AFL-CIO another stellar year!

[aapitbull]

Article on the Usatoday.com


WASHINGTON — The nation's labor unions saw another steep decline in membership last year, even as the economy showed signs of recovery and job losses slowed.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that unions lost 612,000 members in 2010, dropping the unionized share of the work force to 11.9% from 12.3% in 2009. That follows a loss of 771,000 workers in 2008, continuing a steady decline from the 1950s when more than a third of workers belonged to unions.

All you TWU fools tell me again how be part of this organization helps us, another 612,000 down the drain.

 

[Bagbelt]

Article on the Usatoday.com


WASHINGTON — The nation's labor unions saw another steep decline in membership last year, even as the economy showed signs of recovery and job losses slowed.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that unions lost 612,000 members in 2010, dropping the unionized share of the work force to 11.9% from 12.3% in 2009. That follows a loss of 771,000 workers in 2008, continuing a steady decline from the 1950s when more than a third of workers belonged to unions.

All you TWU fools tell me again how be part of this organization helps us, another 612,000 down the drain.

16 million have lost their jobs since 2007. Manufacturing is 6% of our workforce unlike the 1950's. I'm not a fan of the afl-cio, but the business cycle is going to do what it's going to do. They have fought offshoring for years, but we all like the 300 dollar flatscreens, so oh well.

 

[Interested]

That's what happens when the general public wants is the cheapest product out there. All the jobs still going overseas. If people practiced what they preached and bought USA made items, then maybe some of those jobs would come back. How many here look to see where something is made before it's purchased? I'm talking from big ticket items to grocery shopping. I don't do it all the time.

 

[Bob Owens]

That's what happens when the general public wants is the cheapest product out there. All the jobs still going overseas. If people practiced what they preached and bought USA made items, then maybe some of those jobs would come back. How many here look to see where something is made before it's purchased? I'm talking from big ticket items to grocery shopping. I don't do it all the time.

The working public has always wanted the cheapest product out there, and there has always been trade between countries.

There's more to it than that so dont beat yourself up over that $300 flat screen, chances are you cant find one made here at any price. Buy American campaigns are nice but they dont address the problem.

Favorable tax laws that reward instead of punish US Based (psysically based, although they may be fiscally based in the Cayman Islands so they dont pay taxes here) companies that move their work overseas. Citizens cant take $10,000 out of the country without permission but corporations can move billions of dollars worth of production overseas then bring the products back here to sell them. We need to make the CEOs go live where they send their production. If they dont want to make it here then go live where you want to make it. Unfair trade laws that allow other coiuntries to outlaw unions and jail Union leaders so corporations that laid off American workers can continue to get cheap labor over there, the lack of enviornmental and safety laws in these countries and trade policies that limit what we can send there while they enjoy unlimited access to our markets with goods that are produced with exploited labor. The fact that we allow Corporations and foreigners(usually corporations as well) to have unlimited access to our politcical system and the ability to contribute to political campaigns to further their intersts at the expense of the American people, these are what is ruiniing this country.

As fas as the AFL-CIO, I feel that the fancy offices and six figure salaries have put them in denial. They still keep saying that they need to recruit more members while at the same time telling the members they have to work for less instead of fighting. They think of themselves as businessmen running a corporation, they adopt the uniform, mimic the language and the mindset of their corporate counterparts. Dues are now revenues and memberships are now widgets. They think the more widgets they can sell the more revenue they get. But the widgets are getting harder to sell, instead of improving the quality their logic is to desperately try and produce more widgets. Unions need to make membership desirable. (Maybe they need to hire consulting groups!!! :blink: )If Non-union Delta, JetBlue and FedEx pay better than most union shops union membership is no longer appealing, not only to the non-union workers there but to the union workers at other lower paid carriers as well who now look at their dues as a pay cut. Why bother trying to organize non-union workers if you dont have the hearts and minds of the ones you already have? Unions will never win the hearts and minds of their own members when they bring back concessions. Workers can give concessions without unions, they dont need to pay dues for that.

If the AFL-CIO and the labor movement want to survive they have to change. They must reorganize and consolidate. The airline industry is a perfect example of the problems with the AFL-CIO. Its just a failing business model if you will. Way too many unions and no coherant structure. Its a hodgepodge patchwork of representation, or better yet misrepresentation. Labor remains Fractured and divided in the airline industry. No-raid clauses didnt eliminate competition or stregnthen the labor movement, it simply changed the means of competing, No-Raid simply took membership choice out of the equation, instead of unions courting their members by showing that membership in this organization provides superior benifits unions were now competing to give the host corporations a competative edge over the host corporation of competing unions. Since unions could not compete for the members directly they could get new members by being in place at the surviving carrier at the finish line of the race to the bottom. If the unions consolidated there would less incentive to put the members in a race to the bottom.

 

[FWAAA]

Americans who do still manufacture things need to find ways to sell those things around the world, the same way those makers of $300 flat screens have thrived. American workers are often far more productive than foreign workers and American products sometimes have unexplainable cache in some foreign markets.

Here's a story from Friday about an RV firm in southern California that will build and export to China up to 30,000 motorhomes worth up to $5 billion and employ about 1,200 additional workers:

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/21/business/la-fi-china-rv-20110121

I would have never guessed Americans could sell motorhomes to the Chinese. Dunno if the workers are represented but with unemployment in CA at 12.5% (and higher in the Riverside area), beggars can't be choosers.

 

[Bob Owens]

Americans who do still manufacture things need to find ways to sell those things around the world, the same way those makers of $300 flat screens have thrived. American workers are often far more productive than foreign workers and American products sometimes have unexplainable cache in some foreign markets.

Here's a story from Friday about an RV firm in southern California that will build and export to China up to 30,000 motorhomes worth up to $5 billion and employ about 1,200 additional workers:

http://articles.lati...ina-rv-20110121

I would have never guessed Americans could sell motorhomes to the Chinese. Dunno if the workers are represented but with unemployment in CA at 12.5% (and higher in the Riverside area),
beggars can't be choosers.

Ah yes, that pretty much sums up your opinion of, and your corporate friends objectives towards, the "American Worker". Beggars without choices, take what we feel like giving you ar else.

I will burn before I beg.

 

[aapitbull]

Nice to see all you guys have nothing to say to defend your AFL-CIO. I say remember Eistein's definition of insanity "Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different outcome" See AFL-CIO for example.

 

[Ed Norton]

It has been repeated ad nauseum that the AFL-CIO is nothing but a dues collecting enterprise. It would be rightly titled AFL-CIO Inc., a wholly owned subciadiary of U.S.A. Corporation. However, it serves another purpose. That purpose is to act as a buffer between working class radicals (if they were to exist) and the working class. The AFL-CIO effectively stymies any type of radicalism that could infect the minds of the working class and cause them to rise up in unity. It has not only been a shill for big business in the U.S, but it has been conplicit in the murder of union activists in the third world and the overthrow of elected governments (AIFLD) at the behest of U.S. corporate interests. The AFL-CIO working hand in hand with the capitalist and his dumbed down education system has aided succesfully in the removal of any trace of class conciousness from the minds of the working class. The working class has been convinced that there is no class struggle, that they are powerless to defend themselves from the constant onslaught of the ruling elite and the politicians that they own. When ever someone points out that there is inequality in the capitalist society they are accused of promoting class warfare; this inequality is explained away as merely an "correction of the market" caused by Adam Smith's "invisible hand" which "guides" the economy. The sick, lame and lazy are then blamed for not raising themselves up by their "boot straps" The "invisible hand" is my favorite. Its like some kind of economic Santa Claus that comes down the chimney on Wall Street and gives to the nice and not to the naughty! The reality is that there is class warfare in this country, it has been going on at least since the advent of the corporation and the industrial revolutions in the Uk and the U.S. Economic class warfare is evident in rising inflation, in increased taxes, the looting of pension funds and social security, outsourcing U.S. jobs, the bailout of banks with public funds, etc, etc. The capitalist decries socialism when it benefits the working class. The capitalist has no problerm with corporate socialism: privatized profit and public loss. Most of the working class is not preoccupied with the class struggle, it is preoccupied by sports, entertainment, baubbles and gadgets and the day to day grind. The working class does not know the great might it has. It is because of this great might that the capitalist has to buy the politicians to enact laws that are to his benefit and of detriment to the working class. Also because of this great might the capitalist has to buy the court system, and the judges to enforce his laws. The capitalist is also a great coward who has to hide behind the National Guard and the police powers of the state when the working class chooses to wield its great might.
One of the crown jewels of the capitalist's machinations is the corporately controlled media (along with the education system) which plies its propaganda to keep the working class fearful and ignorant.
The sad truth is that there is nothing wrong with the AFL-CIO. It is not broken. It is serving as advertized. It is doing its job. It is doing exactly what it was meant to do. The Knights of Labor have turned into The Pimps of Labor!

 

[Frank Szabo]

It has been repeated ad nauseum that the AFL-CIO is nothing but a dues collecting enterprise. It would be rightly titled AFL-CIO Inc., a wholly owned subciadiary of U.S.A. Corporation. However, it serves another purpose. That purpose is to act as a buffer between working class radicals (if they were to exist) and the working class. The AFL-CIO effectively stymies any type of radicalism that could infect the minds of the working class and cause them to rise up in unity. It has not only been a shill for big business in the U.S, but it has been conplicit in the murder of union activists in the third world and the overthrow of elected governments (AIFLD) at the behest of U.S. corporate interests. The AFL-CIO working hand in hand with the capitalist and his dumbed down education system has aided succesfully in the removal of any trace of class conciousness from the minds of the working class. The working class has been convinced that there is no class struggle, that they are powerless to defend themselves from the constant onslaught of the ruling elite and the politicians that they own. When ever someone points out that there is inequality in the capitalist society they are accused of promoting class warfare; this inequality is explained away as merely an "correction of the market" caused by Adam Smith's "invisible hand" which "guides" the economy. The sick, lame and lazy are then blamed for not raising themselves up by their "boot straps" The "invisible hand" is my favorite. Its like some kind of economic Santa Claus that comes down the chimney on Wall Street and gives to the nice and not to the naughty! The reality is that there is class warfare in this country, it has been going on at least since the advent of the corporation and the industrial revolutions in the Uk and the U.S. Economic class warfare is evident in rising inflation, in increased taxes, the looting of pension funds and social security, outsourcing U.S. jobs, the bailout of banks with public funds, etc, etc. The capitalist decries socialism when it benefits the working class. The capitalist has no problerm with corporate socialism: privatized profit and public loss. Most of the working class is not preoccupied with the class struggle, it is preoccupied by sports, entertainment, baubbles and gadgets and the day to day grind. The working class does not know the great might it has. It is because of this great might that the capitalist has to buy the politicians to enact laws that are to his benefit and of detriment to the working class. Also because of this great might the capitalist has to buy the court system, and the judges to enforce his laws. The capitalist is also a great coward who has to hide behind the National Guard and the police powers of the state when the working class chooses to wield its great might.
One of the crown jewels of the capitalist's machinations is the corporately controlled media (along with the education system) which plies its propaganda to keep the working class fearful and ignorant.
The sad truth is that there is nothing wrong with the AFL-CIO. It is not broken. It is serving as advertized. It is doing its job. It is doing exactly what it was meant to do. The Knights of Labor have turned into The Pimps of Labor!

Good post, Ed.

 

[aapitbull]

It has been repeated ad nauseum that the AFL-CIO is nothing but a dues collecting enterprise. It would be rightly titled AFL-CIO Inc., a wholly owned subciadiary of U.S.A. Corporation. However, it serves another purpose. That purpose is to act as a buffer between working class radicals (if they were to exist) and the working class. The AFL-CIO effectively stymies any type of radicalism that could infect the minds of the working class and cause them to rise up in unity. It has not only been a shill for big business in the U.S, but it has been conplicit in the murder of union activists in the third world and the overthrow of elected governments (AIFLD) at the behest of U.S. corporate interests. The AFL-CIO working hand in hand with the capitalist and his dumbed down education system has aided succesfully in the removal of any trace of class conciousness from the minds of the working class. The working class has been convinced that there is no class struggle, that they are powerless to defend themselves from the constant onslaught of the ruling elite and the politicians that they own. When ever someone points out that there is inequality in the capitalist society they are accused of promoting class warfare; this inequality is explained away as merely an "correction of the market" caused by Adam Smith's "invisible hand" which "guides" the economy. The sick, lame and lazy are then blamed for not raising themselves up by their "boot straps" The "invisible hand" is my favorite. Its like some kind of economic Santa Claus that comes down the chimney on Wall Street and gives to the nice and not to the naughty! The reality is that there is class warfare in this country, it has been going on at least since the advent of the corporation and the industrial revolutions in the Uk and the U.S. Economic class warfare is evident in rising inflation, in increased taxes, the looting of pension funds and social security, outsourcing U.S. jobs, the bailout of banks with public funds, etc, etc. The capitalist decries socialism when it benefits the working class. The capitalist has no problerm with corporate socialism: privatized profit and public loss. Most of the working class is not preoccupied with the class struggle, it is preoccupied by sports, entertainment, baubbles and gadgets and the day to day grind. The working class does not know the great might it has. It is because of this great might that the capitalist has to buy the politicians to enact laws that are to his benefit and of detriment to the working class. Also because of this great might the capitalist has to buy the court system, and the judges to enforce his laws. The capitalist is also a great coward who has to hide behind the National Guard and the police powers of the state when the working class chooses to wield its great might.
One of the crown jewels of the capitalist's machinations is the corporately controlled media (along with the education system) which plies its propaganda to keep the working class fearful and ignorant.
The sad truth is that there is nothing wrong with the AFL-CIO. It is not broken. It is serving as advertized. It is doing its job. It is doing exactly what it was meant to do. The Knights of Labor have turned into The Pimps of Labor!

Great Post but alas it will fall on deaf ears or on one's who lack the backbone to stand on their hind legs. I have often said that if you think telling a lie will get you in trouble try spreading a unpopular truth and see what happens. here is a few the TWU sucks, the AFL-CIO needs to be disbanded, with a mere stroke of the pen they can take it all away. WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!!!!

 

[aapitbull]

Awfully quiet in here cat got you tongue CIO HSS !!!!!

 

[Ed Norton]

Awfully quiet in here cat got you tongue CIO HSS !!!!!

What can they say? Even the likes of FWAA, and eolsen know the true purpose of BIG Labor. The TWU lackeys are probably scratching their heads wondering what to say. They're probably waiting for that bastion of unionism, Jim Little, to give them some guidance.
Speaking of Little, what are his bona fides? What qualifies him to be a big time labor leader? Mike Quill must be rolling in his grave!