Here's hoping my U.S. readers had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend. The unofficial "End of Summer" is usually marked by back-yard barbecues, mattress sales and union parades.
Personally, I have a love/hate relationship with unions. On one hand, they protect workers' rights, created the 40 hour work week and guarantee health care for millions. On the other hand, corruption and greed amongst labor union leaders is still a massive problem.
I do believe that it is the hard-working middle class that helped to make America the greatest nation on Earth. Sadly, there were and are those who took a free ride on the backs of those laborers, giving Unions more power than they should have and funneling money into the pockets of those who often deserve it the least.
Now, before you go all crazy and label Uncle P "anti-union," don't get me wrong. Without unions, US workers would still be working for slave wages, spending 100+ hours a week at menial jobs and working in unregulated and unsafe conditions.
Of course, these days, anyone who has a job is (and should be) damned grateful for it (I know I sure am). For the millions out there still looking, I feel your pain. Hopefully, Mr. Obama will grow a pair and defy his a-hole Tea Party foes and get his jobs plan into effect ASAP.
I think Emma Goldman would be proud to see what her work has led to over a hundred years after she incited a riot in Union Square:
More, anon.
Prospero
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