Monday, May 02, 2005

    Worker Bees

    There are three types of union workers:
    1. The worker that joined the company before the union existed and ended up having to (without the freedom of choice) become a union member. This person most likely will have no problems continuing to improve themselves and their education and know the union will inevitably destroy the company.
    2. The worker that chooses to be an employee knowing that it requires union membership. They just consider it a necessary evil to have the job and hope the union doesn't decide to strike. They could care less about the union but don't have the freedom of choice under the circumstances. This person most likely will have no problems continuing to improve themselves and their education, nor do they feel that they owe the union anything in spite of the fact union dues are sucked out of their paychecks.
    3. The hardcore union worker thinks all workers should be unionized. They don't think management does any work, they think management is out to get them and they think they - the workers - own the company. They live in a pretend world where they assume they have a guaranteed job, a guaranteed paycheck, guaranteed healthcare, in other words they see no risk in being employed. These people will rarely want to better themselves let alone educate themselves - so they end up with distorted and ignorant concepts of business and economics. They are like rats following the union piper and if their pretend security is threatened they typically become hostile if not violent.

    2 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    I am curious as to your personal reasons for your anti-union stance. Where you a union member and wrongly fired because of your co-workers activities (theft, gambling on company time)? Were you denied career advancement because of low senority?
    I am going to be writing about employment at ezsgblog.com/
    allpoliticsislocal and would like to hear about your experiences. Steve Lee

    JustaDog said...

    A very intelligent question, thank you! I’ve been a business student in the past and am aware of the impact of all sorts of influences to our economy as well as the global economy.

    Unions have had and continue to have a decimating impact on the economy in the USA. There is not a business story that comes to my attention every week that isn’t related to problems a company (I include corporations) has that isn’t union related. This country was a huge supplier of steel once upon a time, but unions decimated that industry. Where ever a union is, whether a corporation or a public sector government entity, such things as burgeoning healthcare costs and pensions are strangulating their existence. If it happens to be an industry the taxpayers are paying into it is even worse since negotiations that fail and turn into strikes are mere extortion activities against the taxpayers. This is especially true of police unions, public transportation, fire department unions, etc. In other words – pay up or we will let criminals do you in or your house burn down or will let you loose your job because we won’t take you via “our” bus to your job unless you pay up!

    An article today in the WSJ tells that United Airlines mechanics may strike because their retirement security is at risk. How stupid can these people be? United is already in bankruptcy proceedings and now one of the unions want to strike? DUH Last week United’s flight attendants also threatened to strike if the airline implemented plans to terminate its pension plan. DUH I don’t think reality will hit these union workers until United totally shuts down and they all loose everything – everything. This is just one of many many examples just pulled out today.

    No, I’m not some disgruntled employee but have my own business. I’m able to post about these topics from a reality and factual point of view and without emotion. I can cite thousands, yes thousands, of cases where business have gone out of business (zillions of jobs lost, lives changed) directly as a result of unions and being forced out of the competitive marketplace.

    Thanks for your comment!