union onions

I’m having a hard time sympathizing with the health employees strike.

I don’t pretend to have a clear picture of the issues, and I can’t claim to have taken an in-depth look at both sides of the story, but I don’t think I really need to when what it comes down to for me is a bunch of people getting paid $25 an hour to make burgers or mop floors, and wanting more.

It’s hard for me, because knowing what I do of history I have always backed unions. We need strong representation to fight back against the Pinkertons of this world. Did you know that before unions employees were required to spend up to a third of their income at the company store? Before unions employees could be fired on a whim, or be forced to work 18 hour days.

Without unions the industrial revolution would have ground us all into meat.

Somewhere along the way though, we lost the plot. Union employees make at least twice as much for doing the equivalent work of their non-union peers. That’s great for them, but it means companies have to charge more to show shareholders the same profits they could be making through a non-union workplace. Through that narrow view we have unions to thank for rising prices on everything from cars to cardboard.

What I’d like to see is a blanket restructuring of the power of unions. Force arbitration first, and if the arbitrator agrees that the employer is being unreasonable then by all means strike. I’m getting tired of unions throwing their weight around in knee-jerk bullying. And it looks like both the government and the general public are getting tired too. That will mean big trouble for unions in general. They could end up losing power.

I’ve got two main problems with unions that I’d like to see addressed. One I’ve already mentioned- union employees, simply because they have representation, are making twice as much for the same level of responsibility as non-union folk. Or three times as much. That needs to change. Parity, people. Parity. I live in the same world you do.

The other problem is job security. How many stories have you heard where the person least qualified for a position is given the promotion for no better reason than they’ve been there long enough? Unions reward plodders. Clock punchers. If you do nothing more than fill your job description you can rise through the ranks on the wave of your mediocrity. And if your attitude sucks employers have to make a serious effort to get you out of the way so people who actually care about their job and want to excel can get by your plodding ass. They can’t even discipline an employee. The union will take care of it. Unions drop the ball when they protect slobs.

I’m still pro-union. I have to be. Corporations aren’t getting any smaller and without representation we’re nothing but cogs in the wheel.

But right now I feel like unions in general could use a swift kick in the ass.