I still sing "Union Maid" whenever (now) Gov. Kasich is on television. #maddow #shadenfreude
— K. A. (@estllechauvelin) December 11, 2012
I can't find a free version of Woody Guthrie's original but here's Pete Seeger performing the song before a room full of awkward Australians in 1963.
Rabbit hole warning: Once you get into the YouTube system of old union songs you may lose a significant amount of your day. Check out the language on Seeger's 1947 rendition of "Talking Union." Hoo!
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or even better King Harvest the Band
"I work for the Union 'cause she's so good to me ...."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaKD1Vdarnw
For what it's worth, I fell in love with the Bruce Springsteen album, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. While it doesn't have Union Maid on it, it was while downloading it that I went and also got a whole load of Pete Seeger stuff, including Union Maid.
As we slide backwards into the hole our unionization got us out of, I wonder who will fight the next battle for labor rights? Will the office boy working for free as an intern rally the troops of stapler carrying freedom fighters? Will the waitress tired of spending as much on getting to and from work as she gets in base pay write the battle hymn of the downtrodden serf? Perhaps the quick stop clerks will walk off the job making you have to go to Wal-fart for a pack of smokes? Wal-Mart employees fed up with no benefits and poverty wages might band together and start their own business?
If you think unions are outdated then you must be asleep on the job. As long as greedy pigs run the store using money they get from greedy pigs who think they should reap the profits rather than having the workers earn a living wage under safe working conditions Unions will be a useful tool. Of course if you are envious of Chinese workers having jobs with pay too low to afford them even the bare essentials or illegals that get trafficked into America by businesses that do not want to offer disability or a living wage, then maybe you should move? Cuba might accept you, no I forgot we ruined their sugar cane market.
In the Philippines, some hospitals charge nurses for the privilege of working there. There's so many nurses, they get away with it by telling them that the experince they get working at the hospital will make them more marketable in the future. I can see it happening here.
History will remember what happened in Lansing today as a Republican act of cowardice and self-deception. The cowardice of sneaking through the "right to work for less" is rather obvious. However, the self-deception will continue to be evident as the Republican party fails to re-invent itself. Gov. Snyder has now, just today, awakened a sleeping giant.
Governor Snyder, I believe that this may be your last best day. The canary has sung in the coal mine.
My grandmother and her sister joined the ILGWU in the 1910s when they first came to the U.S. as teenagers and remained union members well into the 1950s. The union protected them, two Sicilian seamstresses who at first could barely speak English, and made sure they were treated well and received fair wages. I'm sticking with the union.
Thanks Will & Sick And Effin Tired , Awesome
It makes me sick to think of all the people that have fought and died for workplace rights, only to have them taken away with the swipe of a pen. How many coal miners died in gun battles with Pinkerton agents working for greedy mine owners that did'nt care whether they lived or died in unsafe mines? How many truck drivers and auto workers were beaten bloody by hired company thugs and crooked police departments, then thrown in jail because they wanted to be treated fairly and with dignity? And now republicans want to take us back to those days in the 20's because greedy people like the Koch brothers want cheap labor and are paying them to do so. What a shame. The republican party is nothing but window dressing for for their wealthy bosses that have been elected to nothing.
Just in keeping with the idea I thought it was worth posting this again...
http://youtu.be/jIfu2A0ezq0
Tennessee Ernie Ford 16 Tons
Those are our parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents in the audience.
Sad day. Very sad day.
Now what?
That rabbit hole warning was a conscientious public service. Somedays I have a helluva time negotiating the turns and getting the ol' police interceptor out of those places...
Grab your handkerchiefs, folks...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Kxq9uFDes
And Pete Seeger, well, he didn't just sing about labor stuff... This one was his first appearance on national television after the Hollywood Blacklist days... Those were brought to you by Joe McCarthy and the grandparents of today's Tea Party know-nothings...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXnJVkEX8O4
Pete's still breathing folks, and well...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezyd40kJFq0
Will Femia: your excellent post here featuring Pete Seeger singing Woody Guthrie's "Union Maid" set me off on a pleasant search through Spotify, ending up with this: http://sharemyplaylists.com/michigan-rip
Enjoy!
Never mind.