We are all in debt to the unions (Pretoria News / SA)

[struggle4progress]

... The country owes a huge debt to trade unions. In the long dark days of the fight against apartheid, trade unions were an assembly point for progressive forces; a crucial site of struggle and a place where democratic practices, however tentative and limited, could be learned.

While the liberation movements were forced into secrecy, the trade unions and civic movements operated openly.

The traditions of democracy and respect for others, of collective action and of peaceful, disciplined protest learned in the trade union movement are important pillars of the freedoms we all enjoy today.

http://www.pretorianews.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3286773

[bedpanartist]

1. amen from a labor union leader

Vice President of Local #627, Dayton Public Schools Transportation Department.

And judging by the kind of draconian work conditions and anti-dignity measures that are put into place by our management team, I am proud to be fighting the good fight, even though at times it is exhausting.

[shrike]

2. Amen from one who benefits from a union

My husband's union local, which keeps its pensions safe even now, so that no one, not even the rapacious bastard who now owns the company, can plunder it.