July 25, 2005
The Death Spiral of Organized LaborI have to admit that I've never seen the alleged benefit of union membership - while I can see why union bosses (as well as large coporations) like unionised labor (bosses get big bucks, large corporations don't have to do much thinking about how to treat their employees), I can't see why an individual worker would want to tie himself to an organization which essentially holds a person down to the least efficient worker in the industry.
As it is, my view is based firmly in reality as we've seen private-sector union membership drop in 50 years from about 1/3 of all workers to less than 10% today; public sector unions are burgeoning, but as they mostly concern themselves with providing rationales for increased government spending there's really not too much regarding labor in their activities. Now, according to this news story, we're set to see a major break up in the premier labor organization, the AFL-CIO:
CHICAGO (AP) - Organized labor split into warring factions Sunday as four major unions staged a boycott of the AFL-CIO convention, poised to sever ties to the 50-year-old federation in a dispute over how to reverse the decades-long decline of union membership.
I shan't shed a tear - the unions, after all, have just become an arm of the Democratic Party...meaning, in the end, an arm of the political left in it's war against the United States. Good riddance to bad rubbish. If some unions will completely break their ties with the left and show themselves willing to work fairly with both Democrats and Republicans, then I'll take note - until then, I just watch with satisfaction as the unions get precisely what they deserve.
Posted by Mark Noonan on July 25, 2005 12:54 AM
Comments
Mark,
I also do not shed a tear for the corrupt unions.
Fortunately my state, Nebraska, is a Right-To-Work state.
I quit the union (APWU) after my first year when the national APWU president Willie Burrus issued a statement against President Bush taking out Saddam Hussein. I'm not paying that fools salary!
If you want to see the corruption in the unions check out this Dept of Labor site (http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/olms/enforc_actions.htm) for 100's of criminal actions against union officers. Keep in mind these are the ones who were caught.
My former union treasurer is there, July 7, 2005, Terry Gloe, embezzled $113,377 from his union brothers. The local president originally tried to pass this off as only a few thousand dollars as "unaccounted" for and was letting it slide...that was until someone tipped off the Dept of Labor investigators and they came in and seized all union financial documents. Low and behold 8 months later the treasurer pleads guilty to stealing a much larger sum and is headed to the slammer for 6 months.
I wonder who tipped off the DOL?
Sign me
A proud SCAB
Posted by: Jay ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.gopbloggers.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at July 25, 2005 08:12 AM
I peg the decline of the unions to the 1982 Air Traffic Controllers' strike. I was working for the FAA as a technician when the controllers decided (via their union PATCO) to go on strike to force the US government to meet their demands. The strike was illegal and President Reagan gave them all 48 hours to return to work. PATCO (with the help of AFL-CIO and others like the UAW) counseled the members to remain out on strike. 48 hours later, President Reagan fired over 18,000 controllers and banned them from ever holding a federal job again.
PATCO quickly went bankrupt and dissolved. The hard-core unions turned their backs on their "brothers and sisters" calling them wimps. 18,000 former-controllers lost homes, cars, etc., many ended up with broken families and one controller I know committed suicide.
The FAA and air traffic in the US was thrown into chaos and took a long time to recover, but it did recover. Most Americans vaguely remember the strike if they remember it at all.
But the die was cast. The President, doing the only thing he could as the chief executive of the US government, had sent the message across the nation that you don't necessarily have to accede to all demands in fear of a strike. Ever since that strike, the unions have been in steady decline. I blame Ronald Reagan.
Posted by: Reverend Scaramonga at July 25, 2005 11:01 AM
Jay,
My fiance recently left the union after about two years of membership...they did nothing for her, and she was outraged last year to see her union dues going to support John Kerry for President.
If the unions want to regain legitimacy then they have to stop being political partisans...work entirely for better pay and benefits for workers and leave politics alone save as it relates directly to the ability of workers to earn good money.
Rev. Scar,
Agreed - PATCO wanted to force the government to break the law in service of narrow, PATCO interests.
Posted by: Mark Noonan at July 25, 2005 01:49 PM
