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Gallup: America Still Strongly Supports Unions |
Despite the best efforts of corporate-backed anti-union groups, the Bush White House and anti-worker politicians demonizing unions on the campaign trail, most Americans continue to approve of unions, as they have for the past seven decades.
The latest update from Gallup on union support shows 59 percent of those surveyed back unions, while 29 percent disapprove of them. According to Gallup:
Americans have generally held a favorable view of unions for decades—with no less than 55 percent of Americans saying they approve of labor unions in Gallup polls conducted from 1936 to 2008.
Not surprisingly, most of the support comes from Democrats and independents. Seventy-two percent of Democrats approve of labor unions, compared with 63 percent of independents but only 38 percent of Republicans.
Also, most respondents said unions should have more influence (35 percent) or the same amount of influence (28 percent), while 32 percent want to see less union influence.
The results reflect what other pollsters have found about public support of unions. More than three-quarters of Americans (77 percent) support strong laws, such as the Employee Free Choice Act, that give employees the freedom to make their own choice about whether to have a union in their workplace without interference from management. Also, some 60 million workers say they would join a union today if they could.
Click here for more from the Dec. 1 update by Gallup.
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as a former union organizer i have two questions,first are we part of the north american union or can i still call myself an american?secondly in this time of job loss is our priority american job protection or world unionism?i say it is the former let the e-verify program protect the workers we have and the future union workers yet to be organized.i believe our job is to protect our workers not replace them. john buck formerly of laboers eastern region organizing fund.
The North American Union is coming, just look how much support organized labor gives to illegal aliens.
Anti - Union = Anti - American as this Country IS a Union. We elect people to represent our best interest wether it be labor or government
That’s what I don’t understand… The AFL-CIO’s pushing for strong “labor laws” on the one hand while on the other, pushing to break the country’s immigration laws, which also protect the US worker.
Do they want laws upheld or not?
Ronald Reagan’s illegal immigrant amnesty in 1986 was supposed to be the end-all to illegal immigrants. Time has proven this wrong.
It cannot be denied that illegal immigrants are enabling companies to lower working conditions. Yet, rather than combating illegal immigration, the AFL-CIO and Change to Win are embracing it — much to the demise of the legal citizen and their own organizations.
One cannot be a wimpy milquetoast supporting both sides.
Once a person is hired, they become a part of the bargaining unit. Is it the union’s job to weed out workers who may or may not be legally on the job? I don’t think so. Companies have Human Resources departments to oversee and implement guidelines under the law, and if the folks who fulfill those qualifications get to go to work under a union contract, they are entitled to membership and representation.
These companies are in such a hurry to get bodies on the job and keep production rolling that they don’t do the best job screening prospects. But once people have been hired, the government shouldn’t be able to swoop down on a workplace and try to correct the employer’s “mistake” by raiding it, either.
Our own brothers and sisters, US citizens, have been detained during ICE raids. As some laws under ICE have changed, these people have been held incommunicado for prolonged periods of time—citizens, long standing, good employees with relationships to the communities they live and work in. That changes this issue from “them” to us.
We must accept the fact that some undocumented workers are going to become members; we acknowledge their existence and their plight because it directly affects all of us. If they can’t be exploited, then more jobs will open up—period. It’s not a question of whether or not they should be working, it’s the fact that they are working and accepting employment from companies that don’t care if they get picked up in a raid within three months of hire. It’s probably cheaper in the long run because they just go away—no unemployment, severance pay, pension contribution or other compensation necessary. They just go away, leaving untold legacies behind—children, spouses, and other obligations.
If you have a good union job, you need to look at the ways your employer will try to undercut your position—using a large pool of easily exploited potential workers to replace you might be one of them. I’d rather have an immigrant worker on my side, honoring my picket line, than have that worker ride a bus to cross it as a scab.