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I used to work in the UK print industry, which was at the time the last vestige of strong union power in the country.
I saw the good: Management held to account for pomises made but not delivered on. Legal advice to members on issues as diverse as housing, motor insurance claims, divorces and wills. Collective representation in talks about factory closure and redundency terms.
I saw the bad: Workers threatening a walkout over a pay request that would have caused the factory to be closed as uneconomical - they knew this but said "the corporation is rich and should give some of it to us". The worst kind of demarkation - workers refusing to hold a ladder while I changed a light bulb in my office because that was an electrician's job - so they expected me to work i the dark for three days until our site engineer was on his rounds, or call in an electruician at £200 a visit.
I think on ballance unions are a force for equality and fairness (at their best) but their power has been too strong at times in the past in this country.
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Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air,
And deep beneath the rolling waves,
In labyrinths of Coral Caves,
The Echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand;
And everthing is Green and Submarine
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