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| - So I'm with Darren W. on the United Steelworkers Union. My grandfathers were both mill workers. It was thanks to the union that my grandfathers enjoyed such "ridiculous" (as Edwin H puts it) as 40 hour work weeks, paid overtime, affordable healthcare, good wages and pay increases, and above all a decent pension. My grandfathers were able to buy homes without fear of foreclosure. They were able to buy cars, put food on the table, and raise my parents. They were able to retire on decent, but not lavish pensions.
Ridiculous, ain't it?
Some may believe the cliche of unions encouraging laziness, but I can assure you that my grandfathers worked damn hard in those mills. They could certainly put the yuppie whiners of today to shame with their work ethics (or in the yuppie's case, a lack thereof) Unions were and are a system of checks and balances. Unions ensure that management cannot trample all over the workers. Since most union jobs have been abolished, you have to ask yourself where have wages gone since then? Where have your benefits gone? Why have the poor increased many fold in number? Why are smaller percentages of people owning greater percentages of wealth? Why has the gulf between rich and poor widened? Why are pensions the thing of the past? Why must we accept poverty wages as the norm?
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