Posted on 08/08/2005 6:12:56 PM PDT by betty boop
Why Did the AFL-CIO Self-Destruct?
The 96th Convention of the American Federation of Musicians — a unit of the AFL-CIO — gathered in Las Vegas July 17-20. I wasn’t there; but I have seen the write-up of the public meetings described in International Musician, the flagship periodical of the AFM.
I wanted to “file a report” on these proceedings. So in the interest of full disclosure, I need to give some background here. My husband has been a member of the AFM since he was 16 years old; but then he’s a fulltime working musician, and having a union card “can make life go more smoothly.” I was a long-time member, until five years ago, when I couldn’t stand it anymore and quit in disgust. What I couldn’t stand was the way the union was being co-opted by political interests that tended to resonate with the Left Progressive wing of the Democrat party. Or so I thought then. And still do, as it turns out. The problem seems only to have grown worse in the last five years.
But be your own judge of that, dear reader.
The great theme of the Convention seems to have been “HEALING.” Let me present a numbered list of the main business before the General Assembly at the Convention. As Marcia Schweitzer writes [for IM August 2005]:
(1) “The two years since the 2003 Convention saw increased discord and erosion of trust among several segments of our membership [e.g., between AFM and certain other closely-related unions that have long-standing contractual relations with AFM].”
(2) Skipping over a lot of “internal business” (i.e., internal politicking), other “actions of note included passage of a resolution calling for a North American boycott of the anti-union Blue Man Group….
“…which has been staunchly refusing to bargain with any unions in any of the cities in which it performs. A strong coalition of the Toronto Musicians Association and the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association, and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) has been holding firm in its boycott and public education campaign in Toronto, causing much bad press and mediocre ticket sales for the Blue Man Group there. This resolution urges all AFM members and locals to spread the boycott across North America.”
(3) Next item: “Another passed resolution, to ‘bring our troops home from Iraq as expeditiously as possible,’ elicited some of the most passionate and profound oratory on the Convention floor.
“Some delegates spoke against the resolution as unpatriotic or against the troops. However, several delegates who had attended parts of the Iraqi Labor Tour spoke of the need to support workers in Iraq by ending the occupation and restoring true sovereignty. Other delegates brought up concerns about the siphoning off of billions of dollars of taxpayer money from social programs – and support for the arts – to line the pockets of multinational corporations. One delegate, a veteran of the Korean War, spoke movingly of his experience as a young soldier and of the ongoing effects of the horrors he witnessed. 'I only wish,' he said, ‘that people back home had tried to get me out of there, too.’”
(4) Continuing on, “In response to one delegate’s questioning [the AFM] getting involved outside music, International Officer Ken Shirk pointed to the tradition of unions, particularly the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), using their clout to make political statements, sometimes effecting beneficial outcomes almost single-handed. This was perhaps the most provocative statement on the power of unionism in the whole convention.” [Note to reader: the most recent ILWU dispute basically was about maintaining $120+K annual salaries, plus benefits, for the people who offload ships in U.S. ports. ILWU won. I can’t figure out why…. To put that into perspective, think about the typical annual salaries that school teachers earn....]
Alas, it seems that, for all his incisiveness and profundity, Mr. Shirk lost his re-election to the International Executive Board of the AFM at this convention. [I have actually met this person. I do not mourn his loss….]
SO, to return to our original question, Why Did the AFL-CIO Self-Destruct? A couple of weeks ago, the SEIU and the Teamsters peeled off. My suspicion is that their leaderships are no longer willing to settle for the “wardheeler style of leadership” of AFL-CIO’s John Sweeney. But even more than that, I think SEIU/Teamsters realize that “union bosses” like Sweeney have abandoned the “classical union model”: Which requires the leadership to serve the actual, direct interests of their members. What people may be catching onto today is that the “union model” has changed in recent times. Now, local boards, and international leadership, think their job is to “hire on” the “right politicians” to do the job of “looking after the interests of the membership” for them. Which is a joke: If you make “a deal with the devil,” count on it: he’s not working for YOU; YOU are working for HIM.
And IMHO, that is why SEIU and Teamsters – two huge sectors of the “triumvirate” that had up till now constituted organized labor in the United States and Canada – have split from AFL-CIO.
Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi must be having fits over this … in private, of course.
It’s probably obvious that I have a point of view here, but I’ve tried to keep it down to a dull roar. What I’m mainly interested in here is: What do you, dear reader, think about these potentially momentous developments? (That might possibly affect the Democrat party’s pocketbook in a very serious way before too long? Does that mean that the “Hollyweird crowd” increasingly must pay the freight for its candidates, going forward?)
I couldn't agree with you more, o_zarkman44.
You also wrote: "They want to destroy family units, churches, unions, boy scouts, clubs etc. They want to re-write history to sugar coat some events and erase others. They have no respect for the teachings and traditions of the key institutions that made America great."
Absolutely true, IMHO. The "cockroaches and termites...." to which I alluded earlier. They're all living in a "second reality," IMO.
Thank you so much for your excellent, perceptive analysis!
Collectively a group can do much more than one man alone.
One voice, one letter writer is insignificant in this day and age. Under your premise, why would we need an NRA, or AAA for example? What good is one pitcher without a ball team? You know one firearm owner has no influence in protecting his interest beyond his firing range. Neither does one worker in a cast of millions have an identity
.
A man who takes charge of his future is a man who seeks like minded individuals to work as a group for common cause. The man who chooses to work alone gets nowhere.
Who in your mind would be the most intelligent?
Politicians claim to act in my behalf too because someone elected them. The key is knowing when they are overstepping their authority and putting them back in their place. Once again, one man is nothing in stopping a powerful, well financed enemy. But as a group of like minded people organize, they become a force to be reconned with.
Nice try, but no cigar.
Politicians claim to act in my behalf too because someone elected them. The key is knowing when they are overstepping their authority and putting them back in their place. Once again, one man is nothing in stopping a powerful, well financed enemy. But as a group of like minded people organize, they become a force to be reconned with. Nice try, but no cigar. "
I see, so in your mind, a man cannot get anywhere unless he "takes charge" by seeking out a Union to protect him from the enemy. OK I guess if that is the way you wish to live, you go girl.
BTW I have dealt with Unions many times in my life, never was the experience pleasant or did it help me in any way. I learned to shun them early on.
You asked who is the more intelligent of those who seek out the unions and those who do not. I've never made more the 30K a year. I refuse to work for and/or deal with unions.
I still to this day make less in my paycheck than most folks who whine how hard it to make it in America. The same folks who whine and complain their employers don't do enough for them with pensions and medical coverage and vacation time.
I am 45 years old semiretired and have acquired assets that exceed 1 million dollars. My residual income can pay all my bills and keep us fed, clothed and living in a fairly nice place and allow me to do absolutely nothing if I wish. Not because I "took charge" by going to some Union so they could take my money and fight my fights for me, but by actually working the system that is in place in America. The one that allows anyone on their own to make a hell of a nice life without surrendering their livelihood to some so called brotherhood that fights for their "rights."
So I ask you who is the more intelligent, the guy who seeks out the union to fight his fights, or the man who takes charge by taking responsibility for himself and family and working the American Dream?
Millions of people come to America each year from foreign countries seeking the American Dream. Never heard of one who came here to join a Union and get rich. They come here to make it rich by becoming business owners and inventors and investors.
"On more than one occasion I have had to have expensive crews, worth several hundred dollars an hour, sit around and wait for a union electrician to come from some unknown mysterious place where no one could find him, to simply push a button to turn a machine off only to disappear again and repeat the process when the machine had to be turned back on. I hate to think of all the time and training it took to learn that skill. When you are doing maintenance work on a system and need to turn it on and off frequently a three hour job can easily become a three day job. Who pays for that? Eventually you and I do. Did we get equal value for our money? Absolutely not. I could use up several threads citing similar stories." you wrote.
AHHHHH The infamous button pushing story. Sounds like electricians have more buttons to push than a computer keyboard the way you tell it. In my world I work very closely with electricians and I don't know how they keep those circuit panels straight and organized when they're busy pushing those buttons for those dowackies that everyone is waiting for. The electricians I work around make sure all conduit and recepticles are properly placed as the wall is constructed. The underground layout better be right or the outlet may not match the wall.
That relates to the 6P rule. Perfect Planning Prevents Piss Poor Production.
Sounds like a total lack of co-ordination by the superintendent or project manager. My current observation is that these projects are being poorly mismanaged from the git go. And projects are getting worse by the day. The inability of the general contractor to have the proper materials on schedule is a major problem causing many delays for many trades. Also the inability to have the correct blueprints and revisions again falls on project management, not the subs.
Some of those project managers think a project should be fully staffed from the start. Even if there is no place for people to work. They just want body count for daily numbers to give to the head office. They couldn't care less if a crew that costs $500.00 an hour in wages, benefits, insurance, workers comp runs into a snag because of poor co-ordination. I am a bricklayer and it is extremely difficult to cover up a framer or ironworkers mistake and make it look good. sometimes we have to pull off of a wall until that issue is addressed. And my question is... Why wasn't it done right the first time? Why didnt the project engineer or super come back and check the finished work before the next phase and craft begins?
Those problems are magnified considerably when there are non union crafts present on a job site. All too many times there is a dollar waiting on a dime but if job co-ordination and efficiency are related, it is no wonder why there are cost overruns.
We make our employers money or he goes belly up.
I would love to become an independent contractor and be able to construct large projects on my own. Just give me $250,000 worth of lifts and hydraulic scaffold, the bond money to bid, the workers comp premiums to start and I would become an independant contractor. But I would also be a Union contractor. That guarantees I an have the required staffing available to do any size project. That guarantees each worker is specifically trained in each aspect of his job and has the required skills. That guarantees each worker has fulfilled a 4 year apprenticeship program before becoming a journeyman. That guarantees my workers would have attended osha scaffold safety classes and have a testing program for substance abuse.
I don't see the employee turnover in the union trades either. Unlike our underpaid counterparts who are constantly searching for better opportunity most union workers are committed to their employer. The myths and fallacys the non union advocates repeat are the exception and not the rule.
I would hope that as an employer (I am assuming you are) your employees are making a good living and satisfied with their work environment. I believe you to be a reasonable person and understand your aprehension towards organized labor. Perhaps that is only because of the myths of the thugs and goon squads stealing money and time when in most cases, workers and management are getting exactly what they need from each other. Money is being made. The future is bright.
And you might ask, why am I not at work today? I took a few days off for vacation. No, not paid vacation either, but a well deserved break from 100 degree plus work zone. BTW.... I don't get holiday pay like many people, especially government employees. We just get the day off.
But it's back to work tomorrow. High temp is supposed to be 99. We can cook eggs on the concrete.
Good day!
I am happy for your successes. Perhaps you should write a book and share your secret to success?
You insinuate that I and others with similar experiences are liars, that those things didn't and don't happen. That was not a construction project. That was an existing power plant on the Mississippi River and we were told by others that the union electrician was actually in the office reading the paper when he was paged and just didn't want to get up and walk down to where we were until he got good and ready. Management could do nothing about it without creating more union problems than it was worth. They had rather just pay. Like I said, I could write pages of similar personal experiences.
The heavily unionized industries are the ones going out of business and exporting plants and jobs. Why? The industries now being unionized are the service industries and the ones unionizing them are active leftists, just as were/are the leaders and organizers of the original unions. Many of the new unionized workers are illegal immigrants. Why? The unions chief target at the moment is WalMart. Why? In none of these case do the employees go to the unions and ask for help. Instead the unions send out organizers and agitators to stir them up to try to get them to join a union. Why? Most of the time they fail. Why? Why do the unions support leftist politicians instead of pro-business politicians? After all, you need businesses to employ union workers.
Why do the unions support the very politicians that pass policies that cause our jobs to be lost to competitors in other countries?(By the way, you are wrong about the new trade agreements. They eliminate tariffs, etc., rather than imposing them.) Why do unions think, like the leftist they support, that you have to make people do things rather than create circumstances that encourage them want to do what you want them to do? Why do unions create an adversarial relationship between union and management when it would be better if both were working together toward a common goal? When union leaders decide to strike, whether the members want to or not, why to they prevent by force those who would be happy to take the jobs under existing conditions from doing so? (Another quick personal story whether you think I am lying or not, it was in the news at the time, a picketing union worker shot a Teamster truck driver trying to leave the Shell Oil Plant in Norco, Louisiana, after the trucker had been delayed for several hours by pickets who managed to always have someone blocking him. As he eased forward he barely nudged one of them and the guy shot him. I was only two blocks away at the time.) Why do union leaders frequently prolong strikes and reject contracts offered by management which the members would be happy with?
Several years ago the unions called a strike on Eastern Airlines and after a long and bitter strike all unions had agreed except the Machinists Union, who refused all offers. As a result Eastern went out of business putting all union members out of work as well as the many others who fed off the airline business. Why?
Unions are anti-America and anti-business. If you think not please explain how they can support so many anti-America and anti-business politicians and policies.
Chasin brickies...threaded ridgid conduit...mudded walls with rebar....poured slabs weeks before...
Room for error.....zero.
Costs associated with mistakes....potentially, thousands of dollars...or hundreds of thousands...
Solution?.....dont make ANY mistakes...there is no "oops" on a multi-million dollar job...
But when there is an "OOPs"....the source is most often a non-union engineer or careless draftsman who screwed up the prints...
Our job is to see the "Oops" before it happens and make a "field adjustment" by co-ordinating a solution with the other trades involved...
Engineers are useless in the field for the most part...talk about not getting "equal value" for your money...if we built building strictly from the plans we are given with no forethought or foresight...they would look like picaso designed them...
Thats why the "final" set of prints are called "as built"...the sets we get to start are sketches...not "prints"...
A monkey on a PC can design a building....it takes tradesmen to turn such crap into reality...
Well written, sir. You've done a good job outlining the status of most union officials as they basically force he membership to buy into what they pick--I agree with you about market forces and standard of living. Folks have to be able to afford to buy goods for any to be sold. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
You are lumping a whole lot of divergent subjects into one opinion...
Unions this...unions that....leadership this..leadership that...
Yet no two unions are the same...hell..no two locals are the same...
I'm anti-communist...anti-terrorist...anti-democrat..pro military...pro-free market...
NO ONE has ever told me I work too fast....yet I work circles around other people...
I'm not judged on anything exept the quality of my work....period...not my appearance...my faith...my political affiliations..or whether my boss "likes" me...
I get paid to do a job...and I get paid well...
5 bucks an hour is 10 grand a year...that extra ten grand broke the endless cycle of renting property and just being short of ends meeting....that extra 10 grand a year directly effects the quality of life for my FAMILY...and that extra 10 bucks an hour I make now does so even more...
The question should be.....would you PAY 10 to 20 grand a year for the privilage of no job security...no benifits and no future...and be at the mercy of any whim you employer might wish?
I seriously doubt it...
You ask:
The heavily unionized industries are the ones going out of business and exporting plants and jobs. Why?
answer:...the non union plants are leaving just as fast...because Govt has created the conditions where such actions are profitable....
Period.
Change the conditions....change the result...it's not rocket science...
Unions have little to do with it...except to be a scape goat for people who are actually anti worker...while claiming to be anti union...
Union WORKERS are pro-American and pro-bussiness...it's our bread and butter...
The problem is the leadership AND the demorats...and we are working on that...
Lumping all these things you hate about unions..even though these unions have very little in common..is disengenuous....it seems and though you prefer to see the forest...without acknowegement of any individual trees..
The same type of logic that drives anti gunners, anti hunters, and anti-freedom types...
You should rethink that position...
I believe in may of the same things you do....
But I also believe in the right to collective barganing...a right you seem to look down upon...because of the actions of a few bad apples....or those who claim to represent all apples...
Do you look down on all blacks because of the words or actions of Al sharpton or the "reverend" Jackson???.....I would think not...
Yet you seem to do the same to union workers?...or more correctly...your fellow Americans who enjoy the right to collective bargin?
Many union workers are disgusted with the actions and causes our clueless leadership aspouse...we have said so...are YOU insinuating that I or others with simular attitudes are liars?
The key to getting unions back to the political center...is to keep the democrats from majority power....
We can agree on that...I would hope...
The difference between a non union contractor and a union one isnt what they charge.....it's what they pay...
If you support non union contractors over union contractors simply because of the up front costs...that is a fallicy...non union contractors statisticlly cause more cost overruns by missed deadlines and work that doesnt meets specs or doesnt meet code and needs to be corrected....
Basiclly...you seem to be supporting ripping off your fellow Americans...or more correctly...their families...
I apologise if this seems rude....but you are trying to sell me something I allready know to be false...once again...because I have lived it...and I know different...
The union didnt "make me smart".....the union provided educational opportunities that NO non union contractor would ever pay for voluntarily...
It is simply not in the best interest for a non union contractor to educate it's work force...they might get the idea that they are worth more and move on...
They only teach the bare minimum ...just enough to get by....all the while telling you that you are over paid...and have to many sick days or vacation days...
But like the brickie said...we dont get paid time off....period....not for funerals...not for vacations...and not for being sick...
You dont work...you dont get paid...
Not in the construction industry.
Unions arent anti-American any more than all gun owners are "potential murderers"....
Such logic is unbecomming of an intelligent man...stop painting with such a wide brush....you're wasting paint....and that's not very cost effective *grin*
Your target isnt the union worker or union....it's the bad union worker or union.
respectfully in disagreement,
Crim
I never thought there would be a reason for me to go and pay good money to see Blue Man Group.
But the times they are a changin' ...
Thanks for the "laughing out loud." I needed that!
It is thrilling and chilling to hear you speak on this, SaltyJoe. Thrilling because you mention signs that union leadership/membership may be waking up to the fact that "life on the plantation" tends to benefit Massah, not the slaves. And chilling, because of the thug-factor. As a mentality, it's little different than that of al Qaida, and just as irrationally, passionately ideological.
These people all live in "second realities."
BTW, you really live up to your screen name!!! Thank you ever so much for writing, with your "inside view" of a union/local that is actually still working.
Yet no two unions are the same...hell..no two locals are the same...
I'm anti-communist...anti-terrorist...anti-democrat..pro military...pro-free market...
It is all the same subject and they don't diverge, they merge into one evil. I imagine that most union members are like you and I are but the top leadership are anti-American and anti-business. They spend millions and millions of union dollars suppoting leftwing politicians and causes. Your local may be great but they apparently have little influence on the people they send your money to.
....that extra 10 grand a year directly effects the quality of life for my FAMILY...and that extra 10 bucks an hour I make now does so even more...
I say again, I have great admiration for your financial acumen. $20,000 a year is $1,667 a month and that is before they subtract union dues, taxes, SS and Medicare. Then you have your own property taxes on those two houses and such. That is not much with which to go from barely able to pay the rent to two houses, three cars , a 38' travel trailer and a boat, provide for a family of 5, and a wife who no longer has to work... I salute you. You have done well with about $1,200 - $1,300 an month with the price of gas what it is for those three cars. If $1,200-$1,300 offset what your wife made and still bought all that stuff she must have been voluteering somewhere. Or maybe you made a mistake with your figures. Either way I am glad you are doing well. It is far better than I am doing.
We are in total agreement on the impact of government on our competitiveness but we disagree on the extent that unions create non-competiveness for their companies.
The problem is the leadership AND the demorats...and we are working on that...
Good. Keep working on it but don't get too hopeful. If you think anyone but a socialist or mobster-connected Democrat has any shot at being elected to a high position in a national union you are overly optimistic.
Many union workers are disgusted with the actions and causes our clueless leadership aspouse...we have said so...are YOU insinuating that I or others with simular attitudes are liars?
What brought that on??
The national, or international as they call themselves, unions have the big bucks not the locals. They are the ones who support the Democrats and other socialist organizations. They are the ones who decide how and where to invest your pension funds, sometimes by lending it to each other and not paying it back. It is my guess that a majority of union members are conservative and are not Democrats. What do you think will happen if you exercise your legal right to have the portion of your dues returned to you which are spent in ways you don't approve? That ought to give you some idea of how much stroke the members have.
When elections come around it is just like in any totalitarian situation. You have either one choice or the choice between twiddle dee and twiddle dum. How are you going to change that?
The key to getting unions back to the political center...is to keep the democrats from majority power....
We can agree on that...I would hope...
No we can't. Many think that is what this union split is all about but I don't. The leadership on both sides are socialists and would never support the programs of the Republicans unless the Republicans sell their souls. I don't know what they plan but I know who they are and they are socialist/Communist who will do all they can to further that goal. I suspect they will truly try to become international and I think by organizing the lower end of the economic spectrum like the hotel, restaurant, retail, workers, etc., they intend to try to do what the Democrats haven't been able to do with their victim constituencies. That doesn't mean, however, they aren't going to still bankroll the Democrats and keep them active toward the same goal.
I It is pretty hard to outsource a bartender or janitor job so once they increase the costs of those segments of our economy they will have taken another step toward crippling our country through its economy. The employers in their old strong holds of heavy industry can run away from them but these new folks can't. That is what is going on there.
If you support non union contractors over union contractors simply because of the up front costs...that is a fallicy...non union contractors statisticlly cause more cost overruns by missed deadlines and work that doesnt meets specs or doesnt meet code and needs to be corrected....
First, I would like to know where you got those statistics because I doubt them. I don't doubt you, I just doubt the accuracy of the source.
Secondly, you seem to have had bad experiences with independent, non union contractors, as I have had with unions. It has been my experience that businesses treat their employees well or lose them. They don't like to do that because good workers are hard to find and expensive to train. Despite all the moaning and groaning there have always been enough jobs available to allow mistreated workers to leave for something else. There is also unemployment insurance to ease the blow.
Also companies that perform as you describe don't stay in business long. In my experience, the only jobs I know that fit your description are government contracts using union labor. That is not a slam, that is truly what I have seen.
Basiclly...you seem to be supporting ripping off your fellow Americans...or more correctly...their families...
I could return the favor, because that is exactly what I think about unions, but I won't.
I apologise if this seems rude....but you are trying to sell me something I allready know to be false...once again...because I have lived it...and I know different...
You know your world and I know mine. My experience has been almost the opposite of yours. I am not trying to sell you anything, just have an educated discussion so that I might either learn or share knowledge. I am sixty-seven and I imagine I have been at this a while longer than you.
The union didnt "make me smart".....the union provided educational opportunities that NO non union contractor would ever pay for voluntarily...
First of all, it is foolish to make such sweeping statements about anything. Of the many things I have been, one is a training consultant. You are flat out wrong. I had large and small clients, both union and non-union, and training was expensive. Some companies didn't spend on training because it is expensive and they say why train employees only to have my competitor steal them after I have spent the money training them. Some are smart enough to train, some aren't. However, if the safety related areas they usually trained well. Workers comp, lost time, and lawsuits are much more expensive than training.
It is simply not in the best interest for a non union contractor to educate it's work force...they might get the idea that they are worth more and move on...
Some do, as I said above, and some don't but most employers are smart enough to know that the more production they get and the better the work, the less expensive the job and the better off the company. The better trained a worker is the better he can accomplish that.
They only teach the bare minimum ...just enough to get by....all the while telling you that you are over paid...and have to many sick days or vacation days...
It is obvious you have bought the age old union sales pitch that business is evil and will do all they can to stomp you down unless you have the union to protect you. Most businesses in this country are small businesses. They also create the most jobs. Only 8% of the workforce is union. How do you account for that? I guess it is because all the business people are stupid since 92% don't unionize, preferring instead to mistreat and underpay their workers. It is simply beyond belief that we became, and still are, the economic wonder of the world and the envy of the rest. It is a miracle how far stupidity and abuse will carry you.
In my many years as a union member 1. I have never been on strike 2. I have never walked a picket line. You insinuate we are striking all the time. with labor relations and rules agreed upon between labor and management a strike vote is not something taken lightly. there are specific parameters that have to be met. a strike is the last resort.
almost everyone I know will work with others with skill and dedication as long as they are treated with dignity and respect. The boss that treats his workers like dogs is going to hear a lot of barking and get bit occasionally. it is human nature. respect and dignity is a trait that is becoming history in America.
heavy industry is having hard time I agree. but blaming the workforce for their problems is a scapegoat and only a small part of the problem. mismanagement, frivolous lawsuits, environmental regulations, failure to modernize and foreign competition are all contributing factors.
The workforce is there to do the job management tells them to do. If management is unwilling to listen to suggestions that could increase productivity at least workers tried.
People like to think they are rewarded with incentives for ideas. But when a manager takes credit for something it is a slap in the face. Now workers are being faced with pension plans that have been robbed and covered up.
Those workers have trusted the company by investing in the pension and are being cleaned out Enron style. Yeah that sure breeds confidence in employer- employee relationships.
As I reminded you in a previous post and will repeat, most of the restrictive laws regarding trade and environmental regulations have been enabled by Republicans as well as Democrats. I know it is a waste of money backing candidates who seem to turn on their constituents after being elected. billion dollar campaign cycles are a profound waste of money period!
the generalized statements you make about unions and management not getting along are old news. where I come from, if the employer don't make money, nobody profits. if the employer goes broke, nobody works. I bet I could cite more bankruptcys from non union companies than union companies. you can't blame a union for that now can you?
and the issue about an airline you mention....... when a company renigs on a promise to pay a certain wage and benefit it affects workers who have made committments based upon the employers promise. And they have a right to be pissed. Airlines are a pretty inefficient form of transportation anyhow. If it werent for huge government subsidys they couldnt make it. Just like the trains and subways. the cost of operating a business will always include labor costs. A good business plan has a product or service people need, charges people accordingly, manages the business properly and hires the best employees they can afford. Then it is a matter of constantly tweeking and improving business infrastructure. And keeping ahead of the competition...assuming their business is not one that is regulated by the government that we all have elected in part.
And your last statement about Unions being anti American is untrue. We are of the few people left who still practice "BE AMERICAN, BUY AMERICAN" Anyone who buys a Kia or a Hyundi or Toyota is thumbing their nose at their neighbors and their livelyhoods. Money earned in America stays at the local hardware store and the car dealer. Our good Republicans want to open up trade with Communist China. Anyone who willingly sends their money to Commie China or viet Nam or invests there is a traitor.
These are things that will take the very soul out of America.
Jeepers! Thank you both so much for all of these insights!!!
However, the leadership of the large national unions are still socialists who support the Democrats and their socialists schemes.
mismanagement, frivolous lawsuits, environmental regulations, failure to modernize and foreign competition are all contributing factors.
That could have come from many of my posts so we agree on that. However, we still disagree on free trade. Free trade creates more American jobs than are lost. Because of that, look for the service industry unions, the ones who just split from the AFL-CIO, to be actively stirring up trouble in Central and South America trying to unionize those workers. You can rest assured if they do that those unions will be more like the ones I describe than your union. The leaders of those unions are outright leftists.
I have also experienced all the pitfalls and seen all the shortcomings of people in the private sector. I have worked for bad people and known others with clients and potential clients. I certainly don't condone bad people or practices no matter where they are. The crooks eventually get arrested.
However, true free enterprise is a self-correcting process where as governmental and union structures are not. When I was in the training business I used to say that unions were the ideal structures for training people and why didn't unions provide such good workers that employers would be coming to them for employees rather than the unions trying to surreptitiously organize the workers. Why didn't unions become entrepreneurs and compete in the marketplace? According to SaltyJoe, and supplemented by what you and crim have said, maybe now they are. If so that is wonderful. That is what they should do and then they would be a natural part of the American landscape rather than outsiders trying to subvert it.
That was not true in the past! In the past they were doing all they could to destroy free enterprise while pretending to protect the "workers", just like all good leftists and Democrats do.
No need for a book, a simple sentence will suffice.
"Do not surrender your responsibility for your well being to another, especially unions and governments and anyone who says they are connected in anyway to the Democrat party."
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.