I probably live in an unrealistic dreamworld, but I see all businesses as a partnership between 4 parties. One is the company owners, two is the company management, three is the company customers, and four is the company employees. If any one of these partners feels they are not receiving their just due, a company can not survive. Owners MUST make a profit. Management MUST make every effort to maximize the owners profits, customers MUST receive a product/service at a fair and reasonable price, and employs MUST make a wage commensurate with their productivity and the earnings potential of the product/service. If each of the partners in this equation acts honorably everyone benefits from a strong business with growth potential. Unfortunately, many times, greed enters the picture and destroys a good partnership, owners repay the loyalty of employees to the company with job cuts, outsourcing and labor relocation, management abuses employees in order to aggrandize themselves in the owners eyes, customers exhibit no loyalty to a company even when it has provided them with exceptional value, and employees, especially when they introduce unions into the mix, extort exorbitant compensation from the business. It's a sad state of affairs.
I remember several years ago a privately held company in New England owned by a single family, actually the patriarch of the family was the sole owner. It was located in a small town and was the single largest employer in the community. A fire destroyed the facility, and I was so impressed by that old man. He kept virtually all of the people who worked there on the payroll (out of his own pocket) while the facility was being rebuilt. For those employees who wished to find other employment while they waited, he paid for their retraining. It was an amazing example of the partnership that can be had when all parties involved get a "fair shake". It's too bad most unions and companies can't see the benefits to that kind of partnership.
"I really don't fault most of the workers as they are just doing what we all do, maximize our earning potential"
I agree with all of the points in your post except this one.
I've seen this exact same argument regarding unions before and given it a lot of thought. SOME workers are paid more than they otherwise would be under these union contracts, but others - the ones that you really want to work for you are likely underpaid (until they fall into apathy and again become overpaid)
There is only one hope for unionism, in my opinion - and that is to evolve into more of a true trade guild - one in which PRODUCTIVITY is guaranteed to any employer that hires them. This would mean that unions would have no incentive to keep slackers. It would also mean that they would be incentivized to keep and train promising workers, and jettison those that are a liability.
This would open the door to creative and mutually rewarding owner/manager/employee partnerships. Members of this type of union would be paid a premium and be worth every penny.
Today, individual initiative, creativity, and excellence is discouraged under union control ("Don't kill the job!").
When the best are not allowed to even work at union shops, much less, prosper outside the bounds of a union contract, it's an assault on individual freedom and frankly, a threat to our economic wellbeing as a country.
I don't fault the poor guy who is forced to work in a union shop to make a living for his family......as long as he doesn't turn into a bitter union thug in the end.
You wrote an excellent post.