Why Are Americans So Hostile to Unions?

Bhabi says:

RL: Along with that, Reagan deliberately allowed mass importation of illegals from Mexico. The purpose of this was to destroy the part of the middle class that was working class based, because by this time, many working class White had worked their way to the middle class with union jobs. At the same time, the all-out ideological war on unions was ramped up. You will not find one single major newspaper, news magazine, radio channel or TV station that supports the organizations of the working class – unions. All of the US media is dead-set against unions.” Bhabi: This is strange. Americans pride themselves on having a very large middle class. “Middle class values” are seen as the bedrock of the civilization, and yet the very mechanism which created this large middle class and its values, unions, is demonized. Any explanation for that? You say that even working class people now hate unions. Why? Are the unions not working in their best interests? What about the fact that the Left, or at least a very vocal portion of it is pro illegal immigration and Mexicans taking the jobs of America’s laborers, like construction workers?

Any explanation for the demonization of unions? I think Bhabi should go and read some Karl Marx. Under capitalism, the ideology of the state and society is generally the ideology of the ruling class. Since 1980, the ruling class and bourgeois class (the capitalists) have been ascendant in the form of the Republican Party. The Republican Party doesn’t give two flying fucks about the middle class, but one thing they all agree on is that they hate unions. 10 Why? For class reasons. Most all capitalists hate unions. Many wealthy people also hate unions because they are the class war organs of the working class, who wage class war against the ruling class, who then wage class war back at working class. So the ruling and working classes are engaged in class war, with the capitalists allying themselves with the The Right doesn’t care that unions created the middle class. They would just blow off the argument and say it’s not true. Or worse, they would agree that it did and then say, “Fuck the middle classes.” You see, under capitalism, the middle classes and upper classes are also at war, even though few recognize this. The upper classes wage constant war on the middle classes to take more and more of their wealth and income away, and the middle classes are too stupid to see this. The Right convinced most Americans that unions are the enemy. US White collar workers typically hate unions for class reasons in that they see themselves as higher class than dirty blue collar workers who work with their hands and get oil all over their uniforms. This is simply cultural snobbism. There is also a group of medium wage clerks and manager types such as bank workers (president or vice president of your local bank) who see themselves as oppressed by both blue collar union workers (overpaid beer bellied lunch box slobs) and the rich. This strata is the part of the base of rightwing populism in the US and forms a large element of the Tea Parties and the Ron Paul crowd. Historically and cross culturally, this group has fascist tendencies, as do the middle classes in general. In addition, white collar workers do not see themselves as workers at all nor do they see themselves as working class. If you don’t get paid by the hour and punch a time clock, you are not working class. Instead they are some sort of “professional or managerial class” which means they get to avoid calling themselves workers because they get a salary and work at a desk in a suit and tie. Nowadays, the vast majority of workers are not in unions, so it’s just sour grapes. Non-union workers resent union workers for making more money than the non-unionists do. Crabs in a barrel scenario. Further, the US is very curious in that many working class folks simply drank the Koolaid. Anti-union propaganda has been relentless for decades now. 10 For decades now, both parties are down with neoliberalism that is extremely hostile to labor. I have known many, many workers who were openly hostile to unions. They repeatedly told me, “Unions are bad for workers!” That’s an insane comment, but that’s what a worker’s brain on anti-union propaganda looks like, egg on a skillet. I knew other idiot workers who constantly bitched about their union dues. When I told these fucktards that the only reason they had such a great blue collar job was because of the union, they looked at me like I was from Mars. They thought that was a lie.

Please follow and like us:
error3
fb-share-icon20
20
fb-share-icon20

0 thoughts on “Why Are Americans So Hostile to Unions?”

  1. Dude, when are you going to give me the link about African immies having higher IQ than East Asians? Or did you never write about that?
    “Nowadays, the vast majority of workers are not in unions, so it’s just sour grapes. Non-union workers resent union workers for making more money than the non-unionists do.”
    Why don’t they just join unions then?
    “This strata is the part of the base of rightwing populism in the US and forms a large element of the Tea Parties and the Ron Paul crowd. Historically and cross culturally, this group has fascist tendencies, as do the middle classes in general.”
    Don’t know about that. None of the middle class people I deal with have fascist tendencies and very few of them are Republicans. Ron Paul also has a huge following amongst neo-hippies and pot smoking slackers.

  2. So many middle class and working class people just have no clue as to how important unions are, which shocks me! obviously the result of the right’s war on the middle class which no one seems to notice!!! WTF, if it wasn’t for unions we’d all still be poor! and what the 1% doesn’t realize is that when the average joe’s buying power increased (as a result of unions) they where able to sell so much more to the masses and thus make even more money! Think about this, if all unions were to disappear over night think about how fast it would take for saleries and working conditions to go back to what they were a hundred years ago, my question to the 1% is if you guys get your dream come true and we’re all poor again then who the hell is going to buy all of your manufactured crap? The greed just never stops and so many people are letting it happen, what screwed up world we live in.

  3. Reagan promoted illegal immigration to avoid a worker crunch created by the baby bust that began in the mid-60s. The stagflation era of the late 60s-early 80s occured largely because the economy couldn’t absorb the baby boom generation into the workforce and provide the trappings of family formation. The baby bust (born 1965-82, entered workforce 1985-2000) should have re-balanced the power between workers and employers, so millions of illegals (and HB-1s) were imported to keep workers compliant.

  4. It’s funny for the same reason most good jokes are funny, because it contains a strong element of truth. This little game, pitting one group of working class voters against another, isn’t just a trick, it’s the trick. It’s what enables bankers to rob the nation blind and walk away. It’s what lets executives take an ever larger share of corporate income when they’re doing well, a larger share when they’re doing poorly, a larger share when they’re staying, and a larger share when they’re leaving. It’s what allows corporations to sit on the greatest stacks of money the world has ever seen, turn profits that dwarf those of even a few years ago, and still demand that their workers surrender a little more. A little more. A little more, please. Thanks, now get out.

Leave a Reply to offshore bank account Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

error

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)