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Originally Posted by cglenhar
As a 30 year member, organizer and retiree of the UAW I couldn't believe what I was reading. The Unions work to make life better for all workers. They work to raise the standard for all workers. I hope our country doesn't aspire to become a third world economy, because that is what workers will be relegated to if the Corporations are left unchecked.
When union membership declines, the middle class suffers. Social security, minimum wage, child labor laws, workplace safety laws. 8 hour work days brought to you by Union efforts! I think our new President gets it. Government help only for job creation within the US. We should have learned the lesson from hand outs to the Steel Companies without strings.
God bless the UAW for my opportunity to retire with dignity, a pension and health care after 30 years in the factory.
I had a politician ask me on one visit why we lobbied for health care and fair minimum wage when we already enjoyed those benifits. I thought the question was too obvious to answer. Maybe not.
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May I suggest everyone interested in all sides of the union story read "I Heard You Paint Houses", by Frank, "The Irishman" Sheeran. The inside story of the mafia, the teamsters and Jimmy Hoffa. Get to know about intimidation. Human nature is such that no matter what one has (benefits/wages) it is never enough and we always want more. Reality soon evaporates from the argument. That's why Aesop's fable, The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg, withstand's the test of time and is taught to our children generation after generation. Organized labor has (see above examples) squeezed the neck of the industrial goose one too many times. Does anyone expect a 30 year retiree with a good pension and healthcare benefits that most don't enjoy to be critical of the union which fought for those benefits??? It wont happen.... even if the reality of the situation now is that those benefits may be, in part, responsible for the demise of yet another manufacturing segment (the US auto industry) in America. I hope that Unions continue to exist to safeguard and protect the American worker. However, the workers and unions must be willing to accept that when the goose is dead the golden eggs are finished. Suddenly the pension, health insurance and everything is gone.... (unless the taxpayer buy another goose).