captialist ads attack unions

[abbielives!]

http://www.youtube.com/user/unionfacts
http://www.unionfacts.com/

[redSHARP]

i honestly died a little inside when i saw this. Unions are one of the few things that could save the US from total capitalist take over. We must find ways to combat this information and spread the word about unions being the forefront of a united worker AND middle class. this is where middle class ideals and workers ideals are shared for a common good (to curb the upper class cappis) and we must save this valuable tool for the lower classes.

heres a good video supporting unions, very funny- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=184NTV2CE_c&feature=related

and a web page that reveals who is behind "Unionfacts"- http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=The_Center_for_Union_Facts

[Holden Caulfield]

i read an article once saying that American companies hire 'union busters' to stop unions from being formed by giving incentives or spreading fear and isolation amongst the workers,

i read it as there was talk of some English companies doing the same,

it is wrong in everyway and highlights the lack of democracy in so called democratic nations

[Red October]

These ads are disgusting, but they highlight a very important flaw in the American labor movement. Too many unions, especially the big ones, have become undemocratic, bureaucratic messes that cater to the bosses and politicians instead of workers. It's disgusting and it helps union busters give all unions a bad name and undermine the movement.

[Herman]

This is what they show to Wal-mart workers:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-w1nqzYTS4&feature=related

There we go.

[Kwisatz Haderach]

This is what they show to Wal-mart workers:
Wow... those actors don't even look like they believe what they're saying.

Fundamentally, though, propaganda can only go so far. You can't convince me that management is my friend if I have personal experience of being screwed over by that very same management. Union busters - intimidating people into submission - is much more effective and more dangerous than any videos.

[punisa]

A system which trusts the ones that have the best TV advertisement is a very difficult one to reason with (reply to myself: good morning Einstein).

Another problem with unions (I'm referring to "out of US" situations) is that some of them have very corrupted leadership. Just a couple of union affairs can and will damage their reputation as a whole. My knowledge of US unions is kinda limited though.

As for my personal experience I know some people (high school professors) that actually were forced to join the unions, otherwise they could start looking for a new job. Again I'm not saying all unions act like this, but just one affair connected to any "left oriented" organization travels very far, and grows on its way.

[punisa]

This is what they show to Wal-mart workers:


8-w1nqzYTS4

There we go.

Can anyone say: brainwashing ? :glare:

[Svante]

unions must play hockey and b e good offense like Foppa. why dont unions make ad against capitaliste.:)

[Cybersomatix]

As the American economy moves further and further to a service economy (the jobs that can't be outsources to poorer parts of the world with lower workers rights standards), it becomes increasingly hard to unionize Americans... similarly, mega-corporations like Walmart don't need to worry so much about a unionized workforce... whenever any part of Walmart begins to become unionized, they shut that branch or store down... they can afford to because of their size.

The percentage of the workforce which is comprised of union labor (12%) is pretty bad... but how do you propose to curb the overall decline in Union labor that's occurred over the past 30 years? How does one unionize the service industry effectively in the face of mega-companies and Taft-Hartley? How does one effectively unionize at all in a "right-to-work" state?

The more I look at it, the more I can't see the American labor union surviving past 2050.

[rednordman]

What’s wrong with the USA? Is the establishment really THAT right-wing? Things are very bad for most workers in the UK, but at least the companies don’t seem to be going that far...not yet anyhow. I mean all that talk about unions being a threat to individuals workers rights and liberties? What on earth is that all about? Is there something I’m missing here? Obviously I live in the UK so do not know what it is actually like to work in the States (rates of pay/hours/workers rights etc.)

[punisa]

What’s wrong with the USA? Is the establishment really THAT right-wing? Things are very bad for most workers in the UK, but at least the companies don’t seem to be going that far...not yet anyhow. I mean all that talk about unions being a threat to individuals workers rights and liberties? What on earth is that all about? Is there something I’m missing here? Obviously I live in the UK so do not know what it is actually like to work in the States (rates of pay/hours/workers rights etc.)

Unions stand in the way of capitalists and capitalists have the tendency to degrade/destroy everything that dares to stand in their way. Of course they usually do it in the subtle and cunning way we all learned to hate - just like the brain washing video posted above.

I'm not familiar with either UK or US, but you guys should have more info. rednordman, are any similar anti-union campaigns being in force in the UK we should know about? What is the general perception of the unions in the UK anyway?

I can only say that here (Croatia), unions are usually looked upon as crooked and corrupt organizations, like I mentioned in my post above. Some union leaders also get huge pay checks, which again makes them unpopular.

[Psy]

Wow... those actors don't even look like they believe what they're saying.

Fundamentally, though, propaganda can only go so far. You can't convince me that management is my friend if I have personal experience of being screwed over by that very same management. Union busters - intimidating people into submission - is much more effective and more dangerous than any videos.

Also they blame unions for corporate bureaucracy, that unions prevent rush orders when the bureaucracy of unions are mostly unaware of the daily. From my experience it is management that gets in the way of rush orders, management doesn't like it when work crews go around their bureaucracy to fill a rush order quickly, management start getting mad when workers organized themselves to deal with the rush order before management was able to.

Same with problems, they hate it when workers as a team overcome problems without going through the official channels first.


Yet in my experience rush orders are mostly due to SNAFUs on the managements, mostly just because one department didn't fill out the paper work like another department wanted so the paper work got sent back to be fixed so it passed bureaucratic standards.

[redSHARP]

to bad many Wal-Mart employes dont care about unionizing in general, and when they do, Wal-Mart fires them. however, many non-construction workers are unionizing. even wal-mart is feeling the strain at times and starbucks is feeling it to. once a worker realizes his greatest strenght is the ones he works with, then the power is in the hands of the workers.

[rednordman]

I'm not familiar with either UK or US, but you guys should have more info. rednordman, are any similar anti-union campaigns being in force in the UK we should know about? What is the general perception of the unions in the UK anyway?
Sorry for late response. Basically unions in our country are getting marginalised to the point where people don’t even believe they exist anymore. No kidding, when i was talking to one of my old bosses the other day about how bad things are where i work now, he actually said "we shouldn’t have unions nowadays". Not sure exactly what he meant by that but i will say that that place was dreadful to work also.
In the uk, from my experience their seems to be a ever growing unrest at the workplace. workers are getting angrier, but the problems seems to be that the companies are not listening to them, no matter how loud or many of them there is. Big companies get away with this because of employment laws favouring them (if we were all to go on strike for example, we would be breaking the law). Also workers seem to be very quick to direct their frustrations in the wrong places (immigration, foreign workers being the main culprit) thus taking the strain of the company even if it is the company that is responsible. In fact the ignorance of the british worker today is rather disturbing. Especially when the truth is right infront of their faces
I’d also like to emphasis redsharps point about workers feeling apathetical about unions. Basically its like people feel that they cannot make a difference, and are to scared that they will get punished.

[Dr Mindbender]

Wow... those actors don't even look like they believe what they're saying.


I always believed they got members of management to act in those roles!

:D