Talking Union

Now you want higher wages Let me tell you what to do 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, 'twont be long You'll get shorter hours Better workin' conditions Vacations with pay Take your kids to the seashore 'Cause it ain't quite that simple 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 waiting 'til Judgment Day Y'all be buried Gone to Heaven Saint Peter will be the straw boss then, boys 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 Pass out a leaflet, call a meetin' Talk it over Speak your mind Decide to do something about it Course, the boss may persuade some poor damn fool To go to your meeting and act like a stool But you can always tell a stool, though, that's a fact He's got a yeller streak a-runnin' down his back He doesn't have to stool, you know He'll always make a good living On what he takes out of blind men's cups Well you got a union now, you're sittin' pretty Put some of the boys on the steering committee The boss won't listen if one guy squawks But he's got to listen if the union talks He'd better He'll be mighty lonely one of these days Suppose he's workin' you so hard it's just outrageous Payin' you all starvation wages Go to the boss, the boss would yell "Before I'd raise your pay I'd see you all in Hell" Well, he's puffing a big cigar, feeling mighty slick Thinks he's got your union licked He looks out the window, and what does he see But a thousand pickets, and they all agree He's a bastard Unfair! Slave driver Bet he beats his own wife Now, boys, you've come to the hardest time The boss will try to bust your picket line They'll call out the police, the National Guard Tell you it's a crime to have a union card They'll raid your meeting, hit ya on the head Call every one of you a goddamn Red Unpatriotic Moscow agents Bomb throwers, even the kids Well out in Detroit here's what they found Out in Frisco here's what they found Down in Bethlehem here's what they found Out in Pittsburgh here's what they found That if you don't let red-baiting break you up If you don't let stool pigeons break you up If you don't let vigilantes break you up And if you don't let race hatred Break you up you'll win You know what I mean, take it easy, but take it