Unions Seek Government Help to Survive

[carpro]

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200702/NAT20070207b.html

Unions Seek Gov't Help to Boost Record Low Membership

By Randy Hall
CNSNews.com Staff Writer/Editor
February 07, 2007

EXCERPT

(CNSNews.com) - Less than two weeks after a government report showed that the percentage of American workers who are union members has reached a record low, labor leaders Tuesday cheered the introduction of a union-friendly measure in the House as bringing "fresh hope to millions of America's workers."

Introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800) would replace the current system - in which workers vote by secret ballot whether or not to unionize - with a "card check" process that would allow a majority of workers to form a union by simply signing a card or petition to that effect.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney praised the EFCA in a news release, saying it brought "fresh hope to millions of America's workers who desperately want and need the free choice to join or form a union to improve their families' lives."

 

[2 Timothy2:1-4]

How is the current system keeping numbers in unions low?

 

[ASLANSPAL]

Union busting is a multi-billion operation ..playing field is uneven

Labor laws must change they are antiquated and collective bargaining which is very capitalistic in nature ('you get what you negotiate") but the main reason for the unions are facing an unfair and uneven playing field is the multi-billions being paid to union busters.


Strongly suggested reading:



http://www.amazon.com/dp/0517583305/?tag=baptis04-20


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
With compelling vigor and rich detail, Levitt, writing with freelancer Conrow, tells the tale of his rise to union-busting fame from 1969-1988 and his equally dramatic change of heart. Now a consultant advising unions on how to bust the union busters, Levitt says that he is baring his sins both for personal reasons and so that former colleagues will have nothing further with which to discredit him. He portrays himself and his fellow union busters as cynical and contemptuous of workers who try to organize. Using manipulation and propaganda, the busters wear down the union organizers. Levitt's union busters are repulsively slick, preying on the fears and purses of the companies that hire them. The details of Levitt's descent into alcoholism seem prosaic compared to the descriptions of the many union avoidance campaigns he masterminded, even if it was 12-step remorse and humility that provided the motivation for this confessional. His bold story is timely, given current national efforts to reform labor laws.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Levitt writes this autobiographical account of a "union buster" from the perspective of one who now sees that his career was destructive to management, employees, and businesses in general. Levitt began his career in 1969 at the age of 25 with a position as a labor management consultant. By 1987, when he decided he could no longer continue his career, he had orchestrated over 200 antiunion campaigns. Today Levitt speaks to unions to inform them of the tactics he and other management consultants use against labor. Mixed in with his story of union busting are Levitt's problems with alcohol, money, and his marriage. This book is of interest as a first-person account of someone involved in labor conflict and should be considered for large public and academic libraries with labor history collections.
- Linda McEwan, Elgin Community Coll. , Ill.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0517583305/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-3794265-7312958#reader-link

 

[2 Timothy2:1-4]

Being a former union member and because my Father was a union organizer I know first hand that Unions are just as corrupt and greedy as business is. As far as the current system being capitalistic well this is a capital society and things are as they should be. The Unions wish to make all businesses union which is evil and corrupt.

 

[hillclimber1]

Being a former union member and because my Father was a union organizer I know first hand that Unions are just as corrupt and greedy as business is. As far as the current system being capitalistic well this is a capital society and things are as they should be. The Unions wish to make all businesses union which is evil and corrupt.

I disagree with the blanket claim that business is corrupt and greedy. But agree as it pertains to unions.

 

[billwald]

I'd rather work under a union contract than take my chances that a large company will do the right thing. Profits most always comes ahead of safety.

 

[The Galatian]

Unions thrived because workers were so abused they thought they had nothing to lose by joining one. Success brought them down. As they were effective in winning a decent workplace for workers, they succeeded themselves out of business.

A few became abusive and strangled the very businesses from which their members made their livings.

And now, as businesses are increasingly leaning toward abusive behavior toward workers, a new interest in unions is appearing.

It's not a good sign. Unions are a symptom of something sick in society. They are a last resort for workers who feel that they cannot trust their employers to treat them fairly.

 

[hillclimber1]

I haul a product from a manufacturer in southern California, where the forklift drivers earn over $100K a year. They are, of course unionized and the way they talk (freely) about how powerful they are, and how little power management has over them, is an eye opening experience, to say the least. This talk seems all consuming, as it is the subject they always seem to return to.

 

[Terry_Herrington]

I haul a product from a manufacturer in southern California, where the forklift drivers earn over $100K a year. They are, of course unionized and the way they talk (freely) about how powerful they are, and how little power management has over them, is an eye opening experience, to say the least. This talk seems all consuming, as it is the subject they always seem to return to.

You sound jealous that these men make $100,000 dollars a year.

 

[2 Timothy2:1-4]

Unions thrived because workers were so abused they thought they had nothing to lose by joining one. Success brought them down. As they were effective in winning a decent workplace for workers, they succeeded themselves out of business.

A few became abusive and strangled the very businesses from which their members made their livings.

And now, as businesses are increasingly leaning toward abusive behavior toward workers, a new interest in unions is appearing.

It's not a good sign. Unions are a symptom of something sick in society. They are a last resort for workers who feel that they cannot trust their employers to treat them fairly.

Personally knowing so many folks in unions fear of unfair treatment is not the motivation for joining. Having watched the planing meetings of a particular union and the aflcio I can say that there is consistent targeted plans to secretly spend large amounts of tme and money on recruiting those who need to be talked into joining a union. The individual unions and the aflcio plan to squash non union competition especialy when it comes to bidding on government jobs. So they woo non union employees for sometimes months at a time. You would think they were fotball recruiters. Once they win over one non union employee ina nonunion company they use that individual to gain more recriuts until they can secretly obtain enough willing to hold their tongue longue enough to surprise the non union company owner. This can take as long as a year.

Most people who want to join a union go to existing union halls to get employment wuth existing union companies. So many of the non union employees are dead against unions. They are seen by them as lazy. this is a result of the difficulties union companies have in firing employees. It is almost impossible. No matter what a union employee does the union rep will fight for his job.

The aflcio couldnt be more political. They are as corrupt as any politician. thye are all about politics.

 

[billwald]

If all unions are evil then why do they exist in "right to work" (scab) states?

 

[Daisy]

My experience with unions is that although they do tend to be corrupt, some a lot more than others, the workplace conditions and benefits were superior to places without one.

 

[ASLANSPAL]

Working men and women need help a principle from Proverbs

Two are better than one,because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! 12b A cord of 3 strands is not easily broken

My interpretation: Their is safety and collective capitalistic bargaining in numbers. "You get what you negotiate".

Rep. George Miller


Keith Ludlum tells a story that will make your blood boil.

Ludlum, a veteran of the first Gulf War, returned home to North Carolina in 1993 to look for a job. He got one at a Smithfield food processing plant in Tar Heel, where he quickly found working conditions to be dangerous and, as he puts it, "inhumane."



Ludlum tells of an older worker at the plant who "broke his leg on the job when it was pinned between an electric pallet jack and a concrete wall." Ludlum was dismayed when his coworker was back at the plant the day after his accident, with a "full leg cast and using crutches."

It turns out that as long as his coworker didn't miss a full day of work, Smithfield could avoid reporting the injury to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

For weeks, Ludlum's coworker hobbled into the plant on his crutches. When Ludlum asked his supervisors if they could assign the man a parking space closer to the door, they told him the spots were reserved for managers.

With that, Ludlum decided that he had had enough of the plant's awful working conditions and the supervisors' abuse. So he did what many workers do - he tried to form a union. And for that, Smithfield fired him. It took him 12 years of litigation to get his job back.

It is a fundamental right of workers to be able to join together to bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. Yet all too often - indeed, in thousands of cases in the U.S. each year - employers deny workers that right.

Our broken union election system allows employers to harass, intimidate, reassign, and fire workers who support a union. This week, I introduced legislation that would enable workers to make a free and fair choice about whether to form a union. The Employee Free Choice Act is simple: it says that when a majority of workers sign cards authorizing a union, they get one, period.

The Bush administration is spending lives and dollars to try to bring democracy to other countries. It's time we had a little democracy in workplaces here at home.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-george-miller/making-it-easier-to-form-_b_40763.html

 

[saturneptune]

I disagree with the blanket claim that business is corrupt and greedy. But agree as it pertains to unions.

Business is more honest than unions? Please, has common sense left this nation. Yes, some unions are corrupt, and some business management is also corrupt as we have seen in the scandles over the past several years, the ones who raid people's pensions. Human nature is human nature (greed) regardless of what you call the organization. It is beyond me where your logic comes from.

 

[hillclimber1]

You sound jealous that these men make $100,000 dollars a year.

Men and women, and jealousness never entered my mind. I'm fairly compensated for my services, and am grateful for all I have. But I do thank you Terry, for your concern for my spiritual well being.

 

[hillclimber1]

Business is more honest than unions? Please, has common sense left this nation. Yes, some unions are corrupt, and some business management is also corrupt as we have seen in the scandles over the past several years, the ones who raid people's pensions. Human nature is human nature (greed) regardless of what you call the organization. It is beyond me where your logic comes from.

Well of course it is.

 

[saturneptune]

Well of course it is.

Since there is no logic to it. What are your qualifications to say unions are more corrupt than corporate management? Part of my job is to be a neutral party in disputes between management and employee government groups before the situation goes to the NLRB or a redress procedure. Both sides are disengenuous at times, but both sides bargain in good faith at times. You have to be versed in Labor Law, FLSA, OSHA, local contracts, local safety issues, FMLA, and government regulations. Both sides are about the same in honesty. Now, where do you get your conclusion from?

 

[Terry_Herrington]

Men and women, and jealousness never entered my mind. I'm fairly compensated for my services, and am grateful for all I have. But I do thank you Terry, for your concern for my spiritual well being.

Exactly what in my post makes you think I am concerned about your spiritual well-being? It's your physical callousness I'm more concerned with.

 

[hillclimber1]

Exactly what in my post makes you think I am concerned about your spiritual well-being? It's your physical callousness I'm more concerned with.

Oh, you mean your statement, "You sound jealous that these men make $100,000 dollars a year" was not intended to point out the possibility that I may be guilty of the sin of jealousy? Well then perhaps you had another reason, because "physical callousness" is not an appropriate or applicable term.

But I suppose your concern for that, though not logical, is commendable. It's nice to know someone cares.

 

[hillclimber1]

Since there is no logic to it. What are your qualifications to say unions are more corrupt than corporate management? Part of my job is to be a neutral party in disputes between management and employee government groups before the situation goes to the NLRB or a redress procedure. Both sides are disengenuous at times, but both sides bargain in good faith at times. You have to be versed in Labor Law, FLSA, OSHA, local contracts, local safety issues, FMLA, and government regulations. Both sides are about the same in honesty. Now, where do you get your conclusion from?

Observations over many years of watching union members who are friends and family, that have grossly distorted viewpoints over their relationship with their employers. They, to a man, are concerned with "what's in it for me" and not, "what can I do to help my employer be successful." I've worked under both, and learned to hate unions.

I believe in a free market, the workers and management should have a cordial, free exchange of ideas. Under this system, the better the worker facilitates the accomplishment of his designated task, the better the Co. will prosper and the better the worker will be treated.

One of the best jobs I ever had was in a plywood mill in the 70's. No union, and the place was bristling with innovative procedures and in house designed equipment and machinery, and it was the encouragement of management for the free exchange of ideas that made that mill a model that had people from all over the world visiting.

You can keep your Union and I'll work elsewhere. Unions foster greed and avarice. And that is sin.