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Unions can be very helpful in keeping employees from being exploited. They can also become too powerful or unreasonable and make it so difficult to get rid of employees that are not performing that it damages the organization.
Without a union an employee of any business is at the mercy of the managment. Unions equalize the power balance between workers and managment. Managment and owners absolutely hate any interference with thier ability to exploit workers. "You are fired!," is a devastating sound to any employee and we must band together to prevent unjustified dismissal.
And the flipside of that scenario: Unions make it virtually impossible to extract employees who aren't carrying their weight and weigh down productivity. Lazy people get by with the minimum amount of work possible, and they have no incentive to change, because they know the union protects them.
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Unions are necessary in any economy in order to insure fair market competition. There are too many other reasons for unions to list here but exploitation by abusing power is the most important.
But we aren't in the days of robber barons and monopolies anymore. Look again to what John Mackey has done at Whole Foods, without unions. Will there be places that don't treat their workers well? Of course. But if other employers follow the lead of people like Mackey, they'll start to see that treating their employees fairly gets them better productivity, which in turn means happier customers. Unions stop that from ever happening, because they start with the premise that management is evil and out to get everyone. They're counterproductive, and they're probably the worst method of fixing labor-management relations.
unions yes! corporations and government treat people fairly?
Government, no. But corporations have every reason to treat their workers well. They turn out a better product, and better products mean happier customers, and happier customers mean more money for the company.
The company where I work gets this. This place treats its employees wonderfully, and we're frequently thanked and rewarded for our hard work. Management knows that this is good for business, because it makes people happier and more productive. Everybody wins. No unions needed.
Yup, when companies treat their employees decently unions aren't needed....and when they don't ....????????? Who ya gonna call???
Well, employees can go looking for another job, or management can wake up and realize that treating their workers like dirt is counterproductive. I'm optimistic that more companies will see that Mackey's approach is working, and that everyone can get what they want without the presence of an adversarial union.
Government, no. But corporations have every reason to treat their workers well. They turn out a better product, and better products mean happier customers, and happier customers mean more money for the company.
On the flipside, they can also treat their employees crappily and thereby turn out a cheaper product without sacrificing profits or executive pay. Sometimes companies have it in their self-interest to treat employees well (Starbucks, maybe? I don't know, I heard they do.) Sometimes they don't (look for the "Made In China" on the back and it's a good bet they're probably not treating those Makers In China very well). When the latter occurs, unions are handy.
The best way to get skills is OJT, "on the job training"! I am a48 year old high school dropout who has never had the same job for more than three years. I now continually turn down very good paying jobs because I prefer to be self employed. Never needed a union to speak on my behalf.
Being self employed is great way to earn a living doing what you do best and enjoying the benefits of your labor. Not many people are that talented to run their own business. Good work provides good referrals and plenty of work to do. Self employed allows you to control your annual income, pay your health care, pay your vacation time, pay your retirement fund, pay for your vehicle, tools, etc for updating and earn enough to put food on the table and pay the house payment. When job bidding or contracting for “one” your overall costs are taken into consideration, and the rates charged for the work are based on the union scale for the same hourly work. However being self employed allows you to reduce the job bid because you don’t have to cover the costs of the company manager, secretary, bookkeeper, and provide profits for the owner ~ you are covering it all by yourself. The union employee helps cover everyone else in the office and still makes profits for the owner hopefully. Being self employed you can cut out some of the extras in a job bid.
Many self employed tradesmen are not licensed for the work they do, not insured, not fully trained and provide little or no guarantees for the work performed as time passes on, thus a much lower wage or job bid can be given. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for.
Union scale has provided more benefits, better wages and higher standards of skills in most cases, keeping in mind there are exceptions to the rule however.
Having worked in a nonunion and union shop, i'll take a union shop anyday over a nonunion shop.
To be union or nonunion is one of those great sticking points in American politics that really show how polarized this country is. Nontheless, a microcosm of what's wrong with the United States.
A union is a bargaining body that represents the workers right, not some social/communist experiment which people tend to warp with it. It's what America is supposed to be, a free bargaining society. Not some "give me a hand-out" as some people portray it to be.
Speaking on behalf of the U.A.W., it has gave back (even rescaled..) the the companies many things over the years (at least 8 years to my knowledge..) to help the company. (yet it doesn't invest more in smaller cars and alternative fuel vehicles..??)
To say the U.A.W. is 'self-indulgent' is very misleading.
Being self employed is great way to earn a living doing what you do best and enjoying the benefits of your labor. Not many people are that talented to run their own business. Good work provides good referrals and plenty of work to do. Self employed allows you to control your annual income, pay your health care, pay your vacation time, pay your retirement fund, pay for your vehicle, tools, etc for updating and earn enough to put food on the table and pay the house payment. When job bidding or contracting for “one” your overall costs are taken into consideration, and the rates charged for the work are based on the union scale for the same hourly work. However being self employed allows you to reduce the job bid because you don’t have to cover the costs of the company manager, secretary, bookkeeper, and provide profits for the owner ~ you are covering it all by yourself. The union employee helps cover everyone else in the office and still makes profits for the owner hopefully. Being self employed you can cut out some of the extras in a job bid.
Many self employed tradesmen are not licensed for the work they do, not insured, not fully trained and provide little or no guarantees for the work performed as time passes on, thus a much lower wage or job bid can be given. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for.
Union scale has provided more benefits, better wages and higher standards of skills in most cases, keeping in mind there are exceptions to the rule however.
Sounds like your reading straight from the union handbook, I have worked for a union company, one of the most zealous unions, Ironworkers, I was not part of the Union, but I saw first hand what these guys are all about, some of the things I saw these guys do to take out the (non-union element) made me sick and confirmed and strengthened everything I already knew about Unions!
yoadrian :""And the flipside of that scenario: Unions make it virtually impossible to extract employees who aren't carrying their weight and weigh down productivity. Lazy people get by with the minimum amount of work possible, and they have no incentive to change, because they know the union protects them."""
Oh brother the old "you can't fire a union member" blather....
YES YOU CAN! You just have to have PROOF that they have committed a firing offense! Not just FEEL like firing them !
AND on the opposite side, there are plenty of non-union companies where the worthless excess baggage is kept on because they have "connections".
I see them every day at work....a non-union comapny ...every day I see lazy people ....they don't work harder becasue it's a non-union company...what a ridiculous idea !
If I was wrongly fired I would like to have a union on my side especially if I couldn't afford the kind of lawyers the company could.
Sounds like your reading straight from the union handbook, I have worked for a union company, one of the most zealous unions, Ironworkers, I was not part of the Union, but I saw first hand what these guys are all about, some of the things I saw these guys do to take out the (non-union element) made me sick and confirmed and strengthened everything I already knew about Unions!
What people see tends to confirm what they already believe, no matter what they believe. What you believe affects what you see.
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