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My attempt at objectivity concerning unions

posted 14 years ago by Just_Opinions
13 replies | jump to latest

It's seems like many of the opinions on this board are either pro or anti unions. My take is that it would entirely be based on the time and era that we are talking about. As a general rule, I do feel that unions are outdated in the U.S. and do more harm than good for all of the stakeholders involved, including the workers themselves.

However, it would be foolish to think that unions didn't contribute significantly toward the health and well being of workers (which were most of Americans) during the early to mid part of the 20th century. The idea of children working 6 days a week, 12 hours a days, for a pittance is not an ideal which any society should embrace.

This movie was made in the late 1970s when unions still had a strong presence in America, though they were on the decline. As such, it really isn't out of place and time. I can't comment on whether it was good for this particular factory because I don't know the facts and movies tend to be very biased. However, I wouldn't hold against it the fact that the factory ultimately closed down 20 years later. That is a long time and so much had changed in U.S. manufacturing that the factory would or certainly could have closed down regardless of whether it was unionized or not.

Lastly, the movie was pretty good but nothing great. It wasn't that insightful and it wasn't all that entertaining to me personally.

[–] Binkconn 14 years ago

Wasn't insightful? The way it showed how factory owners turned their workers against each other and worked people to death wasn't insightful? And do you mean non-entertaining in that it wasn't Transformers 3? Your statements in general are very vague and I'm not sure why you even bothered to write the several hazy paragraphs that you did.

[–] euro4569 14 years ago

First of all, excuse the spelling mistakes if you see any. I just got out of the pool and really tired and eyes are blurry.

I thought he/she made a lot of sense. I thought the movie was good but the person made a good statement about the role Unions play in our society today. It has gotten to the point that unions are very corrupt. I work as a teacher and administrator. Now, we've got three teaching union reps at our school. One of the reps, who is not a qualified teacher and doesn't even have a degree or any qualification in what he is teaching. We've had restructuring at our school due to consolidation with another school. He kept his job. He kept his job because his union is so powerful. What about all the other people who lost their job, especially ones who worked their arses off in high school and university. He (a non qualified teacher) kept his lead teacher role due to him "having connections". That goes to show you how corrupt unions are now. Unions are NOT for everyone to have a better life. They are for self serving cronies.

[–] snowleopard 12 years ago

Well, I can't speak for your union, but I'm a union worker, and glad I am. I get better pay, better benefits, and I can't get railroaded out of my job or sandbagged very easily. All of which have unfairly happened to me elsewhere at non-union jobs. The union has done a very good job of holding my employer to the rules they (the employer) set. If a union worker where I work decided they didn't want to work and just wanted to sit on their rear end all day, they'd be fired. If they lied about something big, they'd be fired. If they punched out the boss, they'd be fired. Our union isn't about protecting stupidity. It's about making sure workers get treated fairly.

I'm sorry you feel that unions are for self-serving cronies. The union that I am in (and it's a big one) and others I have been associated with are for making sure the workers that actually do the work are treated fairly.

[–] Eumenides_0 12 years ago

What about all the other people who lost their job, especially ones who worked their arses off in high school and university. He (a non qualified teacher) kept his lead teacher role due to him "having connections". That goes to show you how corrupt unions are now. Unions are NOT for everyone to have a better life. They are for self serving cronies.

Unions are exactly that: unions of workers. Isn't it ultimately the workers' responsibility to stand together to fight for their rights? Workers have allowed unions to become abstractions instead of representatives of the workers; it's their duty to restore its power to fight for everyone.

This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.

[–] Stratego (29209) 3 years ago

And your post is nothing but diarrhea.

[–] Eumenides_0 12 years ago

As a general rule, I do feel that unions are outdated in the U.S. and do more harm than good for all of the stakeholders involved, including the workers themselves.

The unions are gone, the salaries in America are at their lowest since the '80s and companies are reporting record profits. Are you sure we don't need them anymore? When working conditions return to what they were in the 19th century, we'll see if the unions are outdated or not.

This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.

[–] marbleann 12 years ago

Eumenides 0 I could not have said it better.

[–] Rick-34 11 years ago

Ding ding ding!

American unions have been undermined by manufacturers shipping the jobs overseas, where they can find cheaper labor, often in countries where all sorts of abuses are allowed and unions are effectively illegal.

It's easy to say that unions are corrupt. But management can also be corrupt. If that's what you're looking for, you can find it anywhere.

[–] hunterofserenity-2 11 years ago

The factory would have closed down anyway, but I am sure that the Union salaries made it speed up some. What greedy employer is going to pay union wages when they can have garments made in Indonesia or some other overseas location where child labor only costs cents a day? It's a damn shame, but every clothing manufacturer does it.

This is why I don't buy those expensive Coach and Louis Vuitton purses. They are made overseas for a fraction of what you pay for them.

[–] arete_1 10 years ago

"Unions were good at one time but haven't they outlived their usefulness?"

--- Toronto Globe & Mail, May 6, 1886

Imagine if people actually bought this simplistic platitude back then. And imagine what will happen if people buy it today; actually we are witnessing the deleterious effects of too many doing just that. Ignore you rights and they WILL go away: no hard won social, political, and moral change remains permanent for all time, it is always precarious and the forces of unreason, injustice, greed, bias, cruelty, etc. can and will undo it at any time...they are in fact constantly fighting to do so.

[–] activista 10 years ago

So true,so true! One always has to remain vigilant and make sure that these rights are not slowly eroded away while we take them for granted---which is happening now with the chipping away of civil rights concerning voting in the South, and the right-to-work laws recently passed in Michigan.

[–] Black_Lies_Matter 9 years ago

Very reasonable and logical. In addition, there is a massive difference between private and public unions, the latter of which I believe should be banned.

[–] redban (5158) 3 years ago

I once read that the idea of a union is a Western concept, build on the idea of give and take. In Eastern countries (e.g. Japan), there is a less concern about individual rights and privileges, so unions never really took off