Yep. Unions demand better than the fair-market value of their jobs. There are always other people willing to do the jobs, to happily do the jobs, for less money.
A union demands that a worker be paid more for the sole reason of him being a part of a special club. He doesn’t add anything extra over this man over here, who is just as qualified but isn’t in the club, and is willing to do it for less money.
A union, again, is a group of employees that make demands of their employees. When the demand is something like “We’re getting black lung because you don’t provide us with a safe work environment”, then that union is 100% needed, just, and I would back 100% in fixing such a great injustice. But when the demand is for a salary much higher than those not in the club, and a benefit package that makes your services more expensive than they’re literally worth in dollars to the company, then a union is wrong. Unfair to the company. You’re demanding more than your fair-market value, and holding the business hostage over something that the company literally can’t afford to give you.
Unions, like I said, can be very important in some cases. In other cases, they cause bankruptcies. Sorry folks, but this isn’t news. I agree that it’s fucked up that all these people who were making enough to feed their whole family with a job because of the union will now be unemployed. But the truth of the matter is that those good, honest, hard working men and women were making more money than the company could afford to pay them and be profitable. That’s the “fair market value of human assets” I was talking about in my first posts in this thread.
[quote]Now imagine telling a family that lives on $50-60,000 a year that they will make one-half that in six months.
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No need to imagine. We’ll be seeing a lot of it. Like I said, this is the beginning, and as sad as this is, it had to happen. Saying that doesn’t make me cold, I’d venture to say I do more for others than most. It makes me a realist. Those men and women need to go find new jobs. They may make less money, but what they make will be a fair wage as determined by how much money the product they make is worth, and by how many other people are just as qualified and willing to do the work.
These people aren’t the first to lose their jobs, and they won’t be the last. My girlfriend worked for Value City up until earlier this year. Ever heard of them? They’re a close-out style big-box store. Or they were, they were losing money constantly. My girl worked there for 6 and a half years, was a due-paying member of the union and a “team leader”, low-level management. She had great medical. Dental that covered her big bills when she had to have some minor teeth repair, saved her well over a thousand dollars. All you had to do to get the benefits was work there 9 months, and you’re golden. Real great for the workers.
There was a problem though. Value City sucked. Everyone knew it. Their business model worked on such a thin profit margin that it was a miracle they stayed open as long as they did. When they shut down there were people who had worked there for 23 years. They were like a family, a real strong union. With pay much higher than the industry standard for people who did their jobs and weren’t in a union. And damn-near full benefits, for working as stockers, cashiers and customer service. Job that could be learned quickly, and can be performed by practically anyone whose has some basic training.
See where I’m going with this? It sucked, but Value City died because they couldn’t make more money than it cost to run the business. It sucked, lots of people lost their jobs, my girlfriend included. You know what the government did to stop those people from losing their jobs? Nothing. And that’s good!
Unions are bad as often as they are good. This is fact. If someone next door to you will do your job for half the money, and be grateful for the opportunity, then your job is worth half what you’re getting paid. It’s a sad case, no doubt. My heart goes out to the families who are going to have a real shitty Christmas, and possibly a shitty couple of months. But I said it before; Everyone has to find a new job in their life, most of us more than once. It’s not the end of the world.
Put out your resume, apply to different jobs, and do what you half to do. I’m sorry these people are in a shitty spot, but there was fuck-all choice in the matter. Their union was getting them paid more money than their services could earn. They need to go find something else they can do that’s worth more, or they need to live with less money. Calling if unfair doesn’t change the situation, and like I said, we’re all going to be there soon enough.
