sayonara unions

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,

Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it 

― Omar Khayyám

And so it goes.... the blood once shed, the cops beating the demonstrators, the well-heeled ever more heeled and yet checked by the rise of unions that once protected workers and then, in some instances, outgrew their boots and were once again relegated to a lesser, lesser, lesser status:

A 20-year campaign by rightwing billionaire donors to undermine trade unions and strike a blow at the progressive movement in Americacomes to a climax on Monday, in a hearing at the US supreme court.
The nine justices of the nation’s highest court will hear arguments in Janus V AFSCME, a case that has the potential to strip unions of a major source of income. Should the court rule against the public sector unions – as many fear it will – they stand to suffer a decline in their 7.2 million-strong membership, and with it the withering of their political strength.

How it became so that workers themselves should see the representation they needed as anathema to its own cause ... this is the stuff of nightmares, or perhaps just history as the screw turns and turns and turns again. Why anyone would trust someone else -- let alone the chauffeured few -- with his or her pay packet defies understanding.

I grew up with Pete Seeger's (The Almanac Singers) "Talking Union" and have yet to find a reason to change the tune or sentiment:



Ask ANY worker who lacks representation what it's like to have his or her face pissed in again and again by those benevolent, trickle-down-economics owners/managers and you may get some idea what people were once willing to fight and, in some cases, die for.

Ask yourself a simple question:
Which is more likely to support an employee --
The benevolent owners and managers or
The benevolent union representing that employee?

Benevolence is frequently a two-edged and flawed sword. But try out the question anyway.