green
Well-Known Member
I don't want to get dragged into a stupid argument with ideologues, so I'll keep this short.
There are benefits to organized labor that some choose to ignore. I worked in a union sheet metal shop for a little while, and it wasn't a coincidence that local businesses turned to us when they needed high quality, custom work (especially if they had stainless steel jobs). There were plenty of non-union shops to choose from, but they mostly did ****ty, low-skill work around town (we got plenty of calls to fix their mistakes when ignorant business owners hired these shops to do more intricate work).
This is largely due to economies of scale created by organized labor. With all the union shops in the area pooling resources to train their new employees, we were much more proficient. Further, with a more rigorous screening process to enter an apprenticeship, and a more honest, cooperative workplace (along with great benefits creating an incentive to work hard), good people were hired and stayed on.
Does it work this way all the time? Of course not, but organized labor isn't the cosa nostra in all cases either.
I'm going to go out on a limb and assume green doesn't have nearly the same misgivings about the ridiculous amount of collusion among business owners and executives.
There is nothing wrong with that. I have no problem with people who do a better job getting paid more. It is what America is. The problem is to accomplish what you described, you argue that unions are the only way. This is not true. If there were no unions, you could still go out, make a name for yourself, charge more for better work and be wildly successful. You don't need a union to do this. My problem is the union forcing themselves on the market which drives up costs for everyone and artificially inflates the market.
Unions are very anti-capatalistic and very monopolistic. Look at education. Our quality of teacher has fallen because there is a monopoly on teachers and the unions control the monopoly. Instead of taking advanced math, science and English courses, our teachers in training are taking "how to make a fat kid not feel bad about being fat but instead blame republicans" courses.