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Unions Are Not Capitalism
Submitted by James E. Miller via Mises Canada blog,
Labor unions are a dying breed. According to the Pew Research Center, union membership in America “is at its lowest level since the Great Depression.” In 1983, there were approximately 17.7 million union workers. Today, that number stands at 14.5 million, with every estimate showing a continued downward trajectory. Clearly, the Norma Raes of the world are going extinct.
But as Samuel Johnson quipped, one should never dismiss the triumph of hope over experience. In celebration of Labor Day, the leftie rag New Republic recently published an interview with labor strategist Rich Yeselson defending the role of unions in the U.S. As a labor organizer, Yeselson’s bias is on full display. Instead of giving an objective view of stagnating union membership, he obfuscates to boost his own profession.
When asked if unions are dead, Yeselson rightly says “no” while pointing out that millions of Americans are still active members. Unions not only retain fairly hefty membership, but also own valuable real estate in big cities and pension funds worth billions of dollars. Despite declining membership, there is still plenty of capital left over from organized labor’s heyday.
Fancy buildings and promised retirement benefits aren’t enough to reverse the downward trend however. Public opinion about unions is also on the decline. Between Volkswagen plant workers voting against joining the United Auto Workers and the confectionary company Hostess declaring bankruptcy to rid itself of unionized employees, there is a growing perception of greed directed at labor organizers. There is also the uncomforting fact that state and local governments – the industry most heavily unionized in the country – are underwater on their pension obligations. Even politicians are starting to face the truth: there is less money in government coffers than was promised. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie recently toured his state telling voters that pension funds “will go bankrupt if we don’t make significant changes to it.” He won’t be the last to break the bad news.
Yeselson plays stupid to this fiscal reality. Throughout the interview, he defends the legacy of unions with sophistry and economic inanity. Yeselson acknowledges that unions often try to “take the wage out of competition.” But, he asserts, this is not a problem. With locked-in wages, “the quality of the product, innovation, etc. are the ways that companies, ideally, compete.”
This is patent nonsense. Wages are an integral part of running a business. Management can’t determine costs without accounting for the price of labor. Competition in wages means business can attract the best and brightest workers. An industry without workers who compete for wages is stagnant, unable to innovate to its full capacity. For someone on the side of worker well-being, Yeselson doesn’t want to see business competing for employees by offering higher wages or more generous benefits.
The biggest whopper of the Yeselson interview comes when he asserts that unions are “inherently conservative institutions which historically developed parallel with the development of capitalism itself.“ Ezra Klein backs him up on this point by claiming “you’ll find unions pretty much everywhere you’ll find capitalism.” This is a classic mistake of correlation with causality. Just because the labor movement accelerated with American economic power during the twentieth century doesn’t mean it helped in the process. If anything, unionization inhibited the ability of the entrepreneurs to succeed. Yeselson says unions “are as much a part of capitalism as Henry Ford or Apple.” That’s also incorrect; Henry Ford and Steve Jobs created products for the marketplace. Unions don’t produce anything for consumers. They leech off the profits of business.
Yeselson even has the gall to say that unions are inherently capitalist because they “use contracts…to link their members to the fortunes of the companies they contract with.” Clearly, Yeselson needs to brush up on his common law. Contracts aren’t contracts when they have the implicit use of force at their backing. Business either chooses to bargain with unions by choice or by force. The National Labor Relations Act – passed at the height of the New Deal – compels some private U.S. companies to bargain with unionized employees. Yeselson tries to say that “contracts are not unilaterally imposed at gunpoint upon terrified managers” but “are bargained between two institutions who have both common and conflicting interests.” Again, why must management bargain to begin with? Why are there deliberations over wages and benefits?
With government acting as the muscle behind unions, there is no choice. Company owners must bargain or face the threat of fines or jail time. This isn’t an amicable relationship. It’s a thuggish shakedown. Is it any wonder why Jimmy Hoffa is such an intolerable brute?
Ayn Rand had unions pegged best when she declared their purpose has never been to empower the average worker. “Unions and trade associations,” she wrote, “are not directed against employers or the public but against the best among their own members.” The goal has never been about “raising the weak in any way whatever, but simply forcing the strong down to the level of the moron.”
Yeselson ends his futile attempt to defend unions by bringing out the classic trope: “Unions, as the old saying goes, the folks who brought you the weekend.” This is nothing but an elementary school myth. A bunch of greasy-haired petition-gatherers didn’t create the weekend. Capital accumulation and rising productivity make it possible for people to take off work at the end of the week. Otherwise, the drop in commercial activity would render a business unprofitable, and thus unable to keep the lights on. This has always been the great secret behind unionist fiction.
With economic growth still staggering, the decline of union membership can’t come soon enough. Freed from the demands of overpaid bargainers, innovation and productivity inevitably rise. Increasing numbers of Americans are migrating to states with less strenuous union laws. When given a choice, workers go where the money is; not where there’s tough talk about bargaining rights. Labor is important; business is important; and solidarity is important. They are all no doubt conservative principles worth maintaining. But the right of every man to choose for himself takes precedent over all. You can’t build without capital; just as you can’t organize without sovereign will. Unions violate the spirit of voluntary association by the very fact they have government-backing. Yeselson is lying to himself if he sees forced collective bargaining as a necessary component of capitalism. And he is doing workers a great disservice by encouraging the formation of unions.
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Okay, I'll break the Ice. Gay Unionize me?
No, I'm not a sausage hound.
You can say the same about affirmative action. It isn't about helping minorities, just the morons among them at the expense of the able.
"unions are not capitalism"
Corruption is not capitalism, either.
Any discussion of unions that neglects the cabal that is corrupt union leaders/corrupt politicians/corrupt management is worth nothing at all.
True capitalism cannot exist anymore than true socialism as both require the power of government and the use of force to enforce them which ALWAYS leads to corruption. Its who we are. It is the ideology of these "isms" that is used to coerce and manipulate us to give those who would oppress us the power to do so. I am for freedom which relies on minimal law. Capitalism falls the closest to my ideals, but I will never actually see it in action anymore than a socialist will. Corruptionism is the only ism that will prevail.
Amen.
No need for unions re" job safety" since we have OSHA.
As a small business owner and former employee I support collective bargaining even if I don't like it. But I will NEVER support a union or employee telling me who I must hire, how much I must pay and threatening to shut me down of I don't. I cannot force someone to work for me and they should not be able to force me to employ them. That is just fucked up.
Rich Yeselson, couldn't have penned a better name for his ilk...
@Squid, Do you spend your entire life posting on ZH?
Right on dude!
Now if we can just get rid of the 40 hour work week, overtime pay, vacations, benefits, child labor laws, and all these silly health and safety work place protections then we can really get somewhere.
It might occur to you that the conditions you outline are relatively new to the world and just might not prove sustainable. How many existed before debt was adopted as our principle "growth" creator? How much of our economy of the last fifty years has been based on debt and the ever devaluing dollar to conceal it.
Just when we got the cow eating 100% sawdust, it up and dies.
You need RISK to have a Union. No... "Dominoes Pizza Technician" doesn't qualify!
How evil those bastard workers who dare to organize in order to gain somewhat of an equal footing with their employers... heretics...
Unions have no place in government. Yet the strongest sector of unionized employees are government. It's a protection racket rewarding the most worthless with equal pay and benifits as the most productive. As long as pubilic unions are the flag bearers for unionization you are fucked. And another thing, union leaders are the biggest supporters of unfettered illegal aliens getting full legal status. Do you really think they have your best interest at heart. Stop being a mouthpiece for your union boss and stand up for yourself for god sake, you're being used. Union leadership is working with the Big Government which is supporting crony fascist dicks like Jeff Immelt to fuck unions right in the ass and you idiots are playing your part just like they scripted it for you but you don't even have the brains to know you are being played.
In total agreement.
But I also think that private sector workers should have the right to bargain collectively.
What happened with unions is the same thing that happens with any institution involving people...greedy power hungry individuals enlarge and corrupt the organization while bureaucrats churn along on whatever course that has been set to justify their continued employment.
Happens in government, socialist, republic, doesn't matter. Roman Catholic church, big corporations, unions...pick your poison.
Love of money...root of all evil, tragedy of the commons, blah, blah, blah.
We are human and flawed.
Waiting for my train at an East-coast station, I read a series of posters recounting the decades-long but ultimately successful struggle to unionize the negro railroad porters and bargain for better wages. I wondered if this really was good for the porters, but I couldn't find any to ask.
Ha ha.
Unions are simply a check and balance for capitalism. I don't agree with the rules for firing a union employee and i don't agree with the oversized union organizations but I do recognize the fact that if left simply to their own devices, capitalists will exploit their labor force to whatever degree they can get away with. Without unions and worker rights this country wouldn't be half of what it now is even in it's now declined state.
I think the argument that business couldn't afford unions is pure mularkey. Business simply couldn't compete against cheap foriegn labor nor should they ever have needed to. Instead they use unions as a scapegoat so they themselves can take advantage of that cheap foreign labor to increase profits for themselves while hollowing out what made America great.
No business can afford wages that exceed profitability which is typical to what unions demand. We have seen business as well as government employers agree to wages and benefits that have been proven unsustainable and they don't care as those who agree to such contracts are never held accountable. Yes, imports and cheap labor have impacted this situation and worsened it, but our government has rejected protectionism or enforcement of immigration laws, but unions have made it impossible to maintain even base line employment as every contract demands more, whether there is the money to pay it or not. Maybe if you could convince our fellow countrymen to take one for the team and buy American we might have a chance, but we know that ain't happening.
To divide and rule, buy politicians. Support the bankers and market manipulators.
The 21st century Highway to Serfdom with no bridges!
unions gone, what a relief. now we can get back to the good ole days of free markets with 60 hour work weeks, no silly worker safety regulations, child labor. you know just like charles dickens wrote about.
Dickens lived in an age on the cusp of the industrial revolution. The great mass of humanity had lived for two millenia under absolute despotism.
The habits and poverty of despotism were still prevalent.
For the previous millenia the common folk worked long hours and used child labor.
The advent of an economy with advanced tools enabled the average person to produce much more than under feudalism , and thus to value leisure more, as now liesure does not cause starvation.
Do you really think that it was unions that enabled the accumulation of tools and knowledge sufficient to support most of the society with much less work?
There is only one world, so there is no way to disprove your hypothesis that unions caused the end of Dickensonian misery.
, . But Detroit , Flint, Saginaw say otherwise.
Without unions, you wouldn't know about Detroit, Flint and Saginaw. Those cities had middle class citizens because of unions.
Sure unions can't compete with 3rd world labor. That's not a problem with unions.
Fuck UNIONS!!! All worthless scum
Unions: For people that can't hack it on their own.
That's probably true. You could also say
Homicide laws: For people that can be killed.
Rape laws: For people that can be raped.
Theft laws: For people that have possessions that can be stolen.
The reality is, not everyone is a billionaire. Some people need protection from greedy fuck corporations and worker abuse.
But I'm sure you're FUCKING SUPERMAN, Homie. You probably can't die, can't be raped, can not be robbed and are invincible to a depressed economy. CONGRATS!
Unions have done miracles preserving middle class America, unless you are middle class America, in which case your taxes are going to pay for top line pay and benefits to your government employee.
When debt-created money isn't the anchor point of the whole system, guaranteeing widespread poverty (if you dispute this fuck you you can't do simple math) for all but the credit class, you ca argue what is and isn't capitalism. That unions are shitty is an unfortunate side effect of humanity (ie. shitty governments and shitty corporations), aside from that all it really amounts to is bad negotiators (average schmo workers) hiring agency representation.
union proud, bitchez.
Nobody in this world has earned a billion dollars never ever ever .
I would like to say this as well.
Unions, gay rights activists, feminists, teachers and liberals have a place in this county....ON THE BOTTOM OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN!!
Yeah it's the teachers.
Turn off the blaze dude you have gone full retard.
Union guys I know always seem to get laid off and have huge gaps in the year where they collect a check to sit on the couch.
Alot of those guys are working sidejobs and doing quite well...
I just want to make clear...my previous post was not about private unions...with those we the consumer do have some chioces to combat labor induced price inflation...boycotts, or substitue product chioces through competition...but public unions you have no choice if you don't pay your taxes you lose your house...and don't give me you can vote it down...not true its by contract it is binding unless the state goes bankrupt. I am not saying public unions do not have a necessary role but the pay and benefit greed has reached a peak...how do you know...well when they are putting fucking cameras everywhere fucking including school zones and then have the nerve to admit its for pension funding well thats enough...its fucking enough...let the rest of us live alittle to for fuck sake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
fuck ayn rand-fan-boys
Into them boys, are you.
Good for you.
Maybe they should go back to working conditions of the industrial revolution?
Granted Unions of nowaday are probably bloated institutions shadows of their former selves... kind of like some other institutions out there now... riddled with...
Exactly, I have no problems with private unions protecting employees from unsafe working conditions where we get into problems is with the public unions and bailouts. The UAW should have gone the way of the dodo long ago (along with GM and Ford) but dot.gov had step in with a which only serves to reward inefficiency and sticks the consumer with an inflated price tag.
We really need more owners like Henry Ford, both innovative and fair.
James E Miller and many respondents need a lesson in American. Capitalism is the opium of psychopaths, reference the current status of our nation.
Like socialism and communism aren't? It's about using the rule of law to control and dominate us. You may have distaste for capitalism but it, even with all of the attending corruption has made America pretty damned rich compared to many others. Sorry it hasn't worked out as well for you, but don't worry, its all sliding back down hill and we will be catching up with you soon.
The state of our nation has nothing to do with capitalism. Cronyism, yes, capitalism not a chance. If we had capitalism in this country none of the institutions would have grown to the point where they risk the the system if they fail. If bad businesses aren't bailed out then the fear of bankruptcy will keep them in check.
Cronyism is part of capitalism as much as it is part of socialism. Do some research on 18th/19th century England, the birthplace of capitalism when it came as close to being "pure" as it ever will. Hardly pleasant for the ordinary worker!!
The 'current status of our nation' is the direct fault of socialism and communism being crammed down Americas throat by the elitist pricks in DC
union sucks because the benefits eat up the entire check, and everyone knows the pension income is going to suck because of inflation, so no point in union you are better off working for yourself
Unions cannot survive competition. This there big attraction to public employment. Even in the private sector they attempt to control the entire industry rather that just specific businesses. GM, Ford and Chrysler all had to deal with the same union and each of their contracts were pretty much the same, so the entire industry saw price increases, at least until outside non unionized manufacturers came to bear. Unions support socialist leftist policies and politicians because the are also against competition. If unions were in power at the founding of our nation, they would have chosen the dodo as the national bird, well on its way to extinction.
The reason for the drop in union memberships could be that minimum wage workers can not afford it any longer.
Thank Jerry fucking Brown for public service unions.
Back in the 70s he allowed them to organize and form unions which have bankrupt many cities. now the fuck is back as governor, he bypassed the term limits and voided the spirit of the law. He just said "that law was not in effect when I was Gov in the 70s" Dems elected him.
And by the way Jerry is gay. I heard that from everyone in Sac in the 70s. It was an open secret. The wife he married just before running is a beard.
Even his dog is a beard. The dog he exploits is his sisters dog.
Jerry Brown is a Jesuit HOMOSEXUAL.
When the rumors got too loud he got a celeb girlfriend in the 70s,,,,,,,,,,,Linda beard.
like Lady Bird.
The cities were bankrupted as much as anything by the thieving banksters with crimes like real estate devaluation scams, promotion of suburbs during the cheap gas period, Libor, tax avoidance, etc.
Fail article. Unions are part of a free market. Companies doing mergers are part of a free market too. Companies doing deals with each other is another part of the free market.
JMHO ... as long as union membership is voluntary and not mandated it is consistent with capitalism. Why should people be prevented from organizing and mutually representing their interests in a capitialist system? And, if the best can refuse membership and negotiate separately and their talent matters to ownership then there is no conflict with capitalism.
However, I agree, coersive union membership most likely does not represent the economic utility and interests of the best.
If there were jobs debates about unions might be relevant. Go ask the Chinese they all seem to have jobs.
and their working conditions are lovely....no doubt you have bought your one way ticket to Shanghai. Better still what about Bangladesh for a demonstration of how pure unadulterated capitalism really works. I understand they are short of a few factory workers...I can't think why, can you? Here's a clue:-
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bangladesh+factory+collapse&client=fir...
Capitalism is like the genie of the lamp. It is wonderful if put to work morally and under strict rules (a legal system that is not corrupt). If not it is a nightmare and worse than the excesses of state socialism!
Bangladesh is emerging from absolute religious desspotism and indescribable poverty..
Perhaps the UN should force Bangladesh to raise the minimum wage to western levels.
Do you think that would help the hundreds of millions living in desperate poverty?
Gold Fingersansstandard - The only way this is going to get sorted out is by worldwide revolution and guillotines set up for the elite on their tax havens followed by worker controlled enterprises...how does continued exploitation help them!!
This is the result of the 'caste' system in that region of the world and has nothing to do with capitalism.
Like unions the caste system is artificial constraints put on man and perverts freedom.
As union busting continues to take place real wages continue to fall. The correlation is clear and in the end it hurts everyone because nobody (the working class) will be able to afford to buy anything. The ownership class is eating its own tail when the workers are poor. The working class has become the working poor. In America we were most prosperous when we had strong unions. In case you forgot, the trade union movement (solidarity) in Poland made the USSR communists crap their pants because it was strong. Unions are arguably another layer of democracy 'if' run properly. That is a big 'if' these days. I am pro union because I understand the potential it brings to the majority of workers and the benefits to the greater economy. This is why the Volkswagen corporation is a strong union supporter. Enough said.
In private industry, unions have not been busted so much as the industries they dominate have been busted or the jobs replaced with automation. The answer is that any union that wants to dominate an industry should be forced to buy into it. If they want to set wages, let them take ownership and see how the chips fall. Instead, they want to dictate wages and benefits and when the business loses business due to competition, they blame management. If you want to run the business, then own the business and its results. I say fuck anyone who comes and tells me what I must pay and then complains when it all goes bust. How many textiles mills do we have now? But we still have their unions, don't we. Home service healthcare providers are being forced to join unions to take care of their own family members. Its simply insane. WE have become a society so afraid to compete, so afraid to take responsibility for ourselves that we will surrender our rights to anyone who offers protection, be it union or government or insurance or mega corporation.
Fucking cowards.
Go do it on your own and see how generous you want to be with the leaches hanging on.
Everyone bitching about high prices while buying every foreign made piece of crap in existence, demanding their corporate masters, who they willingly crawled into bed with, provide them with the lifestyle they feel they deserve. Watch these drunk motherfuckers working at auto plants who cannot be fired and then tell me how rough it is. No one owes you anything but what you consensually agree to. If you have to force your will on anyone, it is not a consensual or sustainable relationship.
To suggest that Unions, despite their obvious corruption, are a needed balance to corporate excesses, is to suggest that two wrongs make a right. Anyone should be able to see that this is not a sustainable path, but we have been indoctrinated to believe we deserve, regardless of effort or result. We deserve, we are entitled, we have rights to whatever we can coerce the collective to take from others.
Democracy is working exactly like unionism, where as collective forces grow, to resist is met with hate and violence. Of course ultimately it always fails, but again we get what we "deserve" or entitled to.
Great post Oldwood. I always wondered how many owners gave a version of that speech to a Union puke. I know of one that did, told them if the union wanted more, why dont they just buy the company and run it themselves or better yet, go start your own company you stupid motherfuckers. He was meet with crickets chirping. The union got the money they wanted, and then the owner promptly shut the business down.
Moral of the story.....Working class, you haven't got fucked enough! Oh how we long for the days when a corporation should be able to do whatever they want and we are getting there..
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire
We don't have enough poor people in the USA...We need a poorer working class, who are poorer than the Chinese and then we can get manufacturing back in country....and then only thing stopping it are high wage workers..
The working class has no leverage...Why? Well that's due to Fascism! Can you people see that this system is Fascist...Aren't we all supposed to be against Fascism?
Some poster said "This is capitalism, get used to it" ..No fucker this is Fascism...You call this system everything but what it is: FASCIST..
Guess who's been the loser in all this Fascist Fucking...YOU...the only freedom you have left is illusory, commenting on this blog thinking that it's great to have first amendment rights...Big fucking deal, your words are meaningless, you are just prisoners yelling some BS from your cages...
Get a clue, if you have to wake up to earn fiat..You are a fucking slave....Jeese..
We don't need less of the working class in Unions we need more and a worldwide union...
That Union will be about how to treat other humans with decency and respect...Obviously some people think it's ok to fuck other humans over with impunity for a profit...
Well it's not ok..and it ain't going to last....Sorry...
capitalism is dead.
In a free market, individuals can organize any way they wish, which is their right of free association. Employers can respond in a lawful manner as they wish. I think unions are just fine, as long as there isn't the superstructure of labor law that currently exists today. Remove that, and watch the electricians and plumbers and so on rise in wages and importance, and watch the janitor's union (aka SEIU) fall off the face of the earth.
This whole unions versus employers discussion is a waste of time given the fact that the demise of capitalism can be attributed to banksters and financialization, not the well known excesses of unions.
Today, labor is just another convenient political distraction utilized by those who hypocritically enrich themselves by charging fat management fees and carried interests to pension funds and suck the blood out of legitimate business endeavors in the name of debt and financial engineering.
Right on, I was waiting for someone to say it. Unions don't do a fraction of the damage that banksters and the political elite do. As long as the federal reserve is destroying true capitalism, society will continue to argue about stupid nonsense non-issues like unions, gay rights and abortions.
Sound money and liberty is all we ever wanted. Screw the rest.
It's like comparing gangrene enveloping an arm and gangrene enveloping a big toe.
They both will kill you, one faster than the other.
Unions suck at the teat of government and government confiscated taxes.
Not to mention today's unions are communist strongholds which most do not want to admit.
@williambanzai7
The banksters are presiding over the destruction of the economy simply because they control the government.
If the unions controlled government, they would be causing its destruction.
Insert obligatory Ringo Starr quote here.
The argument should be reality versus delusion. Bankers as well as union leaders make their money from delusion, the idea that through the process or power they possess, we can earn more while doing less. Something for nothing. Competition is real, it is ugly and it is hard. Everything else is delusion that is being promoted and propagated simply for the opportunity to transfer wealth, to concentrate power, to create dependencies. Every person on this planet is trying to maximize the value of their actions, and especially those who produce nothing, who represent overhead to commerce, are the first and most vehement in defending their activities as indispensable to commerce. Personal productivity would be going backwards if not for technology. We desire to do less and less, depending on technology more and more until we will awake one day and realize we have made ourselves completely redundant and unnecessary. All because we wanted to get something for nothing. Stand in an assembly line earning top pay, and suddenly you discover a robot is standing in your old spot. Exactly who's fault is that? We are living in a seriously bipolar world where we demand the best quality at the lowest price while also demanding we get payed the maximum dollar for doing minimal work. How in the world is this sustainable?
A question I ask my employees is....would you pay someone to do what you are doing at your wage? I would be safe in assuming that most union employees would not hire a union lawn service, probably not union painters or carpenters, or much of any other union person unless they had no choice. The only people hiring these union tradesmen are who? The big corporations! The American people have been buying the cheap alternative, the Chinese crap for years, so it is pretty obvious our support for American workers is all rhetoric. Where is Zenith and Magnavox today? They were good union employers,, but we had to have a Sony trinitron, didn't we. All this pro union talk is pure bullshit because when the American people could have done something real to save those jobs, they bought the cheap imports. When ALL of the US corporations are gone, who will we blame then? God? Allah?
Americans bought the 'cheap shit' because it was better and cost less.
Exactly, so quit bitching about no jobs. That lower quality, higher cost shit was being manufactured by your neighbor, who now gets a check from Obama.
As our President McKinley said in defense of protectionism, what good are cheap goods if no one has a job to pay for them? But of course he didn't know about credit.
First off, we don't live in a capitalist system. As long as the federal reserve controls our money supply and tarrifs/trade barriers exist, then we will not live in a capitalist system. Second, labor unions may not be "right", but they are the lesser evil in a crony capitalist banking controlled society. I don't point fingers at the workers when the economy struggles, I point fingers at the leaders - because they are the ones "redistributing" wealth, printing money, and imposing laws/taxes on everyone.
LOL. The author is either incredibly naive or in the pocket of the elite. As he is part of the Mises Institute, we can rule out the former. The article can be safely dismissed as the work of a crank and ideologue.
" “Unions and trade associations,” she wrote, “are not directed against employers or the public but against the best among their own members.” The goal has never been about “raising the weak in any way whatever, but simply forcing the strong down to the level of the moron.” "
This is quite right. I would add one final half-sentence after the word "moron":
",thereby elevating themselves to a position of power, control and influence."
That really is what unions are all about. And the exact same mindset applies to their socialist political bedfellows who operate under a wide range of names which usually includes the word "democratic", but they are anything but.
Ayn was wrong on unions. Humans will always congregate in groups whenever possible. Unions are simply a way of achieving strength through numbers... something found everywhere in nature. They are absolutely part of a natural marketplace. Rand never thought that the unions would be moulded and shaped differently in a gold standard environment along with everything else that was. More accountability, less politics.
Unions survive only because government passes law in their favor - that is called fascism.
The higher union wages and benefits come out of other peoples paychecks.
the only way that confiscation of other peoples money to pay the higher union wages and benefits would not happen is if the FED continues QE-infinity and gives the money directly to the government, government unions and fascist union cronies... but wait, that is exactly what is happening. Even then, the bill has to be paid by someone, now or in the future.
Unions are communist in nature, only the select group get the benefits of the labors of the rest of society.
LMAO, what a load of shit. Ayn Rand wrote ROMANCE NOVELS...way to pick your heroes, jack ass.
In a time where American workers are competing with SLAVE LABOR in China and Mexico....you think fewer unions are the answer??
Oh yeah, the guy making $7/hr with no benefits has the power to demand more from the Walmart family that makes $150 BILLION per year. That's a fucking FAIR FIGHT, isn't it?
It's hard to believe that in a time when capitalism has shown to be a zero sum game end game when left to it's own devices that there are still people out there saying "more dog eat dog" is good.
Maybe you missed it MORON, but the rich are winning. Labor is fucked. And with fewer unions, we're about to see a gigantic RISE in support of SOCIALISM and COMMUNISM.
LMAO. It's like a guy in a burning house saying "what we really need is more gasoline".
Global Gaza that's the plan, where Foxconn will look like heaven compared to what other madness they have in mind.
"And with fewer unions, we're about to see a gigantic RISE in support of SOCIALISM and COMMUNISM".
Yes, people are that stupid. But fewer unions just means less small time criminal gangs. Reject multiple criminal gangs for one with infinitely more power. Why do you think they openly flaunt their criminal activity? Because they want simple minded people who only see things from a childish 'I want what they have' perspective to demand the state give it to them.
But what you will get is one big, centralized criminal enterprise. Awesome! That has worked out so well in other countries.
But there is no Capitalism at all.
Inefficient and incompetent banks and businesses are bailed out so there can be no survival of the fitest.
QE is introduced to cover incompetent traders losses.
There is just socialism at the top and a new benefits system (bailouts, QE and ultra low interest rates) to keep the incompetent going.
In a proper Capitalist system wall streets investment banks would be dead and buried.
The traders that lost money in 2008, would have been identified and sacked.
They are the dead wood that should be cleansed from the system.
Germany has relatively strong unions and a stronger economy than the US.
Competitiviness has nothing to do with unions or lack of them. Case closed.
It does if the unions are designed to eliminate competition, which ours have been. Especially when we have no protectionism to shelter them from foreign competition.
When I read Ayn Rand being quoted my eyes rolled back. One of the most discredited writers of her day and still is.
Look, unions can work is some places and in other it doesn't make sense. You have to have a large enough bargaining unit and theirs got to be enough profit to negotiate over.
If unions were so bad and irrelevant to higher wages and benefits then why do compnaies and corporations act in concert (unionize) to artifically drive down wages? Labor unions are a COUNTERVAILING force to capitalist totalitarianism.
Trade unions have been around long before the Wagner act. You really don't even need a union to organize and shut a company down for whatever grievances the workers might have. See Market Basket:
http://www.wbur.org/2014/09/03/market-basket-labor
BTW unions are a dying breed not by accident. Its been a government policy for 40 years to destroy the right to organize. Just go and look at the largest unionization attempts at Walmart, FedEx, or VW. What you see is direct actions by government politicans interfering on behalf of corporations. You see the corporations routinely violate labor laws to deny workers there rights under law and governemt regulators turning a blind eye. Repeal the Taft Hartley Act and watch how workers find labor union irrelevant.
"Labor unions are a COUNTERVAILING force to capitalist totalitarianism".
No they're not. Most of the major unions are just organized crime and quite frankly small time organized crime. At least compared to the federal, state and local mafias.
"Its been a government policy for 40 years to destroy the right to organize".
Yes, they don't like competition. One gang is much more powerful than the other.
But thinking somehow unions look out for the worker is absurd. Unions are the very definition of a leech or mafia. They are no different than the street thug demanding "protection" money from the local businesses. Unions destroy about as much as they have helped. But corporations play ball with unions too. General Motors is one hell of an example. For years they made deals with the union that could never be fulfilled. They just kicked it down the road until 2008. They were borrowing to stay afloat and when the credit markets froze, that was the end of that graft or the beginning of another.
Eastern Airlines is an example of union destruction. They milked Eastern for years and when they had nearly bankrupted the company and the airline said no to their demands they began systematically destroying equipment. I know this first hand. It took less than a year for Eastern to fold after that.
You see, there was a time when there were more good companies than bad. Not any more. If you begin to see unions, corporations and governments true nature, simple criminal enterprise, you will be much better off.
And "capitalist totalitarianism" as though somehow capitalism is the source of the corruption? That's silly. The source of corruption is PEOPLE. Flip it around call it whatever you want, communism, nationalism, whatever 'ism' you want and people will still organize against others. There will be layers of gangs. Chavez in Venezuela claimed he was fighting the oligarchs and capitalist pigs and he robbed the country blind. He murdered. He squandered. He lied. He lived in luxury while everyone else lived in squalor thinking they were fighting the good fight. He was the head crime boss in the country. He was what he proclaimed to be against. He was a scum bag.
So keep blaming capitalism and when they faze that out and centralize power even more (as we are in the process of just like Venezuela) you'll wonder what you were thinking.
Your union countervailing force has eliminated most of these union jobs, unless they are countervailing against the taxpayer, and that is taking candy from a baby. The only way you can set wages without regard to price and still survive is if you wages are paid with infinitely printed money.
Union supporters don't even buy union made goods. Go to California and see how many cars are made by the UAW.
Nor do union supporters like to pay high taxes for unionized public servants that produce shitty produts like public education with their esteemed teacher unions.
So shut the fuck up.
Or put your money where your mouth is.
The US is far too diverse to handle unions and the legions of people who think they are owed something for nothing.
Do not compare US unions to German ones. Compare them to British ones, who like the US, think they should dictate that people should buy shitty products made by them just because they said so.
Besides, even if US unions could dictate whatever they wanted to, their democratic masters would fuck them over time and again. The history is utterly undeniable.
And yet they still pay them their dues and their votes.
UNION=Comunist today.
Maybe 40 years ago they represented their workers. Today they only care about their power and pushing the country towards one ruler for life.
My father was a teamster. The union put food on my plate a a roof over my head but that has changed.
LOL.. this piece of shit article is comical. but good to see that most of the posters know that. this author is well.. amusing. sounds like a limpdick balls licker.. still blaming unioins.. when they are already crushed and dead.
After the Revolution there will be a special deprograming and reeducation camp for Mises "Economist" after which they will be released on to a wilderness reservation. Those that survive two years on said reservation will be returned to decent society..., assuming such a thing as decent society still exists after years of contamination by Mises and (Ayn) Randian "ethics" and "morality".
People should be allowed to unionize by choice in the private sector.
Public sector unions are a conflict of interest and should be banned.
If you ever worked in Government, you'd realize that the reason you have those Unions are because, believe it or not, Management in the public sector can be even more insane than private sector...
Insane yes, but generally not as harsh or unfair.
Actually, they can do even more ....No one gets fired...So a maniac can go a long way..
No one gets fired because of union work rules.
So should government laws be banned which mandate 'prevailing wage' on government projects.
These laws are fascist in nature and are paid for out of your paycheck via ever increasing taxes like payroll and property tax.
All so unions can continue their fat pensions, healthcare and paychecks subsidized by the tax confiscated from your wallet.
Foxconn is the future of the world if we are allowed to live. I think their workers would rather have a labor union.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/05/woman-nearly-died-m...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9006988/Mass-suicid...
Fascist Commentary:
Why can't you Americans get used to the idea of a labor camp...look if the Fascists get their way it will be a boom for the economy...
If it were my Fascist dream scenario, you'll be provided a place to sleep, work, and eat...all for free!
See in my eyes I'm doing you a favor, letting you work instead of automating things ...
Of course I'm still trying to figure out how to make my slaves, oh I mean employees and/or robots buy the shit I'm making...It's a bit f'ed up I can't get everything I want..I'll figure it out..
For now I'm just happy that the Federal Reserve is devaluing the currency to keep the workers going nowhere, offshoring good jobs helps also...
Real unemployment is 22%... Good thing most of the workers don't know about this .. I like seeing desperate people on lines waiting for jobs that don't really exist, with that WTF look on their face ..It's fun!
Hopefully most of the workers will die soon, of stress or cancer or maybe ebola ..oh joy!
I think things are going well in Africa..We are really attacking the overpopulation issue there..
Poor people...fuck em...it's their own fault for not bring born into wealth..Losers...
The implications of poor job creation are massive and one of them is labor unions losing power. The biggest may be that a huge number of people are dropping from the work force. Often these people have little in the way of savings, this means that the burden of caring for them will be transferred to society.
If to many people shift into this category we will slowly wear down through attrition. Finding a fair way to share and balance the work load that goes on every day may be one of the most important problems facing our modern world. Not discovering a solution to this dilemma bodes poorly for our consumer driven economy and adds to the toxic problem of inequality. More on the implications of unemployment in the article below.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/09/implications-of-poor-job-creation...
The 'inequality' starts with the Department of Education and the teachers unions.
They have spit out entire generations of people who have been taught that they deserve something for nothing. Worse, they have implemented a political agenda and 'taught' propaganda instead of real world working knowledge which would prepare people to make an living in todays world..
Unions at one time where a necessity to protect citizens from some greedy and heartless capitalists, there are enough labor laws on the books that this is no longer the case. Unions are a relic which have become a part of the problem and not a solution.
Workers have a right to organize into unions and bargain collectively with anyone who chooses to bargain with them that way. But laws like the National Labor Relations Act that force employers to deal with them collectively and restrict their rights to contract are wrong.
Worse are the laws which mandate that all government work is done at the bloated 'prevailing union wage' which is taken directly out of your paycheck in the form of taxes to pay them what they deem as 'fair'.
F' that.
The weekend was not brought by advances of any kind. It was brought by the Depression and was an attempt at spreading scant employment over a larger share of the labor force.
Unions are not part of capitalism, that is true. But there is nothing wrong with seeking a collective advantage. Taking out an insurance policy means you are sharing certain risks and burdens collectively, as you do spontaneously in any village or family. Holding shares means you are collectively pooling capital because (a) you create a larger enterprise than each one by himself and (b) you are more liquid (sells share more easily than a business). And, usually unmentioned, (c) you abidcate personal responsibility in case of bankruptcy (yes, protected by the State). Without unions many companies practice the simplest conquer and divide tactics -- there are not always practical alternatives for people to pick up and find a better offer. Unions simply prevent the most brutal conquor and divide tactics.
To say that there is no proper contract if it is backed by force is disingenuous: All contracts are backed by force, especially creditor rights. During industrialization peasants are forced off the land that has sustained them for generations, and they are forced into jobs (on pain of death). There are always forces at play. All ownership is first established by conquest and backed by force.
Unions now operate on conquer and divide the citizens of the USA.
They want ever more and the only way they can continue their ponzi scheme is to cozy up to government as fascists and have laws passed to take more of everyone's paycheck in the form of taxes so unions can afford their fat paychecks, pensions and health benefits.
It is fascism plain and simple and a measure of our corrupt government system.
The muslim groups demands that everyone convert or pay a dhimmi tax; unions demand join and pay your union dues or pay a union dhimmi tax via ever increasing payroll and property tax.
F' them both.
I think union workers represent 12.5 % of the workforce...WTF are you talking aboutt? The whole system is Fascist..except of course the place you work and the work you do...Yes your job is absolutely necessary and cannot be automated...
Gee Wiz you need a sharper knife, you put it on your own throat and it has not penetrated, either that or the propaganda poison you are taking has numbed you up and you can't feel anything.
Take you anti depressant also this morning, it makes you happy about being an asshole.
"I think union workers represent 12.5 % of the workforce" and they represent trillions of dollars in legacy costs to government.
Legacy costs which have to be paid for by tax dollars. That is tax confiscated from other peoples paychecks.
Now go ask your union communists chiefs what your marching orders for the day are.
howdy you are a doody.
Look I'll be the first to admit, the retirement after 20 yrs in is BS...Workers still need protection in the private and public sector..
And if workers at McDonald's want to organize and withhold their labor, we should do what?
Thank God for sending the athiest, Ayn Rand to the far ends of all trailer courts in America. Losers that used to trade stocks have to feel better than somebody.
Two things to consider. Members of the lower Mississippi River pilots union, the Crescent City Pilots Association, make $400,000 a year. Given the value of the cargo on the ships they guide, their salary is a rounding error for the ship owners who are charged for their pilot services. You could almost live in New York City on that kind of money.
In many cases it has reversed the Moron to the Strong. Meaning guys making $40hr to hammer on stuff. Worth nowhere near that in the free market.
My biggest gripe is public unions. Pay your own fucking retirement and insurance and lower these idiotic real estate taxes. Oh no.......we can't have that now can we!
1. There is no free market..
2. There is a skill set involved in welding, and hammering and sometimes it's art...I want a well paid welder and not a desperate retard putting my bridge together....it's a safety thing...I know you have your own Lear Jet ..oh fuck there's probably welds and hammering involved in making that also...
3. All your BS about paying for your own insurance and retirement...People in the public sector do pay for their retirement and insurance...
4. Real Estate taxes...Move out of NY...
5.. If Wall Street are the strong they are thieves and they had all the help they could to become strong and they add 0% to the real economy...They are as dependent as any welfare queen out there...is disgusting...
6. Your whole point is destructive to the working class, which includes people who actually help others..you sir are a dick...
7. the best thing that can happen is a fucking market crash maybe then people will wake up to the Ponz..and let's face it the whole fucking system is a Ponz...from the Federal Reserve to the job market...
8. Human beings need to fight against oligarchs and tyranny and do need to have a global union for humanity to deal with globalization and the exploitation of poor people....
9. Poor people need leverage and I'm not just talking about this country...
10. Slavery in whatever sophisticated form it takes needs to be stamped the fuck out.
11. I don't think I said Fuck enough...and their need to be more sexual innuendo on Zerohedge and dick jokes...Money Mcbags please come to the rescue.
12. If the politicians, oligarchs weren't in a race to the bottom in regard to the working class, I wouldn't be typing on this igadget made at Foxconn where a work breaks consists of jumping off a fucking rooftop.
As so much of the union agenda (and then some) has been codified in the federal, state and local regulatory apparatuses, the decrease in unions has little effect on the competitiveness of US businesses. That's the real detriment to growth in America, not the unions per se. So citing the decline in unionism as economically effective is as dumb as applauding the Fed's ridiculous "pushing on a string" QE efforts. The real problem, and it was good to hear it coming from a known Keynesian like Bill Gross, is the lack of entrepreneurial efforts as a result of the "you didn't build that" economic agenda of the Obama Adminisration (I am of course paraphrasing). As for the Ayn Rand reference, I'm not a huge fan of her work but at least she understood the simple fact that Gross identified this week - if your entrepreneurs are sitting on their wallets because the Federal social welfare (and military) industrial complex is out of control, then your economy is going nowhere fast...
That is the issue that no one is really talking about enough. GOP has been an outright whore for the US Chambe of Commerce and big business for 20 years. Long gone are the days they supported the local business guy and Rotarians. Democrats are just a water-downed version today of the GOP in regards to business for the most part while paying token lip service to some of there base to grab votes.
Lack of business startups in the US is a huge problem and what always made the US economy work so well after every recession since WW2 was that new businesses emerged and eventually some of these became larger employers. Part of it is likely due to the shift in technology and changing demographics but the US has really dipped on its entrepeurial activity especially among native Americans who are immigrants.
Other huge issue is that the US continues to spend a lot of money on R&D on the gov't side but is generally weak to turn this research and discoveries into viable companies that manufacture and employ Americans. A lot of it has ended up in Asia to the detriment of American employment.
There should not be a need for unionization. But to the best of my knowledge, no privileged or powerful entity has ever given up even a portion of their privileges to others, nor shared even a portion of their power with others, voluntarily. The laborers of the world would remain no more than indentured servants or serfs, were it not for the power of unions to threaten the capitalists with a disruption of their wealth-making endeavors.
That laborers around the world are reverting back to this servant/serf status, however, is not due to the weakness of unions. The process of globalization, which pits laborers from poorer countries against laborers from richer countries, is the real cause.
What this and every other country needs is an economic policy with a strong dose of nationalism. What this and every other country needs is an explicit social contract between management and labor that explicitly enforces onto enterprises -both private and public- that Labor deserves a "Fair Share" of the value accrued to the enterprise for the effort which Labor contributes to its operations.
Theodore Roosevelt promoted this concept during his campaign for President in 1912. He spelled it out in his "New Nationalism" speech, given on August 31, 1910 in Osawatomie, KS. I suggest that you look it up and read it for yourselves.
Who decides this "fair share?" You?
Nationalism is code for protectionism. Your prescription here is one for world wide depression. No thanks!
Thanks I'm alright Jack !
China is doing pretty well...and they are so fucking protectionist.
You don't think the US ran strong protectionist policies for the entire 19th century and even into the 20th century? It wasn't until after WW2 and when the US became a major exporter that it wanted tariffs and local protections torn down globally.
Unions have become greedy money grubbers demanding ever more under the guise of 'fairness'.
'Fairness' in their dictionary is defined that you make do with less so they can make more and all the while they beat the drum of socialism and communism to take away more of your freedoms and rights.
The only way a union company can survive is by having government pass laws mandating that all government related work is done at the fixed, overpriced costs of union companies. These higher costs come directly out of your paycheck as they increase taxes to fill their fat communist pockets.
Never mind that our government has become a fat bloated union run beast that hires and maintains the inept and spews political driven witch hunts like the IRS scandal - which has disappeared from what little coverage there was.
You never really own your home, even after paying off your mortgage, because the taxes on your home and property is driven ever higher to pay the fat union pensions and union labor costs.
So we got that going for us...
You're too ridiculous for words "headhunt" or that is "Banker"
Unions didn't cause the crash!!
The banks and government propped up the ongoing ponzi scheme and was the root of the collapse but the likes of GM and other fascist companies where at the leading edge. They stole billions of tax dollars and investors money to prop up their communists unions.
Uncomfortable fact, jack.
Unions are not capitalism, capitalism is not capitalism. It exists in the minds of economists and maybe for one or two weeks out in the wild before it's noticed by the banking cartels. I have posted the following before, Unions (not capitalism) are negotiating with capitalism (not capitalism)
Early pensions were a point in time reference where 2 parties (both not capitalism) sat down and agree to a future retirement plan based on specific metrics that everyone agrees is sustainable. What happened? The Fed is unable to steal a couple of pennies a day because of inflation overrides, so early pensions were generally insulated from the process you and I experience every day. I think that was part of the original plan of labor defending themselves from bankers. They are time capsules of what was suppose to be and they tell you how much the Fed and Government has stolen from you over a last few decades. I find it hard to get pissed off at early pension models and unions for financial planning. They are getting screwed just like everyone else now and the early move to get rid of unions was outsourcing, now it is governments grabbing pensions. Unions were destroyed from within like every other organization that stood against the banking cartels.
Every comic superhero is challenged at some point by not becoming the evil he is fighting everyday, they have been more successful than the humans that read the comic books.
Filthy unions! Now look at your upstanding billionaire or corporation. They politely get their free government money from the Fed Window.
Your product threatened by competition? Then just lobby gov't to ban its importation, like Big Pharma did when it was scared of cheaper overseas Rx. In fact, that's how free markets work. If a corp needs something, cutting wages, tax breaks or subsidies, all you have to do is lobby government and hey presto! This is called capitalism now.
If we pulled every stimulus, QE, ZIRP, tax break, subsidy PENNY from the system, how long can these "self made men," captains of industry, would be able to stand on their own two feet? Six minutes?
The collapse, aka WTSHTF will be the great equalizer.
Well if great equalizer, you mean mass death ...Yea.. I thing you are right.
I had a summer job in college at a afl-cio shop. It happened to pay piece work on top of being a union shop which i heard was pretty unusual. The rate to make time and a half was so ridiculously low that i was done making time and a half for my 8 hour shift by third break and played poker in the break room the last 2 hours of my shift. Being 19 and not knowing much about union shops I was unaware that making max rate in 6 hours would cause the rate for that job to rise. Soon it went from 18 pieces for time and a half to 24. I still finishied by last break. It is then that the day shift lifer guy along with the 3rd shift stoner lifer guy met me in the parking lot and threatened to "slow me down" if I didnt slow down.
I sped up. When i left a month later rate was 36 and I still did them in 8 hours. Their solution to me working "too fast". Slash all four tires on my car. Strength in numbers? I think not.
"Those were the days"
I have a similar story. One summer job during college I got hired thru some temp agency for a job working at the New York State Dept of Records. No shit, On the first day the first thing in the morning they handed me a list of records to pull. I went into the stacks and pulled them all in about 20 minutes. When I went to hand them in, the receptionist looked at me like I had three heads. I asked , what do you want me to do next ? The answer was to go talk to one of the other record pullers who were actual full time state workers. He tells me to SLOW THE FUCK DOWN from now on, and to go hide in the stacks for the rest of the day.
Next day, they hand me my work for the day, and it is double what I had the day before. I went out and pulled all the records in about 15 minutes - stayed hiding in the record stacks for a couple of hours, and then when I could not take the boredom anymore, I went and turned the records in at about 10 AM. I promptly got my ass chewed out again. Third day in, I finally smartened up. They handed me my 'work' for the day, I went out and was finished in about 15 minutes again, and then stayed hidden in the break room and the stacks for the rest of the day. Other guys were still a little pissed at me for pulling them so quick, but honestly, an idiot could do the job that fast. I told them to fuck off, that they were lazy fucks, and I would do what I was told like a good little peon, but do not bitch at me because of this bullshit scam you got going here. I was able to survive a month or so hiding in the stacks by reading files all day - some unbelievable stuff .
Found out the Dept was spending money on anything they could because it was the end of their budget year, and they were spending money like drunken sailors in order to justify their budget for the next year. I was only hired in order to piss money away. I got to watch firsthand these douchebags ordering forklifts etc. that they absolutely did not need - just to burn thru their remaining money. I could not take it anymore and quit.
"Yeselson is lying to himself if he sees forced collective bargaining as a necessary component of capitalism."
So what else is new?
It has always been the policy of thugs, tyrants and thieves, ahem, socialists to define anything that doesn't work as 'Capitalism' without regard to previous definitions or logic.
Just a bit of irony in your comment.
You people who are saying this is a free market system are liars, fools, frauds.
BANK BAILOUT WITH PUBLIC FUNDS are not in anyway free market.
It is capitalize the profit and socialize the loss.
My Uncle is a lineman here in South Carolina. In the South whenever a hurrcaine strikes power companies in uneffected states spare what crews they can and send them to help the affected area's. The help is welcomed because if you've ever lived though a hurrcaine you know what the aftermath of the cleanup can be like. Somehow after Sandy. He and a few others crews were sent up to Jersey and the surrounding area to try and help get the power turned back on. The Union boys would not cooperate with them actually told them to leave that "They were stealing the food from their childrens mouths." I'm not making this up he told me this and I had it confirmed with a few other people. The attitude of the unions is it's better your children feeze in the dark than to allow anyone or anything to threaten their dominiance.
Yeselson even has the gall to say that unions are inherently capitalist because they “use contracts…to link their members to the fortunes of the companies they contract with.”
Must you have capitalism to have contracts? Of course not!
You can’t build without capital
Is this the same as saying "you can't build without tools?"
I build with tools but employ almost no capital. And most of the tools I build with I created myself. Are those tools capital ... or are just the ones I bought considered capital?
What are these things called "capital" and "capitalism" anywhay? We throw the words around like we really know what they mean.
Why must I seek out someone with "capital" when I choose to make a "trading promise" (i.e. create money)?
so labor unions are there to stand up agianst greedy corporations. what about government labor unions? teachers, firemen, cops... are they there to stand up against the greedy tax payers?
sainchw,, my daughter has a masters in education. Loves teaching, does it well. Makes 36 k a year in a chicago suburb. she was 7th in her class in high school. full ride scholarship. she has friends in sciences and enginering making double what she does and knew this going in. Sure,,, management and 120 to 240 plus a year principals and administrators is insanity. I used to have a hard on for teachers wages until i see first hand what some of them make. I am not and never have been pro union. I have belonged to all big 3 in summer jobs. They suck. That being said, 5 year on duty average beat cops in suburbs whose most dangerous call is domestic dispute making 85 K a year on average in chicago suburbs is bullshit. Pension after 25 years 85 percent of last two years wages. Retire,,, get a new govt job , rinse repeat,, end with two pensions.
Government employees should have no unions. Ever. There is no quick fix. I think our country is headed to the working class supporting the oligarchs and the government employees. We are close already. We have restaurant workers striking in Chicago as I write this wanting 15 dollars an hour. Say hello to robots doing the drive thru window. You think you get cold french fries now? Just wait,,, it is coming.
I can guarantee you, when they get their process refined to the point that robots are at the drive thru window, on delivery, the french fries you get will be as perfect as they can be made.
I can also guarantee you, these operators would not develop robotic systems if they were able to make the human systems produce economically (including ancillary costs like pensions, health care, absences, etc.). You may not like the result ... but it is inevitable.
People who operate these businesses are problem solvers and problem avoiders ... not problem creators.
The systems we have are exactly the kind of systems you would create if able and confronted with the same obstacles.
Another point. Presumably you went to your daughter's graduation. Did you notice the high proportion of education majors graduating with honors when compared to all the other majors? Why is that?