LOOKING FOR THE UNION LABEL

LABOR DAY, 2014

Monday, Labor Day, 8:30 AM.  64 degrees F, wind variable with occasional light gusts.  The sky has a high overcast and it is still raining, after leaving another 1.7" of rain in the gage.  The humidity is 97% and the barometer has begun to rise, currently at 29.57".  Buddy will have to wait a while for his morning walk.
   The above photo was taken on a previous labor day, as the PG Hydrangea in the picture is not yet in full bloom, the flower heads still lime green.  It's tardiness may be the result of the late, cool spring and summer, or perhaps due to the fact that I pruned it in the spring rather than in the fall as I usually do.  All-in-all the cold, snowy winter followed by a wet, cool spring and summer has been a boon to most plant growth, so I guess my pruning is to blame.
   The Labor Day national holiday, first proclaimed in 1894, celebrates the contribution of "labor" to the culture and economy of the United States of America.  Today it mainly celebrates the end of summer with a last long weekend holiday.  Even in my youth it had some of the trappings of the old-fasioned, 19th  and early 20th Century celebration of industrial labor unions, when almost half the non-farm work force in America was unionized.
   When I entered the work force the Union Shop was still predominant, and one mostly had to join a union to get a paycheck.  When I began doing construction work during my college years I avoided the union representative as well as I could, because the $50 initiation fee was a big chunk of my summer wages, not to mention the monthly dues.   When I saw him coming on the job I would jump down a manhole or something, but eventually I was snared.  I was a member of the Laborer's Union of the AFL-CIO for a number of years thereafter.  The only thing it ever got me was being laid off during strikes.  I never did understand the economics of the strike, probably because there was never any economic benefit.
   Also during my college years I was forced to become a member of the United Electrical Workers Union, when I worked second shift at the Allen Bradley Company in Milwaukee.  That was my first experience with the really radical, anti-business, Communistic aspect of unions.  The UE was hell bent on destroying the employer, an old-style (at that time) firm that provided wonderful benefits for it's employees.  The union considered the company "paternalistic" and a mortal enemy for providing them.  After all, if the company provided a good wage, excellent working conditions, insurance, vacations, retirement...what was the point in having a union?
   When I started my career with the Milwaukee County Parks I had to join AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union.  There I was introduced to the unique culture of public employer unions, which generally strive to do as little as possible for as high a wage as possible, while causing as much trouble as possible.  The union situation was even worse in New York when I  was a Vice President of the New York Botanical Garden in the 1970's.  It was virtually impossible to fire or discipline anyone, and the union thugs blatantly threatened everyone who opposed them.   I believe public employees should have either civil service protection or a union, but never both.
   I am not inherently anti-union, as I understand the history of the union movement as it grew out of early struggles for fair wages, safe working conditions and the right to associate and bargain collectively.  Rather, I see the union movement as an anachronism in a global economy, and yet another drag on individual economic initiative and personal freedom.  Industrial unions have caused great damage to our economy and society, virtually destroying Detroit and many other industrial cities with unreasonable strikes and impossible demands, while impeding positive change at every turn. It is little wonder that they have become pariahs in the eyes of most Americans.
   The old craft unions held a respected place in society, whereas the industrial unions became as much a threat to society as the business monopolies they were meant to counterbalance; while the public employee unions as they operate today serve little purpose other than self-perpetuation and political power brokering.
   Remembering the old union organizing song, "Look For The Union Label," I have been doing so, and it is very hard to find.  I actually was seized with a mild fit of nostalgia when I finally found one yesterday evening, on a bottle of Leinenkugel's beer, brewed in Cheppewa Falls, Wisconsin.