Salon.com: They’re just for hard hats. They peaked around the time Elvis was getting big. They killed Detroit. They’ve got nothing to do with you or me. They’re a special interest – and they hate our freedom.
That’s the kind of noise you pick up in 21st century America – in politics and popular culture alike – when you tune your station to the issue of trade unions. Union membership, and ensuing muscle, have been in steep decline in both the public and private sectors. Just look at Wisconsin’s “right to work” push, the anti-teachers union “reform” movement, corporate union-busting, P.R. “messaging” firms hired by management to smear striking workers, hostility from the Republican right and indifference from a Democratic Party that’s reoriented itself around professionals and Silicon Valley.
2 comments:
I think this article definitely shed some light on the issue. Unions can definitely be a positive but with too much regulation they can be a problem. For example if you join a union and then take a non union job it is either frowned upon or you could even be fined. I feel this ia a major problem I think be apart of an organization/union should just give more opportunities not hinder the possibilities. I see the benefits of a union but if it becomes the case where unions are a completely necessity for art to continue I think it will be extremely detrimental.
It confuses me as to whether or not it is a good thing to join a union when working in the professional world, and though this article doesn't really share their opinion, it does give a bit more insight. With so many differing rules and alternate unions, I think it’s important for the theater business to began accepting more non-union workers in the ranks. It seems to me as though doing this would raise employment by opening more jobs to workers. The positive aspect of union working and hiring that I can see is in the skill level. Workers in unions are often going to be at a higher skill level than those non-union due to the work they have to do in order to join.
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