Our
View: Strike lends publicity to trends
There
are a variety opinions in the United States
about both unions and union workers. Many
of them are unfounded, ignorant and one-sided,
often on the big business Republican side.
Others are based on a misrepresentation
of what it is that unions do.
First
off, for every person who has thought that
unions should be banned, congratulations.
You should win an award. In case you didn't
already know, unions and labor groups are
one of the few reasons why you weren't put
into a factory when you were 12, why you
love Fridays because there's a weekend coming
after it and why we only have to work eight
hours a day at regular pay.
If
anybody is against these things, you can
start giving up your perks at any time,
I'm sure the businesses will be pleased.
People so often believe that unions are
all about money and getting off easy. When
the truth is that unions are often erected
in trades and businesses where the workers
are most likely to be taken advantage of
by the bosses. Trades where workers are
put in dangerous situations or where they
are exposed to life-threatening chemicals
need more protection from their greedy desires.
The
United Food and Commercial Workers strike
will hopefully bring into full view the
growing pressure on workers to lower their
standards to help the big businesses compete
with slave-shop organizations like Wal-Mart
and maintain their profit margins. In the
even bigger picture, manufacturing jobs
are not the only ones leaving the country.
Now telephone help lines and tech support
lines are also being shipped off to Asian
countries where workers are trained to speak
perfect American English, at the cost of
an uncounted number of middle class jobs
from the United States.
These
issues need to be brought to the forefront
of politics where too often concessions
are made to big business at the cost of
the workers wellbeing and quality of life.
Big business only cares about the bottom
line, and if they keep shipping our jobs
across the ocean, forcing unions to lower
their standards and trying to keep up with
all of the bad examples like Wal-Mart, then
the worker has already been defeated. Hopefully
everyone who gets paid on a salary or by
an hourly wage will see that these issues
are a lot closer to home than the bosses
want you to think.
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