Reader's Viewpoint: Good jobs weren't good until unions made them good

http://www.timesreporter.com/index.php?ID=66100

Reader's Viewpoint: Good jobs weren't good until unions made them good

To the Editor:

Somewhere every day I see or hear in the media complaints about union members, or unions in general, as being the cause of some negative aspect of our society.

Let’s set the record straight on this issue. The No. 1 problem in this country today is that corporate America has captured political America.

The average CEO in this country makes $10 million a year. On the high end, Lee Raymond, the outgoing CEO of ExxonMobil, made $144,000 a day.

The average worker in one of his Exxon stations was making $12,000 a year, while Mr. Raymond made $18,000 an hour.

The entire middle-class now seems to be preoccupied with paying the cost of a gallon of gas while shouldering the reputation of keeping corporate America uncompetitive simply by being a partner to a mutually negotiated contract.

When this administration speaks of the New York terrorist attacks of September 2001, the first responders are referred to as “America’s finest” or the heroes of 9/11 by the president of the United States.

The one thing that is never mentioned in all this adoring praise is the fact that these were union people.

The paramedics, firefighters and police who rushed into those buildings to save lives, and then ultimately lost their own in that attempt, were union people.

The pilots of the planes and the flight attendants who resisted the hijackers were union people.

The air traffic controllers who tracked and reported the flight patterns of the hijacked planes and within minutes safely landed thousands of planes when the order was given, again were union people.

The hospitals and emergency rooms in New York City were suddenly overwhelmed with patients overcome by smoke, dust, shock, trauma and other injuries. These patients were well taken care of by the union staffs in those facilities.

The rubble and remains of the Twin Towers were then meticulously removed while searching for any possible survivors. The work was done by Steelworkers working along side the Ironworkers.

Special interest groups and corporations have an anti-union agenda, trying to portray the represented worker as a negative.

We hear constantly the message that in this day and age corporations can provide workers a good job without a union.

The truth is: The good jobs in this country were never good jobs until unions made them good jobs. Keep in mind that once even slavery was explained away by those who would profit as being just full employment.

The next time we are asked to stand united in our Pledge of Allegiance, remember the trade craftsmen and farmers who met in that small carpenters’ union hall in Philadelphia, Pa., more than 200 years ago.

They had one common inspiration: To create the perfect union, the United States of America.

Randy Feemster,

New Philadelphia

EDITOR’S NOTE: Feemster is president of Golden Lodge Local 1123, United Steelworkers, in Canton.

:thumbsup:

Think about it many union people struck, fought and even died for these things that are now considered an entitlement by all American workers.
Paid Vacations
Paid Holidays
Health Care (as water down it may now be by the for profit medical and insurance industries)
Decent wages
etc.