You really have to distinguish between private sector unions and public sector unions. The numbers today are on the side of the public sector unions and a case can be made that they are overpaid (or underworked). The addition of unions on top of traditional civil service or tenure systems has not been positive especially with the general incompetence of public sector management. Even FDR was opposed to public sector unions.
As for private sector unions, you have a point. Part of the problem was that they were too successful in advancing the interests of workers until they weren't. The balance of power flipped very suddenly and the wage deterioration for the last generation has been pretty obvious. Industry management was much more agile than government management. There is a good case that it is time to reflip the balance. Not sure how you do this without government putting its thumb on the scale but elements of MAGA seem to be going there. Union leadership in thrall to the Democrats is going to be a problem.
For every story reflecting poorly on unions there is one or two that claim they are the best thing ever. My experience shows that unions pretty much destroy major industries and lead to unemployment. Where they remain they are indeed warning signs that were it not they are government funded, they too would be long gone. There is a sort of PESI going on now thanks to the Teachers unions spending 3 lifetimes convincing students of the properness of Marxist/Leninsism.
Anybody else remember Wisk detergent? It was the best. Until an extended union strike bankrupted the company, and they shut down the factory. And then the Little Debbie strike. And, and, and...
Don't misunderstand me. Small, local unions can do great work. Giant, nationwide unions are just another corrupt, unaccountable government program to benefit Democrats. Don't forget how union bosses overwhelmingly donate money and votes to their Democrat buddies, no matter what their membership votes for.
I grew up in the rust belt as it was rusting. Union = organized crime. The only people worse than union/mob bosses are the investment bankers who strip mined the country.
And those investment bankers are the true villains of the piece. When you look at the accounts of industries that offshored you discover that many didn't want to relocate in the first place...but they were publicly traded on wall street. We all know what happened once the bankerati started dropping hints.
My experience with union leadership is that there is a wide chasm between union workers and those that claim to be representing them. Our wage structures in America have been endlessly tinkered with and now almost all of us are finding ourselves underpaid in the sense that the jobs we perform don't pay enough to maintain what we call a middle-class lifestyle. There is ample blame for that to go around, from Big Business and Big Government, really one and the same, and includes Big Labor.
Yet Labor seems to be bucking against the others, it would not startle me if the workers decide it's time for the current leadership to be kicked out. Labor is ultimately populist, and the uniparty is decidedly anti-populist.
I don't mean to boast and am not going to name names but I was on flight in a corporate jet of a company you all know with the VP of Human Resources going to deal with a union issue at one of our plants and he (The VP) talked a lot about how Unions were in fact necessary, helped us keep the work force organized, and because pay rates are contractual we have a predictable labor rate that help us accurately estimate and bid on work. You'd be very surprised to find that the attitude toward Unions by corporate leadership is a little more nuanced than people who are not involved would believe.
The real problem is the bankerati and their political puppets, note that the demoratic party claims to be pro union...yet they just as eagerly sold American jobs and industries overseas as the rest of the uniparty did.
You really have to distinguish between private sector unions and public sector unions. The numbers today are on the side of the public sector unions and a case can be made that they are overpaid (or underworked). The addition of unions on top of traditional civil service or tenure systems has not been positive especially with the general incompetence of public sector management. Even FDR was opposed to public sector unions.
As for private sector unions, you have a point. Part of the problem was that they were too successful in advancing the interests of workers until they weren't. The balance of power flipped very suddenly and the wage deterioration for the last generation has been pretty obvious. Industry management was much more agile than government management. There is a good case that it is time to reflip the balance. Not sure how you do this without government putting its thumb on the scale but elements of MAGA seem to be going there. Union leadership in thrall to the Democrats is going to be a problem.
For every story reflecting poorly on unions there is one or two that claim they are the best thing ever. My experience shows that unions pretty much destroy major industries and lead to unemployment. Where they remain they are indeed warning signs that were it not they are government funded, they too would be long gone. There is a sort of PESI going on now thanks to the Teachers unions spending 3 lifetimes convincing students of the properness of Marxist/Leninsism.
Anybody else remember Wisk detergent? It was the best. Until an extended union strike bankrupted the company, and they shut down the factory. And then the Little Debbie strike. And, and, and...
Don't misunderstand me. Small, local unions can do great work. Giant, nationwide unions are just another corrupt, unaccountable government program to benefit Democrats. Don't forget how union bosses overwhelmingly donate money and votes to their Democrat buddies, no matter what their membership votes for.
I grew up in the rust belt as it was rusting. Union = organized crime. The only people worse than union/mob bosses are the investment bankers who strip mined the country.
And those investment bankers are the true villains of the piece. When you look at the accounts of industries that offshored you discover that many didn't want to relocate in the first place...but they were publicly traded on wall street. We all know what happened once the bankerati started dropping hints.
My experience with union leadership is that there is a wide chasm between union workers and those that claim to be representing them. Our wage structures in America have been endlessly tinkered with and now almost all of us are finding ourselves underpaid in the sense that the jobs we perform don't pay enough to maintain what we call a middle-class lifestyle. There is ample blame for that to go around, from Big Business and Big Government, really one and the same, and includes Big Labor.
Yet Labor seems to be bucking against the others, it would not startle me if the workers decide it's time for the current leadership to be kicked out. Labor is ultimately populist, and the uniparty is decidedly anti-populist.
I don't mean to boast and am not going to name names but I was on flight in a corporate jet of a company you all know with the VP of Human Resources going to deal with a union issue at one of our plants and he (The VP) talked a lot about how Unions were in fact necessary, helped us keep the work force organized, and because pay rates are contractual we have a predictable labor rate that help us accurately estimate and bid on work. You'd be very surprised to find that the attitude toward Unions by corporate leadership is a little more nuanced than people who are not involved would believe.
The real problem is the bankerati and their political puppets, note that the demoratic party claims to be pro union...yet they just as eagerly sold American jobs and industries overseas as the rest of the uniparty did.