It's not just the GOP that's slashing union benefits

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   habeeposted 11 years ago

   San Jose's Dem mayor is doing it, too. Do you think this will spread across the nation?

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      PrettyPantherposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Here is my two cents on the subject of unions.  People have forgotten why unions were formed in the first place:  dangerous working conditions (Triangle Shirtwaist fire), 12-hour work days, and low wages.  Many of the labor laws we have today are the result of unions working for better conditions for workers.  As with pretty much any institution that exists for many years, corruption and overreach have been a problem that must always be guarded against.
      
      The pendulum has swung to the anti-union side and will continue to swing further, in my opinion.  However, as employee wages continue to slide while CEOs continue to rake in huge salaries and bonuses regardless of whether their performance is good or bad, more and more people will "see the light."
      
      I recently talked with a friend who has worked for Intel for many years.  They have seen a reduction in health benefits, layoffs with an expectation that the remaining workers will continue to produce just as much with fewer people (his unit went from 13 people to 5, with the expectation of same production levels), and wages that have not kept up with the cost of living, all while the company rakes in record profits.  He used to be heavily anti-union.  He said to me that he is starting to see why unions exist.
      
      So, yeah, I think the anti-union victory in Wisconsin will embolden other governors to follow suit.  I guess certain people won't realize what has happened until it is too late.

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         Teddletonmrposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Let us face it, for several decades the union workers have had a sweet deal at the expense of taxpayers and their communities.
         Everyone understands the hardships coal mine, factory and the trades workers suffered in the past.  Those days are well behind us now, and to believe otherwise is in my belief short sighted, more to the point, simply trying to be rewarded for the hardships workers from yester year had been forced to endure is just plain wrong.
         With all the EPA, OSHA and other state and federal government mandated regulations in place protecting workers; the union’s boss’s job of protecting said workers in the work place is obsolete. 
         Replace by the Insurance  auditors now keep a watchful eye out for unsafe working conditions, replacing the need for unions in that regard in turn making the cost of doing business too high to do otherwise.
         As far as collective bargaining is concerned, why on earth skilled workers need a bureaucrat negotiating the terms of working conditions, is simply throwing good money after bad. 
         Why not simply invest the money paid to a union in a good professional career planner and take charge of their own career.

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            PrettyPantherposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            "the union workers have had a sweet deal at the expense of taxpayers and their communities."
            
            I have worked in the public sector for many years, sometimes in a union, sometimes not.  You do realize, don't you, that governors and legislators and those who decide government wages are also paid by taxpayers?  You do realize, don't you, that public employees without bargaining power will just have to accept the decisions of other public employees, even if those decisions run in favor of the decision makers and against those not in power?
            
            An example:  The small government agency I worked for decided that management needed an extra vacation day per month (only management) while simultaneously deciding that non-management employees needed to pay an additional 15% for health care costs.  Guess which change in policy paid for the other?
            
            Eliminating the bargaining power of middle-class government workers will only serve to funnel more money to the upper levels.

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      Teddletonmrposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, the time has come.

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   geordmcposted 11 years ago

   I was in two different unions in my life and NEITHER did a damned thing except steal my money and give it to political parties with views I didn't and still don't agree with. They couldn't even buy coffee for THEIR blasted required meetings. When they were first formed they WERE needed, Now they use the same tactics that made them needed to stay in power.

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      Teddletonmrposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      A men

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