Omaha Steve's Labor Group

My grandfather was a lifelong steelworker and union member (once they had unions at J&L) and my dad during WWII worked in an airplane propeller factory as he was too old for the army and was a union steward). Their answer to the corruption charge was not just vote, but pay attention to what was going on. Don't just vote for the contract and hang around the union hall, pay attention who your local leaders are and what they are doing, where your dues are going. Watch what they say they are doing and what actually gets done.

For instance, in the 50s and 60s their pension was pretty good as they went, but when my grandfather died in the mid 60s, his pension completely stopped. There was no widow's benefit for my grandmother and as she only had half of my grandfather's Social Security, she didn't have enough to live on and had to move in with us. Well, that eventually was changed for future retiree widows, but not until things like that were brought to the attention of future union leaders.