Don't blame unions for economic mess

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=290043&src=

Published: 5/3/2009 12:01 AM

I guess the blame game is the way some people justify their irrational feelings about some facet of society they do not like or understand. It would be much better if people read the history of the labor movement and why it was necessary.

Without the labor movement we would not have paid holidays, pensions, 40-hour work weeks and a safe workplace and a middle class.

History shows that most businesses ran sweat shops and paid very little and job conditions were very dangerous. There were people killed trying to organize for better conditions and a better way of life. Read about the working conditions in China, India and other low-wage countries, which is the way it was here before unions.

As an apprentice electrician I was sent to school, taught the code, electrical theory, and on-the-job training. We should have had union trained mechanics in Iraq and Afghanistan and there would be no electrocuted GI's over there. The fact is they are sending IBEW men, who are out of work, over there to fix the problems. It would have been cheaper to do it right the first time.

I do not see any union executives making $20 million a year. The standard of living in a union area is much better than in a nonunion area, and so is the quality of work. Unions and business have to work together, as they once did, and we will be better for it.

Uncontrolled greed is what got us to this point; we have to get back to fair profit and wages and a better life for all. Union membership has never exceeded 30 percent of the work force, so to blame such a minority for our problems is ridiculous.

Richard Markiewicz

and realize how unions protected the workers and made working life better for most people, the entire working class.

"In proportion as the bourgeoisie, i.e., capital, is developed, in the same proportion is the proletariat, the modern working class, developed — a class of labourers, who live only so long as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labour increases capital. These labourers, who must sell themselves piecemeal, are a commodity, like every other article of commerce, and are consequently exposed to all the vicissitudes of competition, to all the fluctuations of the market. "

On May 9th workers in the San Francisco Bay Area will be gathering to discuss the recent economic crisis and will plan the moves ahead for a unified effort for the difficult days ahead. The gathering was initiated by the San Francisco Labor Council, South Bay Labor Council, and Workers Emergency Recovery Campaign. It was endorsed by the Green Party of California,the San Francisco Green Party, the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club and the San Francisco Peace and Freedom Party, among many others. The effort is being organized by labor unions, community organizations, student groups, single payer health care advocates and various political organizations in the region.

In a letter the Executive Director of the San Francisco Labor Council Tim Paulson wrote:

“Dear Sisters and Brothers,
I want to urge you and your members to participate in a teach-in and mobilizing meeting scheduled for May 9, 2009 at the Plumbers’ Hall (1621 Market Street, between Franklin and Gough) from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. This event is being co-sponsored by Bay Area Labor Councils. This event is of special importance because it will highlight an action plan developed by the San Francisco Labor Council that includes the following goals:
• No layoffs. Massive job-creation programs.
• Tax the rich—don’t bail out the banks.
• Pass the Employee Free Choice Act.
• Single-payer health care for all.
• Affordable housing for all. Moratorium on foreclosures and evictions.
• Funding for jobs, social services and infrastructure, not for war.
• Stop the ICE raids and deportations. Legalization for all.
This May 9 event will propose large public actions to promote this action plan. We believe this plan is not only good for working people in San Francisco, but for the country as a whole since we cannot get out of this deepening recession unless working people are working at union jobs with union-scale wages, they enjoy good health, and they have the security of a home.” (excerpted)

The people of California continue to pay for the consequences of the financial manipulations of the large multi-national corporations and investment banks. Unemployment in California has risen to 11.2%. 135,000 default notices on mortgages were sent out in the first three months of the year in California, an 80% increase from the fourth quarter of 2008 and a 19% increase from the previous year period.

It's time to stand with working people not just on election day, but every day. From this event there will be a plan developed for a Solidarity action that begins to unify the various social forces of our community towards common action with a common agenda.