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Union membership is at around 12% of workers - and falling.
Obama has proposed that there be "merit" pay for teachers. Know who opposes this? Yep - the Unions
Unions were very important during the industrial revolution in this country - where there were no laws regarding things like work place conditions. Today however, Unions are no where as necessary - and in some cases, are a detriment to business being successful
One example is the UAW - they are, in part, responsible for the fall of the US Auto industry. To be sure - there is lots of blame to go around - but the UAW has to share the blame.
IMO, Union membership will continue to fall. And, rightfully so.
As our gubmint grows, so grows the union, it's the only stronghold they have left since they are losing the auto industry.
Their membership is falling outside of gubmint, that is why the unionization by intimidation (card check) bill is so important to them.
Nobody does. From a purely economic standpoint, labor is a factor of production, and has a market equilibrium and supply/demand cruve as if it were a normal good.
When the minimum wage goes up, or new union contracts are laid out, you effectively establish a price floor. Upon doing so, the quanitity demanded of new employees by a company goes down, and unemployment usually rises. In an effort to help out the poor and other minimum wage workers, you actually hurt them by costing potential jobs.
I am pro-Union. With globalization we entered a race to the bottom. Of course the wages here are higher than in China, but so is the cost of living. Try living on a wage you would earn in a chinese factory here in the US. Do we want workers to not be able to afford to buy the products that they produce? This is often the case in China.
Employees have a lot more power if they band together. Most companies in the US plan very short term, and have a revolving door as far as their CEO's are concerned. Most do NOT listen to their employees. The company my husband works for is the perfect example. They get a new CEO and he promptly institutes changes, that all those that have worked there for a long time, know will NOT work and often have a negative effect. Despite these employees speaking up, those at the top go ahead and have wasted a LOT of money and time (which is money).
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The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. ~Henry David Thoreau
In a country where taking personal responsibility has fallen to unbelievable lows, the fact that more and more people make anti-union comments is hardly surprising. If they were actually looking out for their own interests, they would be forming unions rather than trashing them. But, of course, you aren't going to hear too many voices pointing this out. (Yes, I belong to a union. Having a voice, even a small one, turns out to be vastly preferable to having none at all. And for people who swear that unions exist only for purposes of corruption and/or getting paid "too much money," well, what was it George Orwell said about ignorance being strength?)
I don't care for the high union fees. If a job is only paying $11 an hour, it's not worth it to have to pay $20 a week for union dues. That's too high imo and what does the union need with all that money?
In a country where taking personal responsibility has fallen to unbelievable lows, the fact that more and more people make anti-union comments is hardly surprising. If they were actually looking out for their own interests, they would be forming unions rather than trashing them. But, of course, you aren't going to hear too many voices pointing this out. (Yes, I belong to a union. Having a voice, even a small one, turns out to be vastly preferable to having none at all. And for people who swear that unions exist only for purposes of corruption and/or getting paid "too much money," well, what was it George Orwell said about ignorance being strength?)
How do you equate being in a union with personal responsibility? Seems just the opposite to me.
Amazing. Orwellian speak once again! Black is white and up is down.
Is everybody LISTENING?????? Because here's the message coming from Republicans:
The working person is a disposable peasant. The working person has no right to demand a living wage, humane working conditions, and family time. Nosirree. If s/he does, The Corporation will be FORCED to outsource all American jobs!!! Yessirree, the Republicans say: the AMERICAN WORKER is responsible for the outsourcing of American jobs! Don't you understand? The poor, overburdened-with-labor-concerns MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR CEOs are not to be blamed! The tyrannical AMERICAN WORKER is destroying American business!!! (And never mind, please, that American business functioned just fine alongside the existence of unions--for decades. Of course, this was when they still taught the concept of corporate "reasonable profit" in college-level economics classes. With the election of Reagan, that went out the window.)
Good riddance to the neo-cons.
You have apparently no idea what federal rights you have as an employee even in right to work states.
Nobody does. From a purely economic standpoint, labor is a factor of production, and has a market equilibrium and supply/demand cruve as if it were a normal good.
When the minimum wage goes up, or new union contracts are laid out, you effectively establish a price floor. Upon doing so, the quanitity demanded of new employees by a company goes down, and unemployment usually rises. In an effort to help out the poor and other minimum wage workers, you actually hurt them by costing potential jobs.
Actually, historically, there is no evidence that a raise in minumum wage is directly correlated to any increase in unemployment. This lends itself to support the argument that low wage workers are "worth" more then what they are doing, but employers can offer as low of wages as they want, because someone will take that job out of desperation.
Fundamental supply and demand does happen with the most in demand members of the work force, where there truely exists a market.
However, at the lowest wage bands, there is no true market as all demand will be met no matter how low the wage is driven down. In reality, this means the employer sets the labor value, rather then any true market forces, or the actual value their labor represents.
In a country where taking personal responsibility has fallen to unbelievable lows, the fact that more and more people make anti-union comments is hardly surprising. If they were actually looking out for their own interests, they would be forming unions rather than trashing them. But, of course, you aren't going to hear too many voices pointing this out. (Yes, I belong to a union. Having a voice, even a small one, turns out to be vastly preferable to having none at all. And for people who swear that unions exist only for purposes of corruption and/or getting paid "too much money," well, what was it George Orwell said about ignorance being strength?)
Actually, in a global economy, unionization hurts far more then it helps. A heavily unionized economy will only work with protections on the economy which do not allow companies to simply turn to foreign workers.
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