This is a great segment by Samantha Bee about Leslie Smith, one of the top women Mixed Martial Arts fighters in the world, who was thrown out of her sport when she tried to start a union.
Smith wanted fair pay for her dangerous work, health care, and a pension.
In case you have not seen it, one of the best things on cable TV recently was a series called GLOW—the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (the 2018 version on Netflix, which lasted two seasons) Some of its stars are on this segment, including the narrator.
A very wealthy man asked me recently why “everyone he knows” hates the unions. I replied that plutocrats have hated the unions since the passage of the Wagner Act in 1935. Nothing has changed except they now have a president and the Supreme Court on their side.
Now, more than ever, with so much money and power arrayed against working people, unions are needed to give working people a say.
You’ve captured the issue perfectly.
Absolutely unions are needed now and always in this particular country which has been rabidly anti-union for generations. Union history in this country has been very bloody in the past; striking workers have been shot at, slaughtered and even bombed by US troops. The highest unionization rates were in the 1950s in the 30% to 35% range. Compare that to the Scandinavian countries with unionization rates in the 51% to 76% range. The right wingers, conservatives and libertarians always claim that unions are obsolete or not needed nowadays because there is enough federal legislation already in place to protect workers. BUNKUM! Or they disingenuously state that if you are doing your job then you will have no need of a union and no problems with management, blah, blah, de-blah. BALONEY on steroids.
Vice just did a story on doomsday preppers. The wealthy in Manhattan are paying thousands a month for speed boats that will get them off the island and to an airport where they will fly to their tricked out shelters. The wealthy know that if income inequality continues, it will end in a police state or people in the streets with pitchforks.
I think most Americans will revolt against iron fist rule. A more reasonable solution is to understand that unions that fight for fair wages and benefits are a much better solution. The wealthy need to be made to share their wealth. A healthy middle class with enough money to fuel a consumer economy is better for everyone.
“unions are obsolete or not needed nowadays because there is enough federal legislation already in place to protect workers.”
This protection is best expressed by the amount of the federal minimum wage: it is one third of its buying power as it was 40 years ago. It is a $15K salary. Graduate students and other student workers may be paid half of that.
Women were taught to “keep their place”. Time to unlearn this and my message is that women stand strong!