Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Tennessee auto workers reject union

Not necessarily so with smaller locals in my years of experience with the UAW. The UAW is a fine 'fair weather friend' to the smaller locals as long as they don't rock the UAW's boat and they continue to feed their dues into the international's coffers. If they dare to challenge the UAW's actions/decisions they can quickly wind up the proverbial 'red-headed step-child' dumped on the side of the road out in the cold.

http://www.labornet.org/news/0904/grndhog.htm

Seen it when Delphi (Nexteer) was sold to the Chinese. The Chinese agreed to allow the UAW to be the bargaining unit for Nexteer and continue running manufacturing in the U.S. IF the UAW secured a consessionarry contract from the employees. The first vote failed, the UAW explained to the employees that the Chinese were serious about the plants closing and then held a second vote (which was illegal...) which passed. Jobs aren't plentiful around here for semi-skilled labor, the choice is either take a pay cut or starve. Welcome to the global manufacturing world.

Actually the union I belonged to had a contract with the employer, so the union is the employment contractor for the company, I worked for that contractor. We negotiated with the employer to look after our pay, deductions, administer benefits etc. Over the years I volunteered allot of time to help my brothers and sisters in the areas of safety, apprenticeships, and running of the local. Positive changes were made over the years, the younger people are taking the reins now and will do a good job. With out constant maintenance we will be back to the 'good ole days'.

Union blocs keep voting Dem in droves and the jobs keep going elsewhere....Bruce Springsteen keeps up his Boss status with songs about it.

Must be the Tea Party's fault....

Points to ponder.

First, as a family that owns/runs small businesses, I'd bet most posting here have never run a business. What most see is the end result of years of hard work and sacrifice. From a principled viewpoint, I object to being told what I pay people. The market bears what people are worth. If you don't like making $5/hour than you happen to be living in the exact right country. Do something to make your market value worthy of more money. Forcing an employer to pay a higher rate than what the market can bear is suicide for the business. Corporate salaries have grown extravagant but they make up a relatively small percentage of a typical medium/large business bottom line. Divide a $10 million executive bonus by 1000 employees, size of a small business, and that works out to $10,000 a year. Divide $10 mil by 5000 people and you end up with $2000/year. I'd suggest the issue isn't with executive salaries. Take the same 1000 - 5000 people and force the employer to pay them 10-30% more than what the market forces dictate. 1000 people at an extra $5/hr is $10.4 mil/year extra, 5000 people at $5/hr is $52 mil/year. The math only gets worse the higher the wage discrepancy.

Second, a philosophical point to make: if a skill set is worth $X an hour, why do we need a labor union to bargain for us? In theory, we should be able to get that wage without union representation. In this day/age of mobility, why would I feel obligated to work for a wage I didn't want?

Third: There is always more to the story than is commonly or collectively 'known'. A multitude of factors contributed to Detroit - or the Pittsburgh steel industry, or US manufacturing or any other example. Paying people more than their skill set is worth is a common factor to all these examples. People needn't spend their entire life flipping burgers, or digging ditches, or picking fruit, or cleaning bathrooms - or any other menial labor job. Not everybody is cut out for college, but skilled labor pays more than many college degrees. Bottom line: do something to bring your market worth up to the standard of living you desire. Sitting on your ass and demanding $X an hour isn't the way to do it. Many examples exist that this business model doesn't work. Opportunity still abounds in this country for those willing to pick up the ball.

I get the role of labor unions in the 20th century and the mentality of employers in those days - they were greedy. With all the laws and Regs on the books today to combat those practices of long ago, I fail to see the need for a union. I've belonged to several and never felt right about them. I paid for a union card while in college to work for the summer in NYC on a big construction project. Cost me $500 in 1986. I made $10,000 that summer basically being a laborer. There is something inherently wrong with that model. I'd guess I'm about to hear numerous stories of greedy employers that would, and have, required employees to do all sorts of things to retain their employment. I've left more than one job because I didn't agree with work conditions in one form or another. I've seen first hand, in several instances, the workings of unions. I'll continue to rely on my own abilities to get me a fair wage. Its only been working that way for me for 35+ years. I don't see a need to change now. For all their supposed good, I have experience with several unions and believe the bad far outweighs the good. Their role as a repository of quality skilled labor is the sole redeeming quality I see. Other than that, I'll pass.