The oft asked questions of non-union members, as well as disgruntled union members, are Do we need unions? What has the union done for me?. For the educated and well-read members of American society, the questions are easily answered. For example, anyone that has ventured to ponder those questions and educate themselves, may have read The Jungle 
by Upton Sinclair, popular classic read, and which shined a bright light on the realms of child labor, prisons, insurance companies, and, foremost, American enterprise and its role in the creation of a new American class of impoverished industrial wage slaves. The book was considered required reading in some school systems in America. Some feel that the atrocities referenced in the book are merely a reflection of times past that could not be repeated in modern civilized society. If you are of that school of thought, consider yourself a part of the privileged caste. Please do not think for one minute that these atrocities do not exist today in our own society, no matter how far removed you may be from it. To this day, you are fed anti-union rhetoric by big business through all media streams in an effort to tilt you into thinking that the unions are responsible for the destruction of the American dream and the outrageous pricing economics of this great country. As members of the highly unionized postal workforce, you are bombarded at union negotiation time, by large mailers screaming about the wages and benefits of postal blue collar workers being the cause of high postal pricing and poor performance, while they attempt to veil the savings they unfairly reap on their own mailing discounts through excessive workshare discounts and other manipulative means. Specifically, what has the union brought to you and the American working class? This should be easy to see, even in the low-wage postal industry. Take a look around you. Ask that casual employee working directly next to a Full Time Regular (FTR) employee or a Part Flexible (PTF) employee, what they think about their wage and benefits. They will tell you about not having health insurance, their low wage, their lack of any decent schedule, their inability to know how many hours they will get this week and the ability of the employer to fire them on a whim without any protection. Unfortunately, most of them have an anti-union thought themselves, as they see the career postal employee as a spoiled employee that doesn't appreciate the benefits and wages they receive. However, that casual employee fails to see that without the union in place, their own wage would be lower and their work environment would be much worse, as the employer would not feel obligated to pay them anything more than minimum wage (also hard fought and won through unions). The career postal employee should look at the casual employee and see in the mirror themselves if the union did not exist. That goes equally to the SDO's and MDO's whose wage and benefits are closely tied to what the union negotiates for the working class. You have health insurance, higher wages, life insurance, tax benefits, safe working environments, retirement programs, better hours, overtime, and a voice, thanks SOLELY to unions in this country! ...and non-union workers in this country owe unions a debt of gratitude for what they have. So support your union and strive to point out to the non-union industries the benefit of being unionized. Stand up against the uneducated anti-union bullies who are quite often pawns in the big chess game of making the rich richer and the working class a separate caste. Unions want us ALL to have a larger, fairer slice of the pie that we all work hard to achieve. That also means we should all work hard and diligently to make our employer a success as well! Yes, we need unions!
This Article is From: postal-newsgroup.blogspot.com
Read our latest posts!
.
