Would you cross a picket line?

As I mentioned previously, I'm no big fan of unions either. However, have you ever decided to go on strike, knowing that if you lost, your livelihood and your ability to support your family would be in serious jeopardy, but knowing that a stand had to be made so that your peers and those that came after you wouldn't get screwed over and possibly, maybe even likely, killed because of management's actions or lack thereof? If not, maybe you shouldn't refer to unions as "little clubs."

 

I don't know. I tend to think that if I vote on something, I've agreed to abide by the majority's decision whether I agree or not, so that's what I do. I suppose if I felt any other way, I'd have been able to wave the ass-fucking permission slip in their face and say, "But you said I could!"

 

I'd be unlikely to cross a picket line because I traditionally have loathed management at the places I have worked, while either liking or at least tolerating colleagues (hey, they have their opinions of me, too).

But I'm no fan of unions either.

Three times in nearly three decades of my career, I felt I needed some help vs. management. First time, no union at the paper, no help. Second and third times, union paper, no help. That's what I paid $15K in dues for, apparently. Union officers are so skittish about offending the bosses that they fight almost nothing. They collect dues for five years or so that a contract is in place, then negotiate 2 percent raises or worse. Lather, rinse, repeat.

As for the take that those who don't support unions are just being cheap about the dues, here's a question: Would you rather have someone who doesn't pay the dues honor your picket line or have someone who is fully paid up cross the picket line? Some of these locals seem more interested in collecting dues and sustaining themselves than fighting the good fights.

 

Well, that's really the bottom line. If I'm in a union, it's majority rules. I'm down with that, and it's why I wouldn't cross. I would have already agreed to follow the majority.

But ... I'd still have little patience for those with long memories when it was over.

 

Oh, please.

The kind of ridiculous rhetoric on this thread is a real part of why unions are dying in this country.

Every union true believer wants to paint himself as part of the West Virginia Mine War of 1912, as if he's in danger of being killed while fighting for workers rights.

It's a joke. An absolute joke. And it turns a lot of people off that you probably could win over. Nobody's getting killed in a newspaper strike. Nobody. Stop acting like someone could if you want people to see you as anything but an irrational zealot.

 

There are usually (almost always) factions within unions, which is a healthy. But it's a democratic process and everyone gets to have his/her say on an issue. At the end of the discussion, though, you develop a consensus and EVERYONE in the union sticks together. I've never ratified a contract with which I was in complete agreement and I never will.

 

You not only hit all the right chords, JG, you got more balls than me.

 

There was some violence from company security in the Detrroit strike.

 

Ah, but I wouldn't be CAUGHT dead around a Detroit union situation in the first place.

 

There's a list of the victims and their injuries at the bottom of this:

http://www.solidarity-us.org/node/811

 

You can't fight the "good fight" without both money and full support. If as a union negotiator I go to the company and say we need such and such but I only have 60 percent membership, I get laughed at. Likewise, if I don't have the money to sustain a job action or hire a good lawyer for an arbitration case, I lose again. It's about power.

I wish I had a nickel for everyone who thought that management would see things our way if we only argued persuasively enough. A union is only as strong as the collective resolve of its membership.

 

man, i'm loving this discussion. i know my own strike background is way too wishy-washy to satisfy frank, but i'm diggin' it anyway.

i admire the passion of frank and others who see this as entirely black-and-white. wasn't that simple for me and others. certainly would've made life much easier inside my own head if i saw it that way.

but i have zero regrets. i like where i eventually fell after my four-day glitch. i told several of my fellow strikers back then that i admired how "easy" it was for them to walk the line.

again, i don't see where a change-of-heart is a crime. i don't hold it against politicians if it seems they've genuinely come to their senses.

and even though i proudly walked with the hardliners back in the day, i certainly don't see where this is an issue without gray areas. which is why the thread has entertained me for several days now.

carry on, friends. even those who won't ever consider me a "friend" for my four-day glitch.