Quote:
Originally Posted by Eugene V. Debs
1. Unions "in power"? With less than 7% of the private-sector workforce in unions, they're hardly "in power"
2. How much YOU think an assembly worker should be paid is irrelevant-- it's only what the parties bargaining the contract think that's relevant. Unless you're some kinda dirty socialist who thinks the nation as a whole should have a say. > 
3. Well, if we wanna get rid of unions or put them under the thumb of the government and/or corporations to reduce their collective bargaining power or otherwise supress them, there are plenty of precedents-- Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, PRC, USSR, modern-day Mexico or Colombia. Take yer pick. |
1. Country wide, they may only have 7% of the workforce, but in this case they appear to be pretty much 100%. Based on the enforcement of this jobs bank program alone, I'd say they're pretty powerful.
2. The amount they're paid is up to agreements between labor and management, but when it is significantly higher than other assembly jobs that require similar aptitude, and the company is losing money, then I would say it's too high.
Here's a hypothetical. Let's say UPS workers get paid twice as much as FedEx workers for the same job. UPS carries on for years with inflated rates, allowing them to pay their workers this rate. If the economy slows down, and UPS gets to the verge of collapse, it wouldn't have to be a socialist to say their labor costs are too high. To me, paying their workers higher than market rate and expecting a government bail out sounds socialist. Apply the same model to raw materials. If they'd be voluntarily paying more than the market rate for steel to make the cars, would you argue that the gov't should give them a bailout so they can continue to pay that inflated price?
3. I think government intervention in private business should be kept to a minimum, on all sides.
And for the record, I was in SMWIA Local 12 for 11 years and I still work in a Union shop. Unions can be a good thing, but it seems like they're looking out for their own bank accounts as much as they are the workers'.
Vince