Who Can Make a Case FOR Unions?

Can anyone tell me why we still need unions? I can't figure it out.

Granted, I have lived in the South the majority of my life and I don't have an familial ties to the unions that seem to run so passionate and deep. But the days of the Industrial Revolution that led to abuse of labor and dangerous working conditions has been over for a long time. With OSHA regulations and minimum wage laws it is hard to imagine situations where workers are abused and have to unionize.

I may be wrong when it comes to migrant farm workers, but that is where the employers need to be watched more carefully, for more reasons than one.

To me, it seems that unions exist to to serve themselves. There is an industry in being a labor representative and that industry has been strife with corruption, intimidation and self promotion.

As a writer who has been hoping to break into movies with a screenplay I had to restrain myself from trying to find opportunity during the writers strike because I knew if I was successful I would be blackballed by the union writers and their supporters when it was over.

So, we got reality TV.

And it won't stop.

Another reason to hate the unions.


The UAW is crippling our auto industry. The AFL-CIO taints our democratic process. The teamsters....

Do I really have to discuss the pillars of society that the Teamsters have been?

You tell me where Jimmy Hoffa is and I will discuss the virtues of the Teamsters. Actually, I was a beneficiary of the Teamsters strong arm tactics when I was in college. I got paid more than twice the minimum wage to sit on my but for hours waiting for a truck to come in to a loading dock then drive a forklift for 30 minutes to unload it. So I made a lot to do very little.

We all pay for that.

So my challenge to everyone is- tell what purpose the unions still serve. I will listen.