11/16: Ban Government Employee Unions
Posted by Editor on November 16, 2009 · 8 Comments
There was a time in America when the typical union member was a blue-collar guy sweating in a Pittsburgh steel mill, screwing together Chevies in Detroit or loading and unloading ships on the San Francisco docks. But things are radically different today because Joe Lunchpail has been replaced by white-collar Todd and Margo Yuppiecrat processing Social Security checks in Baltimore, conducting environmental audits in Denver or keeping the lines moving at the Department of Motor Vehicles. The breakdown of union membership make this change clear: Only 7.3 percent of all private sector employees are union members, while 37.6 percent of all government workers are unionized. Fifty-one percent of all union members are government workers.
As the Heritage Foundation’s James Sherk points out, these numbers ought to be red flags for taxpayers because “government employees don’t strike to get higher wages from a private business — they strike to get higher wages from you.”
Guineapig – you say you work in the health care industry. Your industry is heavily regulated by OSHA to protect people like you. That’s government control of private industry. Are you against that?
While I agree with most of this, being a member of NYSCOPA there is one very important service the union does provide. New York state can not fire me just because they feel like it. I have seen where a good officer would have been fired had it not been for the union. The state of New York will believe an convicted felon over one of its corrections officers, every day of the week, no exceptions. If not for our union you might as well give anyway the keys to the asylum (so to speak). However, other than that, they are pretty worthless.
As a point of fact, however, many, if not most, public employee unions have bargained AWAY their right to strike in all the essential areas of police, fire, corrections, etc.
To me the problem is more with union leadership, because anyone who’s ever been in a union, public or private, can probably relate to the large GULF that exists between top leaders in a union and the rank-and-file, blue-collar members. Many union laborers see their union leaders as more a part of management than labor….any day of the week.
I’ve been a union member, and I agree with you completely on that. I appreciate your post ICEManCometh.
Let me see, they’ve only bankrupted the textile, steel, and now the automotive industries – did I miss any? Now, Andy Stern, the most frequent guest to the White House, is trying to drive the rest of our economy into the collectivist ditch. It’s all about POWER. There are several videos out now of his SEIU thugs beating up anyone who disagrees with them, even SEIU whistleblowers. Leftists are shooting at Lou Dobbs’ house. This is the Chicago/Obama way of “organizing”. I lived in France for 4 years and had to deal with national strikes of some sort or another about every other week. Whole sectors of the economy would grind to a halt and it is no wonder they live with constant +10% unemployment. The general populace hates it, but can do little now that the unions have so much power over the government. Even as America is moving towards the Europe of the 50s, the statists over there are worried as the population is getting fed up with unions, high taxes, socialized everything, and are voting more and more to the Right. Sarkozy is a prime example. America needs to wake up before it’s too late!
Yes, you missed a few. Enron, Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, Texaco etc. The largest bankruptcies in US history haven’t failed because of unions, they failed from poor management.
I think unions became overly powerful at some point in American history, but they changed working conditions for the average American from that of third world countries, where employees were disposable commodities, to the generally good working conditions we have today.
Jeez, do you even have a clue of what working conditions were like for the average American before collective bargaining and government regulations for how employers have to treat employees? Do you really think employees have no rights at all with regard to their working conditions or wages?
Incredible, they let me post on this website again.
NO MORE UNIONS !!!