Coal and factory jobs haven't always been pleasant (nor are they necessarily so today). But, those became gateways to a respectable, middle-class life for Americans regardless of their socioeconomic background. While those jobs have largely disappeared (primary thanks to automation), the memory working class Americans have associated with those jobs and the American culture that arose during their peak (40s-60s) is one not so easily abandoned. Entire cultures developed around those industries in the communities in which they were dominant. Workers knew that a coal or factory job meant a decent wage, health insurance, pension, and other benefits that are not so easily obtained through other careers - even ones that require a college degree. The relatively high standard of living these folks enjoyed is simply unattainable in today's economy outside of certain highly skilled fields or rare exceptions (such as natural gas booms).
It's not simply an attachment to a particular type of work, but to the benefits and security associated with that work. If these people were given opportunities in their communities aside from low wage, no benefit jobs (like service jobs), then they'd take them. Instead, that's all they have and it simply isn't sustainable for families or for local/regional economies. Return the dignity of a hard days work equals good pay and benefits, and these people will do those jobs and let go of coal and factory jobs. College isn't even necessarily the answer either; trade school provides great opportunities, as do community colleges. But, that requires investment and the promise of local opportunity afterward, where they won't be forced to relocate hundreds of miles away from their home just to have career options.
This.
The United Mine Workers endorsed George McGovern in 1972. They didn't endorse Hillary Clinton in 2016. Imagine that.
Unions are tools of the communists.
In 1996, my father joined a union because he thought it might help him out in his workplace, since we live in TN it wasn't required but he said he made the mistake of joining anyway. He says the union was the biggest group of assholes he'd ever met and made working very difficult because they impeded the flow of business. He quit the union after like a week.
My father's experience with that union is one of the major reasons he's so anti-labor and has been a Republican for years.
Unions just harm business and workers.
Not every union is perfect; in fact, there have been plenty of corrupt and incompetent unions. It’s simplt a fact of life. But, to claim unions “just harm business and workers” is beyond ludicrous. It was the unions, as organizations of allied workers fighting for the interests of their class, that gave us child labor laws, the 8 hour work day, higher wages, and countless other benefits. Most of what ordinary workers take for granted today wasn’t the result of supportive politicians and businesses doing good for workers; it’s the result of the workers forcing owners of capital and their congressional puppets to make concessions - often having to standup against hired thugs and the police with guns and other weapons.
In fact, perhaps the biggest problem with american unions and why our labor movement never achieved for workers what it did in Western Europe is due to the 1940s law that prohibited unions from working with known Communists. Our labor movement barred radicals from agitating for strikes and other forms of radical labor activity that likely would’ve won a guaranteed safety net for all Americans and better working conditions.
And, yes, I already know you’ll probably respond with some edgy, fanatically anti-worker screed and all that “muh poor business” nonsense.
