Labor Day - I'm Not Celebrating

Monday will be a nice day off. The kids will enjoy it and we can have some family time. Whether I work or don't work, however, the day is not for me. It is not for most of us. It is a holiday to celebrate unions.

For most Americans it is just a day off. Union membership in the private sector is so low that we are unlikely to even think about it. (Again, it is like Christmas - a lot of people celebrate, but they don't know why.)

Chicago played a major part in the creation of Labor Day. On May 4th, 1886, eight police officers and an unknown number of civilians were killed in a labor riot known as the Haymarket Affair. While that horrible day played a part in May Day celebrations thereafter, it also influenced President Grover Cleveland to bypass May as a date for Labor Day to avoid stirring up negative emotions.

Union membership has grown a bit lately but primarily due to the growth of government. Less than 8 percent of private sector workers are unionized, compared to nearly 37 percent of government workers, according the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Private sector workers can, in the American tradition, fend for themselves. Government meanwhile, in cooperation with unions, does nothing more that unreasonably drive up costs. I pointed this out recently in my report on the Prevailing Wage Act.

When a legislature enacts something like the Prevailing Wages Act, they require that a laborer be paid a base rate well north of $100,000 a year. Are there people who would do labor on a construction site or a road project for less? Is the legislature negotiating rates on behalf of its employer (the people) or doing the bidding of the vendor? Do politicians put unions before people?

Governor Daniels of Indiana points out that government growth in the various states is the problem, not the solution. Governments in this nation have expanded their reach through growth in spending that outpaces growth in inflation and population combined. That is certainly the case here in Illinois.

Poor people on the South side of Chicago need jobs and they need a safe, economical place to shop for essentials, especially good wholesome food. Yet politicians doing the bidding of unions are keeping Wal-Mart out of Chicago. Unions before people.

Union supporters will point to accomplishments in the past that improved the lot of the worker against the huge uncaring corporation. That is all fine - and a worthy topic of study and discussion - but this isn't 1886.

Today's worker has a high school education available to him or her at no direct cost to their family. College is available to anyone who is willing to win scholarships and/or take advantage of financial aid. Laws regulating the workplace - many of which the unions did their part in birthing - along with a social welfare safety net, give any hard working person who stays in school more than a chance to make it on their own, without having to share their resources with a union if they don't want to.

But unions are not satisfied with people deciding of their own volition to opt out. That is why they continue to try to pass legislation to make it easier for unions to get their grip on a workplace. Once in, the unions have a habit of also using coercive government force to allow them to make membership compulsory. There is very little to suggest that unions subscribe to the concept of democracy.

After our counter-revolution against the marxists is complete, we’ll need to roll back the unions’ wages and benefits. The goons and their corrupt leaders will have to face a reckoning.

Impractical and unrealistic you say?

Out of the ashes the phoenix arises.

And perhaps the government will be able to sell off its (illegal) ownership in private enterprise and return the private sector to the people, and reduce their debt with the buy back of private companies.

What king of an ass potus fires the CEO of GM and takes over the company?

A MARXIST Usurper.

The unions form a key part of the usurper’s contingent, and when CW II is over, they will pay the price, because WE are not subsidizing the goons anymore.

Have A Nice Day Off.

I am not celebrating anything other than a day off. I am often told that that labor movement is responsible for Labor Day.

If I was told that I would lose labor day as a holiday if the unions disappear, I would GLADLY go to work on the first Monday of each September.

And...I would gladly pay back in extra labor every labor day I have ever taken off, if we could be free of unions.

(Note: my comments on unions below are not an attack on individual union members per se, but are directed towards the leadership, structure, and basic concept of unions. It is difficult if someone reads this as a union member not to personalize these criticisms, and I understand that.)

One of my main issues with unions is that they take an adversarial approach to dealings with a company in order to wring more benefits from a company.

Through strikes, intimidation and other union tactics, they hold a company over the barrel until they force them to submit.

This submission by the company removes market forces from the equation, and the costs of doing business are no longer driven by the market, but are instead driven by intimidation, emotion and a variety of other factors that have nothing to do with market forces of supply an demand.

These costs of increased wages and benefits are simply passed on to the consumer, where market forces WILL take effect. The company then is faced with having to produce a product or service that is unsustainable in the face of market forces, and consumers will not buy the same (or sometimes inferior product) at an increased price, and the company will do poorly, often going out of business. This is one of the key reasons the US Steel Industry went belly up in the Sixties and Seventies, because they refused to modernize (which would have required fewer people to produce the same amount of steel) The unions were not interested in staying competitive with a market, they were interested PRIMARILY with increasing wages and benefits while ensuring no jobs were lost.

The Japanese did not have the same kinds of issues, because their unions are not the same as our unions. Their unions work WITH the company. Our unions work AGAINST the company.

The UAW is going to ensure that the US auto industry goes the same route as the US Steel industry. And the same thing is going to happen to the autoworkers.

The people in charge at the unions are going to pull up their tents, shrug their shoulders and say “Sorry folks, we tried! The evil company would rather fold than meet our demands, so...you all have a good life and all...Bye!” They will find some other unionized industry to get involved in.

Union members love to point out that the higher wages enjoyed by many people are due to their efforts. It is also worth noting that the higher prices paid by all of us for damn near everything that comes out of a unionized industry is also due to their efforts. Too many of them view their unions as operating in a vacuum, but they don’t. If a company has to pay higher prices to a truckers union, you think they are just going to eat those profits? If an electricians union sets a floor on wages for their members, do you think any of us as homeowners don’t simply pay more for those services?

And most of all, the most UN-American thing about unions is being FORCED to be a member. Oh sure, you can choose not to be a member. You can work as a scab or you must find another state or industry to work in) So unions FORCE people to be members using their livelihood as cudgel, and then use their union dues to contribute to politicians and causes that are often at odds with the individual union member. And there is no recourse.

Again, this is not directed at individual union members (unless you are one of them who has completely consumed the Kool-Aid...) It is directed at the concept, implementation and politicization of unions.

So, on this Labor Day, I say to Hell with the Unions.

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