Thread: Americans Should Thank Labor Because

America owes a debt to labor unions--its called the national deficit and the damn number is nearly nine trillion dollars

Americans Should Thank Labor Because..?

By John Lillpop
Monday, September 7, 2009

It happens on the first Monday of every September: America closes its offices, factories, and other places of enterprise to celebrate Labor Day.

In other words, an entire day is wasted doing nothing to celebrate the underclass thugs who wear blue jeans and hard hats and carry lunch pails, AND their leaders who wear $2,000. Brooks Brothers suits while executing extortion and thievery schemes that We the People eventually pay for.

President Obama delivered the traditional “Thank Laborâ€

I worked for 25 yrs in the steel industry. Ten yrs in a union shop (USW) and 15 yrs in a non-union shop. The men I knew in the USW were the hardest working, best trained and most dedicated employees I ever had.
Some of them worked in terrible conditions; next to red hot pipe, outside in freezing cold or rain. One winter the Ohio River froze, but we still loaded trucks outside.

The union gave them some control over their work environment and attempted to insure work rules were applied fairly.

As a Plant Mgr., in a non-union shop, I didn't have a union contract to abide by. Management did what we wanted. It wasn't always fair.

I never had a problem with a union worker that couldn't be resolved. In a non-union shop, they are usually fired. There's no doubt in my mind unions protect the average worker.

I worked 25 years in the aluminum industry in a union shop (USW). Thanks for your kind words. Thank you also for your hard work to keep the cash flowing to make it all possible. Honesty requires that we accept there is valid criticism in the article above. The proof is in the pudding. There will be no fourth generation workers in our plants. The plants are gone. Country first!

loservillelabor,

The number of jobs that have been outsourced, with the support of BOTH parties is appalling. Not all countries support outsourcing. Neither Germany or Japan (govts) support the outsourcing of their manufacturing jobs.

I once spoke with a German manager that thought this country was simply crazy, for our govt. to support the outsourcing of any job. I've complained to many a govt. official and they all accuse me of being a "protectionist". I simply want our govt. to be neutral. Presently, our corp. tax structure promotes outsourcing. I believe this is backwards.

The millions of jobs that have been outsourced will NEVER come back. Many of these jobs provided good pay, health care, and a pension. Our govt. helped to almost eliminate the defined pension plan. Now, I fear the govt. may help eliminate company supplied health plans. The insurance companies would love this. We would all be on our own for health care, similar to how we must now provide our own pension, with a 401k.

A "public option" for health care may be necessary. This shouldn't be a govt. program, but a govt. regulated program. Without good regulations, companies will take advantage of us, especially insurance companies.
But I'm now on a different topic.

Unions can't really stop jobs from being outsourced, but they do offer protection to individual workers. Good employees deserve this protection. Bad employees can still be fired. Just follow the rules. If a bad employee doesn't change his behavior, he will fire himself. It just takes a little longer.

I don’t buy the argument that a 233 year old Republic had to be dismantled entirely because of unions. However, many will make this argument in an attempt to give cover to the famous named Republicans and Democrats who supported these illegal “free trade agreements. When you pin down those who are supporting these agreements, they can’t point to one positive aspect of this insanity. They can only shout “protectionismâ€