When it becomes apparent to even Jerry Brown that things need to change, well, you don’t need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing.[/quote]
Thank you, Allan.
Yes, I’ve seen the numbers. It makes sense to terminate membership when one realizes that union membership won’t offer any advantages. The unions have been rendered powerless. Why pay for nothing?
On a personal note, my father was a professor at a community college, and a (mandatory) contributor/member of the union. He hated every second of it. He spent his years there fighting everything the union did, and was very public about his battles.
He was one of the lucky ones who got to live during the “Golden Age” of public unions. We had free/very low cost healthcare which provided for his care during his ~25 years of various cancer treatments (I’m guessing it would have cost at least $1MM by the time it was all said and done), a nice pension, and the “golden grail” of all public benefits — retiree healthcare (which few get these days). One day, when he was retired and complaining to me about unions, I asked him why he didn’t send his pension check back and refuse any retiree medical care. He kicked me out of his house (we had a really great relationship, except for this one topic). Apparently, he didn’t get the connection. He was a very intelligent man, but like so many out there, didn’t realize how much unions have done for middle-class Americans and workers all across this country, public and private.
Unfortunately, from everything I’ve seen, it’s the people who gain the most as a result of unions, public safety nets, etc. who are most rabidly anti-union/govt. I’m sure that many of those public employees who left the unions felt that they were “forced” to pay the union dues against their will. Of course, they chose these professions largely because of the compensation, benefits, and working conditions that are a *direct result* of union activity…they’d be working in private schools or for private security companies, etc., if not.
Too many people are completely incapable of understanding the age-old battle between capital and labor. It is behind every instance of slavery, every war, every revolution. I think we are headed down a very dark, dangerous path.
Naturally, the past few weeks have been very upsetting and frustrating to those of us who are pro-labor. Another article about the defection from unions [bold is mine]:
…………. “Walker is working to make that harder than ever (ditto for voting, and suing for equal pay and much more). Just as attacks on private sector unions left public sector unions vulnerable, so hamstringing public employees hurts private sector workers too. Despite Walker’s less-than-convincing claims otherwise, Democrats warn that it would only be a matter of time before a reelected Walker would push to make Wisconsin a “right to work” state – a goal that activists at a Madison Tea Party rally told me they’re eager to support. Union leaders say Walker’s public sector union-busting has already led to private sector strikes at Ashland Industries and Manitowoc Crane. Both strikes began after management demanded contract provisions like those Walker forced on public workers.
In other words, “divide and conquer” works, and it goes in both directions.“
