The Definition of "Necessary Evil"
Unions.
Now let's not get off on the wrong foot; I'm not anti-union. Unions have played an extremely important part in history, and are definitely needed from time to time in business today. More than anything, the THREAT of unionization is needed in business today. Like the bumper stickers say, unions are the folks who brought us the weekend, and the right to unionize is one of our most cherished rights.
Here's the problems with unions: they don't go away. I see a great union as the White Knight, emerging from the forest--or perhaps the castle--in his armor of purity in order to fight the rampaging ogre who is laying waste to the countryside. Now, here's the difference between a union and the White Knight: when the ogre is dead, he goes away. He returns to his castle, or his forest. He takes off his armor, stays in his castle, and enjoys the peace and prosperity he helped establish.
Unions don't do that. They hang around. They allow--even encourage--workers to get lazy. They keep demanding higher and higher wages, even when the wages are unreasonable. They make it so you can't fire any member, even when a member needs to be let go. They get a "groupthink" mentality that instead of encouraging the worker and the business to work together, they convince the worker that the business is the "enemy" and is "out to get them". They use inhuman, criminal, and atrocious actions to get whatever they want, and don't care who they hurt in the process.
I'm sure a lot of union guys are offended by the last paragraph. Well, too fucking bad. My brother and my best friend work in the construction business. I've heard firsthand stories of the union guy walking in, sitting down in someone's office, laying a gun on the desk, and saying, "Let's discuss the rework of the current Union contract." I've heard firsthand the stories of a union bus pulling up to a company, drop 50 guys into a lobby where some nice receptionist making just above minimum wage is working, and videotape everything she says. They'll yell, scream, and harass her about the union contracts or lack thereof (like she has any idea about the hiring processes of her company) in order to get her on video saying something innocent like "we're not hiring union workers right now", meaning they aren't hiring anyone, but since they're screaming at her about union workers, she'll throw that one word in there. The unions will then sensationalize that into discrimination in order to get a better deal from the company.
I saw this article on MSNBC the other day. Take a moment to read that please. Now, let's pull some quotes from this article:
"I never had a job as good as this before," said Lynn Morissette, 44, who tracks inventory in the store. "I worked in the daytime. I thought I had a good wage, and I was a shareholder, too, so I could save up some money. I was going to retire here."
Those who did not want a union say organizers harassed them to join. "People signed the cards just to get some peace" from the union organizers, said Noella Langlois, 53, who works in the clothing department. "They thought they would vote against it in a secret vote."
The move sharpened apprehensions in the community over the loss of high-paying union jobs to lower-paying retail jobs. Mayor Tremblay said new, smaller manufacturing and retail concerns will provide new work. But he acknowledged that they are not likely to be at the union wages of $21 to $35 [U.S.] an hour found in the paper and aluminum plants.
"A reasonable union is good. Workers have to live. They have rights," the mayor said. "But maybe our wages were too high."
"We were duped by the union. There was absolutely no need to unionize," said Rejan Lavoie, 40, a single father who took a job as a department manager at Wal-Mart in order to be home in the evenings with his 8-year-old son. He fears he will not find another job with a workable schedule.
This story is very typical. Well, let me take that back, it's not that typical: more often that not, the union wins. But the underhanded tactics...the unreasonable salary demands (no offense to anyone working at Wal Mart, but can you think of anyone working there who really deserves $35 an hour?)...it's what we've come to expect from the modern American union (yes, I realize this is Canada, but they are following our mold).
So, in conclusion, fuck the union. I have no problem with workers unionizing to fight an injustice; anyone who trusts a company to be fair and just with their workers because it's the right thing to do is a fool. But the modern union is lazy, makes ridiculous salary demands, and quite often is downright criminal. They need to go away and return to the castle, but unfortunately, the unions make too much money off their constituents to leave. So they don't.
Now let's not get off on the wrong foot; I'm not anti-union. Unions have played an extremely important part in history, and are definitely needed from time to time in business today. More than anything, the THREAT of unionization is needed in business today. Like the bumper stickers say, unions are the folks who brought us the weekend, and the right to unionize is one of our most cherished rights.
Here's the problems with unions: they don't go away. I see a great union as the White Knight, emerging from the forest--or perhaps the castle--in his armor of purity in order to fight the rampaging ogre who is laying waste to the countryside. Now, here's the difference between a union and the White Knight: when the ogre is dead, he goes away. He returns to his castle, or his forest. He takes off his armor, stays in his castle, and enjoys the peace and prosperity he helped establish.
Unions don't do that. They hang around. They allow--even encourage--workers to get lazy. They keep demanding higher and higher wages, even when the wages are unreasonable. They make it so you can't fire any member, even when a member needs to be let go. They get a "groupthink" mentality that instead of encouraging the worker and the business to work together, they convince the worker that the business is the "enemy" and is "out to get them". They use inhuman, criminal, and atrocious actions to get whatever they want, and don't care who they hurt in the process.
I'm sure a lot of union guys are offended by the last paragraph. Well, too fucking bad. My brother and my best friend work in the construction business. I've heard firsthand stories of the union guy walking in, sitting down in someone's office, laying a gun on the desk, and saying, "Let's discuss the rework of the current Union contract." I've heard firsthand the stories of a union bus pulling up to a company, drop 50 guys into a lobby where some nice receptionist making just above minimum wage is working, and videotape everything she says. They'll yell, scream, and harass her about the union contracts or lack thereof (like she has any idea about the hiring processes of her company) in order to get her on video saying something innocent like "we're not hiring union workers right now", meaning they aren't hiring anyone, but since they're screaming at her about union workers, she'll throw that one word in there. The unions will then sensationalize that into discrimination in order to get a better deal from the company.
I saw this article on MSNBC the other day. Take a moment to read that please. Now, let's pull some quotes from this article:
"I never had a job as good as this before," said Lynn Morissette, 44, who tracks inventory in the store. "I worked in the daytime. I thought I had a good wage, and I was a shareholder, too, so I could save up some money. I was going to retire here."
Those who did not want a union say organizers harassed them to join. "People signed the cards just to get some peace" from the union organizers, said Noella Langlois, 53, who works in the clothing department. "They thought they would vote against it in a secret vote."
The move sharpened apprehensions in the community over the loss of high-paying union jobs to lower-paying retail jobs. Mayor Tremblay said new, smaller manufacturing and retail concerns will provide new work. But he acknowledged that they are not likely to be at the union wages of $21 to $35 [U.S.] an hour found in the paper and aluminum plants.
"A reasonable union is good. Workers have to live. They have rights," the mayor said. "But maybe our wages were too high."
"We were duped by the union. There was absolutely no need to unionize," said Rejan Lavoie, 40, a single father who took a job as a department manager at Wal-Mart in order to be home in the evenings with his 8-year-old son. He fears he will not find another job with a workable schedule.
This story is very typical. Well, let me take that back, it's not that typical: more often that not, the union wins. But the underhanded tactics...the unreasonable salary demands (no offense to anyone working at Wal Mart, but can you think of anyone working there who really deserves $35 an hour?)...it's what we've come to expect from the modern American union (yes, I realize this is Canada, but they are following our mold).
So, in conclusion, fuck the union. I have no problem with workers unionizing to fight an injustice; anyone who trusts a company to be fair and just with their workers because it's the right thing to do is a fool. But the modern union is lazy, makes ridiculous salary demands, and quite often is downright criminal. They need to go away and return to the castle, but unfortunately, the unions make too much money off their constituents to leave. So they don't.
posted by Michael Pondrom at 8:33 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home