AMERICA (and around the world ) —-let’s all be on high alert for the fall of the TRUMP NAME off the Kennedy center into the dumpster of history …. WE WILL IN UNANIMITY CLANG OUR POTS AND PANS, RING OUR CHURCH BELLS, Honk honk and keep honking our car horns until it is over and done.. let’s together make it a spectacular spectacle 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸💥AMERICA…..United we stand. Together we THRIVE🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Having taught some U.S. history, I've often been curious as to how unions got bad press. To me, they were the one power of the working class that could force "management" into more humane compensation packages and working conditions. I think it was the constant comparison to communism that goes back well over a century now. People, including some from the working class itself, had been trained to see communism as a movement that would take away property rights, and that is most dear to almost every American. Tagging unions with the communist label was thus a pretty effective way to thwart their power.
Whatever the reason is, unions have had to incur wrath they didn't deserve. They were the battering ram for the public in the fight for fairness in our economy. That is a fight that is as old as our civilization and I see no end to it. In fact, unions are probably more needed now than at any time in the past since their inception. Without them, one should just expect to be crushed by runaway capitalism.
I became active in my union, United Academics (AFT AAUP) as a way to resist. Solidarity through union action is a way to push back against anticipatory compliance in higher education administration!
Thanks Liz for bringing this out. My father was a union member and president of his local UAW. Being a union member made a world of difference in our lives. My father had better health insurance because of the union and when my mother needed chemotherapy she got the best there was at the time and honestly I think it made a big difference in her life expectancy. So grateful for the union!
When politics becomes oppressive, and big business becomes too parsimonious with wages and benefits, it is time for labor and its unions to stand up and join the resistance. Strong unions helped to bring us a strong middle class, especially after WWII. It is time to stand again for the working people of the country and for democracy.
Will American democracy survive this Autocratic Fascist onslaught?
It seems to me we are going to have to do much better in the education department. Labor unions, don't get me wrong, ARE critical, but we also have to attack the ignorance that made this all possible.
2026 IS the Chinese New Year of stupidity. I vote for thinking.
AMERICA (and around the world ) —-let’s all be on high alert for the fall of the TRUMP NAME off the Kennedy center into the dumpster of history …. WE WILL IN UNANIMITY CLANG OUR POTS AND PANS, RING OUR CHURCH BELLS, Honk honk and keep honking our car horns until it is over and done.. let’s together make it a spectacular spectacle 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸💥AMERICA…..United we stand. Together we THRIVE🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Having taught some U.S. history, I've often been curious as to how unions got bad press. To me, they were the one power of the working class that could force "management" into more humane compensation packages and working conditions. I think it was the constant comparison to communism that goes back well over a century now. People, including some from the working class itself, had been trained to see communism as a movement that would take away property rights, and that is most dear to almost every American. Tagging unions with the communist label was thus a pretty effective way to thwart their power.
Whatever the reason is, unions have had to incur wrath they didn't deserve. They were the battering ram for the public in the fight for fairness in our economy. That is a fight that is as old as our civilization and I see no end to it. In fact, unions are probably more needed now than at any time in the past since their inception. Without them, one should just expect to be crushed by runaway capitalism.
I became active in my union, United Academics (AFT AAUP) as a way to resist. Solidarity through union action is a way to push back against anticipatory compliance in higher education administration!
Thanks Liz for bringing this out. My father was a union member and president of his local UAW. Being a union member made a world of difference in our lives. My father had better health insurance because of the union and when my mother needed chemotherapy she got the best there was at the time and honestly I think it made a big difference in her life expectancy. So grateful for the union!
When politics becomes oppressive, and big business becomes too parsimonious with wages and benefits, it is time for labor and its unions to stand up and join the resistance. Strong unions helped to bring us a strong middle class, especially after WWII. It is time to stand again for the working people of the country and for democracy.
Will American democracy survive this Autocratic Fascist onslaught?
It seems to me we are going to have to do much better in the education department. Labor unions, don't get me wrong, ARE critical, but we also have to attack the ignorance that made this all possible.
2026 IS the Chinese New Year of stupidity. I vote for thinking.
I had no idea that the SEIU had once been part of the AFL-CIO, divorced, and rejoined. And I've been a member for almost 20 years. 🤔