unions

[rioters bloc]

out of interest, what do people think of unions? trade unions, student unions, etc. this year there's been a fair bit of shit surrounding them in australia and i was wondering what opinions people with different ideologies had on them.

[bolshevik butcher]

I whole hartidly support them. I dont understand why any one on the left would sisaprove of bastions of workers power.

[h&s]

Well some people would say that because of their often beureucratic and right-wing leadership they are corrupt tools of the establishment.
However unions are democratic in nature, and if the workers are politicised it is very easy to kick out the right-wing. Besides, most right-wing unions still do good stuff.
However there are scab unions that can not be changed, but I only know of one of those in Britain (there's probably more that someone will show me up on though. :rolleyes: ).
Unions, be they under left or right leadership, are key elements of worker's power.

[RedAnarchist]

What are British member's opinions of the Trade Union Congress? I was watching highlights of their conference earlier this month and they seem fairly commited to Socialism - although not necessarily revolutionary socialism.

[h&s]

The TUC itself is not commited to socialism - it is lead by the same old New Labour types. The memebership however is different - the membership is left-wing.
The TUC always seems to settle with what the government offers them, which is always the bare minimum. The TUC also has a past of not making the most out of events and missing out on opportunities to do the right thing, and getting them to call for strike action is nigh on impossible.
When the 7/7 bombings happened the TUC should have straight away organised a protest against terrorism, and war, but they did nothing.
However this is just my opimion of what I've seen. I still think the TUC is a very important thing though.

[bcbm]

I support unions. Union members are more likely to hold left-wing viewpoints than their non-union counterparts. I'm a member of the IWW.

[bolshevik butcher]

Sorry i thought the question was about the principle of unions in general. There are 'bad unions', but the rana nd file union members tend to be quite left wing, renetly a left winger was elected the head of hte firefighters union.

[Vallegrande]

If unionizing can kick out a corp. like Walmart, like what happened in Canada, then I am in support.

[HoorayForTheRedBlackandGreen]

I love unions. They give power to the workers.

[citizen_snips]

Mon the unions!

It's one of the first socialist principles I ever came across, that you should support trade unions because they stand up for the rights of workers. And when capitalism cannot meet the needs and demands of workers, capitalism proves itself flawed.

On that note, on a local level, I say support the bus drivers of central and eastern Scotland in their fight against First!

[Scars]

I support unionism, just not most of the unions here in New Zealand (if you get what I mean?). They're little more than capitalist puppets.

[Morpheus]

Originally posted by [email protected] 24 2005, 01:35 AM
I support unionism, just not most of the unions here in New Zealand (if you get what I mean?). They're little more than capitalist puppets.
That's true of most unions today around the world. Unions were once a very powerful weapon against the capitalists, but they've learned how to corrupt & coopt them.