I'm going to buck the Republican trend here and say what I think: Unions Are Not Evil By Nature.
They are in fact a necessary and good thing. They are the primary check and balance against the power and potential oppression of management.
The PROBLEM with Unions today is that they're TOO powerful. They've tipped the balance too far the other way.
Example: People complain that US-made cars are crap. This is at least partially because the labor cost for Union workers is high, and in order to compete with lower-labor-cost non-union companies, GM and their ilk have to cut corners elsewhere.
High Union wages are the single basic reason behind the general inflation and increases in cost of living everywhere, but especially in the big cities like NYC, Detroit, Chicago, and their ilk. The more people are paid, the more money is in circulation, the more prices get raised to pick it up and cover their own labor costs.
Example: Look up for yourself, sometime, when the unions finally allowed American railroad companies to stop posting a coal stoker... to every DIESEL locomotive. (Hint: It wasn't anywhere NEAR when diesel locomotives were introduced.)
The other problem is that like any other organization with hierarchy and power and control of money, there's plenty of corruption to be had and plenty of attraction for organized crime. Some unions are honest and good... some are little more than collection agencies for the local mafia.
What we need is not to BREAK the unions. What we need is to BALANCE them against Management.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
They are in fact a necessary and good thing. They are the primary check and balance against the power and potential oppression of management.
The PROBLEM with Unions today is that they're TOO powerful. They've tipped the balance too far the other way.
Example: People complain that US-made cars are crap. This is at least partially because the labor cost for Union workers is high, and in order to compete with lower-labor-cost non-union companies, GM and their ilk have to cut corners elsewhere.
High Union wages are the single basic reason behind the general inflation and increases in cost of living everywhere, but especially in the big cities like NYC, Detroit, Chicago, and their ilk. The more people are paid, the more money is in circulation, the more prices get raised to pick it up and cover their own labor costs.
Example: Look up for yourself, sometime, when the unions finally allowed American railroad companies to stop posting a coal stoker... to every DIESEL locomotive. (Hint: It wasn't anywhere NEAR when diesel locomotives were introduced.)
The other problem is that like any other organization with hierarchy and power and control of money, there's plenty of corruption to be had and plenty of attraction for organized crime. Some unions are honest and good... some are little more than collection agencies for the local mafia.
What we need is not to BREAK the unions. What we need is to BALANCE them against Management.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.