This is what happens when you put a guy that fixed bread prices in charge of transportation.
Not all of them, but a lot.
And most of those open to the idea don’t think of themselves as exploited. They want a union so that they can stand in solidarity with others, not to bargain better conditions for themselves.
I think it is as simple as that: they don’t see themselves as exploited. They think they got a good situation economically and as a (sub)class. Hence why their sympathies, and often condescension, are directed at the lower (sub)classes, particularly manual laborers.
On the current trajectory, this will change. Wages will fall, hours will increase, people will get fired and fear for their jobs. This is actually a fairly interesting space to organize in, as you can get a visceral sense of the power of both material conditions vs. lefty organizing as a conscious project.
They want a union so that they can stand in solidarity with others
it would be nice if that were true
It is! At least to an extent. This is people already trying to form a union, and the downside is that they are not militant because it isn’t actually organized around getting better pay and conditions, but about having an officially protected say in the work chosen by the company (for example).
This includes people demanding a disinvestment from war and war contracting, people demanding BDS (opposing Israeli apartheid), people demanding contracf employees (who are treated like full-time employees but poor compensation and protection) become full employees with benefits.
tell me where to stand in the houston metroplex and I will put my body in the way
