Posted on 11/29/2010 12:51:19 PM PST by Mobile Vulgus
Unions in America really are under assault from every direction. Certainly they are still powerful and not to be under estimated, but unions really have lost much of the power they once had. At less than 20 percent of the work force these days, the unions that are left have been finding themselves being forced to make the sort of concessions that they once would never even consider.
The New York Times reports on one more bit of news showing that unions are taking deals just to stay working that once would have been flatly refused as two-tiered wage scales are becoming more common in this recessionary economic climate...
See more at Publiusforum.com...
Why not post the whole content? You post the whole content on other sites, why not on FR?
I call BS on this feelgood piece. Unions are on decline in the private sector, but gaining tremendous power in the public sector, where it is well nigh impossible to break their stranglehold, because there is no viable competition. Unions killed GM and Chrysler because cars could be built with nonunion labor by other players... Toyota, Honda, etc. Who is going to compete with policemen, firemen, teachers, and any other unionized government labor group?
Because of bandwidth. I admit I get a little exuberant or giggly at times and will post a response in 36 pt or so font. And sometimes I’ll write an overlong response. But it costs JR bandwidth, so it is a good thing to excerpt the article on FR. I haven’t been able to contribute to FR for the past two years because of an illness in our family, so I remain conscious of costs.
IMHO, it's a pretty good strategy. In the long term ensures that the company will be from union-imposed shackles, once the old generation dies, while avoiding a costly confrontation with the union in the short run.
Now if only state and municipal governments would wise up and do something similar...
Actually, plain text hardly takes up any bandwith....
Thank you for the information.
Are you Warner Todd Huston ?
By the way, I wasn’t being sarcastic. I still don’t know a whole lot about this computer stuff and these computer things, so I’ll take all of the information I can get. I read my last response, and it sounded a little gruff and abrupt.
Why not just post it here? Is there some problem?
Porn? Faggotry? What?
I didn't take it that way at all. :) I got what you meant.
C'mon! Answer sometime! We NEED to KNOW! Surely you have SOME good excuse for posting your stuff in full on other sites but not on FR....
Some states are fighting back by passing laws that prohibit public employee unions from collective bargaining.
Here is a good read that has a chart showing the percentage of public union employees by state.
http://www.cato.org/pubs/tbb/tbb_61.pdf
Yes he is.
If the unions are to "help" the workers cope with mean ol bosses, then the union executives should do their jobs to help the rank and file, not get rich.
“...union executives should do their jobs to help the rank and file, not get rich. “
Exactly. But the problem is that these union thugs see their own members as a bottomless wallet from which they can take $$ whenever they want.
Very good news, albeit long overdue. Unfortuantely, for may states, it's probably too late.
What many states need now is a new chapter in the Federal bankruptcy code for states. That's the only way to get out of the massively underfunded pension and healthcare obligations for unionized public employees. A recent study estimated them be $3 trillion. The only for many states to stay solvent is to break those contracts.
Not unlike blogpimps excerpting their own "articles" on FR.
I wish I could see the difference. Both are parasites.
Yep, that’s exactly it. It’s really an eyeopener for me as a young person to realise that my elders are perfectly willing to screw me over and my future.
It makes me wonder how many of them really understand the consequences. The older folks have an option, they could take the cut themselves, and immediately solve the problem, but they don’t care. The just don’t care.
The problem is that as unions become extinct in the private sector, public sector unions will fight back tooth and nail to make sure that if bankruptcy does occur, that they are privileged over all other creditors. As happened with the GM bankruptcy.
Every vendor, every pensioner, every citizen will go down hard to preserve public sector unions.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.