Do you think we should keep Unions in the United States? I know there are bad's to it as well as good's, but that is true for everything. But do the bad's outweigh the good's or is it the other way around?
It depends on if you are talking a private sector, or public sector union. Private sector unions are limited because too many demands will kill the company. Public sector union negotiate their wages and benefits with politicians. Politicians that, at least in California, are elected by a combination of union funded campaign contributions, and negative campaigns against their challenger. The demands are limited only by killing the state....
Outside of the law, it seemed there should be a party of group that ensured that neither side did not employ any flexible measures in trying to take advantage of or abuse the other. There's plenty of evidence that shows how these things are done legally. The company will always be able to defend itself from un-fair abuse. But I don't think the workers, without a union, have any sought of way to protect themselves.
Do unions really protect the employee? How does a union reward a superstar? Why does the union protect a long term employee that has decided to stop producing? What effect does that inaction have on the employees that have to carry thier load?
I'm not sure it's the duty of a Union to reward people based on the work they do. That is the employers area. But an employer should also be able to penalize or discharge non-productive workers. Believe me, I wish the Teacher's union were dipped in acid and a new one made with better regulations on how to deal with that kind of problem. Offhand, I would say that an employer certainly can fire a non-producer, but he has to be able to prove it. If Unions like the Teacher's Union don't do this or obstruct it, they should be disbanded. But that doesn't mean totally do away with Unions though, right?
IMHO, the really bad thing about unions is that they cause an us vs. them mentality in the workplace. Everybody would be happier and more productive if they realized that the workplace benefits all of us--both the owners and the workers.
Yeah, I can see what you mean. IIn either case, when I thought about it, in this day and age, it's too easy for a Union to be sabotaged or undermined with restrictive or impotent legislation, and my faith is shattered in the concept of an impartial third party. But still, I think there should be some kind of protection for employees other than the employers good faith. There are a lot of places where workers get abused and used borderline illegally because they have no representation. It's not like the Unions are the only bad guys on the field.
The union has to do that, it is what convinces people to pay the dues. Unfortunately, there are some companies that don't take much convincing....
Unions are fine...government run unions are not. It used to be that big unions would intimidate people who didn't join the union with them. When that became illegal, unions figured that it would be MUCH easier to just get a law passed that forced people to pay union dues. This has created union monopolies in a few fields (education is the best example of a TERRIBLE union). If governments were not allowed to force people to join unions, I am perfectly ok, and in fact courage, laborers to unionize. Unions should really only be for professions where skill doesn't matter a whole lot. If you are a factory worker, or a steel worker or something like that, I could understand starting a union where you could collectively bargain for better wages. Teaching, however, is a job where skill matters a lot (there are good teachers, and bad teachers that can clearly be distinguished). So if you are forced to join a teachers union, and then that union takes your money and spends it trying to defend bad teachers, I get frustrated. It makes me more frustrated when the government takes your money directly out of your paycheck and spends it on defending bad teachers. Teachers unions are so evil and unethical (in my opinion), that they need to dismantle all of them. I feel strongly about them in particular because I REALLY want to be a teacher when I grow up.
Unions are the result of the us vs them mentality created by capitalism, they didn't spring out of nowhere.
Unions as an ideal are OK, in practice they have every incentive to buy government favor to protect their industry and keep competition to their workers out. Union truckers will always fight someone else's right to also pursue that living outside of the union etc... They need not do it for the protection of their members, or even need the strength of their members if they get government power. The American Medical Association has many union like functions, and few members. But thanks to government power they get involved in limiting the number of doctors this country produces, and who can perform what procedures in what can only be described as protectionism - which is what unions do. In an effort to do what? Keep medical costs artificially high? Of course! That is what these organizations do, they protect their people against free market forces that would reduce costs. What they do not do, is help the patient, the country at large, or people trying to enter the workforce.
