Conservative and right wing sorts are supposed to decry the labor movement in USA for its thuggery and interference with the free and orderly operations of the market. I suppose in some ways people might think I am conservative or right wing, but I don't think so. I am radical, not extremist. In my youth my mother called me a wobbly for my views, and I've been a teamster and "once a longshoreman, always a longshoreman" so I guess I am a longshoreman too.
The left pretends to be pro-labor, but then effectively buys them off on the one hand, and ruins the premise by advocating government unions on the other.
So let's run down why we should honor labor, as in unions.
People say there are unions, therefore there are problems. This is nonsense. There are problems, therefore there are unions. People organize to solve problems, and faced with the exploitation of big govt/big business, unions organized to defend themselves. Show me a unionized business and I will show you lousy management. If you run your business well, you will not be unionized.
But John, Puget Consumer Coop, your favorite grocery store, is unionized! Exactly. You could not find a more whimsical, clueless inept group of mountebanks and do-gooders running anything. What keeps the place together is there is a union, adult supervision, there to say "no." I can't help it that delusional left wing and good food go together. Don't blame me, I didn't design the universe. Happily, as a radical, I can stand working with loony left. The food is so much better than what the right wingers eat.
There is no such thing as outrageous union demands, only outrageous management concessions. Every anti-union rant begins with some outrageous privilege unions enjoy. Well, every one was freely negotiated. The labor rules are both sides must meet and confer, not meet and agree. Labor can only ask, management can always say no. In fact, labor has only one option, and that is to ask. Management has three options: say no, say yes, or manage the company better. Any excess one might perceive on the part of a union is simply a management concession.
The bane of the union is the "house union." It is a union set up by management to crowd out a real union. Government unions are house unions, but they do not directly compete with anyone, since it never occurred to anyone to unionize the govt before FDR. FDR said no. Kennedy said yes. What is new from the experience of govt unions is they kill the host upon which they feed. At least in private business unions know how far they can go. There is no rational limit to what the govt can promise govt unions. On the other hand, there is no limit to the repudiation of any promise that govt makes. There a crisis is presently unfolding, but no one outside of govt has a dog in that fight.
A quick sketch of the union movement might run like this: the unholy alliance of capitalism and the state overwhelmed the market economy and resistance to the occupying army of industrialists came in the form of the union movement. The unions simply demand some of the spoils from an unjust system. Fix the problem, and the solution will go away.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
The left pretends to be pro-labor, but then effectively buys them off on the one hand, and ruins the premise by advocating government unions on the other.
So let's run down why we should honor labor, as in unions.
People say there are unions, therefore there are problems. This is nonsense. There are problems, therefore there are unions. People organize to solve problems, and faced with the exploitation of big govt/big business, unions organized to defend themselves. Show me a unionized business and I will show you lousy management. If you run your business well, you will not be unionized.
But John, Puget Consumer Coop, your favorite grocery store, is unionized! Exactly. You could not find a more whimsical, clueless inept group of mountebanks and do-gooders running anything. What keeps the place together is there is a union, adult supervision, there to say "no." I can't help it that delusional left wing and good food go together. Don't blame me, I didn't design the universe. Happily, as a radical, I can stand working with loony left. The food is so much better than what the right wingers eat.
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There is no such thing as outrageous union demands, only outrageous management concessions. Every anti-union rant begins with some outrageous privilege unions enjoy. Well, every one was freely negotiated. The labor rules are both sides must meet and confer, not meet and agree. Labor can only ask, management can always say no. In fact, labor has only one option, and that is to ask. Management has three options: say no, say yes, or manage the company better. Any excess one might perceive on the part of a union is simply a management concession.
The bane of the union is the "house union." It is a union set up by management to crowd out a real union. Government unions are house unions, but they do not directly compete with anyone, since it never occurred to anyone to unionize the govt before FDR. FDR said no. Kennedy said yes. What is new from the experience of govt unions is they kill the host upon which they feed. At least in private business unions know how far they can go. There is no rational limit to what the govt can promise govt unions. On the other hand, there is no limit to the repudiation of any promise that govt makes. There a crisis is presently unfolding, but no one outside of govt has a dog in that fight.
A quick sketch of the union movement might run like this: the unholy alliance of capitalism and the state overwhelmed the market economy and resistance to the occupying army of industrialists came in the form of the union movement. The unions simply demand some of the spoils from an unjust system. Fix the problem, and the solution will go away.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
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