“I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem, to me it’s part of the solution.” – President Barack Obama
I married a blue collar craftsman not all that long ago. Today, after many, many years as a Southwest Gas technician, he took early retirement. One of the things he’s said over the years I’ve known him is that without unions his job likely wouldn’t have been as good, with solid middle class pay, overtime, full ranging benefits, vacation days (something we often joked about as I continued to work 24/7 without vacation or health benefits, except for sharing in his largess) and everything else that went along with his job, including retirement benefits. My husband with his many skills (give him two toothpicks, and he can build you a shopping mall) is the epitome of what we’re now fighting for today. Good middle class jobs where a man or woman can feed his or her family. But today, at our house, it’s his day. A day to honor his incredible work ethic, his tremendous talents and skills, and the fact that his company honored him, with people from the entire company descending to do the same this morning at a breakfast. They asked him why he showed up in his gas uniform. Mark simply said, “Because I’m proud of this job.” Tonight is a big party for him. No one has earned it more. A man who represents the American work ethic to his core. He is quite simply my hero.
Listening to President Obama and Vice President Biden this morning talking about workers and the middles class at the very moment my husband was being honored was an emotional moment for me. It’s just one of those amazing days in our lives.
For the backbone of the USA, it’s insult on top of injury. Over the course of America’s last economic expansion, the middle class participated in very few of the benefits. But now in the midst of this historic economic downturn, the middle class sure is participating in all of the pain. Something is seriously wrong when the economic engine of this nation — the great middle class — is treated this way. President Obama and I are determined to change this. Quite simply, a strong middle class equals a strong America. We can’t have one without the other. – Vice President Joe Biden
With a good job, in this country anything is possible. Labor is always there, ever vigilant, benefiting all workers, whether you’re in a union shop or not.
That kid has the same look as I do when I read the kitty sites.
Tell your hubby we are proud of him too!
Is that your husband Taylor. And I agree with AG!
HA! I know, Jason. One of Marks’ *adorable* grand kids.
Yes, it is, Betsy. Thanks, AG, I sure will.
Nice post. Congratulations and good wishes. I am proud to have blue collar roots, too. My Dad worked in the factory for over 30 years. He’s since passed but I am always proud of him and his work. In all those years, he only missed a handful of days, supported his family, and was basically happy. I am now proud to belong to a professional union.
As well you should be, Taylor. There are some very good, reputable unions. They should not all be tossed into the same kettle.
Teacher’s unions focus on important issues, for example. Utility unions, such as your husband’s, have a good track record. State government unions? Not so much. They can be obstructionists.
The quality of a union is measured, as with corporation management teams, by the quality of the decisions and the people who run the organizations.
When you own a home, be it an $80 thousand-dollar condo or an $8 million dollar estate, something ALWAYS needs a repair.
And when your home bites you in the ass (and it always bites you in the ass), there is nothing more humbling than when an otherwise smart, successful, highly-educated, homeowner is faced with a leaking roof, an electrical box overstuffed with unmarked wires, or a cold furnace in the bleak midwinter and they realize that the only thing they are truly qualified to do is to stand there stupefied and say “WHAT THE F*CK ?!?!”
So you call the pro, and they make everything right again. And after, you can’t help but realize that these craftsmen are every bit as smart, talented, and valuable as you or your fancy friends will ever be.
Indeed, in our problematic home, our craftsmen are so highly-regarded and valued, that on the emergency contact list hanging on our problematic refrigerator, our plumber, electrician, and HVAC guys are listed on our emergency call list ABOVE our doctors and lawyers (except for our vet’s emergency info – cause when it comes to our chocolate labs, the girls are number #1).
A diamond in the rough may have some grease on their calloused hands, but in the end, it doesn’t change the fact that they’re still all diamond!
So tell your husband congratulations on his retirement. He’s earned it, as well as our respect and admiration!
It’s imperative then for Obama to get behind EFCA.
Here’s a good ad that debunks the myths:
http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/01/30/new-ad-refutes-the-myths-about-employee-free-choice/
Good for Mr. Marsh on his retirement day. Enjoy!
Here’s my two cents on the trades:
I’m a fairly handy guy. I was an electrician in the Navy and even finished my Journeyman’s card in case I wanted to work electrical when I got out.
I have a list of a local plumber, electrician, etc. All are licensed and bonded and work for general contractors. When I need something fixed I give them a call and they come out on their own time. I pay them cash.
I get stuff fixed professionally, and it actually costs less than me buying low-grade crap at Home Depot.
Everybody wins.
I’m opposed to the bill because of the card check portion.
Any reputable union doesn’t need that tactic to organize.
It benefits the worst of union organization efforts.
And I personally think it is an outmoded idea.
BTW, I’d believe you guys had I not also seen the sneering posts about Joe the Plumber and Palin.
That sort of fuels a bit of skepticism here that there is truly a deep and abiding respect for tradespeople as being intelligent and worthy.
I was personally offended repeatedly. Talk about “holding me back!”
The way they were talked about indicated an elitism that simply drove me right out of the new Democratic coalition.
Not my party. Not anything I relate to, anyway.
And I personally think it is an outmoded idea.
AnninCA | 01.30.2009 – 3:46 pm | #
I don’t think you understand the proposal. It allows the Employees to pick either card check or secret ballot, without intervention of the Employer.
Ann when two people personally attack a good man, I will say what I think. I DON’T think either one is terribly intelligent, and that isn’t elitist. You have offended many people here knowing full well what you were saying would spark people to answer you. We here are not Republicans we are Democrats both centrist and liberal.
AnninCA | 01.30.2009 – 3:48 pm | #
What Betsy said.
What Betsy said.
Audiegrl | 01.30.2009 – 4:01 pm | #
You betcha.
Taylor – congratulations to your husband. Coming from a “blue collar” family I learned a long time ago just how much the “blue collar” worker has contributed to the building and growth of this country and I value the enormous contributions they have made. Their “blood, sweat and tears” built this country and along the way they were exploited and taken advantage of. I married an academician, who sad to say doesn’t know which hand of a hammer to use. I love the guy deeply but I would never trust him to fix the leak in the kitchen sink. He’d turn it into a disaster.
BTW – your husband is hot looking.
Card check is a tactic that will be abused. We’re back to bully tactics by the union organizers.
It’s not necessary.
If there’s another bill proposed that protects organizers from reprecussions?
Bring it on. I’d support that one.
But not card check.
Sorry, guys. I’m on the conservative side on this one.
AnninCA | 01.30.2009 – 4:21 pm | #
Jesus Christ, have you done ANY research on this? Current Labor law REQUIRES a card check. EFCA allows the employees to choose.
Jane Austen | 01.30.2009 – 4:04 pm | #
You have no idea…
No, just……go to the actual bill and read.
No, just……go to the actual bill and read.
AnninCA | 01.30.2009 – 5:00 pm | #
I have, my Wife works for a labor law firm and I’ve been over it many times. You’re flat out wrong.
Betsy | 01.30.2009 – 3:58 pm | #
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Hear Hear Betsey!
Congratulations to Mark. I think you’re right, Taylor, much of the improvements in wages and working conditions that modern American workers enjoy was due either to the actions of labor unions, or companies that wanted to avoid having labor unions to deal with. You can’t watch the way the folks who ran those financial companies into the ground give themselves huge bonuses and not imagine they’d do anything they could get away with to the people who worked for them.
It’s good to see Obama recognizing that the middle class has all but disappeared, and that it is essential to a strong America. I read a great essay in the book Thinking Big called “A Strengthened Middle Class” by Andrea Batista Schlesinger and Amy Traub – great ideas for us to regain the middle class in the US that go beyond the foreclosure problem into proactive measures. There is a podcast with Andrea Batista Schlesinger, Executive Director of The Drum Major Institute and Dean Baker, Co-Director of Center for Economic and Policy Research – today, on the financial crisis and the fall of the middle class: http://thinkingbigthebook.com/podcasts.htm