Professor, McDonald
Writing 121
David Dixon
Union
One of the great leaders of our time said it best
about unions: “The American Labor
Movement has consistently demonstrated its devotion to the public interest. It
is, and has been, good for all America.”(John F. Kennedy). President Kennedy
was right Unions are devoted to the public interest. They wanted working people
to have a say in their working conditions. Unions want the working people to
get fair pay and a safe place to work.
Modern unions started out small in
America in the 19th Century. Between 1955 and 1960 membership peaked
(Wikipedia). The unions only worked inside their own cities at
one time. Then they learned that if they joined all the unions as one big union
they would have more power to fight for labors’ rights. Unions transformed the
workers to the middleclass of today. I saw the difference working non-union and
union houses. After working non-union house and to a union house I saw how the
workers were treated better in a union house. In the union houses they paid
almost double my non-union wages. Plus they gave health benefits. Unions
protect the union people from termination with out just cause. On the other
corporations want none these just profit.
Corporations want to make profit at all
cost. “Generally speaking,
major corporations prefer minimal pay and benefits for workers, a largely
uncritical and powerless workforce and minimal taxes, as well as unlimited
power for themselves, which they can then employ to influence elections and
maximize profits”. (William Astore) Corporations want to make profit at all cost. That is
their main goal. They do not like unions and do not want them. They say unions
hurt job creation. They say unions are only out for themselves. Unions will
take your dues and do nothing for you. This is the propaganda, corporations put
out there to get you to think unions are bad.
The propaganda has worked for the most part, unions
are weaker now then they have been scent the 60s. The weakening of the unions also
weakens the middle class (see graph below). They are tied in to one. To destroy
unions is to destroy the middle class. If you look at the start when unions
slowly started to lose power in 1980s the wages started to slow down and not match
inflation. The charts below show how weaken the union has affect Americans. The
heights of union powered wages were much higher then inflation. In 1980 when
the unions started to weaken, inflation started catch up to the middle class
wages.

This
chart compares the growth of inflation (red line) and real wages (blue line).Federal
Reserve Bank of St. Louis
October
18, 2012)

Now
inflation has passed the middle class wages because of the weaken of the unions.
If you compare the two charts they match wages to inflation and the decline of
the union membership. In 1980s Reagan push the war on Unions.
If Reagan did not push
the war on the unions in the 1980s our wages would still be higher than
inflation. Reagan really pushed the war on the unions. He was on the side of corporations.
He pushed for laws that hurt labor and unions. He also crushed the air traffic
controls union. “Reagan's anti-labor
policy: He attempted to lower the minimum wage for younger workers, ease the
child labor and anti-sweatshop laws, tax fringe benefits, and cut back
job-training programs for the unemployed. He tried to replace thousands of
federal employees with temporary workers who would not have civil service or union
protections.”(Dick Meister)
Reagan was the key to weakening the unions. Today corporations are trying to
finish the job, Reagan was key player in, by using propaganda.
Corporations will say they outsource
jobs because of unions and that’s why they’re moving out of America. Well there
is some truth to that, but not the whole truth. Corporations move out of the US
because they get tax breaks to leave the US.
Corporations also went to countries
without unions. People are thinking well if we did not have unions, corporations
would have stayed. Well, there is little truth to that too. If we did not have
unions and they could pay 24 cents an hour, work people in unsafe working conditions,
and work 10 to 15 hours a day; yes they would stay. You are thinking I am
wrong. Well, let just look at Bangladesh. “Bangladesh
offers the global garment industry something unique: Millions of workers who
quickly churn out huge amounts of well-made underwear, jeans and T-shirts for
the lowest wages in the world.”
(ANNE D'INNOCENZIO). They only make 24 cents an hour. They work
in unsafe conditions. That is the wages and the conditions we would have to
work in to get those jobs back here in the US. I do not think we, as people
would work like that today. Also if you even look at states that have laws to
weaken unions like right to work you will see they have less pay.
If
you look at the poorest states, 7 of them are right-to-work states. “The data on wages tell a fairly clear story. Of
the top 10 states in per capita income in 2011, seven were not right-to work
states. Of the bottom 10 states with the lowest per capital income, seven were
right to work states.”(John Gallagher).
The unions have very little power or none at all in those 7 poorest right-to-work
states. That’s what happens when you weaken the unions. The wages do not keep
up with inflation and corporations can pay you less.
When you look at unions look at them as good for the people. “They were
made by the people for the people”(bill of rights). There here to make sure
people get what people deserve. If we do not support them we will lose more of
what we have. We have to stand with them as they stand with us. If you look
back history you can find all the great leaders supporting unions. I will leave
you with a Quote. Pope Paul VI:
The
important role of union organizations must be admitted: their object is the
representation of the various categories of workers, their lawful collaboration
in the economic advance of society, and the development of the sense of their
responsibility for the realization of the common good.
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