wonderboy4638,

Unions aren't perfect, but, like democracy, they're far better than all the alternatives that have been tried--including the one we've been seeing in action in America these last 30 years or so, a replay of what workers had to endure for much of the 19th century and the early 20th, a time when most working people had to put up with low pay, arbitrary employers, few if any benefits, and even fewer rights.

In many cases, without unions, working people have few real rights.  With unions, they gain a key--as history shows, the key--to unlocking the employer-barred door to better pay and benefits, fair treatment on the job, and many other good things.  By far, they are on balance very good for the U.S., for us, and for you.

Thread 298 on this board ("Realistic Salary Expectations"), not to mention the many (usually justified) complaints countless good, solid working people have brought up on Monster.com's boards, including this one and the "Vent!" board most notably, should be all the proof you need.  Each of us, and America as a whole, on balance very much would--will--benefit from a revitalized, powerful labor-union movement.

Forming and bargaining collectively through unions is an internationally recognized fundamental human right.  For most of us, it is still the best chance we have to bargain for decent pay, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment with employers.  Does anyone really think that a lone, unrepresented employee has any real chance of getting a fair deal from an employer when, as often happens, sheer numerical factors and a deliberately job-scarce economy leave that person--you--at that employer's mercy?

Unions are not only a major reason behind the growth and sustenance of a strong middle class in America, but are also a vital force behind social, political, and economic progress for all of us.  Just take a look at your American history, especially when you get to the 1920s, the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the rise of a strong postwar middle class enjoying real prosperity.  Then look at what's happened to us since that time, especially under Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and their anti-worker ilk.

The decline since that time of unions and, thus, of our and your incomes, benefits, and working conditions and workplace rights has been caused largely by a well-funded attack and propaganda campaign against them and on working people and their rights generally over the last 30 years or so from much of Corporate America and its bought-and-paid-for lackeys in government (from Reagan and Bush on down) are the major reason why people like you and me have had such a hard time making ends meet and getting ahead.

Instead, our employers often coerce us into working harder and longer for more grief and less money.  This is not how a free society or a fair economy is supposed to work.

This is wrong.

This must stop--now.

Unions are the best way to protect and further our and your workplace and other economic rights and interests.  They are simply a matter of putting the safety, strength, and power of numbers and of group action into action for people like you and me.

Without a union, if you have any workplace problems, many employers can and will simply tell you that if you don't like how they're treating you, you're "free" to work somewhere else--or even can and will start making your life on the job unendurable or simply (and unjustly) fire you.  With a union, an employer is required by law to listen to you and your co-workers when it comes to pay, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment.  With a union, you have a voice, a choice, rights the employer must respect, and, most of all, a real chance for better pay, hours, benefits, and the like, as well as real due process and fairness in the workplace.

Sound like a no-brainer?  That's because it is.

The animated cartoon by world-famous labor cartoonists Gary Huck and Mike Konopacki at http://www.solidarity.com/hkcartoons/uetoon.html says it all.  Take a look; then think--and take action.

For most workers, it has also been protected, on paper, under United States law for over 70 years, but over the last 30 years or so--and especially the last six--all too many employers have been allowed to thumb their noses at the law and workers' rights by getting away with unlawfully penalizing, harassing, and, yes, firing any worker who even so much dares as indicate a slight hint of even possibly being pro-union (or even just politically liberal--why do you think doing Internet searches on job applicants has become so popular among many employers?).

Legal costs aside, by the time many wronged workers can get any measure of justice from our "Bushed," stacked and understaffed National Labor Relations Board, many have suffered irreparable economic and other losses.  The remedies the law now provides, mainly back pay for and an order of reinstatement of any wronged worker, are "pocket change" to most employers, many of which deride such "penalties" as "hunting-license fees."

Scofflaw employers thus smugly know that if they can just delay and intimidate enough of us from invoking our rights and acting for our own needs and interests, they can keep treating us and all workers like dirt.

It is thus long past time to teach such employers a stern and costly lesson about the rule of law and to make your vital right to form, join, and bargain collectively through a union a reality in America once again.  The best way to do this is to support the Employee Free Choice Act, which earlier this year passed the U.S. House but is stalled in the Senate.  So write your two U.S. senators today and urge them and their colleagues to pass it--now.  You can find more about the EFCA and what it can do for you at http://www.americanrightsatwork.org