This shirt was one of a multitude of things an employee could choose from after successfully not costing the company money medically or legally. There is all sorts of Tamco memorabilia around my parent's house.

Indeed, there was a time when we were "proud enough to be safe and safe enough to be proud". That dream ended after two bankrupt declarations made Phar-Mor, of which Tamco was a subsidiary, but mere history in the annals of discount drug store chains.

Snyder's drug, a member of the Katz group bought up the warehouse to keep some of the Tamco workers and renamed it Western Distribution. Local 377 responded to a lawsuit that accused them of racial prejudice that allowed them to rehire people out of seqence, based on the whim of the union head and one supervisor.

In the acquisition of Phar-mor, Synder's also picked up Drug Emporium. Drug Emporium is the bankruptcy kneel of the deep-discount drug stores. Snyder's had to file for bankruptcy protection after purchasing Phar-Mor with Drug Emporium.

I support the idea of unions, even in these conservative times. Even though the economy is undergoing changes at quick speeds and the truly talented can fetch the market's price, we still need to worry about everyone else. Not everyone is talented at the work they do. Many work because they have to. Many will work at any price so long as they can feed the family, which is entirely understandable. The problem is, this drives wages down while costs will always go up.

It is going to get to a point where people realize that even though some in the union work harder and some do not work at all, the group can do better for everyone. Indeed, some people need to realize that they are not as good at their work as they would like to think that they are. A global marketplace with hungry competitors who are only getting better will show us lazier Americans.

The sad shame is that union heads get corrupt by the power they get over time. Then they screw over those who need the leadership. I do not know of a way to keep this human portion of the accumulation of power from ruining the cause. To keep the union strong enough to fight, but weak enough to not get the better of itself is a hard balance for sure. However, at least there is off-hope that when things get bad enough, people will know to band together. This is all assuming the economies stay similar to the way they have been working. Perhaps fundamental changes might occur.