I tried to post a brilliant comment to Digby's post about the importance of organized labour Which Side Are You On, Boys? -- but haloscan failed on me. So I thought I might as well make the comment here, at a longer length.
My comment was that it is not surprising that society doesn't appreciate unions as much as we once did, considering declines in union membership.
Its too bad, too, because labour unions and labour-management relations, particularly in Canada, have greatly matured over the last decade -- the hysterical anti-union everything-is-their-fault management attitude has declined, as has the arrogance of unions gleefully seizing every opportunity to screw up people's vacation plans.
Anyway, I can't think of an easier or better way to introduce people to the importance of unions than to show them two movies: first, "Norma Rae" to illustrate not only why industrial unions were life-savers for workers, but also the importance of union principles like the closed shop. And second, "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" to illustrate how easy it is to treat people like dirt when they have no organization to defend themselves. It might certainly still be possible for someone to remain anti-union after seeing these two films, but at least they would have an understanding of why other people support the union movement.
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