The State of the Unions

While many right-wing politicians are calling for the return of on imaginary, harmonic, crime-free, prosperous past, many left-leaning politicians, writers, journalists seemed to have picked the "return of the labour union" as their nostalgic idea of the future.

Maybe then it is time to look at the state of the unions. How come's that Unions seem to be the lowest common dominator. Union's are a force of good, not touched by the evil of communism, or other political forces.

But Unions are always political, as is activism.

Time for a thorough assessment of what the different Unions stand for.

Are they progressive? Do they support better living and working conditions?

Are they there for the unemployed, the victims of globalization and automatization? Does your Union expects its members to support capitalism?

How about environmental challenges? Does the leadership just utters empty phrases while continuing to demand tax- incentives for polluting industries (like my own - the film industry)

How about basic income for everybody - is this considered a thread?

If constant growth and demand for ever-increasing shareholder profit is the cause of all this destruction and injustice and unhappiness in the world, do we not need to change?

And who, of all these people who so love the idea of Unions is a member in one, experiencing its influence directly - not just as a mythological story from an imaginary past.

"The working class can kiss my ass; I got my Union card at last.",

was the sarcastic comment from an old college, when I finally joined IATSE. (The International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Workers)

IATSE is my Union, and I am not proud of it at all. Without a membership there, I could not work on most Film productions and TV-Series.

This Union has long given up the fight for decent work-hours. We are back to average 65 hours per week, shift work without compensation and exempted from all labour laws concerning work hours and turn around times. Our Union goes for Quantity, not Quality.

And what do I do? I complain, without ever making it to a monthly Sunday meeting, since I am just too tired on the only real day off.

Every Local of this North-American wide Union must negotiate separately its contract, which leads to competition inside the Union, over where the movie business goes. If a local does not want to ratify a treaty, the "international" (say US) leadership can step in and take over.

Please do not tell me that any Union is better than "no" Union.

And is this even true? What future is there for an institution that defines itself through the past, victories measured against the passage of time.

What do we want?, we the Union members - not the Union politicians - is the big question we need to ask ourselves.

How do we want to live and can the Union help us getting there?