What's new
By:

Good Article on the Impending Lockout by David Aldridge

green said:
No kidding. I am currently buying a business and part of buying that business includes the employees give up their retirement matching and take pay cuts. "No other business has that kind of arrangement." LOL. That's the problem with most of these writers and politicians. None of them have ever held a job other than teacher, or writer or politician. They have no clue what the real world is like. Another reason I am completely dead against unions. Those statements are ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I can see why you are against unions: so you can remove retirement contributions and make pay cuts. That is why I am against owners like you. Selfish and blind.
 
kwb said:
Not sure what type of stats could be used. Maybe FT %, assists, rebounds. Reasonable stats that wouldn't take away from the game. Have a base for each position, centers for rebounds, PG's for assists etc...
Click to expand...

...Professional Golf is the only sport where players get paid on a weekly basis that depends on their actual performance. Don't know that it would or could work in the NBA, MLB, or NFL. HOWEVER, no matter what stats these guys are producing, they are ALL way overpaid and the salaries need to be cut down drastically, before we all start puking our guts out!
 
zman1527 said:
Yeah, I can see why you are against unions: so you can remove retirement contributions and make pay cuts. That is why I am against owners like you. Selfish and blind.
Click to expand...

That's alright. I won't buy the business and it will go under and they will all be unemployed. Your way is so much better now. Why don't you become the selfish and blind one and go out and contribute? Go get your own business, and give all your profits to your employees. Let me know how it goes.

There is a reason the business is for sale and that is because it is unprofitable. I am trying to fix it. That means sacrifices from everyone. I give up hours spent at home in hopes of turning it around and making more money. The employees give up matching and take a pay cut in hopes that they keep their job and someday we can get back to that level. I take damn good care of my employees, but if the business is in the red, it hurts everybody. Take a big picture look at things.
 
I know this would never happen, but here is my radical solution. If the owners go to a lockout, nationalize the NBA. Declare this league of serious national interest and that the owners are abusing their fans and the league in an unacceptable manner. These ultra-rich boys can go invest in oil wells or soybean futures where no one cares what they do. Taking away the NBA for a year so they can maybe add to their fortunes is unacceptable. These teams are of much more personal interest to fans than the local gas station or grocery store.

Next, make it one business entity. Sell the individual teams to the cities that have them as franchises of the business and let the cities run them. Heck you could even elect coaches and managers in local elections.

Here is the good part: since it is one business, you can contract with the players at that level with no competition. I say then make every game winner take all. That's right, no guaranteed money except a small living salary and the winner of each game takes all the dough that night. Wouldn't that be better than handing some 19 year 20 million just because you hope he will play well in 5 years? Let him earn his bucks in 5 years by winning games.

Of course some money would be reserved for the playoffs and championships. Revenue would be shared evenly on to all teams. No more advantages to the big cities making it a fairer and more competitive league.

Forward Comrades! LOL.
 
You do realize that retirement, health insurence and other benefits made available in the work place came about due to goverment intervention in the work place. During a time of wage fixing companies needed ways to entice the best workers. So since they couldnt change salary, they started giving other benefits. Soon everyone had to have benefits to be competative.

Not all unions are bad, and not all buisnesses are bad. But the free market has been so messed with, that there are few options. If someone wants a full time employee, the employee has to take on more costs due to mandated benefits. This limites the willingness to hire. Since the employer has some control on wage, but little control on benefit costs. So most employers will put off the risk untill they are sure they can make up the difference in productivity.

Now in the NBA if they had some kind of partially garenteed contract, It would cover the players and teams. Say have a 2 year set salary and 2-3 year nagosiable salary. With performance expectations writen in the second part that would dictate the salary going forward. or have a restricted free agent type situation after that.
 
50-50 split of the $4 billion alone would mean $2 billion apiece for the players and owners, a net loss of $280 million in salaries for the players -- and, really, a net gain of $560 million for the owners, since they would pocket the $280 million from the players and, in turn, not have to pay that additional $280 million out.
Click to expand...
Making $280 mln out of nowhere. I can't believe Aldridge is so dumb.
 
The idea that the only reason companies treat their employees with any kind of respect being solely due to unions is so antiquated it isn't funny. Fact is unions have been on the decline in a serious way in America for the past 40 years, yet the standard of living has steadily been increasing. At it's peak, about 40% of americans work in unionized jobs, while now it barely tops 10%.
 
What I would love to see is having guaranteed only 50-70% of the player contracts and the rest is paid depending on team results, not personal.
 
Incentives would be a good thing for the CBA. Get paid so much if you play X amount of games, points,assist,etc.
 
LogGrad98 said:
The idea that the only reason companies treat their employees with any kind of respect being solely due to unions is so antiquated it isn't funny. Fact is unions have been on the decline in a serious way in America for the past 40 years, yet the standard of living has steadily been increasing. At it's peak, about 40% of americans work in unionized jobs, while now it barely tops 10%.
Click to expand...

Unions may be declining but they're role in raising the standards of workers cannot be denied. Unions were important in raising social consciousness about the plight of workers and need for decent wages, fair treatment, etc., etc. and creating vital countervailing power that forced corporations to pay decent wages and treat people like more than refuse. This helped lead in turn to changes in social and economic mores and institutions. To the extent unions are less relevant today, this is due in part to their past effectiveness.

Anyone who has understands anything about the industrial revolution understands why unions were absolutely essential. Anyone who further believes that without countervailing power by labor and continued public vigilance that corporations will treat workers with due dignity and is ignorant of history, human nature, and the nature of capitalism. (Read up on the industrial revolution and see what happens when corporations are unregulated and have no countervailing power. For those of you out there prone to knee jerk reductionism, no I'm not advocating 'socialism')

Sure unions can be corrupt, inefficient, etc. But even today they serve a critical if diminished role.

This is complex topic but since I'm on iPhone it's hard to write essay on it. I hope you get idea.
 
Last edited:
I think Unions were amazing...when they were needed. They are not needed anymore. Every positive you listed above can easily be taken care of in a better way. Unions are no longer necessary. They no longer bring anything of any worth to the table. Unions are around to keep union reps employed. That's it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page
Back
Top