About me

Let's start this off by saying that if all you see on this page is this statement, you haven't registered at UnionBook yet. Once you log in to UnionBook, you'll find hundreds of files and news items and other things on this page that you can explore. Same thing with a lot of the other UnionBook pages, including yours, I hope!

As for whether I'm a unionist, well, I've been in IAM 751 (Boeing) since '79; before that, was in the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks union in Chicago, and in the Steelworkers, AFSCME, and AmerFedTeachers in Kentucky. At various times, I've also held a membership card in the Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies).

As for how I got my unionism, you could say it's hereditary. My father was an organizer for the United Steelworkers of America, my mother a regional and Grand Lodge official of the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks. My sister was the editor of the AFSCME newspaper for New York State a few years back, and one grandfather (a railroad switchman/brakeman) had to change his name and find work far from his hometown in Kentucky after the railroad bosses blackballed him for his participation in the 1922 Shopmen's Strike.

As for whether I vote union too, that's not such an easy thing to do in this country, or anywhere, really. The Repocrats and Demopublicans both look like pro-big business outfits to me, so I tend to steer clear of either one. I would probably vote for socialists (since socialism is supposed to be about workers' control of society, after all) if the so-called "socialists" on the ballot or which you see handing out newspapers on the streetcorners had some actual labor credentials and weren't all such a bunch of lame posers. And the so-called "labor parties" that seem to pop up now and then here in the US, or which have occasionally run various countries in Europe and elsewhere, don't seem to stand for anything different from the pro-business parties. Really, it's a cryin' shame.

As for my non-union-related interests, I'm into anything multiculti & with some attitude. A natty dresser wannabe who's usually easy to spot by just looking for a guy in a hat or beret. Someone who spends way too much time on Twitter posting about music, wine, museums, and labor politics/human rights. And I'm not the least bit religious or interested in New Age claptrap.