Anyone who knows me knows that I am no big fan of unions, particularly public sector unions. Mostly, I feel that they no longer serve a purpose and that main result is that they end up eating into company’s profit margins and those losses are made up by increased costs passed down to the consumer and taxpayer. Specifically, I have a major problem with public sector unions, such as the teachers union, police unions and fire fighter unions. This is not 1920 and we have labor laws to protect workers today, so the only point to having a union is to take money directly from the pockets of the American citizen.
Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I actually live in a union household. My husband works in a private industry that is unionized. I will admit that because of his union, we have enjoyed excellent health benefits, a pension, a generous hourly wage, etc. For the 25 years that he has been in his union, they have never gone on strike. They have never failed to negotiate a contract with management, even when it has come down to the eleventh hour. I don’t take much issue with them, mainly because they are part of the private sector and for the most part have not made unrealistic demands on employers. His job is dangerous at times and his union does make sure that he is protected.
I have to wonder though, what is on the minds of the people running many unions today. While most of the country is happy to be employed and hanging on to whatever pay and benefits they are getting, unions are still attempting to bully and strong arm their way into higher and higher pay and larger benefits packages, to the detriment of taxpayers and employees alike. Considering that less than 12% of the workforce is unionized these days and union members are already known to have higher paying jobs and benefit packages, what position of power do they believe they are negotiating from? From my view in the cheap seats, they are losing support of not only the public, but their own members who are now finding themselves out of jobs when they would have been happy to just be working and making a living wage.
The unions seem to be shooting themselves in the foot. Let me give a few recent examples and you tell me, are unions imploding? Do you see them becoming nothing more than a memory soon?
Let’s start with what I refer to as “the great Twinkie tragedy of 2012.” Hostess, already laboring under poor management, a failing economy and a more health conscious consumer had been desperately trying to save their company. In an attempt to bring down costs and produce a profit margin, the company hammered out an agreement with the Teamsters Union to lower wages. However, the Baker’s union balked and walked. Hostess warned them that a strike would put the company out of business, but I guess it was more important for the union thugs to make a last grab for power than it was to keep 18,000 employees in their jobs.
When you get into the details of what Hostess has been dealing with in regards to all the unions, it’s pretty mind boggling and explains a lot. They have had to deal with 372 separate collective-bargaining contracts, 80 separate health and benefits plans, and 40 different pension plans. Bread products and snack products cannot be delivered on the same trucks even if they are going to the same destinations because of union rules. I won’t even get into who is allowed to load the trucks and who cannot.
Is it any wonder that unions have been blamed for the destruction of yet another American icon?
On Wednesday, November 21st, the busiest travel day of the year, the SEIU decided to stage a protest at the entrances to LAX, in response to alleged violations to workers contracts and city laws regarding living wages. The little fly in their ointment however, is that the workers had voted by a large majority to leave the SEIU, so they had no standing here. In fact, the employees themselves appear to be happy with their wages and benefits packages, so what did this accomplish other than to further irritate already stressed out travelers trying to catch their planes?
Wal-Mart has long been a favorite target of unions because they have managed to keep unions at bay. Their employees voted a long time ago not to become unionized and it has clearly worked to everyone’s benefit. While other big box stores are struggling through this economy, Wal-Mart has not only survived, but they are thriving, turning record profits. Some will argue that they are a product of corporate greed, but I have to disagree. Their job is to turn the biggest profit possible for their shareholders. Clearly, they have attained this goal. But they have done it while still selling quality products to their customers at rock bottom prices and managing to employ over a million people, paying higher than average wages and better benefits than many stores that have been unionized. In fact, Wal-Mart employees get better benefits packages and their turn over is a full 15% below the national average for similar jobs.
So having those facts, you would wonder, exactly what is it that unionizing would do to make Wal-Mart a better place to shop for its customers or a better employer to its employees. From my perspective, absolutely nothing. It makes you wonder then, why union organized protests were carried out at Wal-Marts across the country on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year. The protests were touted as massive employee walk-outs in response to Wal-Mart’s extended hours to accommodate holiday shoppers. In truth, only about 50 employees across the entire country participated in the walk-out, while the rest were all brought in by the unions. Many were probably paid participants who were not union members, but more likely just people hired by the unions to “salt” their picket lines in an attempt at a greater show of strength. Did this “great show of strength” accomplish anything? Nope! Shoppers were not the least bit moved by their supposed plight and Wal-Mart reported record sales on Friday.
I have to say, this is the craziest way of winning the hearts and minds of the public that I have ever seen. These desperate acts seem to in fact, have backfired. When so much of the country is out of work or barely eking out a living, union heads are looking like little more than petulant children who are crying because they don’t have enough toys to play with. It’s becoming clearer and clearer that the union model no longer works in this modern day economy. They have outlived their usefulness and with their outlandish contract demands and have contributed greatly to the demise of this country’s economy. I believe that private sector unions will be the cause of their own demise. As more and more employers are forced to lay off and even shut their doors rather than meet the outrageous demands of the unions, we’re going to see less people supportive of the union cause.
In part two of this article, I’ll be taking a look at public sector unions and how they are bankrupting municipalities across the country.
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I have no real opinion about whether unions have a place or not in our country these days, but those who say that Right to Work states such as Indiana create more jobs, are deluding themselves.
My dad was a union steward when I was growing up. I am against unions and believe that no one should be forced to join a union. Completely for Right to Work Laws.
People & unions are pricing them selves out of jobs.Union workers workers are getting scamed
I work in law enforcement and their salaries are always being challenged although the risks they take are for public safety. The majority are hardworking and the work they do is so underrated and unappreciated. You cannot leave that to “private sector.” Look at what happened in Benghazi. You have these unions to make sure these brave men who put their lives on the line, here at home, are taken care of when they retire. No one gets into the field for the money but will make sacrifices for a good retirement to provide for their spouse and themselves in the later years. The average life expectancy of an officer after retirement IS 5 years. The reason I know this is because I see and the statistics have proven this out. I know my retirement is higher because most of us die before we are 7 years out of the job. Many die from stress related diseases or terminal illnesses not to mention suicide, drug or alcohol addiction. Many are fired or are no longer fit for duty due to injuries which keep them from being able to perform because of the physical demands of the job. You cannot go with the lowest bidder when safety is paramount. We see companies and greedy businessmen launching campaigns against law enforcement and corrections officers in order to gain support for “Private Industry” just to get big government contracts. These companies are NOT going to care about safety, they will care about the profit margin. We see this with the Healthcare Industry that has got it’s hooks in the pockets of California’s Taxes by filing lawsuits against the State “claiming” poor medical care FOR INMATES!! We are now building state of the art Hospitals, Clinics, Physical Therapy clinics, We now have more Nurses, Doctors, Psychologists, LVN’s, Pharmacists, Pharmacists Asst., Psychol. Asst., Dentists, Dental Asst’s than we have Correctional staff. It has become a Medical Hot Profit Making industry under the “guise” of protecting rights of inmates who had better coverage and access before the Federal Receivership took over. The State of California also pays a million – 5 million dollars to families when their family member who is in prison, commits suicide, dies of an overdose, natural or illnesses while in prison. These are the things that are taking valid jobs away from one group to pay to another simply because some politician has a buddy and wants to give him a big money contract. All of California’s politicians are heavily invested in Medical, Medical Appliances and Pharmaceuticals and making bank off of Californian’s. We need unions for some professions, if someone’s being threatened with death or helping you do you really want to depend on someone who makes $15.00′s an hour? Do you think you can keep drugs and cell phones from being brought in at a $1000.00 a pop? This is why a Union is necessary BUT I do agree they are losing their impact because they have gotten into bed with the politicians and selling their members out and later acquiring positions in offices of these same officials.
Something has to change.
I’m retired and receive a public employee pension. And I agree with you. . .we joined the union many years ago because it was such a hassle not to, and we would still have to pay the dues. Most of us in my line of work agreed we didn’t need a union, that their time had come and gone. You couldn’t have stated 3 better examples in your blog than Hostess, Walmart and LAX to show the way unions are strong arming people and bullying, and for what? I think they are shooting themselves in the foot, out of their own desperation.
As a teamster four 30 yr now retierd if i had to live on my SS i would not make it i draw 2000.00 a month lor the rest of my life my wife will draw 1300.00 after im goon . the company i woked for had no union problems be couse they treted us good and in return we did the same it was a one owner operation an it did go out of bus not because of the unoin but because of nonunion cuting prices [PROFIT IS NOT A BAD W0RD BUT GOWGING IS 12/1/13
Hmmm, reminds me of my neighbor, who is a member of the Grocer’s Union that went on strike a few years ago here in Southern California. She made the comment to me when contracts came up again that as far as the big strike went, they had settled for less than what was offered to begin with. When it came to another strike vote, the members told the Union to back off and see what was offered first.
I think that unions will eventually be a thing of the past – both public and private industry unions. I also think that privatized police and security services will become more popular, replacing municipal police forces. As people are more desperate for jobs, they will accept less money and less benefits. Private industry will seize that opportunity. We can say that having a job, is better than not having job. But as employees make more and more concessions, most businesses will adapt to what people will accept, leaving employees with fewer good options. Unions were established to ensure that workers received overtime pay, adequate breaks during the day, in some cases exceptional apprenticeship training, benefits, a safe workplace, etc. Yes, there are labor laws today, but they differ state to state and many are not very employee friendly. As someone who places people into light industrial positions, all non union, I can tell you first hand that these positions differ considerably from the same positions that are unionized. But because the employees don’t have representation from a union, most don’t complain or air grievances. They are “happy” that they have a job, albeit, one that will terminate them without notice if they dare complain about their working conditions. I do not purport that unions are without problems. But I do believe that they continue to serve a valuable purpose and that their members are better equipped to meet their financial responsibilities, without relying on public assistance. I interview people regularly who have or did work at businesses such as WalMart. Many of whom, even though they work, have their children on public aid insurance, receive food stamps, etc. WalMart is directly passing that expense back to the tax payers. There is a reason that their prices are so low, and this is one of them. Many of us reside in Right to Work States. That means we can quit our jobs, without reason or cause, and give no notice. That also means that our employers can do the same thing. This policy is utilized much more by the employer, than by employees. My concern is that if unions are eradicated, we will see compensation levels go down and that the gulf between pay and cost of living will increase – not in the employees’ favor. And that many employees will not earn enough money to invest at all, for their futures, after paying rent, bills, food, transportation, etc. We may romanticize about a union free nation. But we need to think about the consequences. Yes, the majority of us are not in unions, now. And yes, many of us, can’t get by on what we’re earning. Many of us don’t receive benefits. Many of us receive lame benefits. And many of us, turn to government programs and pass that cost back to everyone else. They key to success is to have a skill that few have. Such as professional baseball player. Doctor. Lawyer. Dentist. Opera Singer. Engineer, etc. If you can be replaced within a week or less and don’t have skills that take years to hone, you’re very replaceable and will always be replaced by someone who will work for less, than you – until pay scales get so low, that there may be a wave of a pro union mentality. History often repeats itself.
No, I don’t believe they do. There’s no reason for public sector unions. In part two of this article, I’ll go into greater detail.
You suggest that one of the reasons your husband’s union is acceptable is because “(h)is job is dangerous at times and his union does make sure that he is protected.” Do you not think that unions for police officers & firefighters accomplish that same mission?