Labor Day 2014

I got the following link from Driftglass:

http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/06/12498/who-behind-national-right-work-committee-and-its-anti-union-crusade

Here in North Carolina we've had this "right to work" law in place since the late 1950s. Unions are so weak here that I don't recall ever meeting anyone in a union growing up, and my only encounter with a union as a personal matter was my membership in the Musicians Union, which was required in order for my band to work in New York City back in 1975. (We joined a local NC branch that did absolutely nothing, but I do recall that we could have gotten health insurance through the union had we thought, at that time, that we were not entirely invincible early 30-somethings who would never ever get to some place in life where any medical encounters might be needed.) We paid our dues. When I left the band never to be mentioned in 1981, taking a job banging nails for a local hippie builder, I let my membership lapse. Oh well.

Lately the so-called "right to work" idea has taken root up nawth. It's a shame. In the link you'll see that the idea has real history--it's tied to the John Birch Society and the Koch Brothers (who's daddy was tied to the Birchers). It's incredible how much effect a zillion dollars can have on how all of us live. That there free speech, what a weapon. Thank you Mr. Chief Justice.

Anyways, for this Labor Day you might want to thank some of the union men--"bosses" in the nomenclature of lies that now fill the heads of the misinformed and misguided. Without unions the cops would be even more likely to shoot you down like a dog even if you happened to be white, as was once the case in this great land of ours. Maybe, as the embers die around the fire pit, and the crickets and lightning bugs come out for one last hurrah before the coming of fall, a round of "This Land Is Your Land" would also be in order.

The article is in part talking about a case up before the Supreme Court:

Joel Rogers, a professor of law and sociology at the University of Wisconsin, calls it "the most important labor law case the court has considered in decades."

This is because when the Supreme Court decided to take on the case, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation dramatically expanded the scope of the case beyond the home health care workers to include all public sector workers, from teachers and firefighters to sanitation workers to librarians. If the court follows National Right to Work's lead, every state in the country would essentially turn into an anti-union "right to work" state, which would be a significant blow to public sector unions' collective bargaining efforts and also complicate thousands of existing contracts between organized workers and municipalities, cities, counties, and states across the country.

It's not a promising prospect. There was once a right to vote law, and the current Supreme Court kinda shut that one down. Said there was no more racism, so no need for Federal oversight.

There was a time when people died for the right to have a union. See, e.g., Matewan. After it gets entirely dark, go inside and watch Harlan County USA again. You can watch it on line too. Give it a google.