am on suspension right now, because I hardly ever work these days.

[Radical Activist]

22. That's Dennis Kucinich's union.

[driver8]

23. That's my union, too!

Editor's Guild -- Local 700.

[WolverineDG]

18. Been a member of 2 unions

When I was a teacher, our union was affiliated w/AFL-CIO. Now I work for legal aid & our union is part of UAW (never thought I'd be an autoworker ;) )

dg

[katinmn]

19. former union member of 12 years

MAPE = Minnesota Association of Professional Employees

The name always seemed like a play on words.

[Radical Activist]

20. Former CWA member. Former SEIU organizer.

There wouldn't be a Democratic Party without union support. Its a shame how many liberals who are active in the environmental or feminist movements know next to nothing about unions. We should all be working closer together.

[NJCher]

21. member and organizer

AFT here.

Organizer for the state college teachers.

We have to re-build our union base in America.


Cher

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

24. About your poll options

"NO I don't need a union because my employer has good benefits"

I hope people who chose this option realize their employers offers good benefits because unions raised the standard. Even though union membership has declined, the advances unions made for workers live on...though sadly they are eroding in the blue collar workplaces where they were first won.

"NO I'm a progressive/liberal employer and not eligible for union membership"

I don't really understand this option. If you're really a progressive/liberal employer, wouldn't you allow your employees to unionize?

I was a union member in my youth, have worked in a non-union profession for many years, and am a pro-labor voter. :)

[Misunderestimator]

32. Good answer!

I know for a fact that I have the good benefits I have because of unions that have negotiated with my employer.

Have also been a member of unions in the past, and am also a pro-labor voter! :thumbsup:

[entanglement]

25. I understand unions play an important role

in defending workers rights but I'll probably never join one in my lifetime

[Sparkman]

45. Just look across the border to compare living standards of non-unionism

Mexico has no right to organize...and no middle class.
Just the wealthy and then those who want to cross over here to work for peanuts at the worst U.S. jobs.

[flygal]

26. Former flight attendant

There were a lot of fa's who didn't see the need for unions - it was pretty sad especially in the airline industry. The need is ever stronger now but so many were just lying down for the company.

[oblivious]

27. I've belonged to five different unions in my life.

I know that I had a better income thanks to them.

Later I became an part-owner of a union factory, and I started to hate them because of the loss of flexibility their demands created. I had to withdraw myself from the negotiations they made me so angry.

Now in my middle age, and working in a land where unions are basically non-existent in private industry, I understand better why unions are important and feel it was my attitude that was the problem. I didn't know how to negotiate properly, and failed to show that I understood things from their perspective.

I'm amazed that US union membership has fallen so low, less than half of Canadian union membership. That 12% is a grim statistic.

[CRK7376]

28. Teacher's Union

But as a young teacher, strating out we were desperate for the income and had to drop our membership after about 2-3 years. Dues were too high with all the other bills and food/gas/rent etc....

[louis c]

29. Union, Yes

It is not just a coincidence that the stronger Unions were in the last one-hundred, the better off most Americans were.

Check the economic curve from the 1930's to the present day, and it will mirror Union membership.

[Itsthetruth]

30. Very Good!

The percentage of present or former union members who are DU'ers is much higher than I expected. This is very good!

[LincolnMcGrath]

31. YES I am a working union member

[KittyWampus]

33. Temporarily While Working As Cashier In Gristedes Many Moons Ago

made double time on Sundays.

[patricia92243]

34. Basically the South does not have unions. We have the "right to work"

which is SUPPOSED to mean people have the right to work in a place without joining a union if that is what they want to do.

What it REALLY means is that your boss has the right to fire you with no explanation. That sounds too bad to be true, but ask any KNOWLEDGEABLE Southerner and they will tell you it is so.

Most Southeners don't this and continue to vote against themselves by voting Republican.

[Sparkman]

47. Dad was fired for organizing, then the UNION, then rehired and steward.

We had a really rough time of it for a couple of months after American Astro Science fired Dad, in the 60's. But the shop went union **UAW** and he was hired back, at his job a inspector machine parts, voted shop steward, and I got a degree from Cal Poly thanks to his 11 years with the UAW.

[OnionPatch]

35. United Steel Workers of America

Way back when I was a youngster, I was one of the first women to work in our local steel mill. (eastern Ohio)

The union was awesome and that job pulled me and my family out of poverty.

[Sparkman]

43. I went to Cal Poly, Dad bought a house, Mom stayed home...UNION!

NOTHING beats collective bargaining, ALL enjoy wage scales stateside because of the sacrafices of the membership!

[kevsand]

36. Current UNITE member,

although we'll be unaffiliated after the current contract. We're forming our own independent local, and investigating direct charters with national AFL-CIO.

On edit: Forgot to mention previous memberships with Food & Commerical Workers (UFCW), Ladie's Garment Workers (ILGWU), and Clothing & Textile Workers (ACTWU). (Been carrying a card since 1982.)

[eridani]

37. My "yes" is qualified

I joined the Steelworkers' union that they recently opened to individual members. Not quite the same as having a union at my workplace, which I wish I did.

[MrSlayer]

38. Local 98 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Build Union! Buy American!

[Sparkman]

44. ALL of the trades owe their living wage to organized labor.

Imagine how lousy the electricians scale would be w/o collective bargaining...just look across the border where electricians earn $20-$50 a day! No middle class in Mexico, just the ultra wealth and then the rest of the people who want to work in the U.S. for $7.00/Hr.

[blondeatlast]

39. To those who chose #3--where do you think those good benefits

came from?

[blondeatlast]

40. Former proud AFSCME, now ineligible in my present job.

I'd rejoin in a heartbeat if I could.

[skygazer]

41. Union member here

UFCW union member and my hubby is a member of the Carpenter's Union. :patriot:

[Sparkman]

42. Dad was fired for organizing, then rehired & shop steward.

In the 60's, Dad worked and helped organize an Elmonte, CA company that worked on gov. contracts. Management fired him, for some months, until the employees voted in the UAW. They then hired him back at his job as inspector machine parts, AND he was democratically elected Shop Steward! Let me tell you it the firing was a real drag then. My brother & I attended shool, I worked odd jobs & mom worked. Dad stayed on at American Astro Science for 11 or so years after the firing. I did Cal Poly's EE program with BS degree, now self employed. Union wages saved many families from a crap wage.

[Lisa0825]

46. I don't need a union because I have good benefits, but

I wouldn't have those benefits if not for the work and persistance of the unions!

[teamster633]

49. I've been a Teamster my entire working career.

I joined within weeks of turning eighteen and I've been in ever since. I'll be beginning my 28th year within the month. They have provided great wages, great health insurance, and a good pension. My wife has been in and out of rehab for alcoholism and despite beating that six years ago, is still undergoing treatment for bipolar personality disorder. We'd be fighting to get in under the bankruptcy deadline if it wasn't for the benefits we're eligible for as a union family.

[paulk]

48. Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees

UPRR

Twenty one years.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

50. I was a union member. I am currently unemployed.

Chances are I will be employed again in the fall and then I will join up with the union again.

[BiggJawn]

51. I WAS, and I'd join another in a NY minute!

Next time somebody disses Unions to your face, ask them if they get a paid vacation and Sunday off.

Ah, why bother? Fucking Sheeple think they get that stuff because their precious Corporate Masters actually CARE about their little asses...

Yeah, they care, just the same way they care enough to have somebody grease the bearings in the machinery..

No, strike that-They care about the machinery MORE, because there's HUNDREDS wanting your job for less pay, machinery has to be bought from ANOTHER greedy bastard and HIS corporation...

This country needs another Walter Reuther and John L.Lewis