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Robert Winner

TEDCRED 50+

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Michigans right to work law.

With all of the legislation having been voted on and passed Michigan becomes the 24th state to fall under the right to work law ... when signed.

Schools shut down as teachers played hooky. Teachers held signs shaped like a tombstone that read "here lies democracy" ... hope they did not teach government classes. Should teacher pay be docked for playing hookie? Should this be a issue in the next contract meeting for rehire?

After the vote union members chanted "No justice", "No peace", and "shut it down" ... they failed to explain the meaning.

The dock worker strike in California cost over a billion dollars a day, Hostess demands broke the company, etc .... and now over half of the states have a right to work law.

What do you think ... are union a thing of the past? Are they necessary? Should President Obama have lobbied for the unions against the will of the people of Michigan. Unions are big contributors and campaigners did he have to lobby as a political pay back? What influence does the union have in politics?

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    Gail . 50+

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    Dec 20 2012: I find unions for government workers (local, state, or federal) reprehensible. If you want to join a union, go work in the private sector. For me, it's simple.

    Should you be REQUIRED to join a union against your will? Absolutely NOT.

    What does this do to unions? It doesn't make them irrelevant. They serve a valuable purpose - but not the one that they think they serve. Are they necessary? If our world, it would seem so, but that's only because we, as a people, are aware enough of how our own actions contribute to the greater whole.

    If workers were more educated, thus articulate and capable as negotiators, they could serve an important role in our society - by pointing out the disparity of wealth (CEOs salaries are putting their companies out of business). Corporations are putting out shoddy products. Etc

    But when teachers or fire fighters choose to be government workers (like military do), but they then hold the citizens who pay them hostage to DEMANDS, something is amiss. What if the army were to go on-strike. Would we condone that?

    Unions have less power of influence than you might imagine. Yes, they can support a candidate or a party, and yes, I do imagine that there is payback. But most union workers vote Republican to the union's chagrin.
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      Robert Winner 50+

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      Dec 20 2012: TL, I have always been under the impression that unions were a direct result of the thoughts of Karl Marx and the socialist party ... further that the union has always been a strong supporter and contributor to the democratic party. Much has been said and written that union members vote as a block .. democratic.

      Based on these thoughts, it surprised me that you would state that .. "But most union workers vote Republican to the union's chagrin. " Is there proof of this? Please provide me some references.
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        peter lindsay 30+

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        Dec 20 2012: I think Bob you'll find the union movement predates Marx by a couple of hundred years. The earliest trade union I'm aware of is what turned into the freemasons. It was originally formed to control the knowledge of masonry to protect the working conditions of masons and apprentices.
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          Robert Winner 50+

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          Dec 21 2012: I thought that was an Order and I also thought that the master mason was often killed or blinded after the completion of the job by the emperior, sun god, or whatever .... If that was a union and they still killed you or blinded you then membership sucks.
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        peter lindsay 30+

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        Dec 21 2012: The freemasons as the name implies was a group of unendentured masons who carefully protected their knowledge so they could demand higher pay for masonary. They formed as at the time most masons were endentured to the king through some lord or other and could only do work for the crown. The freemasons worked for whoever paid them and used the membership agreement to protect their income much as modern trade unions do.
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        Gail . 50+

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        Dec 21 2012: Marx supported unions as a way to overthrow the bourgeois so that Marxism could follow. Once Marxism (as he offered it) was achieved, unions would no longer be necessary as labor would achieve equality and have a partnership rather than master/slave relationship. Communism is not Marxism. It is more like libertarian than communism. Marx said that if Communism is Marxist, then he is not a Marxist.
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        Gail . 50+

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        Dec 21 2012: I do apologize for my error. I mean that most PRIVATE SECTOR union people (hardhats and factory workers and the like) are Republican. Unfortunately, private sector unions are a dying idea. Public sector unions are majority Democrat. I find public sector unions so offensive that I often disregard them. I shouldn't have in my post.

        I have been unable to find the source, but I was listening to a radio conversation recently that gave all kinds of statistics that I have been unable to find this morning. I then heard the same thing on FOX. This was after the recent "right to work" legislation.

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