As a counter-point to the letter from FDR, I'll go ahead an link you to two speeches by Ronald Reagan highlighting his support of Unions and, more specifically, Collective Bargaining.
Here is Reagan's speech to the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=44193 Choice quotes include: "Samuel Gompers believed with all his heart that if a worker was properly and fairly paid for his work, he could provide for himself without having to hold out this hand to a caseworker for government-provided benefits. He was a champion of collective bargaining. Collective bargaining in the years since has played a major role in America's economic miracle. Unions represent some of the freest institutions in this land. There are few finer examples of participatory democracy to be found anywhere. Too often, discussion about the labor movement concentrates on disputes, corruption, and strikes. But while these things are headlines, there are thousands of good agreements reached and put into practice every year without a hitch." Reagan goes on to remind everyone that he was, in fact, head of a Union, the Screen Actors Guild, and did a lot of collective bargaining himself. There is also his speech in New Jersey as a candidate, delivered on Labor Day: http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/reference/9.1.80.html Besides taking some well timed economic jabs at Carter, he puts out some mad props to Lech Walesa and the Union movement in Poland: "But restoring the American dream requires more than restoring a sound, productive economy, vitally important as that is. It requires a return to spiritual and moral values, values so deeply held by those who came here to build a new life. We need to restore those values in our daily life, in our neighborhoods and in our governments dealings with the other nations of the world. These are the values inspiring those brave workers in Poland. The values that have inspired other dissidents under Communist domination. They remind us that where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost. They remind us that freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. You and I must protect and preserve freedom here or it will not be passed on to our children. Today the workers in Poland are showing a new generation not how high is the price of freedom but how much it is worth that price." I'm not saying that Reagan was a better friend of Unions than FDR was. I think that actions and long term behavior have greater weight than individual speeches and letters. But I do think it serves to highlight the fact that collective bargaining and unions have an important role to consider, even in the Reagan administration. Cheers, Judah On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 11:56 AM, Robert Munn <cfmuns...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Here is a link to the letter: > > http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=15445 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:334887 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
