Unions: Good or Bad?

The Motley Fool ^

[proud_member_of_ VRWC]

The issue of unionized labor is something that I hold very near to my heart because of what it has done to my father. He has been a union iron worker for the better part of three decades. He loves the work he does and has always been my hero for the way he has provided for his family. However, in the past few years I noticed a change in my father's attitude toward his job. Where he once believed that the union was what kept him in his current job, he now despises it. He has noticed how younger, non-experienced people have been hired at almost the same pay rate that he earns. He also notices that these same young hires have little work ethic and even less ambition. They refuse to work overtime unless mandatory, show up to work late and hung over, and constantly leave an hour early. And yet with all this, when it comes time for yearly wage increases, they are rewarded with the same pay increase. When I ask my father what the union has done for him, his reply is "Nothing. Bill (his boss) has always been very good to us with raises, benefits, and contract renegotiations. He even manages our pension fund himself." My father has spoken of attempts in the past to oust the union. Of course these attempts were met with harsh critcism, usually from the younger employees.

Stories like this are what truly boils my blood. In my humble opinion, I feel that today's organized labor movement has done nothing to protect worker's rights, but everything to promote laziness and incompetency. The most recent cause of outrage was the unionizing of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Organizations such as the TSA are where we need only the most competent and diligent employees. So in other words, unionized labor is now helping to promote breeches in our national security. To some that may sound like a meritless claim. However, I don't see it as anything but the truth.

[ConservativeMan55]

My Uncle is in a Mechanics Union and they have brainwashed him into thinking three things.

1. Someone else "Up top" is holding him back.

2. He'll never be good enough to get another job without the Unions help.

3. He can come to work and give a 50% effort and blame the other 50% he's not giving on somebody else.

[Principled]

Overall, BAD.

[Mad Dawgg]

"Unions: Good or Bad?"

Bad.

Next Question.

[ConservativeMan55]

Remember during the 2002 Mid-Term elections when Union Leaders were going into the voting booth with Union workers to make sure they voted for the RAT.

[PRND21]

Was good, now bad.

[Sam Cree]

Yeah, overall, bad.

Unions wield coercive power, that's counter to the ideals of a free society.

Unions provide jobs for the elite, at the expense of the many.

Unions gladly drive entire corporations out of business, such as Eastern Airlines, sacrificing the jobs of thousands of employees, in order to maintain their hegemony over the rest of an industry.

If the Gardners can't figure this out, how can they pick stocks?

[sharkhawk]

Public sector unions (about 75% now)--ALL BAD.
Private sector unions--mostly good.

[Voltage]

In our increasingly competative economy unionized companies will go broke. Only government unions will remain, and we will be required to pay their wages, health care, retirement, sick days, child care, on and on, or go to jail.

[ConservativeMan55]

This is a prime example of why we need to quickly get Police and Fire Departments privatized before they are Unionized.

[sasafras]

"1. Someone else "Up top" is holding him back.

2. He'll never be good enough to get another job without the Unions help.

3. He can come to work and give a 50% effort and blame the other 50% he's not giving on somebody else."

This is the same diatribe that the democrats and race baiters use. All of it is straight from the communist doctrine to create strife in our country. How many times have you heard Jesse Jackson and the other libs saying this? It is a broken record!!!

[Fierce Allegiance]

I am a civil engineer (i am management, not in the union) for a Union contractor. We are becoming less competetive as time goes on. Unions treat people like machines, ie, we need xx men from this local, xx from that, etc. doesn't matter the skill level, just fill the hole with a body. I don't like unions

As an aside, the single biggest expense for any GM car that rolls off the line is the pensions for retired workers. How long will GM be in business, as this will only grow.

[dalereed]

I was signatory to union contracts with 5 different unions for over 40 years and contempt doesn't come close to discribing my hatred of them.

My only salvation was that I had the ability to hire and fire. By constantly hiring and firing the least competant you could raise the level of the lowest common denomenator and hopefully get quality, production and stay competative.

[Hank Rearden]

Yours was exactly my intended response.

[looscnnn]

What are unions good for lately? Everything they claim to protect against is covered by laws and regulations.

At one time they did good things, but they have since become worse than the "evil corporations" that they fought against.

[myself6]

Unions are evil.

[kidd]

Unions are the oxycontinin of industry.

When industry leaders abuse those that help to provide them with wealth, unions can help the labor force work through an intolerable situation. Unfortunately, when the abuse of workers stops, the union continues. And the union "habit" is difficult to break, and eventually begins to do harm to the long term well being of the same workforce that needed the union in the first place.

[bert]

Unions are for people who don't want to work. The primary focus of union leaders is to promote disharmony in a work place by inciting the union members to develop greviences. Many union workers report everyday with the sole objective of scoring points by not followinf some rule or in some manner not producing. The pay rate is thus increased because on the job not work means the hourly rate for working goes up.

Unions are a political force within an organization or company that hobbles the ability to act.


Present day unions are harmful to business and government.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Unions are fine . . . until the government gets involved. No union should have any special recognition from any government authority, nor any rights that any other self-assembled group of people don't have. In a free market, unions which provided good value for employees and employers would prosper and the rest would go out of business. Only government interference and special privileges allow these self-serving, often criminal unions to survive.

[Inspectorette]

You make some very good points, and I can understand your father's frustration. However, there is another side to the coin.

Where I work, the Union and company agreed upon a two-tier wage system a few years back: lower pay scales for new employees, up to $4.00 less maximum pay than employees who were already on board.

The new, young, gung-ho employees soon came to resent the older, top-wage earning people who didn't want to do the heavy lifting (literally) because of bad backs, bad knees, etc. (They call it being "retired in place").

The end result was that the young people with any incentive and ambition voted with their feet, lured away by other companies who weren't unionized. This left the old, worn-out employees making top dollar, just marking time until retirement, and young, marginally-talented resentful people that no one else wanted to hire.