antiwork started off good but quickly went downhill.
I abandoned it some time ago because it is now a "pro-union eco-chamber".
I once advocated serious changes to the labour laws are what is needed, and was inundated with "join a union" posts.
It really speaks to just how out-of-touch these people are.
Unions only care about large corporations because they can get a lot of members and union dues. The issue with this logic is that small businesses are often totally out of the unions reach and laws benefit EVERYONE. The other issue they overlook is Union contracts only apply to those in the union and can change greatly from one union to the next.
From what I understand, that sub used to be anarchists and kind of exploded into just general distaste for modern working conditions and pushed out the regular anarchists. The death of that side of anti-work was probably when that highly publicized Fox interview with one of its mods happened
My grandfather and dad both worked factory jobs and were both “diehard anti-union”.
After asking a few questions I got the sense that they were both convinced of the evils of unions by the employers propaganda. They would show them videos and have occasional anti-organizing events were the company basically said “you organize and everyone will lose their jobs”.
One year I remember that organization was talked about by my dad around Christmas time. They shutdown the factory for a couple of weeks (to really hurt the workers during the holidays)and sent out letters saying that unions were responsible for the shutdown and this would only continue if they organized.
Another time when asking my grandpa about unions he told me that the owner of the factory took good care of employees and didn’t need a union. That his boss would throw a big Annual party with raffles and a $1000 grand prize. But if anyone ever thought about a union, all parties would be canceled and lots of people laid off. It was part of his speech almost every year.
Of course my blue collar immigrant family would be scared of unions, their employers basically held their jobs over their heads.
+1 to your post and links. I'm also surprised by how much anti-union sentiment exists in the US; things like the 40-hour workweek and concept of overtime were paid for in blood.
Interesting that you phrase this as the worker being to blame and not anti-union lobbying and legislation, coupled with an intense psyops campaign from the landed gentry to convince the serfs that voting for their own interests is un-american.
Actually most people were union-supportive but thought it either wasn't the right time or would negatively impact the company in the long-run. Only a small minority (maybe 15%) of the company were activist and the rest were "union? okay cool!".
There were some really dirty tactics used by the activist camps (on both sides) and even some press written about such at the time. Things like demanding that management accept the union without an employee vote (back when their internal polling showed that only 30% would vote to unionize...). Negative articles in the press, etc.
The tactics employed and employee-vs-employee culture caused a number of folks I know to leave. Some even from the pro-union side.
You have to understand that in the US there has been a significant anti-labor campaign, both in the media and in politics for at least the last 40 or 50 years. It's been reasonably effective, and took serious hold in the 1980's - many of the posters here have grown up in a world where labor issues are mostly only discussed in a context of how worker demands are holding back corporations. It's difficult to not have your attitudes effectively co-opted if you're only exposed to one side of the argument for most of your life.
Funnily enough OP could give you no answer. It seems they just spewed without thought some of the anti-union propaganda that is so common in the US. And nowadays in Europe too, sadly.
Do you mean specifically around their anti union stance?
It wasn’t widely in the news back then. But I also don’t want to be part of an union and most of the unions I’m aware of in North America are not shining examples. So I’d be ok with working there today given what I know.
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