This is excellent! I don't think young people today realize the sacrifices that were made in the labor movement and I doubt very much that most of them would have the courage to fight and makes those sacrifices against the sweatshops that are returning across the country. Labor has sold out. Where are the Jimmy Hoffas and Walter Reuthers? We need people like them.
Kay, I'm not so sure labor has sold out. I do think that sometimes, pushed by the imperatives of defending its existing members under employer assaults, it has forgotten that it only thrives when it constantly organizes new sectors of the working class. And those sections are not, unlike most of the images in the YouTube, predominantly white men.
Some unions, like UNITE-HERE, are vigorously organizing the immigrants who now occupy our low wage jobs -- this is the group of persons who now need the solidarity of those of us lucky enough to have escaped that rung of the ladder.
This is unrelated to your current post, but I just ran across an article on SmirkingChimp.com that contained your name. I did some quick web searches and verified it was the Jan I knew (by e-mail) who was detained at SFO for being on the no-fly list.
I'm impressed (very impressed) as I look at your blog and see what you've been up to. I've gotten involved in local politics in VT, but my impact is very limited so far.
4 comments:
This is excellent! I don't think young people today realize the sacrifices that were made in the labor movement and I doubt very much that most of them would have the courage to fight and makes those sacrifices against the sweatshops that are returning across the country. Labor has sold out. Where are the Jimmy Hoffas and Walter Reuthers? We need people like them.
Kay, I'm not so sure labor has sold out. I do think that sometimes, pushed by the imperatives of defending its existing members under employer assaults, it has forgotten that it only thrives when it constantly organizes new sectors of the working class. And those sections are not, unlike most of the images in the YouTube, predominantly white men.
Some unions, like UNITE-HERE, are vigorously organizing the immigrants who now occupy our low wage jobs -- this is the group of persons who now need the solidarity of those of us lucky enough to have escaped that rung of the ladder.
What a rousing Pete Seeger song! The pictures teach a lot--and I needed these reminders. Thanks.
Jan,
This is unrelated to your current post, but I just ran across an article on SmirkingChimp.com that contained your name. I did some quick web searches and verified it was the Jan I knew (by e-mail) who was detained at SFO for being on the no-fly list.
I'm impressed (very impressed) as I look at your blog and see what you've been up to. I've gotten involved in local politics in VT, but my impact is very limited so far.
Thanks for fighting the fight like you do.
Damon
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