Unions need to improve marketing skills -

Observations on the passing scene and other stuff by Brother Franco

First, I should state clearly that I have been a member of a union. I believe unions have always served a very strong purpose in our country. In my opinion, you’d be hard put to find anything the average working person has ever gained that didn’t come through a union effort. Even our nonunion brethren have profited greatly by the American union labor movement.

This begs the question. Why is the union movement in our country in such disarray? Private company unions are pretty much going the way of the dodo bird. Even where they exist they are losing power. The only unions that seem to function correctly are in the public sector and unfortunately all they seem to do is infuriate the public with each passing day.

I think you can put most of the blame at the foot of the unions themselves. I know this upsets a lot of union members, but the simple truth is about all we do anymore is "circle the wagons" and try to defend ideas and principles that don’t seem to resonate with the public any longer. It’s also hard to convince private company employees that often have fewer benefits and less pay than public-sector employees; that public-sector unions have any value.

Even so, what I don’t understand is why unions aren’t out there selling the good they have done over the last hundred years. People forget that everything from weekends off, eight-hour work days, vacations and to even simple things like rest breaks are all a result of organized labor's struggle to bring them into existence.

While unions are good at providing benefits for their workers, they obviously have very few marketing skills. There should be now, and should have been for a long time, a national campaign selling the virtue of unions and the good they have accomplished. The American middle class essentially owes their existence to the union movement. Anyone who checks history will find this to be true.

Then why are we not selling this? Why aren’t we out there shouting to the heavens the good that we’ve done? Perhaps than all those working-class folks that don’t want unions would understand why sooner, or later, it’s in their best interest to join one.