Posted by
Nate on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 12:03:34 PM
Now, I don't have any statistical evidence on union membership and their respective income brackets. So, my question is, since the majority of members of labor unions are made up of service employee's, factory workers, and transportation employee's, wouldn't those people BE the middle class of America?
I don't know if they are or not, I need evidence and I'm not entirely sure where to find it. But if they are, wouldn't that mean that Republican and conservatives really are declaring war on the middle class by declaring war on unions? I realize that union leadership can sometimes be going in one direction while their members want or need them to go in another but for the most part, are they not representing people against gigantic corporations? I also realize that unions can cause headaches for smaller companies that don't have the resources of larger corporations but is this reason enough to get rid of them? With such consolidated power that you find in a large corporation, don't the people need a tool to defend themselves against exploitation and unfair employment practices? That was what unions where invented to deal with in the first place and I don't think the need is gone, even in this modern age.
I think it's absolutely disgusting that Walmart refuses to allow unions. I completely understand why they refuse, from their perspective. It would cost them money and their profits would fall. I just think that the employees of a company that work hard to make it profitable deserve to share in that profit to a reasonable amount.
Some will say unions drive companies to move overseas. It would be complicated, but I think that any company that is based in America that shuts down an American factory to ship the same jobs overseas should be made to pay a tax. Tax the hell out of those companies whose profits are more important than anything else. Capitalism is great but it's also heartless and greedy and unfettered capitalism is NOT our friend(unless you're super rich).