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It is easy to see what unions can do for employees.......take a trip to Detroit and look around. Not only did they cause thousands and thousands of people to lose their jobs but they also completely destroyed a city.
Obviously, not at all what happened. There is just as obviously a whole boatload of misunderstanding going on here over what labor-management relations actually are.
Obviously, not at all what happened. There is just as obviously a whole boatload of misunderstanding going on here over what labor-management relations actually are.
I would like to hear your explanation of what led to the downfall of the auto industry in Detroit. lol
I have family that worked for GM and Chrysler. It was interesting to hear some of them talk about how bad the company treated them and they weren't paid enough....blah blah blah. They had the best benefits you could have and they were making more than the engineers. I can remember as a teenager thinking these people are going to lose their jobs one day when the companies finally get fed up and move the factories somewhere else. Guess what happened. lol
Believers in such foolishness richly deserve the flat wages and lost benefits that they have enjoyed over the past 40 years. The American middle class first rose and then fell on the backs of unions.
You seem to be laboring under the delusion that labor unions were responsible for the post-WWII prosperity. This is actually the result of the rest of the world being decimated in the war. The US stepped in to fill the void in manufacturing and enjoyed a virtual monopoly for decades. Of course the unions could negotiate good deals. There was no competition from other countries. When the other countries did recover, the US companies realized they were vastly overpaying the auto workers. Thus Detroit became a ghost town. (Of course, riots and horrible decisions by the local politicians didn't help)
You can quote cute little poems all you want. This is the harsh reality. Those good times are NEVER coming back and everyone just needs to adjust accordingly.
Wouldn't it be in the best interest of the union for the business to stay around? Otherwise, there would be no jobs for the members.
You would think so, but some people are too shortsighted to understand that. It's the whole "cut off your nose to spite your face" thing. I lived in South Florida in the 1980s and I watched Charlie Bryan and his machinists union gleefully take a wrecking ball to Eastern Airlines. Look up the word "intransigent" in the dictionary and it'll have his picture!
You seem to be laboring under the delusion that labor unions were responsible for the post-WWII prosperity. This is actually the result of the rest of the world being decimated in the war. The US stepped in to fill the void in manufacturing and enjoyed a virtual monopoly for decades. Of course the unions could negotiate good deals. There was no competition from other countries. When the other countries did recover, the US companies realized they were vastly overpaying the auto workers. Thus Detroit became a ghost town. (Of course, riots and horrible decisions by the local politicians didn't help)
You can quote cute little poems all you want. This is the harsh reality. Those good times are NEVER coming back and everyone just needs to adjust accordingly.
Don't throw history and facts at him, you are likely to bring another poetry recital down on us lol (that's a first for me to see on here hahaha)
Employers will do everything in their power to increase profits. It is their duty to do so for the shareholders. Cutting costs is one of the best ways to increase profits.
The trend has always been to cut labor costs. Union busting, outsourcing, overseas labor, and robotics are some of the ways companies reduce their costs. This is great for the shareholders but not so good for the worker.
Why is it that 30 years ago I was able to support a family on my income alone, yet today many families need two incomes?
IMO, this deterioration is due to the concentration of power. Whereas powerful corporations "buy" the politicians and get favorable business laws passed such as "right to work."
Ultimately, I think that neither party, business or labor should have total power. One should offset the other and keep a balance.
You're cheering the fact that he also deleted ALL of the archives, basically ALL of the articles these journalists worked on for years? Some of those articles covered vital pieces of history for various cities that are now completely lost.
REALLY?
Well, there is my belief about having one's own library instead of trusting it to another. It is only out there as long as TPTB believe it is worth it to them.
As to the main point, when one is confronting someone, consider all the options they have including those that are unthinkable.
It happens so often in our entertainment media, so you think we would be aware of it, such as Ally McBeal where in a similar situation, the law firm boss comments about closing the business and practicing law elsewhere, Judging Amy in "The Kilt Trip", and even Bond which probably has the best line about such situations:
"That's Detente, Comrade. You don't have it, I don't have it.".
Yes, in this country. There is no country in which the well-being of workers should simply be abandoned into the hands of those who are outright antagonistic to their interests.
In other words, this country should be run just the way, and only the way, that you think best. Got it.
I'm reminded in this discussion of a letter to the editor down here in Austin years ago. Seems a young man had to move down to Texas to find work after the company (actually, the industry ) that he worked for up north went out of business there and he couldn't find work anywhere up there.
Down here he found a job quickly. However, it didn't pay as much as the union up North had negotiated for him. His theory was that we should have unions down here so that he could get paid as much as he felt he was worth (never mind the cost of living here was less and there were plenty of jobs and the industry was strong). He clearly had never even bothered to think about why he had to move down here in the first place and the role that the union had played in that.
My husband owned his own business for a quarter of a century, with a partner. They were both of the opinion that they didn't have employees, they had partners in the business, and they set it up that way, with benefits that exceeded what the industry offered. They had one thing that they did that did reward those employees who produced well for the company and thus their fellow employees who all benefited through profit sharing already (meaning that employees who produced more for the company produced more for their fellow employees). I forget exactly what the benefit was, it was nothing outrageous, more of an attaboy or girl, but they had to get rid of it and several other benefits because it turned out that the government frowned on rewarding excellence unless you also equally rewarded lesser performance in the exact same way. Unions, in my observation, think pretty much the same way. Produce or not produce, you DESERVE by virtue of being an employee the exact same as those employees who do an excellent job.
In other words, everyone gets a gold star and a trophy no matter what their objectively measurable performance.
No, thank you. Best way ever to kill business and an economy.
Unions served a purpose, a critical purpose, when they were created. But as I said, they became exactly what they fought against, and the employees are merely a means to an end. Just the attitude they were designed to fight against.
I don't bite the hand that fed a family and supplied better representation against the company ogres.
I'm full on in favor of unions...Particularly in my area... Manufacturing, Teachers,Transportation, Healthcare.
These employees are able to buy homes, contribute to the local economy....
Pity that the owner didn't see the big picture ....even when he cut off his nose to spit his face....
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