Are unions to blame for America's problems?

by flaca BN-0 Posted 2012/05/11 22:18:02

Related Topics: America, 13, Companies, 6, Private

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7 votes
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Loading Demographics... Click an icon to see demographic results Display unknown and private
	Yes, they are to blame	2 votes	29%
	No, they are not to blame	3 votes	43%
	Undecided	2 votes	29%

Unionization in private US companies = 6%
Unionization in public companies around 13%

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GhostRyder 2012/05/13 05:55:24

Undecided

There's enough blame to go around for everyone. I do believe the Unions have outlived their usefulness. When advancement is by seniority only, it stifles initiative.

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DS in Oak Ridge NC 2012/05/11 22:33:57 (edited)

Undecided

+1
Not all, but many fiscal crises lie at the feet of unions - especially public sector ones who negotiate against taxpayers and contribute heavily to their supervisor's campaigns. Life - and business - is not a zero-sum game... but if two sides have totally different expectations, needs or desires, there's a train wreck coming at warp speed.

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flaca BN-0 to DS in O... 2012/05/11 23:13:41

+1
but since the gap is ever widening between the employers and the employees, do the facts bear out what you say? Who's getting the wealth: the employees or the employers?

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bill to flaca BN-0 2012/05/13 06:17:41

+1
People don't go into business to make money for their employees; they go into business to make money for themselves and their families. Employees are not anyone's slaves, if they don't like what they're being paid, they can find a higher-paying job elsewhere, Or guess what?! They can go into business for themselves!

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MadAsHEck to bill 2012/05/13 16:54:40

+1
Gee! What a concept. That sounds like capitalism and a Free Market economy. Which has worked well in the USA for nearly 200 years. But is now under threat in a class warfare battle that in the long run the middle class is losing. Big Business just moves out of the country to avoid Union interferance in their business.

Or hire overseas companies to do the work, and hire non-union employees. Like a Japanese Firm that bought out 3-4 Development companies in Northern Washington, and are now finishing the projects that were halted when the Development companies went bankrupt. And starting new projects. All with Non Union Labor. And a Management team brought in from Japan.

What people do not take into account when they see the huge salaries that CEO's make, is that it is in the same inflated dollars that the Union Workers get. And with about half the buying power for both in reference to a few years ago. Just that the numbers are larger, for both actually.

Teachers that used to make $30 K a year, I know some of them, now make $60 K a year, and still struggle to maintain the same lifestyle. And the Unions want even More for them even in the face of Schools being on the verge of bankruptcy.

In their strictest sense, Unions are a socialist idea, "Spread t...

Gee! What a concept. That sounds like capitalism and a Free Market economy. Which has worked well in the USA for nearly 200 years. But is now under threat in a class warfare battle that in the long run the middle class is losing. Big Business just moves out of the country to avoid Union interferance in their business.

Or hire overseas companies to do the work, and hire non-union employees. Like a Japanese Firm that bought out 3-4 Development companies in Northern Washington, and are now finishing the projects that were halted when the Development companies went bankrupt. And starting new projects. All with Non Union Labor. And a Management team brought in from Japan.

What people do not take into account when they see the huge salaries that CEO's make, is that it is in the same inflated dollars that the Union Workers get. And with about half the buying power for both in reference to a few years ago. Just that the numbers are larger, for both actually.

Teachers that used to make $30 K a year, I know some of them, now make $60 K a year, and still struggle to maintain the same lifestyle. And the Unions want even More for them even in the face of Schools being on the verge of bankruptcy.

In their strictest sense, Unions are a socialist idea, "Spread the Wealth" And have gotten all the laws into place to protect workers, so now are in business just to make money for their own CEO's. Who by the way live very well on the dues that Union Members must pay. The head of the carpenter Union lives a few doors down from Bill Gates for example.
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DJPanicDC 2012/05/11 22:25:51

No, they are not to blame

+1
anyone who looks at a graph of productivity Vs worker wages Vs CEO wages should see planely that the employing class is the issue

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