Union membership is slipping both nationally and in New York State. If one wants to examine the causes of wages and benefits slipping for working and middle class people in this country, start looking at the decline of unions as a major factor.
This is troubling reading from City Limits via Mike Schirtzer.
The number of U.S. workers who belonged to labor unions fell by a quarter million nationwide in 2016, continuing a decline of worker power that has spanned decades.
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Thursday that 10.7 percent of wage and salary workers belonged to unions, a 0.4 percent drop over 2015 and the lowest share of the workforce recorded over the 33 years for which detailed statistics are available. With 14.6 million union members, the U.S. now has 3.1 million fewer than it did when reliable data begins in 1983, when one in five workers belonged.
Public-sector workers continued to have far higher unionization rates than their private-sector counterparts, and from 24.7 percent in 2015 to 23.6 percent in 2016. New York’s union membership fell from 2.038 million to 1.942 million last year.
Republicans as well as corporate Democrats are the enemies of working people.
Many here would argue that the leadership of the unions are also not our friends.
Maybe its because, if you watched the facebook video in the previous posting, nobody wants to work in these schools. You saw illegal cell phone use, cursing, threatening, and then physical violence in a classroom.
ReplyDeleteLOL at de Blasio saying Trump cant ignore the law. Isnt that what sanctuary cities do when they assist potential criminals?
ReplyDeleteLook at pictures of people jumping out of the World Trade and tell me terrorism is ok. If you family was in there, maybe you would care more. If you were in a cafe and a bunch of Muslims started shooting you would care more.
ReplyDeleteHow many times did Obama do things that violated a law?
ReplyDeleteYou guys are the reason we are so fucked. You support the politicians who want to destroy working people over issues that have nothing to do with economics. If we had strong unions, those kids you complain all the time about would be dealt with and teachers would regain authority in the classroom. Keep voting Trump/Bush/Regan Republican and watch them destroy everything working people worked so hard to get. You think Trump is a friend to teachers in public schools?
ReplyDelete👍@ 1:16
DeleteThese are the teachers who gave us Pataki, Giuliani, mayoral control and more. Democrats aren't much better so don't shout out some dumb thing Obama did. We need a working class party like European countries have to look out for our interests.
ReplyDeleteLet's vote for the party that made union busting a policy so we can all work in Eva's charter schools. New York's dumbest is the right description of some of the teachers who comment here.
ReplyDeleteBut you had Dem in every spot, president, mayor, governor, and those who were put in charge by dems, king, duncan...
ReplyDeleteYou didn't read what I said. The dems are not much better so we need to look out for ourselves. it's why we need a working class party and strong unions.
ReplyDeleteWhen Obama was elected, Bloomberg, a Republican at the time, was buying off people so he could run for a third term and he beat a Democrat Thompson who the UFT would not back.
ReplyDeleteBloomberg ran Republican because he had to, not because he is...
ReplyDeleteHe ran as a Republican against a Democrat and the UFT stayed neutral. Bloomberg won and we got fucked. That's what happened. He then got the Republican senate to pass a bill to end LIFO layoffs. Chris Christie said we should do that too in Trenton the other day. Republicans your friends? Who was the one on the Wizard of Oz who needed a brain? Was it the scarecrow?
ReplyDeleteAnd these cowardly lions at the UFT won't do anything to help us.
ReplyDeleteAnd the school administrators have no hearts just like the tin man.
ReplyDeleteMercy...you are passionate and so accurate
ReplyDeleteLIFO is still the law in New York. (Which is a good thing if NYC stops getting educational funding from the Feds)
ReplyDeleteUnions have been in a free fall ever since NAFTA was enacted. The TPP would have all but snuffed them out forever. Kudos to Trump for killing the TPP and his order to renegotiate NAFTA. Thats why the trade union heads showed up at the White House last week. So James you are wrong to think of the Republicans as your enemy.
ReplyDeleteRead the record since Ronald Reagan fired the air traffic controllers in 1981. Look where there are right to work for less states. Republicans have been working to kill unions for decades. Democrats are not much better but rely on our support.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we need a different approach and join the movement of the people's party, the progressive party. God knows that the Democrats will only say things that tickles the people's ear, like smooth operators, but will kowtow to those who lined their political pockets. Let's finally make a true radical move and show the politicians that we take this anymore. Please join justicedemocrats.com
ReplyDeleteThe Democratic Party has shown it's true color in this election with their ties to wall street, the big banks, their refusal to reinstate Glass-Steagal Act, the single-payers plan, etc., etc.
Yes, but we should take it over like the tea party took over the GOP.
ReplyDelete