Monday, September 7, 2009

Were unions ever necessary?

Today I'm asking another politically charged question. Were unions ever necessary to begin with?

Today a poll was released that now 46% of people today think unions mostly hurt labor relations, and 45% of respondents think that they help labor relations. This is the lowest numbers that unions have EVER had. Which I think makes it the ideal time to ask if unions were EVER necessary to help job conditions. Like the minimum wage, I think that it only hinders your ability to market your abilities to your boss, and to move up within the company. In union jobs you will never get into management, because management is not unionized.

At all the NON-Union shops today and yesterday people start at the bottom, work their ass off and end up becoming the assistant managers, managers and even part owners of these shops. At Retail giants like Pier 1, more often than not the district managers are former associates who used to work the floor selling goods.

At union stores, like Fred Meyer and Safeway the employee gets screwed over for promotions, and more often than not they'll blame the store. What they fail to realize that it's the UNION that is holding them back!

Let's go back and look at why. In the early 1910's before there was a minimum wage, maids in New York were paid a nominal wage of $1.20 an hour. Ten years later there was a shift in education level and there weren't as many maids to choose from. Just ten years later, the nominal wage for a maid went up to $9.00 an hour.

That's the free market at work.

Unlike has been stated by pro-union advocates, MOST of the improvements in the working conditions and benefits given to employees has come about in the non-unionized fields. And this will continue to be the case after the recession ends.

UPDATE 08/28/2013;

The UFCW is staging a walk out because they aren't happy with the contract being proprosed by Kroger.  Look at the economy today, do you really think we are better off than we were five years ago?  Are they really justified in asking for more benefits when so many people are still looking for a job?

The destruction of meritocracy in unionization leads people to rely on the collectivism of their union position.  They don't see their own self worth, only the worth of collective bargaining.

They'd be better off without unions, and Kroger would be as well.

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