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Who decided jobs belong to unions such that they can rent them out to members and non-members alike?
The OP wanted to know why unions are hated in America, well, extorting money from workers would be one of the major reasons.
If a worker in a unionized workplace feels he is being extorted by the union every time he gets a paycheck, then why in the hell is he so wrong and dumb enough to keep working there?
If a worker in a unionized workplace feels he is being extorted by the union every time he gets a paycheck, then why in the hell is he so wrong and dumb enough to keep working there?
Maybe he doesn't fell like he is being extorted. Feelings dot always equal reality.
I reckon the ones that feel they are being taken advantage of leave.
I've worked with scores of ex-union people. Never hear them complain about a lack of a union.
If unions are so 'lovable' -- why do they maintain (survive only with) forced membership?
Some of the trade unions may persist via apprenticeship programs, etc, but I work at a university (in CA) and recently the post-doctoral scholars were unionized by the UAW - United Auto Workers!! (What? Yes, really!) University of California Human Resources and Benefits - At Your Service
Of course, not much is surprising in CA!
If the union is able to negotiate you higher pay and more benefits than in a equivalent non-unionized work place, then why be so wrong and foolish to feel you're being all wronged and ripped off?
However, if it happens you could make more money at a non-unionized workplace, then please have the good sense to quit working there. Doing that is precisely in your best interest, so it shouldn't be too hard to grasp.
Most Americans have been brainwashed into thinking that the interests of a corporation, short-term profit at any price, are in their own interests, when clearly it is not.
You got that right. As technology continues to advance, more and more robots are going to replace human workers and end up stirring up more controversy than labor unions ever did.
If the union is able to negotiate you higher pay and more benefits than in a equivalent non-unionized work place, then why be so wrong and foolish to feel you're being all wronged and ripped off?
However, if it happens you could make more money at a non-unionized workplace, then please have the good sense to quit and work there. Doing that is precisely in your best interest, so it shouldn't be too hard to grasp.
This mindset, and the numerous posts by the anti-union crowd, is what is responsible for the mindset of blaming the victims in the American workforce. Union members, in order to keep their jobs, must accept slave wages and pitiful benefits OR they can see their jobs go to some Central American or Asian sweatshop where workers are paid pennies on the hour, and if they lose their arm in an industrial accident, they are fired, not to be heard from again.
What no one else is mentioning is how well corporate America is doing these days, how profits have all been funneled upward and into the pockets of management and white collar America whilst their blue collar workers are paid less and less every year, and under the constant threat of job loss.
Not one union basher has ever even broached the topic of white color salaries going through the roof and corporations hoarding their profits. Someone even mentioned Hostess, but predictably lost on the FOX News demonization of the Hostess union was the wholesale looting of the company piggybank by top executives before locking the doors and fleeing to their vacation homes. This represents what much of corporate America is concerned with: More profits. Best way to keep this spiraling upward is to take away from your workforce.
What Wall Street did to America during the Bush years, ultimately requiring a government handout to balance their ledger sheet, is no different than what much of corporate America is doing to the hourly worker. That legions of poor white trash will line up and denigrate the blue collar union worker while carrying the water for millionaires and billionaires is no longer even surprising.
Let me ask you a question, would you rather have a wage reduction or go on unemployment while searching for employment again? Personally I'd rather continue to work and seek other employment because if you think of it this way, at least the job will be available for someone who is willing to work the job and you'll be getting a new job still. Trust me, a 18 year old who doesn't want to college will enjoy those $10 wages that someone else will complain about. People who will deny a companies 'demands', needs to think towards the future and say "Maybe someone else may want this".
And you're absolutely correct in regards to manufacturing wages not keeping up with White Collar wages. What can be done when a company can literally shut down all of its American operations, pay pennies to all it's workers, and continue to sell that same product at the same price while the actual cost of producing it is significantly reduced. It's your choice, it's business. Do I want it to be that? No, I'd rather allow more employees to have higher-pay, better skills, and more of a say so in business but that isn't the reality here with globalization and people like yourself need to realize that.
Let me ask you a question, would you rather have a wage reduction or go on unemployment while searching for employment again? Personally I'd rather continue to work and seek other employment because if you think of it this way, at least the job will be available for someone who is willing to work the job and you'll be getting a new job still. Trust me, a 18 year old who doesn't want to college will enjoy those $10 wages that someone else will complain about. People who will deny a companies 'demands', needs to think towards the future and say "Maybe someone else may want this".
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Add to that, once you've been Hostessed, as an unemployed person you have less clout to negotiate a salary with an employer, than the employed person has who is seeking a new job. The clock is ticking on the former's UC, while the latter - who is making more, has, in most cases, a secure job.
Let me ask you a question, would you rather have a wage reduction or go on unemployment while searching for employment again? Personally I'd rather continue to work and seek other employment because if you think of it this way, at least the job will be available for someone who is willing to work the job and you'll be getting a new job still. Trust me, a 18 year old who doesn't want to college will enjoy those $10 wages that someone else will complain about. People who will deny a companies 'demands', needs to think towards the future and say "Maybe someone else may want this".
And you're absolutely correct in regards to manufacturing wages not keeping up with White Collar wages. What can be done when a company can literally shut down all of its American operations, pay pennies to all it's workers, and continue to sell that same product at the same price while the actual cost of producing it is significantly reduced. It's your choice, it's business. Do I want it to be that? No, I'd rather allow more employees to have higher-pay, better skills, and more of a say so in business but that isn't the reality here with globalization and people like yourself need to realize that.
Ask yourself a question: Would you rather fight for something that others sacrificed and fought for decades ago, when there were not labor laws, labor unions, overtime, and other benefits (including health benefits) and when employers hired "private security" to harass, threaten, and sometimes beat the work force into submission? Or would you rather just take what the company offers, no matter how great their profits are, and completely ignoring the amount of pay increases upper management is seeing while asking their blue collar employees to continually make sacrifices?
With employees like you, corporate America can pay their employees peanuts, and they know these employees will roll over and say "That's how it goes". In America today, it is not only the war on the working class by corporate America, it is also their allies amongst the working poor who wish to thank them for cutting jobs and slashing pay.
It is no surprise to me that people in other countries find Americans crazy people. How else do you explain poor white trash arguing in favor of tax breaks for billionaires and applauding shrinking pay amongst the working poor while corporate profits are at record levels?
It is no surprise to me that people in other countries find Americans crazy people. How else do you explain poor white trash arguing in favor of tax breaks for billionaires and applauding shrinking pay amongst the working poor while corporate profits are at record levels?
I'm sure FOX told you the union forced them into bankruptcy. You keep believing that, okay?
Quote:
In 2004, Hostess unions agreed to large concession on wages and benefits, and going forward would be earning less than the national average against its competitors. This move helped Hostess to save an estimated $100 million. That is what the unions conceded. So now what were the executives running Hostess and the private equity managers willing to concede, to prevent another Hostess bankruptcy? Check out these executive concessions reported by the Wall Street Journal. These are the pay raises the top executives gave themselves, as they told unions to take pay cuts or be liquidated.
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(What? Yes, really!) 
