Welcome to Labor day, or as we refer to it this year: August 32nd, the earliest Labor Day there can be. The chances of rain tomorrow are being put at 70% so rather than smoking something, we'll be having a pretty typical meal like we do every day, on our regular keto way of eating. Since it seems the vast majority of stores are open, I could use to make a run to the nearest Office Supplies store for a printer ink cartridge. Yeah, I know that's exciting.
One of the reasons I shifted away from writing about the political/social side of life that so many fellow bloggers talk about all the time is that it's such an odd combination of important, and yet insanely boring to talk about all the time. I get tired of the same handful of stories all the time, even if "all the time" simply means today or this week. "Someone somewhere" decides what the story of the week is going to be and we get bombarded with versions and derivatives of that group of stories until the next story of the week gets chosen. I get bored with seeing them on TV, I get bored with hearing them, and I get bored writing the same things.
One of the things that's in the pile of stuff that cycles by endlessly are trade unions. While Florida has been a "right to work" state for my entire working life, both Mrs. Graybeard and I worked in places where union membership might have not been legally required, rather it was more like a necessary evil we had to put up with.
I know I've written this concept down before and won't bother linking to myself, but I've been involved with specifying components the company I was working for was going to buy long enough to realize that companies don't buy anything without negotiating a price. You may get an offer for $X dollars and be insulted or you may be grateful, but in things I was involved with, we might buy components that were custom designed for us that both the component sellers and we the buyers would negotiate a price for. Unions started in negotiating working conditions, classically hours of work versus pay per hour. It may not seem fully logical at first glance but while I personally don't want to work in a unionized workplace, I can see the argument for having a professional negotiating your pay. The argument against that is you have to pay the negotiator, too.
The advent of unions was complicated immediately by violence. The
first blood spilled by union activists apparently goes back to the
Haymarket Square massacre in 1886, in which:
... striking union workers threw a bomb at Chicago police, killing eight police officers and countless civilians, after being incited to their lethal rampage by socialist Samuel Fielden (not unlike how Marty Lamb was beaten after the crowd of unionists was inflamed to violence by “progressive” Rep. Capuano) [Note: explanation of the Rep. Capuano reference in that linked article just above - SiG]Because of their enormous influence in the Democratic Party, unions have specifically gotten themselves exempted from laws the rest of society must follow. You probably know about the exemptions from the anti-trust laws, and extortion laws, and that they tried to exempt themselves from Obamacare. This is an exceptionally brief introduction to the history of union violence against anyone they regard as "in their way."
Unions are progressively more desperate because membership in non-government employee unions has been dropping since the late 1950s. Only government workers' unions are growing, where no true negotiation takes place because there are no parties at the table risking anything. Unions like the NEA, AFT and the SEIU are the beneficiaries of fat government contracts. They get more union dues which they siphon off to contribute to getting Evil Party politicians elected who will negotiate new, fat contracts with them. Of course an alternate way of saying that is unions only survive where there isn't a free market but the expenses they cause are paid for by the taxpayers or society at large and don't come out of the pockets of the negotiators on the other side of the table.
Despite the rhetoric, the unions aren't trying to make anyone's lives better except for their own. If members get some crumbs that make their life better, that's nice. For the non-unionized workers, who have to pay them their higher wages, too bad. As the saying goes, FUJIGM.
Well, this is wandering far off the topic of celebrating Labor Day, so I hope you have an enjoyable day no matter how you celebrate or mark the day.
And you, too! I'll be getting up late.
ReplyDeleteMy experience with government workers' unions is that the current local and state boards always fight to make their retirement much much better than the people following after them.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, they'll fight tooth and nail to pad their retirement plans. And make everyone else suck hind teat. Those board members go away, new members are 'elected' (usually an actual selection and not an election) and then they pad their retirements while throwing the next gen under the bus and the cycle continues.
Totally should be banned.
And you can thank the Workers of the World for Labor Day. The scheming pack of socialists...
For a few years I worked as an engineer for Boeing at the old Autonetics facility in Anaheim. Anaheim had non-union engineers, but unionized techs, mechanics, assemblers, et. al. The engineers in the Seattle area went on strike for few added benefits. They are a white-collar union and didn’t get much sympathy from the union techs and mechanics in Anaheim. After everything was settled, the CEO (Phil Condit) gave all engineers in the company the same benefits. We interpreted that as a slap to the union engineers, FWIW.
ReplyDeleteHad to join AFSCME for my Gubmint job in Portland, Oregon.
ReplyDeleteNOT a pleasant experience with those clowns.
Unions were useful to an extent when we didn't have labor or health and safety laws in the US - but now that we have lots and lots of them (too many in my opinion, and I have worked in the field), the need for unions has gone away. They have also been thoroughly corrupted by the permanent managerial/ bureaucratic class to the point there is no longer any need for them.
ReplyDeleteJonathan
Wherever there is power or lots of money involved corruption occurs.
ReplyDeleteUnions got both and added political bombings and such to the mix.
Never was a Union guy. 2+ decades military and medical after that. Could never see the point of telling me I have to abandon my patients to "Support" a Strike and all that crap.
My objection to Unions is that the laziest, most incompetent and useless worker will a) Be protected by the union from being sacked and b) Will get exactly the same benefits pay rise and working conditions as the most conscientious and hard working employee and c) the hard working employee(s) will get more work piled onto them to cover for the lazy.
ReplyDeleteNot exactly motivating you to do your best work and put in effort which inevitably leads to the company becoming mediocre at best, poor performing most likely.
Add in that they are, as a minimum, Socialist and usually outright Communist and siphon funds to political parties contrary to how the members would themselves vote. And closed shops leave no choice in the matter.
IN 1962 I has a good union job in the shipping department of a leather factory. It was common that our boss would ask us to work extra fast to get an order packed, loaded in the truck and gone before 5:00 pm. When we did we would then stay 2 hours on overtime paid time and a half and play cards. A great example of the union milking the company. The ground of this leather factory exceeded a small to medium size city but it was all empty because the jobs were shipped offshore. The union was the reason the jobs were shipped offshore. Another time they were short handed in the department that measured the leather sides and two of us were pulled out of shipping to do the job. A union leader had to approve that. While we were working another employee in the measuring section came over to us angrily and said to slow down that we were making the other workers look bad. Again a union issue to slow walk the work.
ReplyDeleteWhat anon at 11:58PM said.
ReplyDeleteTrade Unions are the death of the trade.
Remember what happened when the Teamsters wanted UPS to pay their people more? The Teamsters purposely killed Yellow Freight as an example, literally the horse's head in the bed Godfather style. "Hey, UPS, youse pays our people's more or we'll kill youse. Don't think we'll do it? (whips sheet off of object, showing a dead Yellow Freight) So's you gonna pay?" "Um, sure, here, take it, take it all." "Thanks." "What about the dead body right there?" "What dead body, fugedaboutit..."
Ask the owner and workers at Spring Mills in the SE US. Oh, you can't because the Textile Workers' Union ran them out of business in the 60s. Along with all the other big textile mills.
Ask the owners and workers at all the garment factories that used to exist in these United States. All those tony condos built in NY out of old factories and warehouses? A lot of those were garment factories, killed by unions in the 70's. Unions are killing Boeing. Unions almost killed US automakers until they figured out they could move to 'Right to Work' states and bust the unions that way.
Unions are nothing more than legalized criminal protection rackets. Their history is based on the use of violence to get their way until owners fight back and move their enterprises away leaving the “workers” to fend for themselves while the “organizers” go find other victims.
ReplyDeleteI spent 9 years in a maritime union, and it was a waste of 3.5% of every single paycheck plus the $5000 membership fee in late 90's dollars. The union rubber stamped ever proclamation made by the company, as the union actually underwrite the original 200 million dollar loan for the company's ships and then sold the stake after.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, as maritime companies are being sold to private equity, the 2010-2020 decade was ridiculous to get private equity to give small raises to crews and doing things like cutting food budgets, attempting to negotiate salary cuts the same week the owners announce record profits, or failing to send someone to relieve you when it's time to go home because next week flights will be cheaper.
By then I was working right-to-work for my nonunion present employer.
I make less than my union counterparts on paper. I miss some fun fringe benefits like free compulsory education classes that cost me about $3000 and 2 weeks a year, to pay my own way today. OTOH, we have much nicer living conditions, no dues, and when life disrupting events happen at home, the company moves heaven and earth to get you home fast and doesn't press you to come back until you're ready. And with volunteer-only OT, when you've got a project like me, building a 2nd home in another country, they'll try their best to find work for you, but if you say no to OT offers, no hard feelings.
There's no taking your money to support politicians you loathe, or stand-outs, no inflatable rats,
Nah, I'm happier non-union.