Saturday, February 26, 2011

The Weekend, Brought to You by, You Got It, Unions

This weekend, let's remember that the weekend was brought to you by unions. Our typical weekend tradition often involves posting a music video, so here's a golden oldie that is sadly missing from the airwaves in this "race to the bottom" era of union busting and outsourcing:





Regarding the idiocy of anti-union troglodytes, zrm posed this question in a comment at the House of Substance:


Why is the fact that union members receive decent benefits seen as a criticism of unionized work, and not as a criticism of non-unionized work?

Are all of us supposed to aspire to crappy wages,lousy hours and non-existent benefits?



Why indeed? Riffing off of one of the greatest comedic scenes in film history, and Australian satirical bit poses the question, "What have the unions ever done for us?" Yeah, what?


6 comments:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Don't forget Knuckles the Dog.
~

TruculentandUnreliable said...

It's the classic divide and conquer strategy.

I also think that a lot of people aren't smart/informed enough to understand the paradigm we're working under is FUCKED UP (if they did, they'd rebel against it).

It's taken as gospel now that our Galtian overlords know what's best for us and for "the economy," especially now that the economy is defined around the stock market. The economy SUCKED BEFORE the housing crash, but it didn't count because people at the top were still making money.

And I don't think all of this is due to deliberate manipulation at the top, although a lot of it is. Our media are dominated by the voices of the rich, our representatives in government are rich...either the people who shape the narrative don't GET IT or they are deliberately trying to fuck us.

Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

In solidarity, I offer this. I mean, it's not TOTALLY applicable, but we union supporters do gotta stay united.

ckc (not kc) said...

Just get yourself into a workplce where there are union (permanent) and non-union (contract) workers, and check out their relative treatment/protection. It's tough to sit by and watch (non-union) people get screwed over.

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

either the people who shape the narrative don't GET IT or they are deliberately trying to fuck us.

ding ding ding ding- we have a winner!

Race to the bottom for J.Q. Schmo.

Substance McGravitas said...

Just get yourself into a workplce where there are union (permanent) and non-union (contract) workers, and check out their relative treatment/protection.

Our non-union folks get marched out by security guards once their utility is questionable. Hooray!