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GinAndTonic Got Stuck in the Barney (and the greys)Hamilton Nolan
1/28/16 3:14pm
I’m a union member and shop steward in a professional job in the private sector, and I am SO grateful for it. My union is strong and holds enough sway to actually effect change in my company- we’ve prevented full-time jobs from being eliminated in favor of contracting, we negotiate pay and benefits, and we are enabled to speak up for ourselves and our work without fear. Everyone should be so lucky. Generally, people who are anti-union are either the Powers That Be, who, for obvious reasons, want to limit the ability of their workers to advocate for themselves, or the very kind of people who would stand to benefit the most from being in a union, i.e. low- to middle-income working-class people.
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  DolemiteGinAndTonic Got Stuck in the Barney (and the greys)
  1/28/16 3:53pm
  The way I see it, corporate interests work in collusion with each other and local, state and federal governments in order to get what they want. They use massive bargaining power to keep wages low, remove benefits, and get more and more professional jobs classified as “exempt from overtime pay”. I’ve got no problem at all if any profession forms a union to protect employees from the collaborative efforts of corporate interests and the government those corporations have paid off. The only reason so many people are against unions is they see their pay languishing at $10 an hour, and say “what, that guy gets paid $20 to do X?” That person probably should be making $20 an hour too, not trying to tear the other guy down to $10 an hour.
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  GinAndTonic Got Stuck in the Barney (and the greys)Dolemite
  1/28/16 3:56pm
  Yes! That’s also part of it.
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Ed SpockHamilton Nolan
1/28/16 3:15pm
Thank God.

The last thing America needs are people having the ability join groups to stand and fight against large corporations and government. This goes against everything the country was founded on.

We’ve seen time and time again that anti-union forces like Wal-Mart and people like Rick Snyder and the Koch Brothers only care about the welfare of working Americans and they will do ANYTHING to assure they maintain a high standard of living.

Of course most people who hate unions are too stupid to see that the government that oppresses unions is, itself, the biggest union around....But no one ever went broke overestimating the intelligence of the American voter.
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  clickSuckaEd Spock
  1/28/16 4:37pm
  True that unions are against the principle reason this country was founded upon; protecting the oppulent.
  
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  Ed SpockclickSucka
  1/28/16 4:42pm
  Yep because those teachers and firefighters are just laughing at everyone in their gold plated flying cars.
  
  Funny how union busters who want to stop the oppulent (sic) from being protected, are often the ones who have a conniption whenever the idea of having someone only be worth $500 million instead of $750 million, because they should pay higher taxes, is mentioned.
  
  I hear you man. People forming a group to try and stand up against an entity that wants to do everything in their power to keep them passive and poor. That’s is NOTHING like the factors that led to the American Revolution.
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KepItoopHamilton Nolan
1/28/16 3:00pm
Why not just rename Gawker, “Liberal Propaganda” and be done with it?
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  Hamilton NolanKepItoop
  1/28/16 3:05pm
  too many letters
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  CoffeeSnobKepItoop
  1/28/16 3:08pm
  Why read Gawker if you’re clearly more of a “Blaze” or “Breibart” type guy/gal?
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JustGawkinHamilton Nolan
1/28/16 3:02pm
In general, people chose small business ownership over unions. Sorry for unions but no one ever said they would be eternal.
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  IanJustGawkin
  1/28/16 3:07pm
  Also:
  
  A.) No one ever said they *wouldn’t* be eternal.
  
  B.) How do you personally feel about unions, in general?
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  Sid and FinancyJustGawkin
  1/28/16 3:07pm
  I’m glad you pointed this out. Not a lot of people recognize that 88.9% of the labor force consists of Chick-fil-A franchisees.
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The Devil Drives a Mustang (Rotary Pending)Hamilton Nolan
1/28/16 3:07pm
These are closely correlated to politics—the least-unionized states are all “Right to Work” states.

Well, I will give you a thumbs up for linking to the National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation for that definition. You are strongly pro-union, but it’s awfully sporting of you to give the other side a small nod.
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  burps25The Devil Drives a Mustang (Rotary Pending)
  1/28/16 3:12pm
  pro-union, unless it’s the police union.
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  EatTheCheeseNicholsonburps25
  1/28/16 3:18pm
  Police unions can bite it https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/01/the-ba…
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IanHamilton Nolan
1/28/16 3:04pm
“The more education you have, the more likely you are to belong to a union.”

Not that I’m denying this, but I’d like to see the data that led to this conclusion, as well as see a breakdown of the unions that these people belong to.
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  ARP2Ian
  1/28/16 3:20pm
  I’m guessing its a rough curve going upward until a BA/BS degree and then will slope back down, not a straight upward line.
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chaoz2030Hamilton Nolan
1/28/16 3:28pm
Ive worked for 4 companies that threatened to close up their doors if we unionized. They didnt say it directly mind you but the bosses let you know. One of those companies La-z-boy made good on the promise. Two months after we unionized I lost my job. So i understand why we need unions and believe me i want to be in a union. But its not like i can go to work and say “I feel like being in a union today.” Even talking about unionizing will get you fired ( they wont put that down as the reason mind you) or stuck in ypur current position permanently. So what exactly are you supposed to do?
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asdfoasdkjflaksdjflkHamilton Nolan
1/28/16 2:59pm
The education numbers are completely thrown off by the teachers union.
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  Petehammerasdfoasdkjflaksdjflk
  1/28/16 3:05pm
  Yeah, I saw that casually tossed off and it didn’t make sense. College professors, doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc... generally speaking aren’t unionized. It is a misleading statistic and, one might say, the exact opposite of what a person might experience in the market (lower paid, lower skilled jobs are unionized outside of the public sector).
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nopunin10didHamilton Nolan
1/28/16 4:30pm
Unions have to evolve. Waiting for the grand day when governments that have become increasingly pro-employer will reverse that course just doesn’t seem like a winning strategy.

For states with right-to-work laws, it’s time to stop negotiating for the rights of every worker and start negotiating for its members instead. A number of unions already do this, and their industries end up with two tiers of employees with two different sets of wage/benefit rules.

It gets rid of the free rider problem and creates an incentive for greater union membership in environments where mandating that membership is no longer possible.

If states are right-to-work but require still require unions to negotiate on behalf of all workers, it’s time to sue the state. That combination of laws is grossly unfair, and states need to be held accountable for that.
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Ed SpockHamilton Nolan
1/28/16 3:27pm
I’m all for Right to Work where a person can get the benefits of a union without having to pay money to be a part of it.

On a similar note I’m looking forward for a Right to Live law being passed in a similar where, if I decide to, I can opt out of paying taxes but still enjoy all the benefits that the taxes paid by others bring to me.

So just to clarify.....I want to enjoy the benefits of being a US citizen, but I don’t want to have to pay anything for it and not really even have to be one if I don’t to.

Sounds good to me.
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