Two Photos to consider:
Police presence at the Homesteaders Strike, 7/6/1892
Police presence at a peaceful Walmart strike and protest, 10/4/2012
120 years of progress, and we still have armed forces marching on our workers. If you speak to non-union or anti-union folks, you will hear some nonsense about how Unions have out lived their usefulness. They will tell you we needed Unions 100 years ago, but we have laws now to protect us. This misbegotten belief fails to understand the underlying force Unions exist to fight: greed. Greed ships jobs over seas to cut labor costs, but you'll never see the price of the product go down. Greed cuts safety corners to save money, and greed ramps up unsustainable production requirements, so greed injures and kills workers. Greed tries to scare us all back in line, and failing to do so with normal job threatening will literally call out the police. And not just to scare us, but at points, attack:
South African Police kill striking Miners, 8/16/2012
Labor History is punctuated with this style of violence and intimidation. The Occupy protests regularly produced images of peaceful protests being "kettled" or pepper sprayed. Currently in Wisconsin, The First Amendment is under attack by laws banning the carrying or posting of protest signs in the Capital Rotunda, and citations are being delivered to Patriots who challenge this law at work!
Intimidation has long been used by the empowered to control our attempts to pursue justice, both economic and social. Suppression tactics have long been successfull in keeping certain populations from voting. African-American voters and their supporters were met with brutal assaults during the Civil Rights Fights to gain equality and protect their rights to vote. When threats failed, violence followed:
The bodies of Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman, murdered by KKK members, 7/21/1964
But here's the thing. It didn't stop anybody:
African Americans lining up to vote in 1964
And when people have lived under repression and violence, the oppportunity to have a voice calls them action, no matter where you live or who you are:
Afghan women lining up to vote in Kabul, 10/4/2004
Our history shows, time and again, that violence and suppression may slow people down, but it rarely stops us. When the state deploys its muscle, the people stand fast.
Where violence works to slow progress, apathy simply eats away its core. Many workers today, Union Workers, have little appreciation for what efforts were required to win things we take for granted. Basic Safety in the workplace, like vents and fire escapes, became required after young women burned to death in textile mills, or died of lung cancer in their 20's. To suppress a miners' strike for the 40 hour work week, Colorado National Guard was dispatched and they murdered 11 women and children. People died or were murdered for fire escapes and the weekend.
But it is the apathy that threatens to do what force could not. Led to believe their vote does not count, 65% of Utahns do not vote. Led to believe there is no option other than the boss's declaration, many Union Workers attack their shop stewards, instead of joining in the defene of their work place agreements. Or worse, these workers are willing to allow the bosses ignore our contracts so they can get some personal benefit: going home early, or calling in sick once a week.
As apathy and selfishness consume our weaker members, greed and selfishness consume our "job creators." Failing to understand that reducing wages for public employees just means putting them on assistance programs or consigning them to a life of poverty, many misled citizens attack the Unions as the Unions protect the Middle Class.
On a national level, one Presidential candidate has been openly campaigning about rolling back Union protections! Watch the short version here, and the full version here (mainly running from 14:45-17:20, and 21:30-21:55.) Enacting national Right-to-Work-For-Less laws, repealing Davis Bacon, ending Project Labor Agreements (PLA's) and so-called Paycheck Protection: banning automatic dues check-off (paying your dues automatically through a pay roll deduction.) Despite the attitude of the apathetic worker, the actions of the Monied Interests sure suggest Unions still play a major role in preventing the most egregious actions of greed. As Union membership has declined, so to have the take home wages of the American Middle Class. But even more telling, as productivity levels go up, and lacking any Union protections, most of the money created by our labors is not going to us. Inequality is growing at an alarming rate. In fact, since 1979, only the top 20% of income levels have seen positive economic growth. Wealth created by the booming production levels of the other 80% of Americans. That there is real wealth redistribution.
It is almost enough to make even the toughest Union Thug cry.And where do we find today's most notable source for inspiration: Walmart. Walmart, who threatens to close any store that Unionizes. Walmart, who places security cameras around their stores, not for preventing theft or violence, but to catch Union Organizers. Walmart, who has driven manufacturing jobs over sees to cut costs without ever passing the savings on to you.
Faced with having their work site close up, 70 workers at nine different locations have struck Walmart. Walmart prides itself on its low prices, but it does this with starvation wages and passing the costs of insurance to tax payers. All the while the Walton Family (Walmart Heirs) enjoy unimaginable wealth. The money could go to workers, but the workers are afraid to stand up because of what they might lose: a job that does not even pay enough to afford food. God bless 'em and good luck, because we have two clear choices in this day and age:
OR
Striking Walmart Workers walking the picket line
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