The Union

I keep getting little hints from the Complaints Department. Oh, y’all didn’t know The After Party has a Complaints Department?? Well we do!!! I think the director is Beloved. Anyhow, I got a report from them that I’ve been slacking. I haven’t written anything heated-discussion worthy. Some readers are even threatening to cancel their membership. Which would mean less revenue…Wait a daggone minute, y’all don’t pay for this!! Meaning, your asses have no right to complain.

I am from a union town. I appreciate the power the unions have. I remember when the newspaper unions went on strike in Detroit. all hell broke loose. Unfortunately, the city’s residents were so starved for jobs, many people crossed the lines and took jobs. The people striking, most of them lost their jobs. Th papers won. They got rid of the unions, for the most part, hired people at a lesser rate, and kept on with business as semi-usual.

Then let’s skip to the transit strike in NYC. I sat and watched as residents stood on national television and said that the strike was stupid and that it was ruining their lives. Because Gawd forbid they can’t get to work on time.

What I don’t think people reailze is that without the unions, companies can screw people over more than they do now. Without unions, the individual employee has very little pull. Do you all realize that all the jobs that used to be considered ‘good jobs’ just 20-30 years ago aren’t so ‘good’ anymore. Wages have not increased to match cost of living. Why? Because nobody’s forcing a lot of these industries to increase wages. Furthermore, when those union workers retire or get pushed out, companies do not mind hiring younger, less experienced replacements because young people are cheaper. And in some cases, those young people do not join unions. So the companies win twice. They get rid of the high-priced union worker and replace him with a cheaper non-union employee.

I think the media has done a pretty good job of cinvincing the masses that the unions are bad. Sure the unions might strong arm industries but they also use their powers for good

Oh and I watched African American Lives, Slavery and The Making of America–both this weekend. Fascinating! Gates found out that even though he is BLACK, his genetic make-up is 50% African and 50% European. I immediately thought of the question: If 2 mixed people have kids what will their kids be? The answer is simple. Physically, the children will probably look Black. But because we’ve done so much mixing, the children will genetically be more European than African since it’s estimated that most African Americans have 20% European genetic make-up. I also watched The Human Stain-again!