Anti-Union Pledge Card

[Matilda]

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A very good reminder to right-wing loonies that so many of the benefits we all enjoy flowed on to the workforce from hard-won trade union battles.

[blkmusclmachine]

1. ,

,

[cui bono]

2. Off to the greatest!

Reminds me of that letter from Joe... something or other... that talked about the benefits unions gave workers.

Or was it to Joe Republican?

[Matilda]

3. Do you mean Joe Hill?

[cui bono]

10. No, but that was a good listen.

DeeDeeNY posted below what I was talking about:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1086&pid=546

[DeeDeeNY]

7. This one?

http://crooksandliars.com/heather/thom-hartmann-day-life-joe-middle-class-re

[cui bono]

9. Yes, that's the one! Thanks.

[Fairgo]

4. Look, it's the leader of the liberal party...

Cheers!
Time for a new, new world order...along the lines of the IWW.
From a card carrying member of the NTEU.

[JackInGreen]

6. i'm afraid

I don't quite understand your post, it seems a little obtuse (or I may have been up for too damn long). Care to elucidate?

[Fairgo]

8. Tony Abbott

No worries. Tony Abbott is featured in the photo, I believe. He is the PM and Shining Star of the Liberal Party. Tony and his crew are the in the pocket of the big money interests. The loyal opposition is the Labour party... Traditional democratic values with a respect for the social contract, and of course the voice of the unions. Thus the slightly satirical play on words.

[Matilda]

11. Re the photo - yes, Abbott on the right,

and on the left Employment Minister, Eric Abetz. (Abetz's great-uncle Otto was a high-ranking Nazi. Just saying).

Six months after the election, Abbott has already announced his intention to review Industrial Relations laws, which are the only protection for low-paid workers, mostly in factories and retail. Everything is on the table, in spite of pre-election promises to the contrary.

And while I think there have been times when unions have abused their power, and I have no particular love for a number of officials in some of the right-wing unions, I don't doubt for a moment that if the law doesn't demand fair pay and good conditions for workers, they could never count on management to do the right thing. We all enjoy benefits in this country which were won for us by trade unions, and it's the same all over the western world.

[jtuck004]

5. It's kind of interesting to watch business killing off the trade unions

after the trade unions, in the 1920's, helped business kill off the Industrial Unions like the IWW and the Steelworkers. Get to feel a little of the pain they caused their brothers and sisters in their "battles". That 150 years on the card seems to be trying to take credit for sacrifices they never made and the pain they caused others, though that is pretty common. (One can read about it in Mother Jones autobiography, Matles "Them and Us", Haywoods writings, others of the time).

Still, however, I mostly like the card. It should make a few people think.