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i think your answer is not listed.....if there was such a choice, it would be something along the lines of "this is a complex issue that can't be answered with only the absolute choices given". The "I don't know" isn't a good choice either.
Is it just me, or does it seem like most, but not all, unions are killing the industries they represent? They seem to be asking for more than what the companies in their industries are capable of giving them driving away the jobs that they were created to protect. I think unions were absolutely needed about 100 years ago, but today the seem to be too powerful and no longer concerned with the welfare of their workers. Just look at the teacher's union, ALL teachers, union or non union, are required to pay dues and they've essentially got a strangle hold on the state's budget. I'm too lazy to go into anymore details, but I just wanted to know if I'm not alone in my thinking.
It varies widely with the union, of course. Some do a decent job; some don't. The union I was in took positions on such issues as abortion and gun control, which I considered a waste of my dues and inappropriate. The teachers' and police unions certainly benefit their members but certainly harm society as a whole. It's a complex issue.
I am for unions if they represent legal workers in this country, trying to make their lives better. It was unions that created our great middle class and raised the standard of living for the entire country.
Now, they are also representing illegals in the country. This lowers the wages for the average American worker, and squanders our tax and medical dollars for services provided.
Today, I must take a stand against unions because they have taken the stand against me.
I'd prefer a free system, where any worker can join a union, or not join a union as he sees fit. And I prefer a free system where the employer can bargain with the union, or not bargain with the union, as they see fit. And I prefer a free system where any union can sell their benefits to the workers and persuade them to join freely. If enough workers freely join where they can bargain collectively, then all is well.
I do not favor a system where unions are propped up by the police power of the state, and employers are forced against their will to bargain with thugs, and workers are forced to join and pay dues whether they like it or not.
Unions did not build this country, ideas built this country. And the ideas were those of the innovative industrialists and entrepreneurs who thought it all up. Credit where credit is due.
Unions did not build this country, ideas built this country. And the ideas were those of the innovative industrialists and entrepreneurs who thought it all up. Credit where credit is due.
That, my dear, is what the common thinking is, and it certainly contains merit, but back in those days there was child labor and folks working 12 or more hours a day and if you got sick on the job you were more likely fired because some other hungry slob was in line to take your place.
The conditions were so hard, from these genius entrepreneurs, and desperate people do desperate things - so unions were fought for to give people some leisure and to keep kids in school and to change working conditions and to reward effort when it was due. As a result, the unions built the middle class, people who had spare money and free time in which to spend it. The economy took off. Without a middle class this country would be like some of our southern neighbors, with a few very wealthy on top and the uneducated poor masses on the bottom.
Our country now seems to be heading in the direction of those southern neighbors. We have an astounding amount of wealth being concentrated on the top, unprecedented, with the middle class being whittled away at and shoved to the bottom. One out of six people in the US are on food stamps. Most of these are new to 'the system' and have never before needed a hand out.
I just don't think, in these hard times, that we should be importing people from other nations to do jobs and to eat up our tax resources. Unions are supporting this policy, supporting these imports, even the ones here illegally.
So, for me, unions are a mixed bag.
Last edited by goldengrain; 03-06-2012 at 07:55 AM..
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