KY Judge Overturns Right-to-Work-Like-A-Serf

Face it, people: the only thing standing between you and serfdom is a union. Only a union protects your actual right to work for a living wage in a safe workplace under decent conditions.

 

Adam Beam at the AP:

Local governments in Kentucky can increase the minimum wage, but a federal judge ruled Wednesday that they can't ban labor unions from requiring employees to join them.

Meanwhile, union members volunteering their time are literally saving lives, which is more than anybody in Matt Bevin's adninistration can say.

Due to the inaction of state and federal officials, thousands of people in Flint have been exposed to unsafe levels of lead in their water. Now a group of union plumber are taking matters into their own hands.

On Saturday, 300 plumbers from unions across the country descended on Flint to install new faucets and water filters for free.

Many Flint residents needed new faucets because their existing faucets were so old they could not accommodate water filters provided by the state.

The effort was coordinated by the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry, known as the United Association. The fixtures were donated by the Plumbing Manufacturers International.

If you still don't get it, Charlie Pierce explains:

These are Union folks. You remember, right? These are those people who do nothing but expect to be paid for goofing off, with their silly "benefits" and their ridiculous "pensions." The ones who wear pinky rings and cashmere coats and are just as influential in our politics as the plutocrats are. Even some millennial liberals will tell you that unions are obsolete in our shiny new globalized entrepreneurial economy. Why be a plumber when you can invent the next Uber? This is why. Unions used to be essential part of the community. They threw parades and Christmas parties and sponsored Little League teams. In many places, they were what a town had for a community center. And that's the spirit in which these people did what they did. It used to be important.