pennsylvaniapolka
Pennsylvania Polka
pennsylvaniapolka

Nice reference.

THIS ALL DAY! I think this could be an amazing time for new unions if they have the fortitude. I was involved in a new union helping to push certain bylaws and provisions of the new CBA. The energy and input was awesome. There was a distinct trend to buck the traditional union route. They got support and guidance

We have just elected a President who pushes lies on Twitter and spews Hitler talking points.

I definitely feel that much of union leadership has lost its way and forgotten why we have unions. I have seen many unions much as you described that are impotent. They don’t want to fight the battles and just keep their steady numbers. Not sure if it is fear but much of what I saw was a way too cozy relationship

Exactly. If you are making $18-25 an hour in construction in PA that is considered a “good job.” The insanity of the low self-esteem of the working class that was fomented by “conservative” talking points is mind boggling.

BOOM! Nailed it. It is fucking amazing the disconnect second or third generation union families have produced. I haven’t forgotten my union roots but my Father (now deceased) and my Brother hated unions. We grew up poor as compared to my Grandfather because my Father decided to become a Reagan Democrat and hate

I hate that man with the fire of a thousand suns.

That’s the path we are on. Workers are expendable and fascists love to pit us against each other. They get rich paying minimal wages with little benefits while we fight each other for the scraps they throw us.

I was raised in a tough, Italian union family so my background is one of striking, taking hits, giving hits and fighting for basic rights. My grandfather and uncles died from Black Lung. They were also in the fight just to get black lung designated benefits. Now, unions have been demoralized starting with Reagan

+1 for great anecdote and +100 for awesome screen name.

And you will see if you work in an At-Will state or just once say or do something that will tweak a bitch-ass middle manager looking to take his shitty home life out on someone. Everybody can do quality work, employers don’t always want that work to be safe or at a competitive price.

Great points. It is a balance of good vs. evil. The good unions can do in protecting jobs overall and providing a collective bargaining that corporations would NEVER give without it vs. what workers see on a daily basis with co-workers who are lousy being protected. My best friends have been union for nearly 20

I agree which is why the auto industry bailout was integral not just to one of the only bastions of American manufacturing left but to the idea of strong jobs with union protections. The fact that Trump now wants to play with that is amazing to me considering how demonized it was at the time.

Look at Massey Mine. Non-Union, cited multiple times, 29 men killed. UMW tried to unionize that mine several times and the govt. allowed Don Blankenship to continue to union bust. The WV Judges and politicians still took money from that murderer Don Blankenship. SCOTUS decided a WV judge did not have to recuse

We are the Commonwealth that gave you Jerry Sandusky and Joe Paterno.

+1 Trump is the Jonah Ryan of Golden Palaces and Showers

But from having worked on the ground in various campaigns I have to say that Clinton antipathy was strong, no doubt. However, in the face of the fascism that was Trump the younger voters, the ones that had only known transformative candidates like Obama and never experienced old-fashioned politics like some of us (I

Thank you for the response. Interesting, RI politics and candidates ran into the same problem we had in Pennsylvania. Wolf had the gift of running against Tom Corbett the worst governor in the history of PA. These corporate Dems that latch onto charter schools like Fraudmundo (love the name BTW) are the reason my

Agree with every point. Part of the problem, she was a flawed candidate. Came in with too much baggage. Some of it self-inflicted and some of it from years of demonizing by the press and right wing.

No you don’t have to stand corrected in the face of someone disagreeing just like you don’t have to be a prick when disagreeing. There is room for some intelligent discourse with a good sprinkling of sarcasm that I love to engage in but then there is also the cunt boys who need to stamp their feet and pound the