Posted on 02/09/2022 5:04:16 AM PST by Kaslin
Washington, DC. – Joe Biden likes to talk about how “unions built this country.” And, up to a point, he’s right. From FDR to Nixon, the American labor movement held considerable sway over the nation’s economic destiny.
Since the 70s, a decade marked by economic extremes Biden’s policies are causing us to revisit, unions have been in decline. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports participation in the labor movement to be down across the board. Unionized private sector workers represent just 6.1 percent of the labor force, an all-time low, while the total number of those in unions dropped last year by almost a quarter of a million.
The labor movement has lost a lot of its clout. What remains comes because the rank and file are held captive by the union bosses who extract political contributions from them to what remains of its political influence. To put it another way, it’s the number of dollars they provide to the politicians, not the number of members who can vote that account for what influence remains.
The union bosses would have you believe membership is down because it’s too hard to organize. They want the politicians who are still in their hip pockets to let them boost their numbers by resetting the clock to the days when people had to join a union as a condition of their employment whether they wanted to or not.
It’s an interesting theory but it doesn’t fit the facts. America’s workers no longer need union representation as they once did. Employers in the post-industrial era are smarter, offer better pay and benefits, greater flexibility on the job site, and more input into operations than many union shops allow.
The unions, of course, would argue against this. But what do they have to show in the way of success? The high-profile 2021 effort to organize workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama failed when then voted against 2 to 1.
The federal government gave the unions a do-over on that vote, but we’ll see if it changes the outcome. It’s not likely. The continuing decline is evident. Even strikes are becoming problematic as in Colorado, where members of a United Food and Commercial Workers local found themselves betrayed by their president, Kim Cordova, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Throughout the month of January, negotiations over a new contract between the King Soopers supermarket chain and UFCW Local 7 became tense amid a strike that restricted access to food and dealt a devastating blow to area residents. All this on top of a Biden economy that has inflation is eating away at rising wages like it hasn’t in decades.
Hours before the strike began, the union rejected an offer by King Soopers to bring the minimum starting wage up to $16 per hour and pay increases of up to $4.50 per hour for its members. For ten days, members of the union sat at home or marched on a picket line while Local 7 President Kim Cordova continued to collect her $200,000+ annual salary while promising she would get a better deal.
The offer eventually a majority of Local 7 members accepted appears to include many of the same proposals Cordova called “concessionary” days earlier according to theWorld Socialist Web Site. That same week, Senator Bernie Sanders hosted a virtual panel that amounted to little more than “damage control for the union” and praised Cordova’s efforts to get a deal that probably could have been had before the strike. If this doesn’t seem fair, it isn’t. Yet it’s happening repeatedly as union bosses like Cordova choose what’s good for the union and its officials over what’s good for the rank-and-file.
We’ve seen this before. In the 1960s, the New York City newspaper unions let several prominent but marginally profitable dailies shut down rather than make concessions that would have kept them open and their members on the job. During the Obama-led reorganization of General Motors, the unions killed an effort by a private sector entrepreneur who wanted to run the Saturn brand as an independent, non-union company. The union survived. The workers didn’t.
Politicians like Biden and Sanders who say the labor movement is dying need to face up to the fact union leaders like Cordova are killing it. It’s not murder. It’s suicide.
Spot on and some people wonder what drove so many businesses off shore congressman kickback smiles.
SO STOP FIGHTING THE LAST WAR. It's now ok to be pro US worker. Tell chamber of commerce losers to pack sand if they don't like it. Also stop conflating private and public sector unions. They are totally different beasts altogether.
I am a STEM worker and F U back.
Woulda' Coulda' Shoulda'...
But they didn't.
Union organizing attempts in that sector were always clumsy grifting operations which never succeeded, because they offered nothing of value to their prospective members. That is still true today.
In particular, they would not and will not address the H1B issue. It was always about collecting union dues and restricting younger people from entering the STEM jobs. A deal for the older guys, but not good enough for them to sign up in sufficient numbers.
What drove business off shore was greed and corruption, corruption that allowed re importation of products with virtually no duty!!!. No other country in history ever did that except GB. It had NOTHING to do with the spot price of hourly labor.
Doctors and nurses unionize now while you can!! You are being going to be replaced!!!! Don't let what happened to IT workers happen to you!!!
Just need to smash more faces and ppl will get in line.
Unlike you I am pro worker and pro trade protectionism at the same time I am anti union. OTH You can’t walk and chew gum. This is typical moribund Republican politics that is stuck the mid 20th century. It will be good when all the stodgy globalist GOPers finally die off....
Your archaic thoughts and observations are detrimental to America
Oh....central_va....how you wish to be a commie in a union. Being able to boss your boss around with union contracts and work rules.
If I’m not mistaken, you’re another of the FR regulars that love to sling poo and stir it. Call names and try to belittle.
I don’t care if you’re a STEM worker. You and the rest of your ilk aren’t the only ones that have lost jobs. But, if you lean to the Right, then I’m absolutely willing to say that you are a member of a very small minority of tech workers. You have to hide your political leanings, if they are Right, so you don’t lose your job. As the woke, liberal, Leftist hipsters that dominate the field will run you out on a rail, ASAP.
I do find it funny that the majority of those in your field, like the movie industry, support those that want to fill as many positions as they can with someone from India or Pakistan, pay them dirt and put the US-born folks to work in Starbucks. Interesting, don’t you think? But, as is the norm, your emotions take control and you’re unable to think clearly about what I said.
You’ve lumped yourself in with all your liberal, commie, progressive, hipster tech counterparts. Whereas a simple statement like: I’m kind of a unicorn in the STEM field as I’m a Republican, Conservative, Right Leaning, whatever and because of that I have to quietly nod is humor and disgust when I’m around my co-workers so I can keep my job. It’s funny listening to them.
Not you.
However, if you want a STEM union so bad, start one. Absolutely nothing stopping you. Oh wait, Pres Trump should have done that in his spare time when he was President. My bad.
Doctors and nurses it's not to late. Unionize or die.
How about answering my question rather than trolling is here?
What drove business off shore was high taxes and regulations they couldn’t compete many congressmen received a hefty kick back.
Bonus round the unions helped with higher demands period.
The drove GM Ford and Chrysler out of Los Angeles years ago in Detroit now with pay and perks they make well over $50.00 per hour.
Everything has limits got to know where they are.
Too late for the nurses. And unions don’t matter anymore, anyway. Wall St and Corporate America has every level of government in their pocket. It gets what it wants until legitimate politicians get in office and tell the hedge funds, Blackrock, Vanguard and the rest to F**k Off. Until then, it’s more of the same.
Healthcare Executives Import 1,000 Nurses a Month for American Jobs ..... https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2022/01/25/healthcare-companies-import-1000-nurses-a-month-for-american-jobs/
When the 4 big freight railroads started laying off thousands of workers, did the railroad union(one of the oldest and most powerful in the country) say a word? NOPE. Those union officials watched 1000s of men and women get their pink slips. Some with over 20+ years on the job. But, I’m sure if one were to look at their stock portfolio’s, they probably made some pretty fortuitous purchases.
As for being a globalist. Not a chance. Construction, law enforcement and security work, is my lineage. Nothing globalist about any of that.
And again, you respond making ZERO sense and sling poo. I’m wondering, when the entire IT department at Disney showed up for work and saw their replacements sitting at desks, forced to train and sign NDAs to get a meager severance package, did you shed a tear? Or did you say something along the lines of....sucks for them. I’m the best. I’m irreplaceable.
All of those extra costs, pennies on the dollar to the consumer buying the products, was passed on to the consumer. The consumer paid for those taxes and regulations. So your supposition is wrong. Nothing "drove" them offshore but pure greed, corruption and globalism. The workers paid the ultimate price for increased profit margins with lost jobs, lost wages and destroyed communities. F all Free Traitors. F the all.
All of those extra costs, pennies on the dollar.
Taxes here 33% off shore 15%
Labor 60% less
Regulations costs $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Your right about one thing greed that the congress rats have caused all the problems.
Better check some data if you want to know what caused the problem.
Per unit cost ( mass production get it? ) to the consumer for these things is teeny tiny almost nil. But losing your livelihood is devastating.
NO SALE dreams are just that.
So the consumer is paying 1% more. Offshore and the retail price is still $200.00 but the middle men pockets the difference. See how it works?
But hopefully you do understand that massed produced goods are cheap regardless of where they are manufactured even in the USA? It is degrees of cheapness.
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.