The '58 Falcons who made political history

[Schadenfreude]

I'm reading a biography of the late Mike DiSalle, former Toledo mayor and former governor, and I stumbled into this really interesting detail about the legendary 1958 Ohio election. To summarize:

Early that summer, many of the chambers of commerce and big business owners around Ohio decided it was time to amend the constitution to make Ohio a "Right To Work" state.

State law then -- and this is still true today -- allowed for unions to negoiate contracts with employers that required new employees to start paying dues within 30 days. In "Right To Work" states, no employee can be required to pay union dues.

Party leaders tried to talk them out of this constitutional amendment, but to no avail. As the spokesman for the Right To Work movement would later recall:

"...it was obvious (organizers) had misread everything. They thought (petition) signatures would come in from local chambers from all over. Hell, the local chambers were afraid to circulate the petitions. We ended up hiring the football teams from Miami, Ohio University and Bowling Green -- they were big enough to go out and get signatures. There was such antipathy. Why? People felt right-to-work was big business's way to break the unions or to severely impede them, which to the average guy on the street meant less finges and a lower hourly rate. So people saw this as an attack on their well-being, on their livelihood."

But Right To Work made the fall ballot. In response, the AFL-CIO ended up registering something like 700,000 new people to vote. The new voters went in, voted against Right To Work, and proceeded to vote a straight Democratic ticket.

The Republican Party was completely swept out of office. They lost a long-time incumbent U.S. Senator (John Bricker), every statewide executive office (except for Jim Rhodes, then state auditor, an office that wasn't up for election that year), and both chambers of the General Assembly (for the first time since the Great Depression). That's how Mike DiSalle, the last Toledoan to serve as governor, was elected.

Anyway, as a Democrat, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Doyt Perry for encouraging his young men to get summer jobs.

[BGSUfalcons]

I'm reading a biography of the late Mike DiSalle, former Toledo mayor and former governor, and I stumbled into this really interesting detail about the legendary 1958 Ohio election. To summarize:

Early that summer, many of the chambers of commerce and big business owners around Ohio decided it was time to amend the constitution to make Ohio a "Right To Work" state.

State law then -- and this is still true today -- allowed for unions to negoiate contracts with employers that required new employees to start paying dues within 30 days. In "Right To Work" states, no employee can be required to pay union dues.

Party leaders tried to talk them out of this constitutional amendment, but to no avail. As the spokesman for the Right To Work movement would later recall:

"...it was obvious (organizers) had misread everything. They thought (petition) signatures would come in from local chambers from all over. Hell, the local chambers were afraid to circulate the petitions. We ended up hiring the football teams from Miami, Ohio University and Bowling Green -- they were big enough to go out and get signatures. There was such antipathy. Why? People felt right-to-work was big business's way to break the unions or to severely impede them, which to the average guy on the street meant less finges and a lower hourly rate. So people saw this as an attack on their well-being, on their livelihood."

But Right To Work made the fall ballot. In response, the AFL-CIO ended up registering something like 700,000 new people to vote. The new voters went in, voted against Right To Work, and proceeded to vote a straight Democratic ticket.

The Republican Party was completely swept out of office. They lost a long-time incumbent U.S. Senator (John Bricker), every statewide executive office (except for Jim Rhodes, then state auditor, an office that wasn't up for election that year), and both chambers of the General Assembly (for the first time since the Great Depression). That's how Mike DiSalle, the last Toledoan to serve as governor, was elected.

Anyway, as a Democrat, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Doyt Perry for encouraging his young men to get summer jobs.

I'm neither a fan of unions nor a fan of the AFL-CIO. Of course, things were a bit different in 1958.

[orangeandbrown]

I'm reading a biography of the late Mike DiSalle, former Toledo mayor and former governor, and I stumbled into this really interesting detail about the legendary 1958 Ohio election. To summarize:

Early that summer, many of the chambers of commerce and big business owners around Ohio decided it was time to amend the constitution to make Ohio a "Right To Work" state.

State law then -- and this is still true today -- allowed for unions to negoiate contracts with employers that required new employees to start paying dues within 30 days. In "Right To Work" states, no employee can be required to pay union dues.

Party leaders tried to talk them out of this constitutional amendment, but to no avail. As the spokesman for the Right To Work movement would later recall:

"...it was obvious (organizers) had misread everything. They thought (petition) signatures would come in from local chambers from all over. Hell, the local chambers were afraid to circulate the petitions. We ended up hiring the football teams from Miami, Ohio University and Bowling Green -- they were big enough to go out and get signatures. There was such antipathy. Why? People felt right-to-work was big business's way to break the unions or to severely impede them, which to the average guy on the street meant less finges and a lower hourly rate. So people saw this as an attack on their well-being, on their livelihood."

But Right To Work made the fall ballot. In response, the AFL-CIO ended up registering something like 700,000 new people to vote. The new voters went in, voted against Right To Work, and proceeded to vote a straight Democratic ticket.

The Republican Party was completely swept out of office. They lost a long-time incumbent U.S. Senator (John Bricker), every statewide executive office (except for Jim Rhodes, then state auditor, an office that wasn't up for election that year), and both chambers of the General Assembly (for the first time since the Great Depression). That's how Mike DiSalle, the last Toledoan to serve as governor, was elected.

Anyway, as a Democrat, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Doyt Perry for encouraging his young men to get summer jobs.

Sing it, brother. That RTW amendment was the best thing to happen to the Democrats in Ohio in that Century.

[Flipper]

Unions...management...scumbags...all hail the American worker... the lone individual longing for the chance to do nothing and still get paid....

[BGSUfalcons]

[quote="Flipper"]Unions...management...scumbags...all hail the American worker... the lone individual longing for the chance to do nothing and still get paid....[/quote]

The French have done pretty well in that regard.

[Schadenfreude]

I'm neither a fan of unions nor a fan of the AFL-CIO. Of course, things were a bit different in 1958.

Unions...management...scumbags...all hail the American worker... the lone individual longing for the chance to do nothing and still get paid....

Things have changed since 1958. It's become much more fashionable to accuse unions of encouraging sloth. It's become much less fashionable to call out CEOs for greed.. I'm not sure why this is.

Some things haven't changed since 1958. We still recognize heroism when we see it.

Take the World Trade Center attack. As civilians poured down the stairwells and out the exits, police and firefighters charged upward to try to save lives. Many of them would die when the South Tower collapsed.

Even after the South Tower collapsed, firefighters kept working in the North Tower. Many never heard the order to evacuate because the radios weren't working. At least a few refused to leave out of concern for firefighters who were still in the building.

When the North Tower collapsed, 121 firefighters lost their lives.

In all, 343 firefighters lost their lives that day.

Every one of them was a union man.

[orangeandbrown]

Unions...management...scumbags...all hail the American worker... the lone individual longing for the chance to do nothing and still get paid....

Americans are the hardest working people in the world, and it isn't close.

[Flipper]

Unions do encourage sloth...I've seen it. Management positions are generally occupied by self interested dicks who will screw over the workers under them for an extra nickel. There are individual exceptions, but generally speaking nobody wears a white hat.

Even John McCain knows that the hardest working people in the world are illegal aliens picking lettuce in Yuma.

[Zom]

Someone said in another thread "pay me and I'll write perfectly". Sorry, how about, write perfectly, and you get to keep your job. I live in a country where 1 in 5 of the population work for government, don't "work" more than 48 hrs a week by law, and these same people are moaning that the only people making any money around here never stop working, and are taking everyone else's jobs. It's a good thing too, because who the hell does the 48hr/wk brigade figure is generating the tax revenues to pay their overvalued salaries?

Worse, this year's UK graduating university class is getting offered MORE $$ by public sector employers than the private sector can compete with. Excuse me? Who's tax money is paying for that? I think I've heard all I need to about right to work, and I'm damned glad that people pay my bills not because I'm entitled to get paid, but because they think my outfit did a good job, regardless of the hours it took to get it done.

Right to work? Someone half way round the world with twice the qualifications is ready to do the same job for half the price. And why not?

Damn, it won't be long before wide receivers are complaining about how many yards they're supposed to cover because the O line doesn't have to run anywhere.

Next, there's public sector pension fiasco. Govt. actuaries cock it up, the unions are too powerful for the govt. to take them on, and the private sector ends up getting their "normal" retirement age stepped back by a minimum 5 yrs to help pay everyone with a "right to work"? Don't even get me started on that.

[MiamiBando]

To be honest, I've never been a member of a union or worked for a company who's workers were or are unionized. And you know what? It works out better for me, and my coworkers. We have some of the best pay in the industry, and the company still turns a profit. We get one of the best benefits packages in the industry, and the company still turns a healthy profit.

I work for ExpressJet Airlines. And I get a profit-sharing check. So, when they try to talk unions, I say bah-humbug. In the end it only adds a third wheel, and everyone knows three's a crowd.

[Rightupinthere]

I'm wondering if we could pull this back to football or should this just be moved to the Free for all forum?

*pondering*

[Schadenfreude]

I debated whether to start this thing in Free For All, but I saw it as a football post. Your call.

[naandre]

To be honest, I've never been a member of a union or worked for a company who's workers were or are unionized. And you know what? It works out better for me, and my coworkers. We have some of the best pay in the industry, and the company still turns a profit. We get one of the best benefits packages in the industry, and the company still turns a healthy profit.

I work for ExpressJet Airlines. And I get a profit-sharing check. So, when they try to talk unions, I say bah-humbug. In the end it only adds a third wheel, and everyone knows three's a crowd.

Yeah, but if it wasn't for your company's fear of being unionized they probably wouldn't be working so hard to keep you workers happy.