Unions Role in America - Loss of Jobs

Unions initially played an important role in bringing a higher standard of living to America; but unfortunately then they went too far. Before going on, I must say that I support higher wages and benefits for employees, however, these advances must be tied to productivity, education and job skills. When higher wages and benefits are achieved through union coercion and threat of strike without any relationship to these factors then the result is counter productive. Unions have killed manufacturing in the United States because in demanding higher wages and benefits for employees with minimal education and low job skills when combined with work rules that result in lower productivity, it ultimately forced companies to move these jobs out of the United States to be competitive. General Motors is a prime example. At one time, GM had 400,000 employees most of whom were factory workers. Today, GM has 60,000 employees and falling by the day. The Unions are as responsible for bankrupting GM as its management. Steel, Textiles, Furniture and many other industries have left the United States for Asia, lower cost countries in Europe and Latin America because the cost of labor is much less and because of stifling work rules, taxes and regulations in the US. It really is that simple. So the Unions in the US in place to help workers actually did them in.

Big Unions in the US have given up on manufacturing. They are well aware that manufacturing, accounting, IT work and some other functions can be done from any country. Though Big Unions still go through the motions related to these fields, they now realize that their growth potential and POWER lies in jobs that cannot leave our shores. What might those jobs be? Let's start with Government employees like all sorts of bureaucrats necessary to Obama's Socialist Schemes, teachers, prison guards, firemen, police, etc. etc. And, then let's add in government controlled health care, which relates to 1/6th of our economy. All of these fields are virgin territory for Big Unions like SEIU, which is tied to ACORN, which is tied to Obama. And, Big Unions are focused on companies like Wal Mart because retail jobs cannot leave the United States. Wal Mart employs over one million people in the US, most of whom are low level employees. Of course, Big Unions in some cases have bankrupted major firms. Big Unions have bankrupted many states like California and now Big Unions are working with President Obama and the Democrat Socialists that control Congress to bankrupt the United States. I would not say that this is necessarily intentional; though any "crisis" in a storm seemingly leads to bigger government and more union employees. This could also be happening because Democrat Socialists just do not see the cause and effect relationship in their actions. Democrat Socialists certainly do not understand Economics 101 or the law of unintended consequences. By the way, if Unions are successful in organizing Wal Mart employees, who do you think will be paying their higher wages and benefits? There is no free ride. Wal Mart prices will just go up hurting low income people most. Go figure.

Years ago when I was a school teacher in Los Angeles, I was required or pressured into belonging to United Teachers of Los Angeles. I was a Democrat in those days until Jimmy Carter when I finally saw the light and voted for Ronald Reagan. In any case, when it came time for me to submit the forms for my first year teacher evaluation, I was told by the union boss on campus to dumb down my objectives in keeping with the union scheme. I told her that I was a better teacher than the objectives she was insisting that I list. She told me it did not matter. The union did not want teachers held to higher standards than those approved by the Union. As a 23 year old, I did as I was told; because there was no other choice; but I never forgot the experience.

To be clear, I am not opposed to Unions or collective bargaining. However, in most cases in business and government, unions are just not necessary. Most businesses and government provide good pay and benefits because management is enlightened. For the most part, we don't have sweat shops in the United States. We have government safety standards and a million other work regulations that are the law of the land so the notion that workers need union protection is often questionable. And, what is really scary are federal employee unions that in effect have access to government printing presses that will print money to pay these employees even if it does bankrupt the United States.

Unions and Democrat Socialists are concerned about the here and now without any concern for the future. As patriots, we must be concerned about the trillions of dollars in deficit spending that will bankrupt the United States that is threatening our nation and our way of life. We must stand up and JUST SAY NO.