• merc@sh.itjust.works
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    11 days ago

    True enough. The men who had great jobs in the 50s had frequently been soldiers in the 40s. They’d been raised in the 30s during the great depression. They’d been through hardships. It was their kids who grew up in relative luxury. I’m sure some of it was pulling the ladder up after themselves. But, in addition they hadn’t had to fight to establish their union, it was just there when they joined the job. Because of that, they didn’t know how important it was, and so they didn’t know they should be fighting to keep it strong.

    • justaman123@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      Yeah they just saw money coming out of their check for union dues and propaganda about how union reps were corrupt

      • merc@sh.itjust.works
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        10 days ago

        And, to be fair, there was some corruption in unions. But, they could have rooted out that corruption and had a union that represented them. Instead they abandoned unions and embraced “rugged individualism”.

        • rumba@lemmy.zip
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          10 days ago

          there was some corruption in unions.

          There’s corruption almost everywhere. The unions only survive because there’s corruption in the companies, so the union corruption is usually a lesser evil.

          For what good the market is, as long as unions aren’t illegal, they should always balance out the corporate greed.

          • merc@sh.itjust.works
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            10 days ago

            Sure, there’s some corruption everywhere. But, for example, the teamsters union was massively infiltrated by organized crime. Unions are good, but like companies they need oversight.

            • rumba@lemmy.zip
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              10 days ago

              Unions are good, but like companies they need oversight.

              What we need then is a union union, which negotiates with the union to make sure they do their job and keep fees nominal, and if they refuse, it holds their dues. Of course, we can’t have that for free, so … unions all the way down?

                • rumba@lemmy.zip
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                  9 days ago

                  (shaky stare at the US government at the moment)

                  I’m not sure that’s a good idea…

                  • merc@sh.itjust.works
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                    9 days ago

                    The US government already oversees unions through the NLRB, but currently isn’t able to do anything because Trump has removed the chair and not appointed a replacement. I don’t think a broken NLRB is any worse than no NLRB at all.