Hey ya’ll, it’s stoned posting pt3, may day edition. I’m taking tomorrow off and so naturally I smoked a j in celebration. I’m also taking a detour from my place on tng to watch bar association!
I’ve always supported unions … every major workplace should have one. I’ve lived in northern mining/forestry towns in northern Ontario all my life and I got to know old time union organizers who lived, worked and fought for their unions in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. I heard stories of how they were beaten by strike breakers, police and company scabs … I even know one old Canadian Irishman who literally looked like Popeye with big massive forearms, squint in his eye and could take on a fight with men twice his size and still win, he was a classic hard fighting union man named Eddie. He fought in many union strike action and union organizing events throughout his early life with his brother. Their father died early from terrible workplace conditions and their mother was a proud Communist, at a time when communism was more popular in Canada. Eddie and his brother worked as dock workers in Vancouver in the 1950s and they fought hard for their union … then his brother was murdered for being too successful in organizing workers and managing their union.
Never forget that every workplace right, workplace safety, weekends, working hours, child labour laws, holidays, overtime pay, minimum wage … were all fought and won by deadly battles and strike actions by union workers in the past century. None of these rights or privileges were ever given over freely by companies, corporations or big business … all of it was established on the pain, suffering and blood of union workers who fought and some literally died for it all … for all of us to enjoy a bit of better living standard that we all enjoy today.
Workers of the galaxy unite!
Amen!! Well said!
Fun episode that really helps build Rom as a character.
Anyway, mostly just wanted to post one of my favorite swear trek gifs. It is no way intended as an attack:
Enjoy your day off!
I had a workplace organizing training session the other day, and learned a couple of things. I’m not sure I have all this correct, but from what I recall US laws are strict in what kind of organizing is allowed - I think cross-industry unions aren’t allowed. Contractors aren’t eligible to unionize. (That’s on top of the “wage theft” effect of classifying full time employees as contractors instead of W-2 employees.) Organizing protections for workers don’t extend to managers. It’s a lot of bullshit.
What do you mean by strict? In my experience (US) We have a lot of flexibility in what we’re allowed to do. There are limitations, and yes they are bullshit, but I wouldn’t describe them as strict.
What do you mean by cross industry union? Several unions, my own included, represents a broad cross section of the working class. A lot of the unions that make up a company, department, or workplace are made up all positions
Ok, I don’t really know what I’m talking about. I think the deal is that there is a concept of a “bargaining unit”, and the government usually limits bargaining units to one workplace, or maybe one employer. And employers can’t be compelled to negotiate with a group that is not a single bargaining unit. So in practice organizing has to be done workplace by workplace. Unless I’ve misunderstood.
Oh I see. What that means when it comes to the bargaining unit is that the company can’t negotiate a separate contract with the same employees that circumvent the union. This is a good thing imo, it keeps us unified.
Union structure is much more complex than that. A bargaining unit is a single contract and that bargaining unit is a union, but if these individual unions gain enough power, they can come together and force companies within an industry to negotiate a standard contract. That’s what happens with the wga. It’s the long term goal that every organizer should strive for imo
I guess tomorrow should be labor memes and a rewatch? I’m down for that. I’ll have to think on the memes.
