Do you know what the labor movement did for you ?

[Moniker]

Did you read that? They were NOT benevolent gifts from management. They were fought for, fought hard by working people. So future generations could have better opportunities. Why would anyone want to give it all back to the most elite few and the top corporations? Why ? 

Do you like having the weekend off ? That was the work of the labor movement. There wasn't always a 5 day work week. Do you think employers give benefits out of the goodness of their hearts?

[AdrianneHill]

I'll bump this. People have grown idle and believe the fruits of the labor fights were inevitable outgrowths of a capitalist country when the opposite is true. Remember the reasons that piecemeal work and being paid in company dollars that can only be spent at a company store are a thing of the past or they will be a part of our future.

[cammibear]

Unions had their time and place. Emphasis on "had". They have grown powerful and corrupt, exactly like some big corporations.

[stacymomof2]

I agree.  If you like your 5 day work week and your kids in school instead of working, thank the labor movement.  If you enjoy safety precautions and workers comp benefits, thank a labor union.  If you appreciate overtime payments and the freedom from the factory store, thanks be to the labor unions.  It is no joke...people DIED over this.  Companies KILLED people for speaking out against horriffic conditions.  They were shot at and burned for fighting for workers to have fair treatment.  

The Ludlow Massacre was an attack by the Colorado National Guard and Colorado Fuel & Iron Company camp guards on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado on April 20, 1914.

The massacre resulted in the violent deaths of between 19 and 25 people; sources vary but all sources include two women and eleven children, asphyxiated and burned to death under a single tent. The deaths occurred after a daylong fight between militia and camp guards against striking workers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre

There are many, many more stories like this.  People fighting for things like safety, fair pay, child labor laws.  They were literally killed for it.

[Moniker]

Quoting cammibear:

Unions had their time and place. Emphasis on "had". They have grown powerful and corrupt, exactly like some big corporations.

Do you have a job ? 

[nb34]

I agree!

[cammibear]

I work for someone and I have my own business. I've had many jobs over the years, including public school teacher.

Quoting Moniker:

Quoting cammibear:

Unions had their time and place. Emphasis on "had". They have grown powerful and corrupt, exactly like some big corporations.

Do you have a job ?