Making a union 'international' is not necessarily beneficial. I believe unions function better at a local or grassroots level according to local needs with local votes. On a big scale, the people most likely to benefit are not the people belonging to the union, but the people being paid by the union. I have known people that have been burnt by unions and found it necessary to walk away to take care of their families, refusing to ever work for a union shop again. During recessionary times, no one but a union leader can afford a strike, because a company can simply wait until it appears the economy is improving. The economic outlook for the next three years in not good. Especially when other people are unemployed and can not afford to support their striking union neighbors.

It seems we would be better off focusing on the corruption that goes on in business that allows companies to increase excutive pay and bonuses in excess of what is going on economically in a national scale, especially during this recession/depression. Then let the unions work on their pay and benefits from their end in their local or company/organization based areas.

However, I am all for supporting teachers and small scale unions if they have good cause…as long as we are not interrupting children or marching in an aggresive 'in you face' manner. It should simply be sufficient to walk and hold signs peacefully if we have the right contacts and locations. High drama is not admirable by most people I know.

A good film to watch on unions is Made in Dagenham.

We live our lives within conversations.

Given the shallowness of the conversation labor unions create and maintain, I have to say absolutely not.  They lend agreement to this failed system–this Master/Slave paradigm–in everything they do.  This state of things cannot be allowed to persist.

The call for "jobs" is the plea of slaves.  Those manufacturing jobs everyone is so nostalgic for, wrecked the environment, creating a false economy.  We let corporations/businesses externalize their costs and privatize their profits–which is psychopathic, anti-social, anti-life behavior.  'They' take advantage of the 'outta sight, outta mind', infantile perspective, from which we, as a species, continue to operate.

'Labor' lacks the insight, imagination and the courage to change the conversation.  There is no enlightened leadership in labor today and the hasn't been any for several generations now.  Labor, today, seeks to maintain the agenda of BIG Business–tacitly or otherwise.  They are a LARGE part of the problem because they continue to seek solutions within the paradigm that put us into this ditch.  I'm being nice.

Of course, they are welcome to join us–but on our terms, not theirs–they blew it generations ago.  Again, their perspectives are infantile; petulant; shallow; short-sighted; fear-based/driven; immature; not sober; lack moral or ethical bearing (therefore, bereft of courage); sociopathic; corrupt to their fascist core.  (Corrupt meaning spiritually; regarding personal integrity–not just money.)  Labor doesn't even pay good lip-service to working-class values–which is currently a plus.

We can and must do better.  We must tell the truth as we know it–as we find and name the actualities.  Labor, along with other entities like the Mayor, do not recognize the value of connecting these dots so we must somehow–creatively, non-violently–assist them.

We have reality working for us but are challenged by the conditions/culture we create with our 'atomized' lifestyles in this country–this insane drive towards autonomy when we couldn't be more obviously inter-dependent.  We've been robbed of perspective/empowerment by schools and the mainstream media by our inappropriate/mis-placed values.  We've lost all but the last vestiges of community.  The family is society in microcosm and it is mostly disintegrated.  Our institutions are collapsing around us.

The paradigm is clear:  It's a you and me world now–including all other flora and fauna within this biosphere.  It's really always been that way, but, given the collapse of everything around us, we can now recognize that we are in a process of re-birth (and at the level of species, no less).  Our choices are more narrow with fewer and fewer viable options.  We are sobering up from the blind drunkenness generated by the very flawed, anthropocentric (infantile) mind-set we were born into; that we inherited.  We, as a species, are reclaiming our birthright–agency in our lives…

Peace is not the opposite of conflict, but the result of cooperation.

We will live cooperatively or perish collectively.

Im for the OWS movement but whats up with the censorship on this site. Why do comments have to pend approval?

You're noticing the fact that some users are on moderation. Some of them are on moderation because they engage in persistent trolling or other violations of forum policy (see "Registration Policy" link near bottom of this page). Others are on moderation simply because, as of very recently, all new registrations are automatically on moderation until taken off.

Since this discussion is off-topic for this thread, if you wish to continue it, please either create a topic for it in the General Discussion forum, or let me know and I will.

Thanks for your contributions to the forums. 

Thanks, Katie.

Also, to correct something I said above, the N17 march was "in partnership with SEIU and the AFL-CIO."

Im for the OWS movement but whats up with the censorship on this site. Why do comments have to pend approval?

I was appalled to hear (and now, read) SEIU was supporting 0bama--especially at this stage of that game.  I've always appreciated Mr Greenwalds' thinking and writing style.  As usual, he makes some good points.  However, he uses the term 'reasonable' repeatedly, which is always a red flag.  Being 'reasonable' got us into this mess.  The "Colonized Mind" is reasonable--if nothing else.  We're looking for what's rational and practical--we are de-colonizing our minds.  Party politics show up as more and more absurd.  The Occupy Movement will not fall for the 'bad theater' gimmick.  Voting will make no sense because it legitimizes a failed, corrupt system.  This up-coming election cycle will be a media circus on steroids.

I'll stop here for now.

Also, to correct something I said above, the N17 march was "in partnership with SEIU and the AFL-CIO."

This is an article by Glenn Greenwald of Salon, "Here’s what attempted co-option of OWS looks like."
http://www.salon.com/2011/11/1.....singleton/

In light of the article, I'm interested in what people think of Occupy Houston officially supporting SEIU-sponsored events. (The march that OccHou joined on Nov. 17 was co-sponsored by SEIU and Good Jobs Great Houston.) [correction: the event was in partnership with SEIU and the AFL-CIO]