Does not every complaint stated about labor unions also apply to corporations?

Question

Jobs overseas
Corrupt
Driving up corporate wages
so forth...

Answer 1

For the questions you gave, sorta.

However here ar emy biggest pet peeves against organized labor.

1. The protect people who are often not worth protecting. i.e. people who do not produce and people who just shouldn't be there...

2. They force the companies to have a larger number of employees than is necessary. (can you say work bank)

3. They force the companies to pay exorbitant wages for laid off workers.

4. They care little for having higher production rates thus making foreign labor more attactive to companies.

My biefs with the corporate world while in some ways similar are differant.

1. CEO's an dother top executives get paid way too much. The is no single individual in the world who is truely worth over a million per year in the corporate world. Any two competant execs earn $500,000 per year or even a bit less would do more work and make the same company more money.

2. Boards of directors seen to care little for preserving the long term integrity of a comapny but rather look for quartely profits over anuualized stability and growth.

3. Little to no loyalty is given to workers who have produced well for many years if teh bottom line is at stake if even for a single quarter.

Answer 2

Yes. With twos difference--the executives in corporations are free to organize a united front witout interferance--and they have the money and power of the corporation behind them. Workers dwho try to organize--with legal frameworks to guide and regulate the organization--can be harassed and fired--and they have only their own limited resources, plus whatever help the union can provide.

I live in a state with "right to work" laws--I've seen both sieds ofthe coin. Labor unions need to be reformed--mainly by forcing them to let the workers make the policy decisions. But they should also be given much more legal power--like what they had under the original Wagner Act (in short, repeal Taft-Hartley).

As for forcing jobs overseas--someof that is nevitable--but we're losing more jobs because the neocon policies subsidize outsourcing jobs to other countries.

And as for corporate wages--union demands can get out of line. But real wages in this country have been flat--or lagged behind productivity growth--for 30 years. The idea that unions are responsible for overly high wages is simply incorrect (also--only 13% of workers are unionized. That's simply not enough to make a big difference in any case. The rises in corporate real wages and benefits are almost entirely at the managerial/executive level.

My point--its time to level the playing field.

Answer 3

I used to be president of a union local. We received very little support from the international. We worked in the Defense business and would always do far better with a Republican administration (they spent on defense) yet our dues and full support of our Union always went to Democrats. When Carter was in office I had members with over twenty five years of service on lay-off. Once Reagan was elected we grew to four times our size.

When our Union kept ignoring us and supported Clinton for a second time, my local voted to dissolve our Local. All of our members have done far better since.

Unions are much less effective than they used to be. A big part of the problem is their stubborn policy of only giving support to the Democratic Party.

Corporations, on the other hand, are smart enough to donate to both parties. The Union leadership has gotten fat, dumb and happy while their policies have been contrary to the best interests of their own membership.

Now the UAW is poised to destroy the last major manufacturing sector in America.

.

Answer 4

No. My complaints about labor unions are that in closed-shop states, you have to join the labor union in order to have a job, even if you're well-qualified and do not want to be in the union. I think that that sort of policy is antithetical to freedom.

My other complain about labor unions is the way they exploit their monopolies. When grocery workers strike, and are in the same union as the truckers, the store will not get groceries. The way bargaining should work, I think, is that workers withhold their work, and corporations withhold their paychecks, and they see who can holdout longer.

Answer 5

I think that this is still America. The union and nobody else has the right to tell me who to hire as long as they are an American citizen, or if they are here legitimately. As long as it is not someone who is here illegally, the union should stay out of Toby Keith's business.

Answer 6

Maybe, but the corporations have the power, the unions don't.

Answer 7

All labor laws are applicable to all corporations, businesses and entities even when located overseas. Workers are protected by laws but it is just sad to note that big corporations can twist the law in their favor by money.

Answer 8

You bet! That's why I'm always so amazed at the self-righteous Democrats on here who act like unions are run by saints.

People are people, and power corrupts. Period.

Answer 9

The only difference is, corporation pays you, you pay union. And the union doesn't even give you any romance or foreplay before they give it to ya.

Answer 10

yes. it is easy to blame unions will forgetting ungodly salaries/benefits for CEOs. I'm not big on unions,but they are not 100% of the problem