UNIONS Good or Bad for this Country ???

[uscitizen]

remove the unions from politics....

Yep as soon as corporations are removed from politics.

At least union money is US money and not from foreign corporations.

Not so fast...

According to financial reports filed with the Labor Department -- and available online -- unions received at least $46 million from foreign sources in 2008 alone.

Link

thanks for the info, I was not aware that unions as well as corporations funneled foreign money into politics.
The article was however very vague as to how it was done and where he got his figures.

And...

"(Kevin Hassett, director of economic-policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, is a Bloomberg News columnist. He was an adviser to Republican Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. The opinions expressed are his own.)"

A blog.

 

[Dr.House]

Yep as soon as corporations are removed from politics.

At least union money is US money and not from foreign corporations.

Not so fast...

According to financial reports filed with the Labor Department -- and available online -- unions received at least $46 million from foreign sources in 2008 alone.

Link

thanks for the info, I was not aware that unions as well as corporations funneled foreign money into politics.
The article was however very vague as to how it was done and where he got his figures.

And...

"(Kevin Hassett, director of economic-policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, is a Bloomberg News columnist. He was an adviser to Republican Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. The opinions expressed are his own.)"

A blog.

There's lots of information on Algore's interwebs about how unions accept foreign monies...

An informed poster will seek out these sources....

 

[rdean]

What is wrong with you people? Only 7.5% of all working Americans in private industry belong to unions. That's 7500 out of 100,000 workers. That's TINY.

 

[uscitizen]

What is wrong with you people? Only 7.5% of all working Americans in private industry belong to unions. That's 7500 out of 100,000 workers. That's TINY.

Hating unions and PBS is a matter of principle with the right wing.

 

[Oddball]

Unions are a function of pure capitalism. I don't know what makes any of you think you have the right to tell labor they can't organize. Shame on you.

Public Employee Unions have absolutely NOTHING to do with Capitalism.

They negotiate with career politicians who are not the ones to foot the bill.

Another post...in which you show..for the listening audience..you know very little about economics or government.

Oh please, enlighten us all.

 

[Dr.House]

Hating unions and PBS is a matter of principle with the right wing.

generalizations and broad-brushing is fun...!!

 

[Flopper]

There are some things that unions have caused to happen that were really a good thing for the country. Just to mention a few, i.e., 40 hour work week, no child labor, safer working conditions, holiday pay, etc. They things happened years ago. These days, unions demand high wages, everything under the sun you can mention and you can't fire a worthless employee without a whole lot of troubles - even one that shouldn't be working because of poor performance. My opinion is that unions don't do anything but promote leeches that suck the blood out of a business and if allowed, kill the ability of states to do reasonable things with their budgets. I say outlaw all unions and let the greedy bastards live like the rest of us. Another thing that really pisses me off is that everybody I know that is a union member is quick to tell you what he will not do but very few of them pipe up and tell you what they will do. They tend to be self-centered assholes and you can pick them out of any crowd. Fuck a bunch of union bastards.

Today, minimizing cost means minimizing labor costs. Without unions and the influence they have on industries and government, there would be a lot less jobs. One might applaud this, knowing that eliminating marginal workers and jobs, and paying salaries more completive with foreign labor will produce higher profits for shareholders, cheaper and better products. So what's not like? We have always assumed that redundant labor would be absorbed somewhere or they would be retrained to do other jobs but those jobs are just not there anymore. A 40 year old drill press operating with a 10th grade education is not going to make it as an accountant or an electrical engineer. Unions can not solve the problem but they can slow the process down to give us time to adjust to a world where half the workforce is redundant.

I believe the more serious problem is the shrinking middle class. Changes in tax structure and improved mobility of the middle class has made it possible for the upper middle to move up. At the same time the weakening of unions, automation, and foreign competition is pushing the lower end of the middle class into poverty. It's no longer an exaggeration to say that middle-class Americans are an endangered species.

“Upper classes are a nation's past; the middle class is its future.” - Ayn Rand

 

[rdean]

What is wrong with you people? Only 7.5% of all working Americans in private industry belong to unions. That's 7500 out of 100,000 workers. That's TINY.

Hating unions and PBS is a matter of principle with the right wing.

Oh, that's right. Sorry. I forgot.

 

[rdean]

Hating unions and PBS is a matter of principle with the right wing.

generalizations and broad-brushing is fun...!!

Especially if it's true.

 

[hortysir]

What is wrong with you people? Only 7.5% of all working Americans in private industry belong to unions. That's 7500 out of 100,000 workers. That's TINY.

Well here's a list of union-made vehicles.
http://www.uaw.org/sites/default/files/12_30VehicleGuide-101015.pdf

I'd say that this list represents more than 7.5% of cars sold in America

 

[American I Am]

Have any of you had family members work in coal mines back in the early 1900's before there were Union mines? Let me tell You something. My son is one of the hardest workers I know. He works for a non-union coal mine, he hasn't had but 3 days of in over two months, he's working 10 hour days, he's so tired that he's punch drunk. He needs a job so he says NOTHING for fear of losing his job. He has NO LIFE other than that blasted coal mine. At this rate he will be wore out within years. Not only that but I would believe that it is extremely dangerous situation for all miners involved to be this tired. I kid you not when I tell you, he works, he eats, he sleeps and then it all starts over again, so go ahead and tell my how great it is to have NO ONE representing your interests or your health as an employee!!!! Maybe you all should read about the mining industry, the steel mills, the car plants and how great they were as Employers before the Unions. And would someone explain to me again why we don't need representation in some form? You have MSHA (what a joke), this is a Gov't agency supposedly looking out for miners, and I don't see them doing a dang gone thing about non-union Coal miners working these long hours without days off. And you presume to tell me how Gov't labor laws and so on, and so forth are protecting us, and thats why we don't need Unions. WHAT A JOKE!!!! How about Truck drivers working 14hr days, and driving for 11 of them day in and day out, sure wish we had the Teamsters back to protect their rights, but yeah thats right, what Teamsters. Stupid Stupid People, we deserve everything we get as a Country, which amounts to nothing, and ends with a 6x6 hole in the ground. Death & Taxes, a truer statement was never made. The land of milk & honey, what a FARCE!!!