Once upon a time in this country, there were few workplace safety laws, few restraints on employers, and incredibly exploitive working conditions that ranged from slavery, to share cropping, to putting children in dangerous working conditions. Unions, to their everlasting credit, helped play an important role in leveling the playing field for workers. However, as the laws changed, there became less and less of a need for unions. And as a direct result of that decreased need, union membership began to shrink. Feeling they had no recourse, in response, unions became more explicitly involved in politics. Over time, they managed to successfully co-opt the Democrat Party, pulling their strings, and rewriting our labor laws to be much more in their favor. Sadly, Democrats remain at the beck and call of today's unions, so much so as to a detriment of the country.
Over time, unions have been transformed into what are essentially nothing more that selfish, extremely greedy, and quite corrupt organizations that pursue some pretty thuggish tactics as they persist in their never-ending quest to take in as much as they can for themselves, at the expense of anyone who may have the misfortune to cross their path. That's why today, unions have changed from organizations that "look out for the little guy" into the largest, most rapacious special interest group in the entire country. When you take everything that unions have done over their entire history, it become very apparent, very quickly, that they have done far more damage to this country than good. These days, what's much more often the case is that wherever unions go, disaster usually follows, and very soon after their arrival. Just to name a few examples:
1) Unions are severely damaging whole industries: How is it that GM and Chrysler got into such lousy shape that they had to be bailed out? There's a simple answer: The unions. The massive pensions the car companies paid out raised their costs so much that they were limited to building more expensive cars to try to get their money back. Not a great business plan, to say the least. They couldn't even do a great job of building those cars because utterly ridiculous union rules prevented them from using their labor efficiently. America created the automobile industry, but American unions are killing it. Unions also wrecked the steel and textile industries and have helped drive manufacturing jobs overseas. They're crippling the airline industry and, of course, we can't forget that...
2) Unions are ruining our public education system: Every few years, it's the same old story. The teachers’ unions claim that public education in this country is dramatically underfunded and if they just had more money, they could turn it around. Taxpayer money then pours into our schools like a waterfall and....there's no improvement. A few years later, when people have forgotten the last spending spree on education, the process is repeated. To the point where we now spend more per student that any other nation on the planet, and still rest firmly on the bottom of the list when it comes to results. However, the real problem with our education system in this country is the teachers’ unions. They do everything possible to prevent schools not only from firing lousy teachers, which there are many, but also from rewarding talented teachers. Merit pay? The unions hate it. Private schools? Even though everyone knows they deliver a better education than our public schools, unions fight to keep as many kids as possible locked in failing public schools.
3) Unions are costing us billions of tax dollars: Let's put it plain and simple: Government workers shouldn't be allowed to unionize. Period. Why, you ask? Unfair, you say? Well, because you elect representatives to look out for your interests. It's obviously in your interest to pay as little as possible to government workers, to keep their benefits as low as possible, and to hire as few of them as possible to do the job. However, because the Democrat Party and the unions are in bed with each other, this entire process has been turned upside down. Instead of looking out for your interests, Democrats are busy looking out for their own interests. How you ask? Democrats try to hire as many government workers as possible, pay them as much as possible, and give them benefits that are as generous as possible, all so that union workers will do more to get them, Democrats, re-elected. In other words, the Democratic Party and the unions are engaged in an open conspiracy to defraud the American taxpayer. There's no way that the American people should allow that to continue.
4) Unions are fundamentally anti-democratic : How in the world did we get to the point where people can actually be forced to join a union just to get a job at certain places? Then, after they're essentially shanghaied into the union, they have no choice but to cough up the 'required' dues amount that are then used for political activities which the unwilling dues-paying member may oppose. Add to that the fact that the Democrats and the government unions collaborate to subvert democracy at the expense of the taxpayer and it's not a pretty picture. Worse yet, unions have gotten so voracious that they even want to do away with the secret ballot, via card check, so they can openly bully people into joining unions. The way unions behave in this country is undemocratic, un-American, and it should trouble anyone who cares about freedom and individual rights.
5) Government unions are bankrupting cities and states: Government unions have bled billions upon billions from taxpayers nationally, but the damage they're doing on the local level is even worse. We have cities and states all across the country that are so behind on their bills that there have been genuine discussions about bankruptcy. There are a lot of irresponsible financial policies that have helped contribute to that sorry state-of-affairs, but unquestionably, the biggest backbreakers can be directly traced back to the unions. Cities are already going belly up out there in the land of the fruits, the nuts and the fairies, California, with the entire state looming on complete financial collapse. A situation that may be coming to a town, city or county near you. And all thanks to the unions.
As the Washington Times has noted, union pensions are crushing budgets all across the country. "Yet it comes as little surprise that the same profligacy that pervades the corridors of federal power infects this country’s 87,000 state, county and municipal governments and school districts. By 2013, the amount of retirement money promised to employees of these public entities will exceed cash on hand by more than a trillion dollars." So, what happens when these pensions can't be paid? They will come to the taxpayers with their hands out. When they stroll forward with their beggar's bowl in hand, the American people should keep their wallets in their pockets. That may seem unfair, but the public sector union members have gotten a great deal at everyone else's expense for a long time and if somebody has to take a haircut, and they do, it should be the union members instead of the taxpayers they've been bilking for so long.
A perfect little case study: Now I’m pretty sure that when the members of IUE-CWA AFL-CIO Local 84750 negotiated their new contract with management at the Genie Company, that took affect February 1st of 2011, they were all pretty pleased with themselves. But I wonder how they feel today knowing that their jobs are being outsourced to Mexico? Another in a long line of manufacturing departures from the area of Northeast Ohio, is it really any surprise that companies are choosing to no longer be held at gunpoint by union officials and their members? Some might call it corporate greed but the reality of the situation is that many US companies are no longer able to remain competitive due to escalating costs of union demanded wages and benefits. At the height of the industrial revolution it became apparent that employers were all too willing to take advantage of its labor force. We have come along way since then and times have changed. It seems now that the only thing unions are good for is to insure that more and more business leave the country for those with cheaper labor, lower tax burdens and without the threat of work stoppages. Its time for union members to collectively come to their senses and realize that in this day and age, they aren’t owed anything because if they don’t, they’ll end up with nothing like the 70 employees at the Genie Company. When talking about the 'outsourcing ' of American jobs, I think it an important point to remember that one of the primary causes of it, are today's greedy unions.
So, are we at the point yet where we can admit to ourselves that unions have effectively outlived whatever usefulness it was that they might of once had? I don't know about you, but I'm getting more than a little tired of seeing these supposed adults acting like spoiled children for no other reason than because they're being asked to cover at least some of the cost of their rather extravagant benefits. I mean, this their country too, right? Shouldn't we all be asked to pony up enough to keep this whole thing afloat. Shouldn't 'EVERYBODY' pay there fair share and not just the folks who already do? What entitles these parasites to a free ride anyway? I scrimp, and I save for my own healthcare insurance and my own retirement and yet I'm still forced to pay more and more to cover the costs for the benefits paid out to these overpaid and underworked public employees. Frankly, I'm tired of it!
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