Unions

[Gina]

Union membership, which has been declining for years, now includes only about 10 percent of all eligible U.S. employees, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

So how can they have such a grip on the US?  10%? 

[thundley4]

Is there a link to that?  I ask, because I've heard a similar statistic applied only to private sector workers, but the percentage jumps quite a bit if public sector union members are included.

But to answer the initial question, unions extort money from the workers and buy politicians that let the unions to extort more and more money from workers.

[Gina]

Is there a link to that?  I ask, because I've heard a similar statistic applied only to private sector workers, but the percentage jumps quite a bit if public sector union members are included.

But to answer the initial question, unions extort money from the workers and buy politicians that let the unions to extort more and more money from workers.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm

In 2011, the union membership rate--the percent of wage and salary workers who
were members of a union--was 11.8 percent, essentially unchanged from 11.9
percent in 2010,

Let me figure out where I got that from......damnit....I knew I should have linked that article because they got it wrong

[Gina]

Here it is, it's down near the bottom, AP http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AGING_AMERICA_CHANGING_WORKPLACE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-02-20-11-04-08

[marv]

So how can they have such a grip on the US?  10%? 

Think of it this way.

The union is the train driver. The non-union are the passengers. The passengers need to get somewhere so they pay to ride the train. The train driver stops the train and says, "Give me more in pay and benefits, or I won't drive the train."

[zeitgeist]

Is there a link to that?  I ask, because I've heard a similar statistic applied only to private sector workers, but the percentage jumps quite a bit if public sector union members are included.

But to answer the initial question, unions extort money from the workers and buy politicians that let the unions to extort more and more money from workers.

Which is why there should be a complete ban on public unions.  

One has to understand the ability of unions to put "boots on the ground".  Again public unions have a large advantage in this regard. This is yet another reason why they should be completely outlawed.

Here in New Hamshire we are still trying to get a Right To Work law passed but, I might be tempted to say the heck with RTW if you simply outlaw public unions.  

[Rugnuts]

"union money and propaganda" is a helluva drug
[youtube=425,320]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PR_rzF8ofw[/youtube]

[TVDOC]

This figure is highly deceptive:

In 2011, the union membership rate--the percent of wage and salary workers who
were members of a union--was 11.8 percent, essentially unchanged from 11.9
percent in 2010,

Union workers comprise only a tiny (6.9%) portion of private sector jobs......the vast majority of union representation in in government workers (37%), and since Obama, the government labor sector is the only one showing growth.....otherwise union membership would be continually dropping.

doc

[Rugnuts]

my opinion working off of the above posts from zeit and tvdoc.

refer to this video just watch 2:20-3:00.

i believe in the freedom of contract. this includes unions to contract their employment with employers. but it should be free of outside forces, keeping both sides in check. in the private sector, the workers are held in check by the possibility of being replaced. the companies are held in check by competition with the risk going out of business. in the public sector, there is no "company" that can go out of business, so there is no competition to keep it in check. Since the workers know this, there is no need for their restraint. It is further corrupted when they can cry fowl at election time and "coerce" politicians into furthering their cause. since the politician is spending other peoples money and just wants more votes, it gives into all demands. all at the expense of taxpayers and liberty.

[Gina]

I asked a union steward here last week a question (typical question) and the first thing out of his mouth "Are you in the union?"  and I said "Are you not going to answer me if I am not" and he said "will you join if I do?" and I said "No"      we were round and round   

[Rugnuts]

.... he said "will you join if I do?" and I said "No"     

[Crazy Horse]

The hell with unions 

[cmypay]

So how can they have such a grip on the US?  10%? 

The same way that the 10% of the population that is homosexual came dictate to the rest of us.

[docstew]

The same way that the 10% of the population that is homosexual came dictate to the rest of us.

Another highly suspect statistic, if you ask me...

[obumazombie]

Royal ruling minorities.

[vesta111]

Royal ruling minorities.

Basically our country is controlled by just two Unions, the Teamsters and the Dock Workers. 

I was living in Hawaii in the 1969-1970 era when there was some kind of strike by the dock workers.   Unbelievable, most everything came in by sea, what a mess for the civilians on the islands.   People were fighting over a roll of scarce toilet paper.  It was in April that we finally got a sea shipped Christmas box from family that had sent it in November. 

California in the 1972 era, some kind of Teamster strike that left the Civilian stores with no meat or poultry.  Very eerie to walk into a grocery store and see all the empty cold cases where meat had been a week ago.

East coast 1974?????    No gas sold to people that had a licence plate with an odd or even number that did not match the day in question.    Had to call the State Police to order a garage to give us gas as we were on military orders to get to a new military station.   This was not Union brought on but we saw the problems if it had been.

At one time we needed unions to control the work force that was being scalped by business-----In the mid 1960's in N.H. woman were not allowed to work over time and were not hired if they were pregnant.   

I see nothing today that any union can do that to benefit the worker our government laws and OSHA does not cover. Some shipyard government workers have a no strike clause, and a worker that is say a Union welder goes into a compartment that is dark, they see a light plug has been pulled out, cannot just plug it in and get to work.  They have to wait for a Union Electrician to come to them and plug it in.   Darn the cost over runs on simple projects hits the roof.

Next time you see a huge Carrier with 15 cars rolling down the highway, you know the driver is a Teamster, what is his pay and how did he get that job,   friends and influence in the Union perhaps????

I have belonged to 2 different Unions in my work life, not one of them did one damn thing for me except take my union dues.   I do not trust them to do anything but to save the jobs of incompetent  workers. 

   



 

[BadCat]

"Look for the Union label"







If it has one, don't buy it.

[Rugnuts]

"Look for the Union label"

hmmmm....



you mean the original unions were racists?? i dont believe it!!!

[DumbAss Tanker]

So how can they have such a grip on the US?  10%? 

10% still represents a very great deal of dues money.  They represent a unified lobbying group which is very well-funded, and until Citizens' United direct political opposition to them by their natural opponents was hamstrung by limiting political contributions to the amounts permissible for the owners and managers to contribute as private persons...and of course the unions weren't their sole concern, for any number of other business or personal reasons they might actually support the same candidate the union wanted ('A rising tide lifts all boats,' and all that).  And, finally, there isn't a single unified voice for the non-union right-to-work workers, who are all over the map on whether unions do more harm than good themselves anyway.

It's not hard to be the strongest swimmer in a race if your opponent has to compete with an anchor tied to his leg.

[Gina]

  I was wondering about the dues thing............

This is the 2nd year in a row that no raises have been given to the workers here.  There are about 4000 employees here and I would say 3000 of them are union members.  They pay a minimum of $52 a month for dues.....so.........have the people not wondered why they have no raises for two years straight yet they are paying these dues?   They are giving up approximately $1,872,000 a year for nothing so far. 

[Wineslob]

I was wondering about the dues thing............

This is the 2nd year in a row that no raises have been given to the workers here.  There are about 4000 employees here and I would say 3000 of them are union members.  They pay a minimum of $52 a month for dues.....so.........have the people not wondered why they have no raises for two years straight yet they are paying these dues?   They are giving up approximately $1,872,000 a year for nothing so far. 

Sounds like a woodworkers Union I would have had to join at one time. The job paid about $13.75 hr but after dues it ammounted to roughly $8.75  Thanks but no thanks.

[zeitgeist]

For those with a curious mind and fast connection my I reccomend reading chapters 19 and 20 here:

http://www.hacer.org/pdf/Hazlitt00.pdf


(Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson).

[DumbAss Tanker]

For those with a curious mind and fast connection my I reccomend reading chapters 19 and 20 here:

http://www.hacer.org/pdf/Hazlitt00.pdf


(Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson).

If it's one lesson, why does it have a Chapter 19 and Chapter 20...?

 

[zeitgeist]

If it's one lesson, why does it have a Chapter 19 and Chapter 20...?

 

It is a  v e r y  l o n g  lesson?

Try it you'll like it.