“Low standards take pressure off teachers unions by accepting mediocrity and failure.” – Jeb Bush
Part of the curriculum in public schools is to teach the history of labor. Union teachers tell children about the many contributions unions made to improve the American workplace. They point to child labor and unsafe factories and how unions helped emancipate U.S. workers. However, what they accomplished is overshadowed by the stratagems unions used to force-feed unions on America.
Unions saw America ripe for invasion during the Industrial Revolution. They sold our workforce a bill of goods, they’d protect workers and children. In the 1870s, the first U.S. labor unions were part of Karl Marx’s International Working Men’s Association. The goal of this heretical Marxist coalition was to unite leftist groups to work together to defeat capitalism for the good of the working class.
In 1876, the Workingmen’s Party of the United States replaced the IWMA. They organized the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, which killed over a hundred people. Rioters destroyed 39 stations and over 1,200 freight cars. A union rally held in Chicago, ”the Haymarket Riot,” killed at least seven policemen and one rioter when a Marxist speaker yelled out “Exterminate the capitalists!”
Union membership has seen a steady decline since the 1950s, when about a third of the private sector was unionized. According to the Labor Department, 10% of American workers are unionized today. Only 6% in the private sector took the bait and 4% are in state and federal public service.
If we listen to the rhetoric coming from the left, the decline in union membership has been driven by the GOP and corporate America. Yet data from state think tanks and tax records indicate that large woke companies have shifted politically far left since Democrats cater to their variegated special interests.
“This is not a marriage of love. This is more like mutual prostitution!” – Vivek Ramaswamy
Unions have been shooting themselves in the foot since 1970 under Democratic presidents Carter, Clinton and Obama. Unions paid the bill to get them elected and got little in return since their quest for higher wages and benefits are paid by consumers. To cut product costs, companies outsource everything they can. This economic quandary continues to diminish their need for union workers.
Another thorn in the side of Americans that they must deal with is public sector unions. These unions are increasing taxes and decreasing services to pay for outrageous raises and increased benefits for public servants. The majority of their pensions are under-funded and taxpayers will foot the bill.
After viewing last week’s Republican National Convention, media, Democrats, and union leaders across America are still pondering if they are caught in a time-warp of The Rocky Horror Show. They can’t fathom that they saw Teamster President Sean O’Brien railing against “corporate elites” and a broken labor system defending U.S. workers during his historic GOP address in Milwaukee.
The speech marked the first time a union leader addressed the RNC and chastised corporations for having waged a war against labor on what Democrats call GOP turf. He admitted his presence had some far left critics calling him a traitor, but people needed to know: “We are not beholden to anyone or any party. We’ll work with a bipartisan coalition for American workers.” – Sean O’Brien
O’Brien said when Donald Trump invited him to the convention, it was an olive branch he could not refuse. He motioned to Trump and said, “He is one tough S.O.B.” after surviving the assassination attempt during Saturday’s rally. He also praised Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, as a lawmaker that “truly cares about working people.” He said the Teamsters had not decided who to endorse yet.
In his keynote address, O’Brien said, “When I won the presidency of the Teamsters in a national election two and a half years ago, I felt it was time we reached across the aisle. In the past, we endorsed GOP candidates, including Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.”
The tactics used to unionize America came from the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx’s bible on how to destroy capitalism. Union organizers showed no mercy, making workers sign on the bottom line if they wanted to work. These henchmen would intimidate employers to bring in the unions or shut down.
“The strong survive and the weak disappear. We will not disappear.” – Jimmy Hoffa
The union-management relationship in the U.S. is, by design, adversarial. It’s set up to be us versus them, and therefore marked by hostility and distrust. Each side has its own self-centered interests to protect, and it tries to achieve that through coercion, threats, strikes, lockouts and even violence.
Since these early organizers were allied with organized crime, most politicians tried to distance themselves from unions. But in 1936, the unions worked closely with the Democratic Party to reelect Franklin Roosevelt. Since 1936, unions have been the major financial contributor to the Democratic Party. Unions trade votes, money and time for legislation passed to support them.
By choice, the Republicans are not politically aligned with unions and don’t depend on them as a major source for campaign money. The GOP feels their strong history of supporting labor, union and non-union, speaks for itself. Thomas Sowell of the Hoover Institute agreed. “Unions are better at killing jobs than creating them. Once they demanded higher wages for less work they killed the goose that laid the golden egg. That’s exactly why so many employees don’t want union shops.”
The recent United Auto Workers strike against General Motors could be a looking-glass moment into future American politics. Donald Trump and other prominent members of his party embraced the union cause. This populist support was built upon last year’s railway strike, when Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and other GOP senators supported the unions concerning paid sick leave.
“I’m not serving because I desperately needed 99 new friends in the U.S. Senate.” – Ted Cruz
John F. Kennedy told us, “Change is the law of life.” Lasting change does not just happen. It slowly creeps into society. Both Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump won elections appealing to blue collar America. They convinced them the greatest protection for workers is a competitive economy that opens more doors than it closes. Since woke Corporate America moved left, labor has moved right to the social norms they value most. They know their socioeconomic success is in the free market.
Unions raise wages through collective bargaining, not improved productivity. Unions don’t believe in the “American dream:”
”Success comes from hard work not from agitation.” Unlike the left who pays dearly for its unholy alliance with unions, the GOP works for all people, union or not. And they don’t have to pay politicians for doing what is best for them and the economy.
“The American free enterprise system is the greatest tool to lift people out of poverty ever created in human history, and when applied properly, does not discriminate by race, religion or skin color.” – Markwayne Mullin
