I'll be writing my Congresspeople again

[kanzeon_2040]

Although by far most of the private workforce in the US are not represented by unions (only 6% are, a record low in 2021), it turns out that our railworkers are represented by unions. And there's a deadline for contract negotiations of 12:01am on Friday morning, and there is not yet a new agreement for a contract. So the US is bracing for a

Comments

[ahunter3]

I grew up cynical about unions; I saw them as extortionate orgs that workers were forced to join, paying dues to pay the salaries of cigar-chomping Jimmy Hoffa types who didn't give a shit about the workers so much as they cared about advancing their own personal clout. And that yes, they'd fight for higher wages and better benefits, but never as a percent or a principle, always as a specific dollar figure and a set of contractual specifics, so that it was always necessary to come back to the bargaining table next season and do it all over again

[kanzeon_2040]

I guess I'd say that people are people and there's no guarantee that a union won't be corrupt, similar to no guarantee the business owners won't be, or the courts won't be, or the legislators won't be. We can design a system, like the Founders of the USA did, to have checks and balances, but that's no guarantee of good government. What happens when the same corrupt faction takes over all the branches of government? Then we hope they fall into factionalism, fighting amongst themselves.

I don't want to sound fatalistic, I believe in the rule of law or I woudn't have made a career in the federal government as an attorney. I believe in unions or I wouldn't work in a union shop, though as a manager now. I believe in democracy or I wouldn't vote. Etc. I think you accept conditions as they are, but push to make them better when you can.