I am a Union member and have disagreed with their political alignments for a long time. After the 2000 election our members were polled anomyously about why membership was divided by not showing a strong pro- Gore vote.
The results.......gun control was a biggie. Most of our members are avid hunters and shooting enthusiasts and did not trust Gore potentially tampering with the 2nd Amendment.
Abortion. Pretty much self explanatory about the divide between religious views.
Now since the union's candidate Kerry was defeated soundly in 2004 the leadership, at least in our union (BAC) our leaders are seeking out labor friendly candidates rather than following party lines. There has been a division in the membership because endorsing party elections has not helped the cause of labor. It has been recognized that particular candidates, rather than particular partys can do more for protecting good paying jobs, benefits, and job safety than partys that cannot be elected. it has been acknowledged that there are good candidates on both sides of the aisle.
Organized labor recognizes that if America is to survive, we cannot export jobs, we cannot work for less, and we have to have medical insurance and pensions. Allowing any or all of those issues to be discontinued and America will begin a slide to be equalized with the 3rd world when it comes to our standard of living.
There are those who think Union workers make too much. But the flip side of the coin says lawyers and doctors and pro athletes and CEO's and stockbrokers make too much also. As Americans we all have to get along and patronize our companies and businesses and pass the money around. Someone will always be overpaid and someone will always be underpaid. But the people who earn enough to own a house and a car, send a son to college, seek medical care without the hospital owning the house are the backbone of America.
Being pro labor and pro worker is a good thing. As Americans, United We Stand, divided we fall. Same with Union workers. If we let others dictate how much money they think we should make we will never prosper. If we do good work and have a good work ethic we should be justly rewarded the same as if we do shoddy work be reprimanded.
The free market decides value, not politicians.
These free trade agreements like CAFTA and the WTO and NAFTA stifle competition and set arbitrary limits on wages and productivity. High oil prices are hurting us all. The middle class cost of living wage increases in America is not keeping pace with inflation. And since most Union workers are middle class Americans we are neither robbing the bank or collecting welfare. But to hear some people scream that Union workers are making too much money is bulls*hit. It seems to be vogue to accuse workers of breaking the bank. Forget Enron and Global Crossing and Tyco and unscrupulous accounting fraud and how much that costs America.
Yes the times are a changing. America is going to meet the 3rd world and we all will lose, except the filthy rich who will still have their nest egg and the influence it buys.
I suppose that is a possibility, o_zarkman44. Still, something tells me it will not be actually realized. There's too much "common sense" in the world for that to happen.
Thank you so very much for your plain-spoken, "common sense" testimony regarding the present issue.
Organized labor recognizes that if America is to survive, we cannot export jobs, we cannot work for less, and we have to have medical insurance and pensions.
If so, your leadership is working in the opposite direction of its members. They are supporting politicians who favor tax laws which penalize free enterprise and the very companies who hire union workers. They favor unnecessary environmental and safety rules which raise costs without protecting the environment nor improving safety, making it more difficult for the companies you work for to stay in business and provide what you want. Many environmental and safety regulations are sensible and necessary but many are not. Those which are not add an unnecessary burden and dampen innovation and change.
To consider medical care and pensions to be a right rather than a bonus given to you by the company is socialistic and anti-business.
There are those who think Union workers make too much. But the flip side of the coin says lawyers and doctors and pro athletes and CEO's and stockbrokers make too much also.
The difference is that union workers make their's through coercion by a labor monopoly while the others make their's on the open market. No one has to patronized the others but they have no choice with unions. Most union workers would make more if they individually marketed their skills rather than riding on the coattails of extortion.
As Americans we all have to get along and patronize our companies and businesses and pass the money around. Someone will always be overpaid and someone will always be underpaid. But the people who earn enough to own a house and a car, send a son to college, seek medical care without the hospital owning the house are the backbone of America.
I agree and I use your own words to make my point.
Being pro labor and pro worker is a good thing.
As long as they are the same but they are not. Workers are you and your colleagues. Labor is the agglomeration of organizations who are working against your success while convincing you that some outside force, evil big business and management, are you enemies. That is no different than any tyrannical government in the world. All blame the USA for the problems they created for their own people in order to point the blame away from themselves.
As Americans, United We Stand, divided we fall. Same with Union workers. If we let others dictate how much money they think we should make we will never prosper. If we do good work and have a good work ethic we should be justly rewarded the same as if we do shoddy work be reprimanded.
Others always dictate how much you make. It is called the free market. Unions and the politicians they support distort the free market and prevent it from working as it should.
Also, when have you ever seen a worker reprimanded for shoddy work. There are many stories of shoddy work being done to get back at mangement by hurting the customer, poor slobs like you and me. I have personally experienced that on several occassions.
The free market decides value, not politicians.
See, we agree, or rather you agree with me but not yourself.
These free trade agreements like CAFTA and the WTO and NAFTA stifle competition and set arbitrary limits on wages and productivity.
Quite the contrary, they increase competition. That is why unions don't like them. It is the competition which sets limits on prices, and therefore wages, but it also encourages increased productivity. The union MO is decreased productivity, through work rules that limit how much a worker con produce, and increased wages and it has been for years.
High oil prices are hurting us all.
Not much we can do about that at the moment but the Democrats, who get all the union money and support, are fighting every meaningful thing we try to do to change it. They insist on wind and solar power, which can never solve the problem and they know it, and alternative fuels which only benefit the rich agricultural corporations like ADM (I thought they hated big business), while preventing us from drilling in the vast waste land in Alaska they call pristine wilderness.
The middle class cost of living wage increases in America is not keeping pace with inflation. And since most Union workers are middle class Americans we are neither robbing the bank or collecting welfare. But to hear some people scream that Union workers are making too much money is bulls*hit. It seems to be vogue to accuse workers of breaking the bank. Forget Enron and Global Crossing and Tyco and unscrupulous accounting fraud and how much that costs America.
If wages aren't keeping up with inflation the workers will buy less, the economy will cool, and inflation will go down. Artificially pegging things to inflation, except for the elderly on fixed income, only feeds inflation. It is not union wages that are the problem as much as union work rules, and the costs of healthcare and pensions, which burden business. Add to that the taxes and regulations of the party unions support, as well as the tremendous costs and lost opportunities by another supporter of the left, the trial lawyers, and you get a clearer picture of the problem.
The complaint about CEOs and such taking advantage of their positions is just class warfare. At least they are getting caught and punished while your bosses skate.
I repeat, I don't question anything about you as a person. I just think you have been exposed too much to the union story and not enough to the story of the free enterprise.
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.