Posted on 09/01/2019 8:20:42 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Something usually not discussed on Labor Day weekend is the violence and thuggery which has always been part of the union movement. And it still happens. The history of the labor movement in the U.S. is littered with extremists who use violence to get their way.
At the beginning of the union movement, the violence was outer-directed; toward the government, management, or the police who were using violence themselves to destroy the labor movement. As the movement matured, the abuse became directed inward, targeted towards keeping the rank and file in line, going after replacement workers, or sabotaging the particular company under siege. Just like the fictional Johnny Friendly bullied Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) in On The Waterfront real live union bosses rule with an iron fist.
Union thuggery/violence has also become a political weapon; attacking members of the public who may disagree with the progressive-socialist politics championed by union management.
Led by the Knights of Labor (one of the first national unions), workers at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. in Chicago began a strike in the hope of gaining an 8-hour workday. Two days later, on May 3, police were used to protect strikebreakers, and a scuffle broke out; one person was killed and several others injured.
On Tuesday, May 4, a mass meeting of workers was called to protest the police actions the previous day. A crowd of 20,000 had been expected, but it was a cold rainy day, so only about 2,500 showed up to hear speeches by Albert Parsons, Samuel Fielden, and August Spies.
Responding to pressure from businessmen, 600 police reserves were called in duty that night at the West Chicago, Harrison, and Central stations near the site of the protests. An extra 100 officers were added to the Des Plains station, less than a...
(Excerpt) Read more at lidblog.com ...
Yes. I remember a man being assaulted in Philadelphia a few years ago by union goons and of another man who was hired for a job in Philly who had all his tools and equipment thrown into the Delaware River for daring to work on a job the union wanted.
Yeah. There are bad examples out there for sure. But you can bet your behind that if it werent for labor unions, there wouldnt be a Labor Day, and wed be working for pennies and 6 days a week.
No union ever has, ever can or ever will create a single job. Not one.
I was cornered by union goons decades ago when I was a teenager and threatened with broken bones if I did not do what the union wanted (I quit that job immediately). I was threatened by union goons again two years ago and I suggested that they might want to back off (for reasons that I’ll leave out of this post) - and they backed off permanently. It’s amazing how good it feels not to bow down to evil thugs!
My brief time on a factory floor in a union shop convinced me to go back to college... and I hated the whole college experience. Up until then, I had never heard anyone seriously threaten to slash someone else's tires or assault their wife.
That is THE MOST MORONIC STATEMENT on unions I have ever read.
You have exposed yourself as a leftwing communist...and probably don't even realize it.
Unions have sabotaged jobs I have worked at and used government corruption to shut down my work on one job. Sad thing was I was not even competing with them. They just hate free American workers.
I despise Unions for the Leftist Thugrocracy they are.
However I have worked alongside some Unions that are professional and meet the quality standards I consider essential. But invariably they are slow, expensive and repressive to their workers.
Bump
bump
Another thing, if they are caught working for a non-union company in their trade, they are fired from the union and the union has the right to sue them for the cost of their apprenticeship training.
In other words, the union owns you for the rest of your working life.
Wow. If you believe that, and especially about me, you are dumber than dog crap. Seriously. And you probably don’t even realize it.
I don’t believe that unions are responsible for creating jobs.
Hear me. All unions are not created equal. There are plenty that now and currently exist to screw the employer and taxpayers, and even their ignorant hands themselves.
I am fortunate to work in a good union, and also with other good unions, who hold themselves to a high standard, hold our union accountable, and hold who we work for accountable. As it should be. Self funded retirement and health insurance.
It is ignorant to think that things would be good for workers if unions hadn’t stood for workers rights. Union membership is dropping, and that’s fine, as long as workers continue to be paid well and treated fairly.
I don’t agree with everything you said, but yeah; many unions have earned their reputations. I have a friend who’s dad was in the Teamsters. When he had to work to support the family (Teamsters were on strike for rape the company wages) they terrorized the family until his Dad threatened some of them with a gun.
But it is undeniable unions did a lions share of the work for fair wages and safe working conditions. The tie may now be fading for unions, and I am honestly OK with that. However, I am glad to be in a GOOD union right now.
Unionism doesn’t create wealth. They siphon it off.
I was pleasantly surprised that the goons never came back at me after the most recent time I was threatened. I told them that I didn’t want a business discussion to end with someone in a body bag. They never threatened me again and didn’t go after anyone in my family either. I don’t want to kill anyone, but there is no way in the world I’m going to let union goons bully me (plus I do have the training and resources to deal with thugs if necessary - not 100% but odds good enough to bet my life if it’s a choice between that and letting domestic terrorists intimidate me).
I was often the subject of a Union Grievance, at first, because I did not understand their rules governing the control of their employees. And later just because they needed to teach me a lesson. Any time I entered the shop floor to discuss a design with the machinists, the Union Steward would interject himself between me and the person I wanted to see. I had to ask the Union Steward my question, he would decide if the question was valid and then ask the machinist. The machinist would reply. The Steward would then repeat the answer to me.
The only thing the Union ever did for me was give me a day off. The Machinist Union had gone on strike. While pulling into the company parking lot, one of the machinists yelled that I would be lucky to have a car at the end of the day. This was a guy that I had worked cordially with for 2 years. I turned around, went home and called in saying that I had been threatened by the Union and was not coming in. I went to the beach.
The environment created by the Unions was part of the reason I left aerospace and moved on to Union-Free Silicon Valley and had a great career.
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