New theory: PREVIOUS generations had a sense of entitlement

[MomOfMany]

It was after 2am when I posted, so I will relook to be sure again.

I was surfing around on Wikipedia researching communities that I was considering accepting employment in (I'm leaving the Navy soon). Anyway one of the towns, Safford Arizona, is evidently famous for a large miners strike in 1983 that was ultimately busted. The defeat was viewed as the beginning of the end for a lot of unions out west. I began reading about labor relations and unions when a thought came to mind: unions use to be huge, especially in the boomer generation, and in some parts of the country still are.

It was viewed as the beginning of the end bc until that point it was nearly a universal understood that mining was a prime example of how important and necessary unions were. So for a mining union to be busted was a HUGE deal.

Could it be argued that these union workers from years ago, an entire generation of people, had a sense of entitlement that far exceeds the perceived sense of entitlement attributed to millenials?

I read "these" as miner specific. It appears I probably shouldn't have. We need to discuss entitlement. Were they entitled to what they were asking for or not? Are you saying they put too much value on their work or not?

Here is a generation of folks that thought they deserved a high paying job, excellent benefits, a fat retirement pension, and job security all without attaining higher education.

This is where I picked up what I perceived as you thinking a degree is or should be a requirement for the previous mentioned items. If not, what does higher education have to do with it? Normally it doesn't have anything to do with it. The high paying job, benefits, retirement and security are usually (or should be) proportional to the demand, risk, and pool of candidates for the job. For example, coal miners need a bigger retirement pension. They often are not able to work in the mines until 70 and when they retire, they usually have health issues for the rest of their lives. Blue collar work in general does take a heavier toll on those doing the work than white collar work.

Why do they deserve these things? Because they graduated high school and joined a union? Now we are stuck with the legacy: almost non-existant cargo shipping under the American flag and an auto industry that is trying to come back from the brink. Fat union paychecks, benefits, and legacy healthcare costs cripple our auto industry.

Are these realities the result of the sense of entitlement that the boomers had?

They deserve it because it is the right thing to do. Because they graduated high school and spent their most physically fit years doing back breaking labor that no one else wanted to do so we could have cheaper cars and many other things that none of us want to do without.

Our auto industry was crippled bc we want a cheap car but workers want to be able to pay a decent mortgage and go to the dentist once a year and crooked unions didn't work for their members and bc in America - we refuse to treat our average citizen like they do in India! Companies didn't send job to India bc America cost too much. They sent jobs to India because India is dirt freaking cheap and they have a constant slave labor wages option there. Are you saying we should imitate India and China in how we treat our average worker? Are you saying our workers (and india/chin's too for that matter) aren't entitled to better?

Again.

Entitlement has two meanings.
Legitimate right to something.
And a false sense of rights that are not actual rights.

Which are we discussing?

Personally I think a false sense of what we have a "right" to is generational for the last 80 years or so. Society, govt, and businesses pushed that we have rights, we deserve, certain things because it encouraged the populace to spend their money or go into debt in those areas. However, now it is backfiring bc there isn't money for it but a few generations now have been told they have a right to demand these things and are continuing to do so.