My dad was in management with a major auto firm. While it was not his title, he was actually assigned or encouraged to be a union buster. EVEN HE used to say that unions were important and that unchallenged power leads to the enslavement of working people. He is right. In my first business administration course in the 1970s in the very first class, we were taught that management should always focus on leading and talented union workers and bring them into management to simultaneously rob the union of talent and win the war by converting the opposition. I got an MBA in the USA and I WAS SHOCKED by what anti-social and anti-humanity tactics are considered "JUST BUSINESS". The heinous tactics go back a very long way. In ENGLAND, the Tolpuddle Martyrs were a group of six 19th-century Dorset agricultural labourers who were arrested for and convicted of swearing a secret oath as members of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers. THEY were arrested and many DEPORTED to Australia as criminals for the AUDACITY of forming a 'friendly society" whose aim was to support one another in POVERTY. One wrote this: God is our guide! from field, from wave, From plough, from anvil, and from loom; We come, our country's rights to save, And speak a tyrant faction's doom: We raise the watch-word liberty; We will, we will, we will be free! Their quest for a modicum of justice and a chance at life is now a more serious calling today. Unions are virtually outlawed below the Mason Dixon line in the USA.
Debra Smith Debra, striking story. I commend your father. I would like to ask you a question, how did you not fall into the trap of Liberterian, Austrian School economics, laizze faire capitalism? You got a MBA, and yet you believe workers should have a say in the workplace. Why?
Hi Ryan, I think we learn the lessons of experience (our own and those of others that we believe). I was a bright kid but university was not an option at that time so I went into the factory. I was the first woman to take a certified skilled trade in the auto plant which was the major employer at that time in my community (much to my father's horror). I wanted a fair wage in exchange for the minutes and hours of my life. So I lived the discrimination and the irrationality of the abuse of labor. I should add, though, that more than once I had to tell union members that the only reason that they had the guts to abuse me was because they did not have the guts to fight back against my father. At that time, the unions did not protect me as an 'interloping' woman, either. I NEEDED IT. After they 'chased me out" I went on to have 5 kids in whom I am HIGHLY invested and that sort of abuse of them was ABSOLUTELY not going to happen. The thing is, once you learn to love anyone that much- the real worth of humanity is lodged in your heart and HUMAN RIGHTS are the bedrock under your feet, mind and actions. I went on for education (BA (hon) first in class- and that was a shock after the men in the factory had told me how STUPID I was, MA (on full scholarship) and MBA. Once you see how connected you are to other human beings (even when they think differently) I think you get a glimpse of what HUMANITY CAN BE and you are willing to work and even give your life for it.
"...unchallenged power leads to the enslavement of working people" ...? Ahhhh unless you live in a country where you are FORCED to work, NOBODY gets enslaved by their bosses. If you don't like the way your company treats you then leave OR buy voting stock (if publicly traded) and get yourself an executive say so or suck it up, advance into a mgmt position and change what you don't like. Unions have NO PLACE in 21st business
You know, that is honestly so disingenuous it is difficult to know where to start. If 'your side' has the political power to ensure that wages are suppressed and prices of necessities are beyond the reach of that suppressed wage - there is CERTAINLY ENSLAVEMENT. When you MUST drink water and you MUST eat food and those are beyond your reach- there is ENSLAVEMENT. When one group HAS the power and the other has almost none (and precludes every meaning of gaining power) there is ENSLAVEMENT. Your entitlement is hanging out. What percentage of the population own stock in any form? even in a managed pension? BUT your mind is made up. You do not CARE about anyone but yours. That is what will perpetuate enslavement of others and the sad thing for you is that no amount that you horde in your scorecard of a bank will insulate you from change.
Bro he has the same name as me and I’ve never met anyone with the same name... and by the way I’m 18 have I’ve been saying my name wrong this whole time 💀 I hope that’s not the way you say Brishen if it is I definitely been saying it wrong my hole life 🤨
longho Its our goal on the Left to abolish the right to work laws and destroy the right to work movement. Those of us who went to college and who actually work and study are sick and tired of fascists dipping into our wages and hindering our voices in the workplace. We hate scabs, and these traditionalists that come out of the former Confederacy and the Midwest Bible Belt. A lot of Nazis and Franco fascists were traditionalists too. Look at what they did. Hated democracy, hated unions and plunged the entire world into war. If Trump people, who by the way believe highschool is a communist plot, by the way, believe the battle of Normandy was fought so capitalism can be restored, just shows how ignorant and stupid they are. The Battle of Normandy was fought so peace, prosperity, and democracy can be restored and workers will not be used as cheap labor
