Firing Line With William F. Buckley: James B Carey- 'Labor Unions and American Freedom (1969)'

Source:Firing Line With William F. Buckley- talking to American labor leader James Carey, in 1969.

"Episode 154, Recorded on June 12, 1969. Guest: James B. Carey. For more information about this program, see:Hoover Institution." 

From Firing Line With William F. Buckley 

"Mr. Carey, as Mr. Buckley tells us, had, with the help of John L. Lewis, launched a counterattack when his union, the United Electrical Union, had been taken over by the Communists. Host and guest sometimes talk past each other, but even so we get a clear idea of what is at issue between Mr. Carey's notion of "an effective union -- a union that represents the views of the people effectively and can deal with management on a basis of equality" and Mr. Buckley's observation that, in the aftermath of the New York City newspaper strike, "the few who survived ... did indeed get their 10, 15, 20, 25 per cent raises, but a lot of other people who would otherwise have survived, went from let's say $250 a week to welfare." 

From the Hoover Institution

One thing I think about when I think of labor unions organized labor, is what working conditions would be like for the American workforce without them. Because with organized labor we have weekends, Social Security, Medicare, Minimum Wage, Unemployment Insurance, Cobra, safe working conditions, etc. 

It's sort of how I think about Lyndon Johnson a man as a Democrat I have a lot of respect for, without President Johnson, how much longer would African-Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities, have to wait until their constitutional rights were enforced. Probably at least until President Carter. who had a large majority in both chambers of Congress and President Carter being a big believer in civil rights. But did he have the political skills to get civil rights legislation through Congress.