Quote: “Sure unions were out of control, but those unions didn’t affect all of manufacturing. From what I’ve read, I believe the private sector union membership was 15 million or less in the mid 90s.”
Sorry if I misunderstood your earlier post.
As for this post, I would argue that by the time the mid-90’s hit the unions had already done most of their damage to industry. Less industry=less union membership. I can remember moving to Bethlehem, PA in 1987. Crossing the bridge from the South Side (where the steel mills were located) one would see the United Steel Workers HQ with a beam that had written on it “Stop Illegal Steel Imports!!!” In the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s These same unions had kept Beth Steel from modernizing and instead insisted on more benefits and moola. When the chickens came home to roost, this was their solution, a sign.
Today, by the way, there is a casino where those steel mills used to stand and the United Steel Workers are long gone. Who knows, maybe they are busy somewhere else making signs?
RE: Today, by the way, there is a casino where those steel mills used to stand and the United Steel Workers are long gone.
Pittsburgh looks like a big city that has re-invented itself from a Steel Dependent city to a city with varied industries — including biotech, robotics and even banking.
Dare I say that Pittsburgh stil thrives ?
We can learn a lot from Pittsburgh, which is this — if you want your city to thrive, you CANNOT depend on one industry. You must learn to DIVERSIFY and be FLEXIBLE.
I have never been a fan of unions. In many instance they used thuggery to keep the employees in line they were supposed to representing.
They rip off the membership for funds, then provide those funds to the people who want to destroy our nation.
They say they represent the union members, and then support bringing in illegal aliens to replace workers across this nation. In some instances those illegals actually compete with union members.
The unions actually send out people to attack Conservatives on the street. (during protests or demonstrations)
No, I’m not a big fan of unions.
When it comes to the steel industry, I do believe the unions were horrible. I can see the need to break them up, and moving steel production off-shore seemed reasoned. Steel is so vitally important, that I didn’t agree that was a great idea.
Personally, I would have rather seen more private steel firms crop up, even with worker ownership participation than see all steel imported.