Reply #9: Reagan's Murder of LABOR [View All]

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I grew up in Union Country -- had a union job in the steel mill, had a USW economist as one of my prof's.

Back in the halcyon days (before Reagan) of the labor movement -- union lobbyists provided the brain power for the Dems --- asking the "what ifs" and moving "factory floor" legislation through Congress. Those were the glory days of the unions, the civil rights movement (including womens' rights, immigrants' rights, handicappers, etc.), and the academics. Somehow the grand coalition began to unravel, and Reagan kicked us in the butt.

Then we switched to "professional staffers" in DC and lost control of our movement.

I look back fondly to the era of real unions with Democratic meetings in union halls, and fund raisers in the basements of Unitarian Churches, and "Banquets" in what we now call "Sports Bars."