# I pit picketers **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 23, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-picketers/500744 "2009-06-23T18:13:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-picketers/500744/81 "2009-06-25T22:28:22Z")
> [@muttrox](#): > > With all due respect, so what? That doesn’t change the fact that there are other people willing to work in brutal, dangerous conditions, for ridiculously long hours, for meager pay. > > Third world sweatshops are miserable horrible places to work, but people will do just about anything to get hired because it beats the alternative. Supply and demand, regardless of the justice or fairness of holding a decent job. Well as a response to… > [@](#): > > At least here in the US, labor unions were created to protect workers from brutal, often dangerous conditions and ridiculously long hours for meager pay. And this was a good thing. .. the fact that such conditions continue in non-union workplaces in the US is somewhat relevant to the ongoing importance of labor unions, maybe? Yes, people will work for that. Which is precisely why unions are necessary - capital can dominant if they are able to negotiate against individuals. It is only through collective action that many workers are able to ensure a decent deal. My post wasn’t intended to argue against those who feel the free market is the perfect solution and that as long as someone else is willing to work for less, you should shut up, bend over, and take whatever the boss chooses to do to you. It was deliberately aimed at someone who said that unions used to be good, because they started in opposition to these conditions, but now that these conditions were no more, they had outlived their usefulness. I’d also argue that the only thing that keeps people returning to those conditions in certain industries is the threat of unionization. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-picketers/500744/82 "2009-06-25T22:34:03Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Wouldn’t “Four legs good, two legs bad” have got the point across more economically? Not really. Because it wouldn’t have answered why I have an instinctive reaction to support a strike in a situation where I am not yet aware of the full facts behind the situation. It’s often a decision that needs to be made immediately - I am outside of a store, about to go in, and see a picket line. I can either not cross the line, and go to the store half a mile down the block, or I can cross the line and shop. It isn’t a situation where researching the pros and cons of the strike for the next 4 and a half hours is time valuably invested. So I take a mental short cut and assume, based on experience, that I am more likely to be in support of the strikers than the management. We all make these sort of mental short cuts all the time. Now it might be I make a mistake. The union might be out there picketing against management’s choice to offer benefits to gay employees’ partners, for example. If I have that information handy, I’ll walk across the picket line happily. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-picketers/500744/83 "2009-06-26T11:49:44Z")
Villa - fair enough. I retract my post. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-picketers/500744.md?page=4)