Are Your Now Or Have You Ever Been?

I was listening to my radio, a news report from Louisville American Express thought they might build a factory To make and track their credit cards Two thousand jobs for honest and hard-workin' folks Who'll never use the cards they make all day But they wouldn't pick a city for their plans until they'd asked A question I recall from way back when To head off conflict and subversion, they asked every working person "Are you now or have you ever been?" Are you now or have you ever been a member of a union? Are you now or have you ever been? I never thought I'd see the day I'd hear those words come 'round again "Are you now or have you ever been?" Hard at work, but soft on unions, that's the average Louisvillian American Expressly stated in their press release The site selection test committee recommends some other city Where business rolls in profits and the unions rest in peace And every day that question grows a little more familiar As another union battle flag descends Ask any airline traffic tracker Copper miner, or meat packer "Are you now or have you ever been?" Are you now or have you ever been a member of a union? Did your father, mother, sister, brother wear a union pin? Well, I never thought I'd see the day I'd hear those words come 'round again "Are you now or have you ever been?" Corporate planners dutifully bought the folks of Louisville A one-way nowhere fare on the American Express Will we leave the drivin' to the bosses Make concessions, take the losses This union's got the Disappearin' Railroad Blues unless We dare to use the power we've been sittin' on for years We are strong enough to call their bluff, my friends And they can take their lousy plant and shove it Yes, I'm Union, damn proud of it I am now, and I have always been Are you now or have you ever been a member of a union? With your sisters and your brothers, will you struggle to be free? When the question comes around, will you stand in solidarity Say I am now, I will always be Are you now or have you ever been a member of a union? Are you now or have you ever been?