Unions Beat Pirates

It was a tailor-made quote for the labor movement, and they picked it up and ran with it.

We're seamen. We're union members. We stuck together and we did our jobs.

Business leaders and their enablers in Congress still want you to believe that unions are scorned by the public. Wrong again. And this kind of reminder is great.

By the way, I like the accommodations I'm seeing in the labor movement toward larger goals. The blue-green alliance on climate issues is one of the more exciting developments in the progressive movement which could spur the development of good, green union jobs, and the historic accord on immigration adds another partner to the coalition. As the face of the average union member is increasingly Hispanic, getting AFL-CIO and Change to Win to support comprehensive immigration reform was almost an imperative for them, but kudos for them triumphing over fear and demonization which has crippled past efforts at coalition-building.

I know that the Employee Free Choice Act appears dead at this point, but this broad coalition that can now demand it has at least the potential to change some minds.