According to a Gallup poll released on December 1, labor unions continue to be very popular among the American public. 59% of those surveyed continue to hold a favorable view of unions. About 16 million Americans belong to unions, but 60 million (out of a work force of 153 million) say they would belong if they could.
That says something about the effectiveness of anti-organizing efforts in this country. 44 million people want a choice that is not offered them.
There’s been a steady stream of anti-union propaganda from 1936 forward, when the National Association of Manufacturers first decided to go on the attack. Yet union favorability ratings during that time have only fallen from 72% to 59%. That says something for the basic democratic instincts of the public.
68% of the middle class support the Employee Free Choice Act, or “card check”. The proposed law would make it easier to form a union, and is strongly opposed by business and Republicans, and probably a whole lot of Democrats as well (not openly).
Piece of Mindful 
>>>>There’s been a steady stream of anti-union propaganda from 1936 forward
And pro-union stuff must not be propaganda, it must be just plain truth. Truth. Pravda.
Just thinking about casual conversations, some people are pro-union no matter what, some are anti-union no matter what. The bulk see pros and cons.
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I’m talking about a very deliberate public relations campaign by NAM to turn the American public against unions.
Noam Chomsky, Letter to Covert Action Quarterly unknown date. I first learned of the NAM campaign from Chomsky, years ago.
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Did the Drum Major Institute inform the respondents that Card Check eliminates the secret ballot? I can’t find it anywhere.
This is a poorly designed poll. Methinks there’s a bit of an agenda behind it.
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Card check law offers a secret ballot if so desired by workers. The thing it eliminates is the long time period now used by employers to threaten and intimidate their employees into not unionizing. It’s an up or down vote, if it passes you got a union.
Which poll are you talking about? I cited several.
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From a Zogby poll cited in Wiki:
“Fully 78 percent of union members favor keeping the current system in place over replacing it with one that provides less privacy.”
The Drum Major Institute link was an example of how not to conduct a poll. Leading questions, self reporting,…
>>>>The entertainment industry was enlisted for the cause, portraying unions as the enemy
I can’t think of any tv/movies with an anti-union theme. Would “On the Waterfront” count? Or maybe “Hoffa”? “Norma Rae” is the first movie that comes to mind when union is mentioned. On the other hand, Hollywood has madly made the greedy businessman the heavy in countless dramas.
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Fair enough. But how does a poll of union members begin to ascertain the attitudes of the non-unionized work force?
Movies of the 1950’s are not my specialty. We were forced to watch On the Waterfront in high school. They cut out a whole afternoon of classes to show the film. That’s about the extent of my personal experience.
My point was this: I said “propaganda campaign” and you took that to mean that each side was telling lies about the other. What I meant was a more formal definition of propaganda:
That’s what NAM did. On the Waterfront would be classic propaganda in that sense, in that an subversive message was carried in an entertainment container.
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>>>>But how does a poll of union members begin to ascertain the attitudes of the non-unionized work force?
Not the final word but those with experience often have a more useful viewpoint.
ON THE WATERFRONT was about standing up to mob corruption. I don’t think it carried a particular anti union message.
>>>>I first learned of the NAM campaign from Chomsky, years ago.
This is typical of what we get from Chomsky: an obscure group with some vague activities that had no effect, but Noam trumpets them as some history changing act we just don’t realize. Name one person who had their view of unions changed by NAM’s activities. Far, far, and away more troubling for unions are the real life stories of corruption and institutionalized laziness spread by word of mouth from people’s experience. Maybe union supporters should work on this rather than fretting about imagined bogey men.
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Geez – I don’t get that from Chomsky at all. He merely documents things that otherwise go unnoticed.
Your attitude about unions has been formed by “real life stories of corruption and institutionalized laziness spread by word of mouth from people’s experience.”
And your attitude about corporations and employers?
No, you’ve not been influenced by propaganda at all. It just doesn’t work, does it.
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On The Waterfront” “An ex- prize fighter turned longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union …”
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>>>>“real life stories of corruption and institutionalized laziness spread by word of mouth from people’s experience.”
My little tiny foray into literary expression.
You wrote earlier about learning to loaf on a union job, and then said, “But I don’t write about the downside – why should I when I am surrounded by people who dislike unions anyway?” First, I think we have some duty to objectivity, to some kind of balanced, objective view. Doesn’t announcing that you are a flack for the other side cut your credibility? Second, maybe the reason you are surrounded by people who dislike unions is because there are real, actual problems with unions that the unions need to address to gain better public relations rather than depending on propaganda of their own to carry the day. You became a religious agnostic partly because of the Church’s one sided view of things. Shouldn’t it be okay for some of us to be agnostic about the benefits of unionism?
>>>>And your attitude about corporations and employers?
They are like unions, there are good points and bad points.
>>>>It just doesn’t work, does it.
I guess I’m just a kafir.
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