I love art and art criticism, among many other things. :->
I don't prefer "shantytown holy rollers to ohioan autoworkers," but I also know that one of the reasons the UAW has had trouble organizing Honda workers in Marysville and other transplants is that workers who get such jobs, which even without unionization pay much better than Wal-Mart and the like ("Pay at its Marysville, Ohio, assembly complex averages about $24 an hour" [Ted Evanoff, "Honda Begins Recruiting Drive for Auto Plant," 21.02.07, <http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070221/BUSINESS/702210399/1003>]), feel lucky getting them at all and hesitate to do things that may cost them the jobs. How can the union overcome that? A tough question.
Ulhas posted a useful Reuters article*, every word of which should be crystal clear to anyone. Even without reading it, most thinking American workers already know their own personal economic reality well enough, as far as the small sizes of their paychecks, lack of personal savings, and constant insecurity are concerned, and many of them also know that getting unionized is one path to change that reality, for in more recent surveys a large number of them indicate that they think unionization is a good idea in the abstract: "Some 60 million U.S. workers say they would join a union if they could, based on research conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates in December 2006" ("60 Million U.S. Workers Would Join a Union If They Could," <http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/57million.cfm>). The problem is that such workers are often unable to convince their co-workers that unionizing a good idea and that it can be done and unable to overcome employer resistance and retaliation (since many of them lack community solidarity that can break the bosses' barriers), and, when they succeed against all odds, employers sometimes actually close the shops (they seldom do so merely in response to unionization, but the few shop closings that do happen inspire fear far beyond their frequency). What can leftists in the USA offer them? Practically nothing beyond the paid and unpaid work of individual leftists here and there, since leftists themselves are largely unorganized and multiply divided. Compared to leftists, even American workers are better at organizing themselves.
* <http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1221177620070312?src=031207_1837_ARTICLE_PROMO_also_on_reuters> Many workers live paycheck to paycheck: survey Mon Mar 12, 2007 4:42PM EDT By Ellen Wulfhorst
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Four out of 10 U.S. workers often or always live from paycheck to paycheck, according to a survey released on Monday.
Women are more likely to live paycheck to paycheck, at 47 percent, than men, at 36 percent, according to the survey conducted for CareerBuilder.com, an online job site based in Chicago. Overall, 41 percent of workers say they often or always live paycheck to paycheck, it said.
Also, 41 percent of women say they do not have enough income to live comfortably, compared with 29 percent of men.
U.S. government and other research reports have found that women earn about 77 cents for every dollar earned by men for comparable work. Women are also more likely to be single parents.
The new survey said 19 percent of workers who earn $100,000 or more annually often or always live paycheck to paycheck.
It found 58 percent of respondents report they set a budget each month. But one in five say they typically spend more than their budget, most often blowing it by eating out.
The survey also said one in five do not set aside any money for savings each month. Of those who do, 14 percent save $500 or more a month, 28 percent save $100 or less and 16 percent save less than $50.
It said 26 percent of women do not set aside any savings, compared with 17 percent of men.
The survey of 6,169 full-time adult workers was conducted between November 17 and December 11, 2006 by Harris Interactive and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage point.
CareerBuilder.com is owned by Gannett Co Inc, Tribune Co and The McClatchy Co. -- Yoshie