Don't you think that it's a mistake to generalize from one union -- the Teamsters, a notoriously bad union -- to all unions? After all, there are a variety of unions.
However, the vast majority of people on the Marxian left would agree that almost all of the unions in the US are poor in some way: they hardly live up to their potential as representatives of their class.[*] Similarly, the critics of the Soviet-style class societies that use to rule Eastern Europe distinguished between "actually-existing" socialism and "ideal socialism." I think that the phrase "people hate unions" is simplistic, i.e., one-dimensional. There are different kinds of people (different classes) and thus different ways to "hate" unions. Scott Walker and the capitalists hate unions because they interfere with management prerogative and insist that their members be paid. On the other hand, I would say that a lot of working-class people would (1) think that having a good union would be a good idea; but (2) find that the actually-existing unions are inadequate, perhaps horribly so. But there are a variety of different attitudes: some don't like unions because they can't join. Many others don't know about unions since they are so scarce these days. Etc. raghu wrote: > Are you surprised that people hate unions? > > http://www.cnbc.com/id/47631088/ > ------------------------------snip > If you’ve been listening to Teamsters President James Hoffa lately, > you might think the Teamsters hate private equity. > > After all, Hoffa made this blistering criticism of GOP presidential > nominee Mitt Romney and his career in private equity at Bain Capital > on May 7th: “He represents everything that is wrong with our financial > system. He made his money as CEO of Bain Capital by destroying U.S. > businesses, sending good-paying American jobs overseas and filling his > pockets with millions while putting workers out on the street.” > > But it turns out that the Teamsters themselves make plenty of money > from private equity through investments made by their regional pension > funds, which are independently administered. <snip> [*] even "good" unions are inadequate, since they need to be part of a larger labor movement, including a labor party. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
