Unions are going have to CHANGE. They now have no choice now. AFL-CIO; IBT; & SEIU will have to change now. No more fat paychecks for union officials. (The cash won't be coming in, so no fat vacations; nepotism and dinners. No more politicians pockets to fill as well.) Leaders and members will have to get back to on-the-ground organizing and telling/selling members why a Union is needed in your workplace. And how and why you need a contract. And trying to get that contract which is beneficial to all parties. Of course, the anti-union forces, emboldened with this decision will be working in full force trying to tell you why you don't need a Union. Unions will have to get creative and resourceful with much limited resources (who are you going to lobby now?). Otherwise people will be in deep @##$, because you will be now forced to sign an arbitration agreement (which the SC approved a couple of weeks ago) to get any job now without the power of collective bargaining. And wage theft is prevalent now. Working more hours for less. I myself know that I would not want to be working without a union in this or any industry (my 2nd job is a Union job as well). Even though the IAM and the District has its problems, I have seen the Local Lodge fight for people's jobs. And won. People may ***** and moan about a union (especially people on my side of the house since we didn't have one previously), I know that things would not be as well without one. When the cuts came years ago, all of the Unionized groups on property got their get backs faster than we did. Ours was much slower, because we weren't represented.
What bothers me now is what happens if "One Party Rule" takes hold? And what happens to Unions? Once gone, what happens next? Will our pay drastically drop? Will work rules be decimated? I have a lot of misgivings about the last few SC decisions this week. A lot of us is going to get hurt . We all aren't rich enough to be insulated from this nonsense. But this for for the "Water Cooler" and not this thread.
It is going to be many years of pain before a new renaissance of Union power comes back to fruition. If history is correct, Corporations will not do the right thing. And a lot of teachers (one of the reasons why this decision came about - their power was huge) hit the streets the last few weeks. So I see some hope............