Would you cross a picket line?

And you took the easy way out while people who were fighting with and for you stood in that picket line. You should be left with a bad taste in your mouth.
Scab.

 

Why do so many in this thread act like newspapers are coal mines or steel mills, which were usually the only business in town and could take advantage of workers for that reason.

Anyone who doesn't like their pay or benefits at their newspaper can easily just go get another job. There are thousands of other possibilities out there for what people like us. Newsroom workers are are white-collar educated workers with marketable skills, not teamsters or laborers. There's no reason to put your own family at risk in a strike situation when you can just go elsewhere.

 

Bravo. There are a lot of people born at second base these days who don't "see the need" for organizing.

 

You might not say that if you're 50 years old. And if those possibilities are another newspaper job, there aren't many new ones opening up.

This is the kind of tough-guy rhetoric which turns people against unions.

 

:

 

This was the same kind of crap I used to hear when I was a Guild organizer. Like most of its variations, it usually means, "I'm too cheap to pay dues."

 

I have given thought to the first question. Knowing of an impending strike deadline, I would inform my supervisor at the last minute that if a strike does occur, I won't be returning after its conclusion. Sort of a "conditional" notice.

The second question is tricky. I don't know the answer. I guess it would depend on if management asked me back. If not, then I suppose I'm outta luck.

 

As the pure capitalists like to say, it's every man (or woman) for himself. Companies have been teaming up for centuries to maximize their profits and influence the laws of their country to protect them at the expense of everyone else. Why shouldn't journalists be able to team up and organize, too?

Ever read any histories of The Great Depression? You had companies banding together to decide on wages. If a worker didn't like their wage, they didn't have anywhere else to go. But if any union people tried to organize, they were thrown in jail, beaten and even killed, because they were 'trying to overthrow the country.' And the businessmen used their money and influence to buy off the police and judges.

Everyone has their own individual skill sets and education. That's why doctors are doctors, teachers are teachers and plumbers are plumbers. Would you want a ditchdigger performing brain surgery on you? Exactly. There aren't as many alternative jobs out there for people. That's why they fight so hard to improve working conditions at their current place of employment.

 

In the past I've worked places that were unionized, but you didn't have to join the union, and my wife works at such a place now. And for a time I worked in an industry that was heavily unionized, but not the company I worked for.

I've never seen any of the people who chose not to join give up any of the benefits they received through collective bargaining. And when I worked at the non-unionized company, we received almost identical benefits - or a close equivalent - to a union shop because the unions created an industry standard that all companies in the field had to approach to attract qualified workers.

But when the non-unionized felt that they got screwed, by management, guess what they regretted?

They are not perfect organizations, by far, but we are far better off with them than without.

 

Sometimes. Sometimes not. If it were black-and-white, everyone would agree on it, right?

 

Unions' historical impact on workers' rights cannot be denied. But their influence has been waning steadily for decades. I think unions nowadays often do more harm than good, but unions remain vital for certain workers, specifically those who hold municipal jobs. My overall take on unions and what they've become is less than flattering, but my personal experience with those who have gone on strike, what they sacrificed and what they ultimately gained from it means I would never, ever cross a picket line.

 

This is not flaming. This is said to make a point.

If I were to cross a picket line -- and I seriously doubt I ever would -- I'd be much MORE likely to do so if the union insiders were using rhetoric like this.