I want to preface this by saying that my husband has historically been very pro-capitalism. Lots of us have been there, I never faulted him for being a product of the system that indoctrinated him.
A year or so ago, the Salt Lake location for my husband's employer unionized. He's in the Utah County location. He was generally very happy for them and said he'd be okay with unionizing, but wasn't getting involved.
Fast forward to today. He recently got a promotion. This morning at their monthly meeting, they discussed that due to local pressure connected to the Salt Lake location unionizing, the local location would be getting a raise. For him, this would be in addition to his raise with his promotion. For the first time in his life, his hourly wage is over $20. His boss is 100% on the side of the employees at every turn and always sticks up for them when necessary, unless something truly egregious has happened and things are getting HR-y and lawyer-y.
And yet, his words as he left the house for work after the meeting? “Capitalism can lick my ballsack. I want to unionize too.”
Guys. He's not even working for a corporation. He's working for an NPO. Which we all know capitalism rules those as well, since it all boils down to money. He wants better benefits, he wants to pay less for those benefits, and he wants better pay. Even for the companies and organizations that are starting to wake up to the realities, it seems it's too little too late. People are mad as hell, and one by one they're deciding they won't take this shit anymore. If we can unionize workers at an NPO in red Utah, you have hope too. Never stop telling people it can be better, you won't change your mind today, but like erosion, you're making a difference with every drop in their ear.