Unions

 

Look For The Union Label

Look for the union label
When you are buying that coat, dress or blouse.
Remember somewhere our union's sewing,
Our wages going to feed the kids, and run the house.
We work hard, but who's complaining?
Thanks to the I.L.G. we're paying our way!
So always look for the union label,
it says we're able to make it in the U.S.A.!

U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

The lyric above is of course the old commercial jingle for the International Ladies Garment workers union. Union organizing is having a bit of surge and pushback at the present time. The workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee voted to unionize which prompted much hand wringing by anti-union governors in the South. Trader Joe's, Amazon, Starbucks, and many companies beloved by liberals are fighting union organizing efforts by their own employees, prompting a call to boycott their products by liberals.

I am addicted to Trader Joe's products. I am an Amazon Prime member. And while I am a New Englander and prefer Dunkin' Donuts coffee, I will admit to enjoying a hot caffeinated beverage from Starbucks, including their mother store in Seattle. I will not be joining any boycott, but I also do not support their efforts in opposing unions. It seems to be centered around the fact that they are treating their workers well so how dare those workers unionize! Silly corporations! It is not about your present management. It is about how management might act in the future. They are not making fun of you. They are making fun of her. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkcdU4gxU38

Walt Disney famously fought against union organizing efforts at his studio in the 1930’s, for many of the same reasons. How dare his employees! We are a family! And besides aren’t unions full of communists and criminals! 

Any healthy system should be as large as possible.  If a corporation depends on workers to produce its products, then why shouldn't those workers act together as a system?  I believe the phrase is we all hang together, or we will all hang separately. There may be bad unions, but that does not mean that all unions are bad. Walt may have been wrong, but that does not mean I won’t be watching Disney movies or going to Disneyland.  And that will be my position unless the behavior is so egregious that by buying those products, the buyer becomes complicit in the actions of the seller. Until then, IMHO, unions are as American as Apple Pie.