Union Myths

[FreightTrain]

Ya, but it should balance out since you're overpaid.

Lol thats a matter of opinion. But ill bet money ur job is just like mine. Where the work is easy but they dont pay me for the work I do. They pay me for the life I give up while Im at work.

[Denny]

Id lose 20k right off the top. A manager at my job pays 3x more for insurance than I do. Plus they have a 5k deductible per family member. Mine is zero.

Ya, but it should balance out since you're overpaid.

[FreightTrain]

I dont think guys like freightrain would even lose that much if his union was gone

Id lose 20k right off the top. A manager at my job pays 3x more for insurance than I do. Plus they have a 5k deductible per family member. Mine is zero.

[SMEGMA STENCH]

I dont think guys like freightrain would even lose that much if his union was gone

[Denny]

FreightTrain on the greatness of the union in 3...2...1...

I hope more states do what Wisconsin does... There should not be unions for public workers...

He's too busy praising them for blessing him with monthly dues (well worth the money, I might add).

[GT Dan]

FreightTrain on the greatness of the union in 3...2...1...

I hope more states do what Wisconsin does... There should not be unions for public workers...

[TexasDevilDog]

I know several people that want to get out of the union at our employer and having troubles. When new hires are brought in to the company, they are introduced to the union reps who hand them a card and ask them to sign it, without explaining it. Yes, some people are stupid and don't read it. They join the union by mistaking the card as normal new hire paper work.

To get out of union you have to wait for your anniversary date and send certified mail to the union headquarters within a week of said date. Plus some other jumping through hoops of fire.

[jw33]

It's a huge problem and something will have to give.

[The King]

One set of workers, however, remained largely immune to such repercussions. These are government workers represented by public sector unions.

That is why government unions continue to thrive while private sector unions decline. Taxpayers provide their free lunch.

Many, if not most, public sector workers are not represented by or members of unions however, at least at the federal level.

[sig239]

[helosailor]

Shit, ANY northern newspaper for that matter.

And that article is 100% TRUTH. Unions are what has killed our job market. The CBA'd themselves out of jobs in every sector but government.

[Denny]

I'd love to see this article fly out of a DC or Chicago-based paper. LOL

[UserX]

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/03/08/union_myths_109142.html

Union Myths
By Thomas Sowell

The biggest myth about labor unions is that unions are for the workers. Unions are for unions, just as corporations are for corporations and politicians are for politicians.

Nothing shows the utter cynicism of the unions and the politicians who do their bidding like the so-called "Employee Free Choice Act" that the Obama administration tried to push through Congress. Employees' free choice as to whether or not to join a union is precisely what that legislation would destroy.

Workers already have a free choice in secret-ballot elections conducted under existing laws. As more and more workers in the private sector have voted to reject having a union represent them, the unions' answer has been to take away secret-ballot elections.

Under the "Employee Free Choice Act," unions would not have to win in secret-ballot elections in order to represent the workers. Instead, union representatives could simply collect signatures from the workers until they had a majority.

Why do we have secret ballots in the first place, whether in elections for unions or elections for government officials? To prevent intimidation and allow people to vote how they want to, without fear of retaliation.

This is a crucial right that unions want to take away from workers. The actions of union mobs in Wisconsin, Ohio and elsewhere give us a free home demonstration of how little they respect the rights of those who disagree with them and how much they rely on harassment and threats to get what they want.

It takes world-class chutzpah to call circumventing secret ballots the "Employee Free Choice Act." To unions, workers are just the raw material used to create union power, just as iron ore is the raw material used by U.S. Steel and bauxite is the raw material used by the Aluminum Company of America.

The most fundamental fact about labor unions is that they do not create any wealth. They are one of a growing number of institutions which specialize in siphoning off wealth created by others, whether those others are businesses or the taxpayers.

There are limits to how long unions can siphon off money from businesses, without facing serious economic repercussions.

The most famous labor union leader, the legendary John L. Lewis, head of the United Mine Workers from 1920 to 1960, secured rising wages and job benefits for the coal miners, far beyond what they could have gotten out of a free market based on supply and demand.

But there is no free lunch.

An economist at the University of Chicago called John L. Lewis "the world's greatest oil salesman."

His strikes that interrupted the supply of coal, as well as the resulting wage increases that raised its price, caused many individuals and businesses to switch from using coal to using oil, leading to reduced employment of coal miners. The higher wage rates also led coal companies to replace many miners with machines.

The net result was a huge decline in employment in the coal mining industry, leaving many mining towns virtually ghost towns by the 1960s. There is no free lunch.

Similar things happened in the unionized steel industry and in the unionized automobile industry. At one time, U.S. Steel was the largest steel producer in the world and General Motors the largest automobile manufacturer. No more. Their unions were riding high in their heyday, but they too discovered that there is no free lunch, as their members lost jobs by the hundreds of thousands.

Workers have also learned that there is no free lunch, which is why they have, over the years, increasingly voted against being represented by unions in secret ballot elections.

One set of workers, however, remained largely immune to such repercussions. These are government workers represented by public sector unions.

While oil could replace coal, while U.S. Steel dropped from number one in the world to number ten, and Toyota could replace General Motors as the world's leading producer of cars, government is a monopoly. Nobody is likely to replace the federal or state bureaucracies, no matter how much money the unions drain from the taxpayers.

That is why government unions continue to thrive while private sector unions decline. Taxpayers provide their free lunch.