Talking Union-Pete Seeger

Talking Union - Pete Seeger Now, if you want higher wages let me tell you what to do You got to talk to the workers in the shop with you You got to build you a union, got to make it strong But if you all stick together, boys, it won't be long You get shorter hours, better working conditions Vacations with pay. Take your kids to the seashore It ain't quite this simple, so I better explain Just why you got to ride on the union train 'Cause if you wait for the boss to raise your pay We'll all be a-waitin' 'til Judgment Day We'll all be buried, gone to heaven St. Peter'll be the straw boss then Now you know you're underpaid but the boss says you ain't He speeds up the work 'til you're 'bout to faint You may be down and out, but you ain't beaten You can pass out a leaflet and call a meetin' Talk it over, speak your mind Decide to do somethin' about it Course, the boss may persuade some poor damn fool To go to your meetin' and act like a stool But you can always tell a stool, though, that's a fact He's got a yaller streak a-runnin' down his back He doesn't have to stool, he'll always get along On what he takes out of blind men's cups You got a union now, and you're sittin' pretty Put some of the boys on the steering committee The boss won't listen when one guy squawks But he's got to listen when the union talks He'd better, be mighty lonely Everybody decide to walk out on him Suppose they're working you so hard it's just outrageous And they're paying you all starvation wages You go to the boss and the boss would yell "Before I raise your pay I'd see you all in hell." Well, he's puffing a big cigar, feeling mighty slick 'Cause he thinks he's got your union licked Well, he looks out the window and what does he see But a thousand pickets, and they all agree He's a bastard, unfair, slavedriver Bet he beats his wife Now, boys, you've come to the hardest time The boss will try to bust your picket line He'll call out the police, the National Guard They'll tell you it's a crime to have a union card They'll raid your meetin', they'll hit you on the head They'll call every one of you a goddam red Unpatriotic, Japanese spies, sabotaging national defense But out at Ford, here's what they found And out at Vultee, here's what they found And out at Allis-Chalmers, here's what they found And down at Bethlehem, here's what they found That if you don't let red-baiting break you up And if you don't let stoolpigeons break you up And if you don't let vigilantes break you up And if you don't let race hatred break you up You'll win. What I mean, take it easy, but take it