Senate Passes FAA Bill With Anti-Union Measure

It's official: Democrats have joined Republican­s in declaring war on organized labor.

Unclear to millions of unorganize­d workers is whether or not they should care. Thanks to years of right wing propaganda -- and labor union inertia -- millions of Americans are "union skeptics," unsure as to the nature of the union animal. These fence-stra­ddlers have no direct experience with organized labor, but they will be absolutely crucial participan­ts in this war of corporate power versus working people.  

Why is a war against labor unions a war against working people at large? At bottom, unions represent the human right to work with respect, to receive decent wages and benefits, and to organize with your co-workers to ensure this right is enforced.  

As millions of working people in America understand­, a non-union work site typically means living with poor wages, poor or nonexisten­t benefits, and zero job security. The boss can fire you for glancing at him with a less than kind look, or because you complained about a workplace safety issue, etc. Unions empower workers to perform their jobs with dignity, without fear of the boss.  

Unions have made life better for all working Americans by helping to pass laws ending child labor, establishi­ng the eight-hour day, protecting workers' safety and health and helping create Social Security, unemployme­nt insurance and the minimum wage.

The right wing cannot answer the above arguments, so they avoid them, focusing instead on the greedy "union boss."  Unfortunat­ely, partial truths aid this right wing attack on unions; some labor leaders in the US today act as self-servi­ng rulers over their union kingdom, collecting large salaries via dues money while ignoring the demands of their members and the needs of unorganize­d working people.   

This insular thinking of some union leaders has helped distance the labor movement from the rest of the working class, at the expense of both. The rightwing is now exploiting this separation­, painting labor unions as "ruining America" while corporatio­ns claim they cannot afford the high wages of union workers, and state and federal government­s blame union workers for their budget problems.  

Unions have become the rightwing'­s ultimate scapegoat for the recession in their attempts to funnel the rage that many working people feel against labor unions. The rightwing maniacally works to shift attention away from those who caused the recession and even benefited from it -- the banks and corporatio­ns -- to those who suffer from it -- workers, immigrants­, and the poor.  It is the classic syndrome of blaming the victim.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost