Return of the Son of the Union? (part 2)

The other thing that I’ve noticed (see previous entry) for the first time, well, ever, really, is the abundance of Union commercials. A while back, I watched the CBS NYC broadcast of the Star Wars Holiday Special (which I now have most of on DIVX if anyone is looking). One of the most interesting things about the broadcast I watched were the commercials. My guess were that at least one-half of the aired commmercials were for unions: ‘IAW : driving America’, etc. I couldn’t recall having seen a union commercial on TV in recent memory. These past two months, I have seen several. TV Shows are suddenly being sponsored by unions. I see at least one CAW advert an hour. Watching US channels, I’ve seen several more. Certain are part of this rash of patriotising, whereing they proclaim their love for America and how proud they are, etc, etc. Which is fine, and to be expected. I admit, I actually welled up a little when the Firefighter’s Association ran ads commemorating those firefighters who had died in the WTC collapse. But in contrast to the Big Three’s assertions that they are ‘rebuilding America’, the Steelworker’s claim to the same has so much more weight.

I’ve talked before of a new set of union drives. I’d been thinking more about organising the tech workplace, but as in any economic downturn, people are much more likely to turn to unions for the security and solidarity. In BC, faced off against a government who wants the 10 richest percent to get richer at any cost, that solidarity for the average Joe is appealing. I’d certainly love to be able to join together with the few thousand other coders, Sys Admins, etc; the Tech Workers Union of BC and strike in solidarity with nurses, teachers (er…’job actions’ in this case), etc who are being royally shafted by this government. At the very least, the idea of a safety net beyond the crumbling one the government is slowly dismantling is appealing, beyond any idealogical reasons I have for wanting some sort of union/guild in my line of work.

2 Replies to “Return of the Son of the Union? (part 2)”

  1. raising the issue of unions in the IT field is a very interesting one. If you’ve noticed Gordon Campbell’s new proposals for changes the the Employment Standards Act, they reflect quite closely the changes that were made a few years back in relation to the IT industry. My first boss in the IT sector (some of you know of whom I speak) was a part of the group that lobbied to get IT exempt from having to pay overtime and all that other nonesense. While I have my own issues with Unions (nothing is really perfect) I do think that now is a very good time for all workers in Canada, BC in particular, to start to stand up and use the power of their numbers to protect their own and their colleagues interests.

  2. raising the issue of unions in the IT field is a very interesting one. If you’ve noticed Gordon Campbell’s new proposals for changes the the Employment Standards Act, they reflect quite closely the changes that were made a few years back in relation to the IT industry. My first boss in the IT sector (some of you know of whom I speak) was a part of the group that lobbied to get IT exempt from having to pay overtime and all that other nonesense. While I have my own issues with Unions (nothing is really perfect) I do think that now is a very good time for all workers in Canada, BC in particular, to start to stand up and use the power of their numbers to protect their own and their colleagues interests.

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