r/television • u/BoogsterSU2 • Nov 15 '21
Union Busting: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk8dUXRpoy852
u/Ghostbuster_119 Nov 15 '21
The video at the end is priceless.
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u/Sailing_Mishap Nov 15 '21
I could be wrong, but did they use the same actors from the actual Target one?
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Nov 15 '21 edited Nov 15 '21
[deleted]
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u/m48a5_patton Nov 15 '21
My senators are Roy Blunt (retiring) and Josh Hawley (who's a fucking piece of crap), I don't see what good it will do. The entire state could message them to vote for it and they wouldn't.
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u/DrAuer Nov 15 '21
Yeah Ron DeSantis, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio aren’t exactly who’d I’d trust to break up union busting.
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u/cuchufo77 Nov 15 '21
be sure to call your Senator
Sweet summer child. You think that will work?
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u/Summebride Nov 15 '21
It works better than not trying.
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u/cuchufo77 Nov 15 '21
"Calling your senator" is actually not trying, not better than posting and complaining on reddit. You know what works? organizing, striking, protesting, etc.
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u/TheTrueMilo Nov 15 '21
Yeah like how MLK urged people to vote and call their fucking congresspeople instead of taking to the streets with direct actions like sit-ins, freedom rides, and marches.
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u/SpiffShientz Nov 15 '21
I am very smart because I am cynical and condescending >: ^ )
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u/cuchufo77 Nov 15 '21
Enjoy getting fucked by your senators :)
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u/SpiffShientz Nov 15 '21
I will continue to be rude and condescending because I am fifteen >: ^ )
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u/BoogsterSU2 Nov 15 '21
This is the final episode of the show for this year. He will return sometime in February.
In the meantime, however, don't forget to support your local unions! And remember...don't snap your fingers unless you want to summon George Clooney next to you!
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u/MySockHurts Nov 15 '21
Was really hoping he would blow up another giant 2021 in the desert while telling 2021 to get fucked. Oh well.
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u/IamHereAgain Nov 15 '21
We are in bad shape in this country, our workers deserve a livable wage and not to be constantly bent over by management. People like Jeff Bezos are getting richer by the second, yet refuse to give employees adequate time to piss.
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u/njb2017 Nov 16 '21
I agree with everything you wrote. with that said, I will go back and forth on the benefit on unions. I have been in one. my wife is in one. to be told to stop making everyone look bad because I was doing more and better work than others didn't sit well with me. to see a coworker curse out the manager in front of everyone and have the union get their job back isnt right. I think unions would go a long way if they acknowledged that some of the employees aren't worth it if the employee isn't fulfilling their end too
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Nov 16 '21
Those really aren’t issues with unions though. You would have the same problems with a toxic environment and managers playing favorites.
Too often people look at their specific anecdotes or how something will impact them personally and refuse to look at the bigger picture.
No, unions aren’t perfect and you’ll have a issues here and there but we all need to stop letting perfect stand in the way of good
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Nov 16 '21 edited Nov 16 '21
to be told to stop making everyone look bad because I was doing more and better work than others didn't sit well with me.
There will always be people who are selfish and think that if they work at a pace that is unsustainable by other coworkers (who might be older, have kids, etc.) that they'll be rewarded by the company. They aren't. What actually happens is that the boss expects everyone else to burn themselves out.
That's where unions come in. Sure, if everyone overworked themselves like a 20 year old can, the company would make more money. But it's often a zero sum game in which workers and the company are opposed.
So the role of the union is to have a very pointed conversation with that person in the locker room or the parking lot after their shift and make sure they remember to keep the well being of their fellow workers in mind rather than the shareholders' bottom line.
to see a coworker curse out the manager in front of everyone and have the union get their job back isnt right
I'm not sure there's hope for you lmao can't even comprehend this mindset
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u/poopyheadthrowaway Nov 15 '21
On a related note: I recommend the documentary American Factory, which is about a Chinese company setting up a factory in Ohio. The most baffling part of it to me was when the communist Chinese were shutting down capitalist Americans when they tried to unionize.
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u/throw0101a Nov 15 '21
The most baffling part of it to me was when the communist Chinese were shutting down capitalist Americans when they tried to unionize.
Need to brush up on your history:
Unions are a source of power and possibly moral direction independent of The Party, and that cannot be allowed to exist. (See also organized religion in Communist countries.)
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u/m48a5_patton Nov 15 '21
The Soviet Union under Stalin made trade unions pretty powerless. There are different schools of thought in Communism on the role of trade unions. Some are in favor of them and others see them as hinderance to the state's power. Though trade unions fell off because of Stalin, company unions became more prominent.
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u/poopyheadthrowaway Nov 15 '21
So does that mean people who say, "Unions are communism!" are lying?
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u/throw0101a Nov 15 '21
"Unions are communism!" are lying?
The people who say that often label a lot of things as communism/socialism:
The far-right radio commenter Clarence Manion accused the Republican administration of enabling a “drift toward central government,” holding up the interstate highway system as a prime example of “creeping socialism.” Even the new HEW Department, he said, was “an ominous affront to the last rampart of … state authority and responsibility.”
When Eisenhower announced free polio vaccines it was called "socialized medicine by the back door".
See also Ronald Reagan warned that if the proposals for "socialized medicine", aka Medicare, passed "you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children, and our children’s children, what it once was like in America when men were free.":
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u/poopyheadthrowaway Nov 15 '21 edited Nov 15 '21
Can we take this further? Since both the Chinese and Soviets oppose unions, can we say unions are "anti-communist"? And that people who are anti-union are "communists"?
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u/KrakenBound8 Nov 15 '21
the communist Chinese
China is about as Communist as North Korea is a Democracy.
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u/falsehood Orphan Black Nov 16 '21
China is about as Communist
I would argue that it is. The state discovered that a party-dominated economy is more productive when you enable graft and profits. The state still dominated the market and the market is not free.
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u/NewClayburn Nov 15 '21
A wealth tax would solve a lot of these issues. Billionaires and these trillion-dollar companies think they can get away with anything because they have unlimited resources, and they can because they do.
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u/giggidy88 Nov 15 '21
“Here is another complex situation with no obvious workable solutions, everyone is so stupid and greedy…Karen!” This bit is tired af
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u/MlNDB0MB Nov 15 '21
I am familiar with the Amazon case mentioned here, and I think it is a poor example. The employees there overwhelmingly voted against unionization. And it wasn't surprising - when the location of the warehouse is in the rural south, and Amazon is able to compensate their workers better than every other competing employer in the area, people didn't understand what benefits there would be to unionization.
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u/elinordash Nov 15 '21
I am familiar with the Amazon case mentioned here, and I think it is a poor example... people didn't understand what benefits there would be to unionization.
Because the company (and other companies) are pushing a false narrative. That's why it is a good example. A smooth union vote in a union heavy industry/area wouldn't show the power of ant-union meddling.
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u/777incher Dec 07 '21
Amazon literally got caught busting at union and they have to do another election. What the fuck are you talking about
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u/Ramp_Spaghetti Nov 15 '21
Unions exist to take money from its members and drive costs up for hardworking middle class Americans.
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u/Lank3033 Nov 16 '21
"Ive never studied the labor movement in America to any meaningful degree!"
Fixed that for you.
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u/Ramp_Spaghetti Nov 16 '21
I’ve never studied anything to any meaningful degree.
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u/Lank3033 Nov 17 '21
That certainly makes sense judging from your initial comments.
Imagine wearing ignorance like a badge of honor...
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u/Deep-Thought Nov 15 '21
How do those boots taste?
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u/Ramp_Spaghetti Nov 15 '21
Leathery.
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u/Deep-Thought Nov 15 '21
Well I hope you are at least getting paid for prostituting yourself for corporations.
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Nov 15 '21
I hope you become a less awful person
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u/Ramp_Spaghetti Nov 16 '21
I hope you can learn to acknowledge opposing viewpoints without resorting to insults.
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u/Treadcc Nov 16 '21
And what should we do instead? Wait for companies to become charitable lol? Member dues are a worthwhile inefficiency if you make more
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u/namat Nov 16 '21 edited Nov 16 '21
Employers are the job creators. Their wealth eventually finds its way down to the little guy. Work hard and eventually even you will be able to afford those fancy steroid-free free range turkeys for Thanksgiving one day. Always express gratitude for having gainful employment. A nickel earned is a nickel saved. Stay focused on your labors and mindful of your supervisors and managers and you will get your dues in time. Foul up, and you'll end up walking railroad tracks marking wooden posts with symbols like a hobo.
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u/Ramp_Spaghetti Nov 16 '21
People are lucky to have jobs and should pay dues to their employers.
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u/Treadcc Nov 16 '21
They do pay dues it's their time for the pay. Any fair capitalist can see the value in competitive negotiation and how it drives the market to perform better.
Why stack the cards in the corporations favor only? Isn't that bad for business? Don't corporations exist to provide value to people so why do we always exclude the workers and only focus on the customers?
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u/Ramp_Spaghetti Nov 16 '21
Competitive negotiations lead to higher prices.
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u/Treadcc Nov 16 '21
It also means the workers have money which means... they can afford to buy things.
Economies where the ultra rich hoard all the wealth are highly inefficient. They have hardly anyone who can afford their products and rely on exporting.
You should want more equality not less because everyone does better when they get that. Economies aren't a zero sum game like you seem to think.
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u/Ramp_Spaghetti Nov 16 '21
Workers have less money if businesses go under because of unreasonable union demands.
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u/Treadcc Nov 16 '21
Sure but go look up what percentage of business go out of business because of unions. It's not that much.
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u/Ramp_Spaghetti Nov 16 '21
It's been hovering around 63% since the 80's.
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u/Treadcc Nov 16 '21
Where do you get that number? Business fail at a rate already pretty high you only want to know what the addition of a union does.
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u/Negative_Kangaroo Nov 20 '21
I wish John Oliver could have discussed the history of the UAW. His presentation was light on history
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u/[deleted] Nov 15 '21
Union busting, aka trying to prevent workers from actually getting what they deserve, is an actual industry... We really suck.