This past week I had to purchase a new car (well, new to me). My goals were simple, affordable, a good reliable car, union made, and made in the United States. Of the four goals I accomplished three of them. I purchased a 2006 Ford Fusion. It was affordable, union made and reliable. It was not however, made in the United States. It was built at the Hermosillo Stamping and Assembly plant located in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. While I am disappointed in Ford Motor Company for building “domestic” autos in Mexico I am glad to know that the plant in Mexico is unionized (although I am not sure what the workers wages are nor have I been able to find information on benefits).
I posted my goals/requirements for my new car as a status on Facebook. The majority of comments were positive. Some were less so. Now the majority of conservative associates that were “friends” on Facebook were purged during the Wisconsin protests. The ones that remain are family members. For the most part these family members do not say much about my political leanings or my political posts. However when I posted that one of the goals for my new car purchase was that it be union made – well, I stuck my head into a hornet’s nest. I was told that non-union labor was “just as good” as union labor, that “Unions are not needed,” that union labor did not provide anymore quality than non-union labor and so on.
I come from a union family and I am getting pissed off about all of the union bashing. As a child, union wages put food on the table and clothes on the backs of my siblings and me. It allowed us to own a nice home in Madison just a block away from a public school. Union wages gave my parents the ability to own a small RV (A Holiday Vacationer), which we used to go camping almost every weekend in the summer. The union stood by my dad when his boss tried to break the union. The union allowed my parents to have a comfortable retirement. The union took care of my mother’s long-term care as she suffered the debilitating effects of dementia.
Madison.com had an article posted today titled, In recall campaigns, union is a dirty word — on both sides, the quote that stopped me in my tracks was this one,
The fight over collective bargaining that threw Wisconsin into political chaos in February and ignited efforts to recall nine state senators, but when it comes to the actual campaigns being waged this summer, "union" is a dirty word on both sides. Republicans and Democrats, along with national conservative groups and unions, are steering clear of the battle over union rights in the millions being spent through television ads, mailers and other messaging in the races.
Union is not a dirty word! As unions go, so goes the middle class. Our nation needs a strong middle class; to have a strong middle class we must have strong unions. Unions are not protection for lazy workers; unions do not provide a safe haven for workers that are incompetent. Unions protect workers against abuse by management. Unions allow many to negotiate as one, instead of one negotiating for oneself. The argument should not be about whether union or non-union workers provide better quality products, it should be about unions providing better wages and benefits for their members. Living wages, real wages that can help our economy grow. The Wisconsin protests started because of union rights being stripped away from public employees for our democratic candidates to shy away from supporting union rights is unconscionable to me. As democrats we need to demand that our candidates support labor, both union and non-union.
We must stand together!
9:14 AM PT: Just wanted to add...I did not know the Fusion was made in Mexico until after I had made the purchase. I have purchased Fords my entire life, and with the exception of the Fiesta, I assumed they were all made in the United States. I will never make that assumption again.