CSAR you consistently like to compare military life to civilian, That being said there is a time and place for violence. Personally I don't attack unless provoked.
Did you SCABS not attack (steal) jobs from men/women who were trying to feed their children?
Fair enough, and as I told kev, I can respect that viewpoint. One question though...can you name ONE child in this dispute who has ACTUALLY gone hungry due to my crossing a picket line? If a man lets his own children starve before he violates his union beliefs, than is that man not guilty of putting his own pride and beliefs above the physical well being of his children? Now I dont for a second believe that you, "Local" would be that indifferent to the sufferings of your children, but I do wonder if thier are others amongst your midste who really WOULD let thier children starve rather than be ostracised by thier fellow "brothers".
I am fully aware that at the start of the labor movement, in the first part of the last century, that was indeed the only options....company towns, robber barons, and such, they had the employees by the short ones, and it was indeed a matter of life or death to them. The stuggles you face today, however, are but pale shadows of the REAL life and death struggles faced by your predeccesors. You know this as well as I, probably even more so. To quote Dillon, "These times they are a'changin'" You feel as though your very livelyhood is threatened...well, so did candlemakers after Edison. If unions want to survive in to the next century, and re-capture some of thier lost glory and prestige, they must first look DEEP into their own way of doing things that are as equally contibutory to thier decline as the changes in economics that has wrought such change to American manufacturing and services, for better, or worse. You yourself have commented regarding serious shortcomings in modern organised labor. I would opine that with the exception of a few diehards here, most decent union guys, (and gals) realise that changes HAVE to be made. The problem is, you want to fight using the last wars tactics. Believe me, as a diehard military man, I am fully aware of how hard it is to adapt to change in warfighting. But change we must if we are to survive, as a work force, and as a nation. We fail to do so at our own peril.
Best wishes,
CG