Posted on 01/29/2015 9:23:04 AM PST by reaganaut1
The latest figures on union membership from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the long decline has continued to the point where the percentage of Americans in unions is lower now than at any point in the last century.
That decline has not been arrested even by the extraordinarily pro-union actions of the National Labor Relations Board (such as this Arkansas case where two-third of the workers have petitioned for an election to decertify an unwanted union, but the NLRB has gone to court to block that) and union efforts at greasing the rails for election victories, as occurred with Volkswagen management in Chattanooga. Big Labor is obviously addicted to the old-fashioned tactics of dragooning workers into their ranks by hook or by crook, then relying on coercion to keep them there.
Whereas the prospect of union representation seemed very alluring to many workers back in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, the promises of union organizers today largely fall on deaf ears. The Heritage Foundation’s James Sherk was correct in saying, “They’re selling a product that hasn’t changed that much since the 1930s when America’s labor laws were founded. Today’s workers simply aren’t that interested in purchasing what unions have to sell.”
One big reason why many don’t want unionization is that they know much of the money they’ll have to pay in will go to support political candidates and causes they oppose.
It’s crucial to understand that workers do not “join” unions the way Americans join any other sort of organization.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
They need to address the question of what purpose they serve, and be honest about it.
There is really no need for “collective bargaining”, other than enriching the union heads.
On the job safety is no longer an issue.
Unions have become, basically, a protection racket...”you do what we say or we’ll strike, or sue!”.
Gov’t unions are the worst.
It’s entity A (unions) and entity B (government) “negotiating” how much it’s going to cost entity C (the taxpayer).
In the private sector, parasites eventually kill the host. In the public sector, parasites grow the host.
Unions are also very deeply entrenched in politics — they have been, for a long time, a sort of fundraising organization for politicians.
Let them go under.
” Gov’t unions are the worst.”
They should be outlawed, because their enemy is the American taxpayer!
Absotutely.
With Card Check + amnesty (lots of semi-literate workers to organize) they can be back to where they were within about five years.
Job safety was a thing that COULD have been and absolutely SHOULD have been addressed by legislation. Legislation, however, would not have enriched the democrat party with union dues.
While their membership in the lower employment circles decreases, their power in government unions increases.
I’d rather it be the other way around.
They have long lived past their usefulness or need......................
Why would an employer with half a brain want a union shop? A union is only for itself, not its members, not the employer. A union doesn’t make a company more profitable, it makes it less profitable.
A union gives an employer NOTHING. They cannot make their members show up every day; they can’t make their members not call in sick when they’re not sick; they can’t make their members give their best effort everyday.
Granted, there are some unions that at least make a pretense of offering their members training to keep and improve their skills, provide a good retirement (provided the fund isn’t raided by the fat cats before the members can retire). But in the end, a union mostly benefits their Organized Crime bosses.
Private sector Unions really only serve one legitimate function these days: protection from corrupt management. Most other functions have been subsumed into the business environment created by the government.
"Collective bargaining" seems to be the procedural price for that protection.
The could reinvent themselves. But I don’t think they have the leadership to do so.
Well, they could go back to what they originally did — collective bargaining with large employers — rather than what they do now — lobbying the government for monopolies for their members and using their members dues to advance left-wing candidates and causes.
Can they reinvent themselves? No. Once a hooker takes the first dollar she is labeled for life. So it is with the labor unions. They sold out to world wide Marxist ideology decades ago. They are what they are.
Communists are not real attractive. Their racism sucks, too.
Oh wait. That wouldn't require much of a change.
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