The side I'm on

Dad was a member of the Communication Workers of America for the thirty-plus years he worked for GTE. So I owe his union.

When I was still in college, I worked a part-time job for a school in the Los Angeles Unified School District. I wasn't a union-eligible employee, but when the teachers went on strike, part of what they fought for and achieved was an increase in the pay of non-union employees like myself. So, I owe their union.

Those are my direct debts. My indirect debts are enormous.

Unions aren't perfect. They are, by necessity, political entities, and I can't think of a single political entity that remains unalloyed good. But I am unapologetically pro-union. On the whole, what unions have fought for are things I've benefited from. So I'm on that side.