I can’t speak for your friend but he doesn’t dictate the pricing of labor (unless he’s a monopsony). The free market does and in most industries everyone is a price taker.
The Impact of Unions
- Thread starter newwurldmn
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I can’t speak for your friend but he doesn’t dictate the pricing of labor (unless he’s a monopsony). The free market does and in most industries everyone is a price taker.
Police and fire dept unions are the worse because they're essential labor and have job monopolies. Everyone talks about what unions have done to increase pay, but little is said about how these unions kept non Irish from joining, effectively creating a privileged cast to themselves. Other white European descendants finally broke the stranglehold (Italians, Poles,..) but it took decades longer and government lawsuits to force them to let non whites in.
As was said above, unions aren't about the workers, they're about creating castes of privileged labor and charging a fee to join.
The real damage that unions do isn't so much the excessive pay they're able to wrestle out of government or private enterprise, it's their near absolute control over hiring and firing, which is the most fundamental lever a company has to run their business. The other nail in the coffin is their bargaining capacity in the operation of the business. Some say Yellow was poorly managed and perhaps it was, and perhaps management had so little wiggle room to manage that it failed. Unless you worked there, no one knows.
When I watch Barra at GM, I see a major corporation at the mercy of its labor union. It's a business that is absolutely required to transform quickly but is unable to do so because, per labor contract, everything must be bargained for, and anyone who has ever worked in a union environment knows the dreadful pace of bargaining agreements.
Tesla or Amazon are such successes because they are nimble in a world where competition is not. All they need to do is match union wages and benefits to retain their ability to control their labor force and their dynamic operational requirements.
As was said above, unions aren't about the workers, they're about creating castes of privileged labor and charging a fee to join.
The real damage that unions do isn't so much the excessive pay they're able to wrestle out of government or private enterprise, it's their near absolute control over hiring and firing, which is the most fundamental lever a company has to run their business. The other nail in the coffin is their bargaining capacity in the operation of the business. Some say Yellow was poorly managed and perhaps it was, and perhaps management had so little wiggle room to manage that it failed. Unless you worked there, no one knows.
When I watch Barra at GM, I see a major corporation at the mercy of its labor union. It's a business that is absolutely required to transform quickly but is unable to do so because, per labor contract, everything must be bargained for, and anyone who has ever worked in a union environment knows the dreadful pace of bargaining agreements.
Tesla or Amazon are such successes because they are nimble in a world where competition is not. All they need to do is match union wages and benefits to retain their ability to control their labor force and their dynamic operational requirements.
Have you worked as Cop or Fireman that you speak so "knowingly" about?
Tesla or Amazon for that matter?
The history of Irish control over OD and FD across the country is well documented. Just read.
Unlike you, I spent over 10 years working on the management side of a union dominated sector. I'm quite familiar with the role unions play on the operations of private businesses.
So that would be no, you have not. Ok.
And your point is?
I have the same experience although I did find that my salary increases were kind of tied to the union agreements. Usually a little better but I doubt the company would have paid us as well if not for the union negotiations.
In my industry, union labor was paid significantly more than management, but likewise, management pay had to at least be relevant. There even was a time when some management teams tried to organize. Everyone got a pay raise and those leading the union effort all got fired.
I'm not against good pay for blue collar work, although I would like to tie it to good ol' supply and demand, not union bullying where the good, the bad and the ugly is all protected the same.
My gripe is with what I see as a cancer in a business organization. Wrestle hire/fire from management, and force bargaining on anything that's not agreed upon in the contract, which effectively means freezing operations to a standard.
I strongly believe that elected government should set the detailed rules on employment that are clear and apply to all, in which case there would be no need for unions. Businesses must have the flexibility to hire and fire based on need and competence, and management should always be in charge of guiding the ship forward, not the mechanic in the engine room.
".... to tie it to good ol' supply and demand ........"
"..... strongly believe that elected government should set the detailed rules on employment ...."
Huh?