When I got sick and needed the lawyer from the union to fight over my job for me, they were there for me. I cannot speak for everyone but I know you never know when you will need it and it was there at no cost to me.

Yeah. We'll all be SO much better off because no one will be there to make sure that the workplace remains safe, employers will be able to whatever the hell they want, they'll be able to pay next to nothing and if you don't like it...too freaking bad.

Great plan.

Unions don't need to be disposed of. They need to learn that they can't price themselves out of the market like the UAW did to the auto companies.

Unions are necessary.

No kidding, hell they almost had it here hiring the illegals. They almost had a full slave labor force again.

Nobody remembers Norma Rae?

Actually.... Government sanctioning Unions is just as facist as making laws against them. This involves government in a free market.

Corporate greed is possible, but you know how most of it is achieved? Look at the money. Look at the billions they spend on political campaigns and lobbyists.

You are right, corporate exploitation is a problem, and unions were meant to counter that, but now unions can be just as greedy as corporate CEO's, just like the poor can be just a greedy.

Unions, i am sure started out with good intentions. There is the problem of greed from the unions, and more importantly there is the disruption of the natural flow of the free market. Union workers are often getting paid more than their work is worth. This means the consumer is getting charged more than the product is worth, on top of paying for any CEO's greed. You see where this is going? The buck get's passed until it hit's the people.

Kinda sounds like insurance and our healthcare system, problem is our hospitals can't go overseas to ensure economic survival.

I'm kinda with Dr. Paul on this one. There is no need to sanction unions with law. However, there is no problem with people getting together to demand more from their employer.

We are a free country after all, or at least we should be...

Absolutely! Same thing here in Arizona. The construction industry was booming and was almost all illegal labor! The home builders loved it as they could build houses very cheap! BUT, do you think they passed on the labor cost savings to the consumers? HECK NO! They took the money and laughed all the way to the bank.

I have been debating whether a cap in CEO's wages, as a percentage of how well the company is doing, should be allowed. This is the only market regulation I personally would consider.

Please explain to me exactly what gives you the right to be the one who determines what a person's work is worth???

Who are you to decide what the job I do ( and yes, I belong to a union ) is worth???

Wouldn't that be up to the employer??

And these illegals had the same problems the unions were suppose to solve, low wages, no insurance, no labor laws, no abuse control, etc...

You know the bottom line is not HOW MUCH CAN WE SAVE OUR CUSTOMERS? LOL

They either don't know about her....or they conveniently ignore what she was forced to go through.

Unions are good for teachers and police officers and others that I mentioned earlier. They get retirement and health benefits and more.

well all I have to say about those dam unions is THANK GOD I WAS A UNION MEMBER I GET 5 DIFFERENT CHECKS EVERY MO BECAUSE OF MY MEMBERSHIP . PLUS SOCIAL SECURTY . I,M SORRY ABOUT YOU GUYS WITH YOUR SS CHECKS EVERY MO . I had a safer place to work because of my membership . and I was treated better as a human . none of these things are available in a rat shop .
do you realy thing that guy who earn $14,000,000. a year are going to agree to pay you more than your worth. look at your wages that you get today , you think your really do good . I got news for you your not making as much as your grand father did doing the same job . do you want to work for beans . if you want to make a better wage without the union go back to school and in a couple years you'll get your high school done and a couple years more 5 or 6 you'll get your asso's degree . and hey 4 more and you'll be ready to try for your masters . but hey then you can make it on your own ..
no one is telling you who to buy from .

Yes, at the expense of consumers.

They are a good and bad thing all rolled into one.

Unfortunately like isn't black and white. They're only shades of grey.

What expense, Drivin? Teachers and police officers don't make a lot of money.

And 8-tracks made music portable. Do you still have one of those?

Unions also used to be about the worker. The first unions were not some politically-motivated special interest group and were certainly about issues, not just money and benefits. What we have now is greed running amok (sp?). Everything ultimately will outlive its usefulness. The unions hit that point decades ago.



As for the earlier post that asks my explanation:
1. Unions price workers out of the market leading to outsourcing. If they cannot compete with foreign manufacturers that import goods, they too move overseas and import goods.

2. Unions prevent the best man and instead, take the most senior. I have seen this over and over. A good friend of mine works in LA at a manufacturing facility (plastics or something) and has a bachelor's degree in business/management. He makes more at this plant currently than he made in any other job involving his career. I took him out for drinks a few weeks ago because he was so pissed he missed out on the recent promotion to a guy with no high school degree - all because he'd been at the plant a few years more. That is crap. It completely destroys the possible efficiency of the system.

3. Unions skew the supply curve severely. By increasing the costs of labor, you increase the costs of any good produced. This makes it proportionately more expensive for any person not in that union. This, again, is a poor allocation of resources and punishes everyone else.

4. Promotion of lax standards. case in point: california teachers. We pay our teachers more than any other state in the nation and likely, most of the world. However, we are 48th in the nation for our input. I have tutored students in various subjects (particularly math and high school science) and it's amazing how these teachers attemtpt to teach kids. I have witnessed first-hand how many teach a lesson plan and almost nothing more.

5. Job protection. You should be accountable for your actions. it's pathetic that once a teacher reaches tenure that you pretty much have to f**k a student in order to get fired. We should all be held accountable for our actions.

6. The misconception by the pro-union that seem to think that their greed is no different than that of the business or corporation they are attempting to "protect" themselves from. It's not.

I could go on, but I think I've made my point.

No, in an unregulated market, it is the market that decides. Employers seek to make the best product, for the lowest price. People seek to get the best wages/benefits, for the work they do.

Ultimately it all falls down to the golden rule, Supply and Demand. The consumer, who does control the market, ultimately decides how valuable a product is, which ultimately decides how much the employers/employees get paid for their services. If an employer underpays his employees, he will find it difficult to sustain the best product on the market as all the best employees leave, and are replace by highschool kids. The quality of product suffers, the demand goes down, no one wins.

As i said earlier, if the problem is greedy employers, perhaps there should be a cap in the wages of these employers, based on the percentage of what the company makes. Perhaps then, more money would go back into the company.

Unions often = more middle men, which = higher prices for the consumer, which = higher cost of living for everyone.

No problem with people getting together to stand against unfair treatment, but just realize, everyone can be greedy.

The workers need to demand these things. An organized union is not necessary. If they are such an issue, then the workers will demand them.

Andrew, get real. "Workers need to demand these things" You know as well as I do that a worker by himself doesn't stand a chance against management. That is exactly why unions are necessary.