My father was a UMWA man all his life as was his brothers and father before him. In 1953 at the age of 51 he was laid off from the coal mines as was his brothers. Grandpa died in a cave in in 1941.

The three brothers pooled their resources and bought two combines and three flatbed trucks and went on the road combining and hauling wheat. They made enough that first year to buy another combine. The following year they replace the trucks with two semis and trailers.

Their families took over the business and finally sold it for a nice sum in the 1990s. My father and uncles didn’t sit around a whine about losing their jobs. They did something about. They weren’t parasites on the public dole, they learned new job skills, started a business and prospered. The union cast them aside when they could no longer pay their dues.

My father said the best day of his life was when he was told the union couldn’t help and he’d be dropped from the rolls because he hadn’t paid his dues.

I belonged to the teamsters once for about three months. Then I saw there was no future in it.