johnnyhighliner
12-02-2009, 08:22 PM
Union Corruption
Corruption has followed inevitably. Most union leaders started out as sincere and honest people, but the harsh realities of capitalism quickly disillusioned themUnion Corruption
Corruption has followed inevitably. Most union leaders started out as sincere and honest people, but the harsh realities of capitalism quickly disillusioned them. The more hopeless the plight of the rank and file appeared, the more the union leaders turned to feathering their own nests. Careerists and opportunists rose to the top, exploiting the workers’ instinct for solidarity to promote their own bureaucratic interests as labor merchants of the capitalist class of labor exploiters. In strike after strike, the unions have sacrificed and bartered away the workers’ interests in exchange for such things as the “union shop” and the dues “checkoff” that practically make the capitalist employer a union official and dues collector. And they seal these deals with labor contracts that tie workers’ hands and that capitalists often break.
This is corruption of the worst kind. It perverts the historic mission of unionism. Yet, despite their betrayals of the workers’ interests, virtually everyone who pretends to have the workers’ interests at heart—including the “Communists,” the “Socialist” reformers, and the “friend of labor” liberals—upholds the present unions.
The SLP takes a different stand on today’s unions. It shows that they have corrupted the purpose of unionism, and that their leaders are nothing more than lieutenants of the capitalist class who run the unions in the interests of the capitalist class.
By contrast, the SLP emphasizes the fact of the class struggle. Consequently, it holds that workers need a new kind of union, a union that accepts the fact and implications of the class struggle and aims to unite the whole working class. We have a name for this new type of unionism. We call it Socialist Industrial Unionism.
. The more hopeless the plight of the rank and file appeared, the more the union leaders turned to feathering their own nests. Careerists and opportunists rose to the top, exploiting the workers’ instinct for solidarity to promote their own bureaucratic interests as labor merchants of the capitalist class of labor exploiters. In strike after strike, the unions have sacrificed and bartered away the workers’ interests in exchange for such things as the “union shop” and the dues “checkoff” that practically make the capitalist employer a union official and dues collector. And they seal these deals with labor contracts that tie workers’ hands and that capitalists often break.
This is corruption of the worst kind. It perverts the historic mission of unionism. Yet, despite their betrayals of the workers’ interests, virtually everyone who pretends to have the workers’ interests at heart—including the “Communists,” the “Socialist” reformers, and the “friend of labor” liberals—upholds the present unions.
The SLP takes a different stand on today’s unions. It shows that they have corrupted the purpose of unionism, and that their leaders are nothing more than lieutenants of the capitalist class who run the unions in the interests of the capitalist class.
By contrast, the SLP emphasizes the fact of the class struggle. Consequently, it holds that workers need a new kind of union, a union that accepts the fact and implications of the class struggle and aims to unite the whole working class. We have a name for this new type of unionism. We call it Socialist Industrial Unionism.
:mad:
Corruption has followed inevitably. Most union leaders started out as sincere and honest people, but the harsh realities of capitalism quickly disillusioned themUnion Corruption
Corruption has followed inevitably. Most union leaders started out as sincere and honest people, but the harsh realities of capitalism quickly disillusioned them. The more hopeless the plight of the rank and file appeared, the more the union leaders turned to feathering their own nests. Careerists and opportunists rose to the top, exploiting the workers’ instinct for solidarity to promote their own bureaucratic interests as labor merchants of the capitalist class of labor exploiters. In strike after strike, the unions have sacrificed and bartered away the workers’ interests in exchange for such things as the “union shop” and the dues “checkoff” that practically make the capitalist employer a union official and dues collector. And they seal these deals with labor contracts that tie workers’ hands and that capitalists often break.
This is corruption of the worst kind. It perverts the historic mission of unionism. Yet, despite their betrayals of the workers’ interests, virtually everyone who pretends to have the workers’ interests at heart—including the “Communists,” the “Socialist” reformers, and the “friend of labor” liberals—upholds the present unions.
The SLP takes a different stand on today’s unions. It shows that they have corrupted the purpose of unionism, and that their leaders are nothing more than lieutenants of the capitalist class who run the unions in the interests of the capitalist class.
By contrast, the SLP emphasizes the fact of the class struggle. Consequently, it holds that workers need a new kind of union, a union that accepts the fact and implications of the class struggle and aims to unite the whole working class. We have a name for this new type of unionism. We call it Socialist Industrial Unionism.
. The more hopeless the plight of the rank and file appeared, the more the union leaders turned to feathering their own nests. Careerists and opportunists rose to the top, exploiting the workers’ instinct for solidarity to promote their own bureaucratic interests as labor merchants of the capitalist class of labor exploiters. In strike after strike, the unions have sacrificed and bartered away the workers’ interests in exchange for such things as the “union shop” and the dues “checkoff” that practically make the capitalist employer a union official and dues collector. And they seal these deals with labor contracts that tie workers’ hands and that capitalists often break.
This is corruption of the worst kind. It perverts the historic mission of unionism. Yet, despite their betrayals of the workers’ interests, virtually everyone who pretends to have the workers’ interests at heart—including the “Communists,” the “Socialist” reformers, and the “friend of labor” liberals—upholds the present unions.
The SLP takes a different stand on today’s unions. It shows that they have corrupted the purpose of unionism, and that their leaders are nothing more than lieutenants of the capitalist class who run the unions in the interests of the capitalist class.
By contrast, the SLP emphasizes the fact of the class struggle. Consequently, it holds that workers need a new kind of union, a union that accepts the fact and implications of the class struggle and aims to unite the whole working class. We have a name for this new type of unionism. We call it Socialist Industrial Unionism.
:mad: