Let me give my take on unions as I have sat on both sides of a bargaining table. When I first entered the work force at 18 I had a job that required me to join the union. I really didn't mind as it paid very well for an essentially unskilled labor type of job hanging steel on a high rise. My first encounter was very positive. Our union rep. was on the job site frequently and his usual speal was this is a union job; we get paid the higher wages because we do it better, faster, and cleaner than our competitors. If you aren’t willing to do that than you have no place working here. He would not back someone who was not performing their job and had no qualms about letting dead weight go. Move forward a few years working in the mines in NM, I had just the opposite view from the union there. It seemed their whole lot in life was keeping the laziest employees their job. The unions held up my advancement because of seniority issues. All promotions were done by seniority instead of ability. This inequality finally prompted me to quit and go back to school so I could work for myself. Over the years I have been both self employed and worked in mid and upper level management for several fortune 500 companies. I have had over 50 employees in my own businesses, so I do have an understanding of bargaining for wages and also the costs of having employees. With the way unions have gone the last 20 years, I would never allow employees to unionize. I would close a business before that happened. If unions would go back to being about quality of work instead of protectionism I wouldn't have this attitude. And if you look at wages, the public sector has done much better with or without unions than the private sector as far as wages keeping up with inflation. In fact I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to work for the state of federal government in today’s market.
drscott
drscott