In spite of my unflappable anti-union stance, I'll admit that Matewan is among my very favorite films. I enjoy watching fine acting by people such as Chris Cooper and James Earl Jones. At my age of 70, I've long been able to divorce a message I may not agree with yet still acknowledge a well-done filmic achievement. I may very well be in that small subset of people who has both busted a union (as I did in Western Pennsylvania) but owns a DVD of Matewan. The music in that film, of course, is outstanding.
I was a Cal sate employee for 28 years, much fit a manager. I remember when Brown signed the bill.
The public employee union bribery system in which a union can contribute to those with whom they negotiate their contracts is inherently wrong. I think a hundred years ago it was easy to organize a union because of work conditions almost everywhere. Nowadays when we’re hurting, hard to have sympathy.
I remember the quote, by I think Samuel Gompers, when they asked him what his union wanted. His answer: “More.” Just like a great white shark you have to blow out of the water before it eats everything.