Imallgrowdup,
You make alot of interesting points, many of which I agree with like:
The unions have done a great service to this country by ensuring worker's rights. In fact, there are now labor laws as a result of the hard work the unions put forth to ensure that everyone can work in "user friendly" work environments, or the company can be held liable. The labor unions have much to be proud for.
But you also make some blanket statements about 'all' unions that I beleive are not fair.
There are many different labor organisations, many do an excelent job defending workers rights, securing fair wages and benefits, and negotiating safer working enviroments.
I have heard the argument often (generally by people who have not been part of a union) that unions have outlived there usefulness because now we have more laws that protect workers rights, the NLRB, the DOL, Osha, etc...they are not enough.
We need unions now just as much as we did then, they are another check that balances.
I know that where I work the only thing that keeps my company (which is extremely profitable I might add) from jamming a crappy benefit package down my throat in our upcomming negotiations, is my union.
And fortunately the vast majority of my fellow members realize this too. So, we will take them to task. If we had no union we would have no recourse. Remember your average CEO in the US is making something like 450 times what an average shop worker in that company earns.
These are the people we will be negotiating with.
Right now I have better medical than my boss and my boss' boss. Because..... recently when corporate downgraded my supervisors' benefits and retirement packages, they had no recourse, no leverage, no UNION.
My company is making record profits, yet they still were able to do this to them.
My union is not using me as you suggest. I would pay twice what I pay in dues now, and it would be worth every penny.
Folks in similar jobs that are non union make less in wages and benefits than I do... but their employers are smart enough to keep their pay just close enough to keep the union out. So even non union workers are benefiting from my union.
To sum up: If Unions go "Bye Bye" the companies will take as much advantage of the worker as they possibly can. We are not dealing with benevolent "mom and pop" operations. We are dealing with corporate greed ...WorldCom, Enron, Tyco...need I say more.
I am not going to hand my future over to the likes of them without a fight. And one more thing.. Unions will go "bye- bye" in this country only when corporate greed goes "bye-bye". Which we all know will be never.
LC
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