By the way, here are 36 ways that unions have made ALL of our lives better:
- Weekends
- All Breaks at Work, including your Lunch Breaks
- Paid Vacation
- FMLA
- Sick Leave
- Social Security
- Minimum Wage
- Civil Rights
- Act/Title VII (Prohibits Employer Discrimination)
- 8-Hour Work Day
- Overtime Pay
- Child Labor Laws
- Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
- 40 Hour Work Week
- Worker's Compensation (Worker's Comp)
- Unemployment Insurance
- Pensions
- Workplace Safety Standards and Regulations
- Employer Health Care Insurance
- Collective Bargaining Rights for Employees
- Wrongful Termination Laws
- Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
- Whistleblower Protection Laws
- Employee Polygraph Protect Act (Prohibits Employer from using a lie detector test on an employee)
- Veteran's Employment and Training Services (VETS)
- Compensation increases and Evaluations (Raises)
- Sexual Harassment Laws
- Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
- Holiday Pay
- Employer Dental, Life, and Vision Insurance
- Privacy Rights
- Pregnancy and Parental Leave
- Military Leave
- The Right to Strike
- Public Education for Children
- Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 (Requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work)
- Laws Ending Sweatshops in the United States
And do you know which political group stood in opposition to almost all of these changes? Of course you do.
You can also add my generation that got the possibility of going to college to your list. Working class families with steady union wages were able, with considerable sacrifice, to see that their children graduated from high school. My parents who reached the age of 16 in the 1920's and were from very ordinary backgrounds could never have thought that college was possible; they left school at 16 to help their families. (My mother was lucky: she had skipped two grades and graduated from high school on the 16th birthday.) Life for the children of hard working but ordinary people was a different thing in the days before unions.
ReplyDeleteI had a colleague at work whose father had been a union tool and die maker at one of the auto companies. She used to complain about how terrible unions were. I would remind her that she and her sister had had college educations, family vacations, a suburban home, heath insurance when they were growing up, that her father had a good pension that also provided for her mother, etc.
What's bad is that many in my generation (graduated high school in the 1960's) have forgotten how much unions have done for the country. They bought the GOP anti-union Kool-Aid and opted for Ronald Reagan in the 1980's. A lot of damage has resulted from that.
Beaglemom
While I support unions, I even helped union a hospital I worked in your list is incorrect.
ReplyDeleteFMLA, the Family Medical Leave Act was NOT brought to us by unions.
FMLA was brought to us by the late Senator Paul Wellstone (D) from the great state of Minnesota, before Dick Cheney had him assassinated.
Paul and Sheila were good friends and we should all give the credit to Paul's legacy, the FMLA act where it is due.
Thanks
Little Rabbit
Was so proud to vote for Paul Wellstone and even prouder that I my husband came around and voted for him too. So disappointed that it had to end that way....Bernie Sanders and Paul would have made a great team!!!!! That old campaign bus should have been his transportation.....safer and more reliable. I believe that neo-cons wanted Paul gone, also, too.
DeleteMoved to Kansas where moderate Republicans can not get elected and Dems rarely run anymore.
RJ in Brownbackistan
My father had his first job at 14. One morning he ran to work, just as the boss locked the gate. The boss said "We start work here at 7 a.m. no later. You are fired" It was ONE MINUTE after 7!! He never forgot, nor was he ever late for another job. He worked for 38 years at the last job, never missed a day. He even went to work when he had the 'flu. He was asked to stay on after retirement age, since his work and driving records were both excellent. He said having 7 kids to support taught him to be punctual and reliable.
ReplyDeleteWe need to get rid of them permanently:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/2016-digital-campaign-101180.html
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/dscc-raises-5-1-million-for-november
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/obamacare-insurance-companies-tv-advertising
The GOP wants to take us back to the days of "The Jungle"!
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle
DSCC Sees Huge Fundraising Gains in November Due to President Obama’s Help
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politicususa.com/2013/12/16/dscc-sees-huge-fundraising-gains-november-due-president-obamas.html
I detest the Republican party. Pay attention American voters when going to the polls. If Republicans in your area are up for reelection, review their voting record vs what they say publically. You'll find in many instances they do NOT match!
ReplyDeleteGet rid of the Republicans in the U.S. Congress - the place where they just get richer, earn a large salary and benefits, don't work much (the rest of us would be fired in the private sector if we followed their examples!) and do not represent the people that put them in office.
Don't forget that a lot of damage has also been done by Republicans on the state and local levels, all the way down to local school boards.
DeleteFar too much of the good work done to help the poor and middle class by the congress is blocked, reversed and repealed on the state level. Just look at the implementation of the ACA in red vs blue states and the raging war on women's reproductive health being waged in the states.
The appalling attempt to mandate inclusion of creationism in textbooks in Texas could have easily affected school districts around the country, and that started on the local school board level.
That list should be printed in every newspaper throughout our nation as a reminder to everyone. Thank you, IM!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous4:56 AM:
ReplyDeleteOne problem with that wonderful story.
How many people did your father infect with his 'flu when he went to work sick?
How many others didn't have his obviously magnificent immune system and therefore ended up losing time and pay because he infected them?
But then, that sort of punctuality and reliability is great for his own family, not so good for for his friends and co-workers.
"I got mine" and "Only my family matters" are pretty sad attitudes to have to live by. I'll bet the CEO of the company was able to stay home when he was sick.
You left out slave ships..
ReplyDelete