Anyone who needs to read why unions are important is seriously uninformed.

Short take? Corporations and big business have power. You don't if you don't unionize.

One person has no leverage against an employer.

I spent 33 years in the federal government, most of it in the post office, and I was a union member from the first day I hit the work floor as a carrier. A few years after working there I became a shop steward and then later took a couple of turns as a branch officer. People who haven't worked in the post office don't know how bad it can be. The difference between stations where there's a strong union presence and a weak one is enormous. I've done a lot of things in my life but the most important things I've done have been fighting for the rights and jobs of my coworkers.

Thanks for the great link Jonathan. History is fascinating and Nathan makes some important points of the connection between progressive politics and the Unions. I am reminded of the time during a campaign speech George H.W. Bush called his opponent a card carrying member of the AFL-CIO as if that was an insult and no doubt to H.W. it was.

I continue to be amazed at the propaganda that has somehow convinced middle class and lower middle class Americans (nobody wants to believe they are the lowest class, although someone must be) to oppose their own interests. To mangle a "The Usual Suspects" quote, "The greatest trick the Republicans ever pulled was convincing Americans they really could 'get rich' if only they support the Republicans."

Blondie,

That of course is the big lie. The republicans are about keeping their money and getting more which means someone else has to get poorer.

Corporations have much too successful at union busting especially since our own government has endorsed deregulation in air traffic safety as well as trucking. Added to that has been the dumbing down of American education institutions to make for 'smarter' consumers who are now dumb enough to buy anything and everything. Next we will be bombarded with anti-union Wal-Mart commercials with the appropriate jingo: "Attention, Good Little Amerikkkans! The only good union is a sexual union!"