The Truth About Unions

The unions of our parents and grand parents don't exist any longer. No longer is it about the worker. It is now about the Union and only the union.


Why Unions Are Harmful to Workers
By John Lott


Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has finally won his first battle with public employee unions. But the fight against excessive union rights now moves to Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Tennessee.
Of course, union leaders are upset, with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka recently telling PBS’s "News Hour": “This is about [Gov. Scott Walker] trying to take away the rights of workers to come together to bargain . . . .”
But in fact, Governor Walker’s budget will help the vast majority of workers in the state. Mr. Trumka naturally wants to make it appear that he is fighting for workers generally, but that is not the case. He is just fighting for some workers, but he is hurting other workers -- other union workers who are laid off because the state cannot afford them or other workers who are forced to pay higher taxes.
Unions are harmful because they act as monopolies. If the union members won’t work, the law makes it extremely difficult for anyone else to step in and do their jobs. As a result, union workers have little competition -- so they can demand higher wages and do less work.
By threatening to stop work if companies don’t pay employees more, unions force companies to layoff some workers. That hurts some union workers. Unions don't just pit workers against employers. They pit a select group of workers against consumers, stockholders, and other workers. Unions don't even make agreements that are in the interest of all their own workers, just those in the majority, usually just older workers with more seniority.

Suppose demands for higher wages or benefits means 20 percent of unionized workers would be fired. That isn't such a hard decision for a union. Twenty percent of its members will oppose the agreement, but they won't be union members for long. Most of the remaining 80 percent are likely to support the agreement.
Unions also protect seniority, not the most productive workers. When layoffs occur, it is the most recently hired workers who are laid off first.
Recently, there have been cases of teachers’ unions holding lotteries to see who gets laid off. When was the last time you saw a private company make hiring/firing decisions that way?
Union advocates talk about the "right" to collective bargaining, but it is unclear why this "right" trumps the right of other workers to have a job.
In Wisconsin, Governor Scott Walker threatened to lay off 6,000 workers if he wasn't able to get his union bill passed. But Trumka and other union members, over the objections of Wisconsin’s non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, claim that the layoffs are all part of budget trickery, alleging that Wisconsin actually has a budget surplus.
Bad corporate monopolies face competition. By restricting sales and raising prices, other companies see a chance to start producing the product and make profits.
There is a reason why only 6.9 percent of private sector workers are in unions. Unions have tried reduce this competition by representing the workers in an entire industry, such as steel, cars, or coal mining. That way they can raise wages without worrying about non-union companies getting the jobs. But ultimately there is still competition from foreign workers. Unions help ship a lot of would be American jobs overseas.
So how do unions end up representing 36.2 percent of public sector workers? Simply put, they have an additional type of monopoly. Not only do unions have a monopoly in bargaining with the government, the government has a kind of monopoly as well.
Take education. Parents pay for public education through their property and other taxes -- whether they send their kids to public or private schools. Public schools must really be a lot worse than private ones before parents are willing to pay the public school taxes and still pay private school tuition on top of that -- effectively paying twice for school.
In contrast, private schools that kept paying more and more for teachers would quickly find themselves out of business. Not surprisingly, teacher unions not only oppose any weakening in their current rules that they alone represent teachers in any negotiations, but they also strongly oppose anything that would create competition for public schools, whether it be charter schools, vouchers or tax credits.
Gov. Walker was willing to compromise and let public employee unions negotiate over everything: salaries without limit, mandatory overtime, performance bonuses, hazardous duty pay and classroom size for teachers. Yet, he drew the line at pensions, which have accumulated huge unfunded liabilities. At least voters could see the current costs of paying public employees higher salaries, but both politicians and unions have proven untrustworthy over the hidden long-term costs of these retirement payments. But even that was too much for the unions and their Democratic allies.
Wisconsin’s public employee unions have been problematic in another way: high mandatory dues. With union dues of $500 to $1,000, employees have had to give money to unions whether they approved of what they did with the money or not. Walker’s changes finally give government employees the choice of whether they would rather spend their money on something other than unions. The new law doesn’t supersede union contracts that are already in place.
Unfortunately, Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette, a Democrat, has taken the unprecedented practice of delaying a governor’s request to immediately publish the new law, a requirement that must be met before the law goes into effect. Delaying the publication date until March 25 allows unions and local Democrat officials around Wisconsin rush to pass contract extensions that protect unions from increased contributions to their pensions and health care benefits.
Few would sympathize with a company that raises prices by restricting the amount they produce, let alone supporting the government protecting the monopoly from competition. But unions do that and more, and they only accomplish this through government force.
Well-paid union members shouldn’t be given benefits at the expense of other Americans.


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Understanding Unemployment

The way unemployment is calculated leave much to be desired. There is too many in the population who are overlooked when this number is calculated. The number we hear all the time is only looking at those who are seeking jobs verses those who actually have one. This sounds like a good representation but let's look at the flaws.

Some people simply give up or retire. Retiring is a reasonable change in job status when your age or financial fortitude will allow it. Giving up on the other hand, shows what a sad state our economy is really in. These groups are ignored in the employment numbers and thereby skew the results.

The other group not talked about anywhere is the under employed. These are the people who's benefits have run out and return to the work force under a significantly less status and pay then previous or simply resort to part-time just to get by. This group also skews the numbers as they are counted as employed when the capacity of employment is not rated. When compared to there previous employment they may be half employed or sum other percentage employed.

Perhaps the video helped.

While everyone is all excited about the current employment numbers, it really is a shell game. They don't count all those who should count. We are seeing people falling from the employment rolls with no real increase in net jobs. This should be horrifying.

The key issue is how many people are now living off the few who are working.

Validation

I have written many articles about the minimum wage. Every time I do the sad and angry show up to call me names. Well here it is. Some economic got together and wrote a book with what is considered a record level of research into the subject.

How Minimum Wage Affects the Job Hunt
December 14, 2009 - 2:42 PM | by: James Rosen

It's been an article of faith for so long that the minimum wage offers a "hand up" to the people on the lowest rung of the economic ladder, but some recent studies show otherwise.

The most exhaustive of these is a landmark book published last year called "Minimum Wages." It's by two economists, David Neumark of the University of California and William Wascher of the Federal Reserve.

They examined sixty years of data and concluded the minimum wage actually cuts down on job opportunities and even wages, over time, for low-skilled workers.

Neumark broke down his theory for Fox News in simple, layman's terms, starting with the premise of what would happen if the minimum wage were raised again, say, tomorrow.

"Now, many people, of course, will not lose their job. Many people who were employed at the old minimum wage will, you know, have a raise in their wage, and they will still be employed at the new minimum wage,” Neumark told Fox News.

“A small number -- and it depends how big the minimum wage increase is -- will lose their job.

“Some people entering the labor market for the first time, or, you know, anew, will not be able to find a job because of the higher minimum wage."

The last bump for the minimum wage was this past July, a seventy cent increase to $7.25 an hour.

In September, three months later, the teen unemployment rate hit 25.9 percent, a full two points higher than in July, and the highest since World War II.

Charles Lane, a member of the Washington Post editorial board, recently called for the minimum wage to be rolled back as a way of creating jobs. That would require an act of Congress, and it's not likely anytime soon. Democrats control both houses of Congress and the issue has become, particularly for Democrats, freighted with emotion.

Read the rest

Perhaps some make up reading would help.
The Minimum Wage Isn't the Problem
How Do I Understand Price Structure In Business
The Minimum Wage Comes Up Again

Not Your Father's Union

Unions have changed a lot since my father and grandfather entered the work force. We now see unions actually attacking the traditional values they once were instituted to secure.

Big Labor and Big Government Are Officially the Same Thing

Who do the words “union members” bring to mind? United Auto Workers building cars in Detroit? Teamsters truckers hauling freight? Steel workers in Pennsylvania?
Not any more. Newly released numbers show that the actual face of today’s union movement is the teller at your local Department of Motorized Vehicles.
Preliminary estimates of union membership this year show that most union members now work for the government. The overall unionization rate between January and September 2009 stood at 12.4%, unchanged from last year. However, this difference masks a large difference between unions in the private and public sectors.
Union membership has fallen to 7.3% of private sector workers – the lowest rate since Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act into law. But it is a completely different story in the public sector: 37.6% of government employees belong to unions, up almost a percentage point since last year. Those 7.9 million unionized government employees are 51% of all union members nationwide. Most union members today now work for Uncle Sam.
So when unions start lobbying, taxpayers should hold onto their wallet. Government employees don’t strike to get higher wages from a private business – they strike to get higher wages from you. Their pay is funded through your tax dollars. For government employee union members to get more your taxes need to go up. So that is what unions now lobby for. Just take a look at what the labor movement is doing to taxpayers on the Pacific Coast:
In Oregon the labor movement is donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund two ballot initiative campaigns to raise personal income and business taxes. The unions want tax hikes instead of cuts in the gold-plated medical benefits for state workers.
In California the Service Employees International Union spent $1 million on a television ad campaign pressing for higher oil, gas, and liquor taxes instead of spending reductions.
Washington State Democrats, however, have so far resisted the labor movement’s call for higher taxes. In response labor unions are threatening to fund primary campaigns against the Democrats who oppose the tax hikes.
This is not your father’s labor movement. Unions today want higher taxes and bigger government because they are the government.

What once saved middle America now wishes to rob her.

Why Can't They Find Them?

We are constantly being told that having 20 million illegals in this country is to large a task to remove them and we need to accept them. Congress would like nothing more then to offer them amnesty and then pat themselves on the back for solving the problem. That's right, do nothing solutions from our fearless leaders.

If they want to enact some policy to solve the problem try this: Any employer who cannot provide a valid federal ID or SS number for a claimed worker cannot deduct the wages paid. This will move this expense to the income side of the ledger and force them to pay higher taxes. It will either reduce employment of illegals or increase tax rolls of the government. You would think they would go ga ga over an idea like that.

How about sending ICE to all the day labor pick up sites. You can't go to a home improvement store without getting swarmed. Pick them up haul them to a fenced construction lot and arrest them. Simple easy to manage programs that would cut down on illegals in the USA.

Remember the big rallies where thousands turned out in cities near you to protest our desire to have illegals removed? Where were the buses?

I have NO problem with legal immigration. If we need more workers here then up the quota. I do have a problem with illegal immigration. I never said it more clearly then when I wrote Where Do You Live? in 2006. It has been copied and rewritten so many times, I can't count them.

We better get a handle on it soon. The natives are getting restless.
Home Depot at standoff with laborers who swarm customers in bid for work
It won't be long before violence starts breaking out. We can't wait much longer for our government to do their job.

Turn Around, You are Going the Wrong Way

Everytime I open a news page they are talking about a new stimulus package. Our government is looking for ways to spend vast sums of money it doesn't have, on programs most people don't really want, in an attempt to fix a problem that they will only worsen by there effort.
The government spending money is only a temperary solution to a long term problem. This sudden burst of cash onto the scene does nothing to create long term employment and ultimate security of the people. What Americans really want is success in the long haul. They want to be able to provide basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter as well as niceties that put joy and excitment back into daily living, our framers called this Persuit of Happiness.
For America to be returned to profitability and the American worker to be secure and successful, our government needs to do things that promote business and its growth here in America. The business world is where the jobs will come from that will strengthen our economy and turn this around. If business is growing and doing what it does, the world will soon flurish again.
In order for this to happen we need to stop intruding on business with taxes and regulations. We need to add insentives that encourage business to grow and employ people. The $3,000 tax credit for new hire was one of the best ideas floated so far. It is a small carrot but an incentive that would do something toward resolving the problem.
What we need is a investment tax credit that would encourage businesses to expand, inovate and grow. Programs like this would help big and small businesses. The big three would be able to afford the retooling necessary for high milage cars and hybrids. Create tax incentives for R&D with result oriented additional incentives that would drive a company to do more and get more. These are the avenues of job creation and economic recovery. These are the incentives that would propel America into the future.
Let us put a stop to bandaides and quick fixes that will only serve to further drain the economy. Now is the time to tell your representatives how to fix the problem. It should be pretty clear to you now that they don't know how.

Staying Employed

This is the topic of conversation everywhere. In my position employees are often coming to me hoping that I can provide the answer for them. Here is a great article that may help you stay employed.

What Can I Do to Make Sure I Don't Get Laid Off?

We read the headlines, we see the news, we hear about our friends. Times are tough, and the advertising and marketing business isn't going to be spared. In the past, I had the unfortunate privilege of being in the room as we went through a pretty major layoff. So here are some insider tips on what you can do to improve your chances of keeping your job.
1. Be "The One". You want to carve your niche and be the "go-to" person for something important at your company. Be the one upon whom everyone relies. In other words, you want to be "the new-business guru," or "the client-relationship all-star" or even "the I-know-everything-about-our-brand's-media expert."

Find something that's important to your company and latch onto it. If it comes to layoffs, you want them to say, "We can't fire Willie; he's the new-business guy." Or, "We can't fire Audrey; she has the best relationship with our key client." It's even better if you become the authority in an area that makes the company a lot of money.

2. Do the work of two or three people. Here's what happens during layoffs. Departments of 20 become departments of six, but none of the work goes away. When management is deciding who will make the cut, they look for people who can carry the load. Start volunteering now to do the extra assignment, to take on more work, or to help out with the new project. Now is not the time to complain about all the work you have or to schedule that three-week vacation.

Grab this link and go read the other two suggestions made by the author.

It’s not just about what you can do but how you do it. This isn’t going to be an easy time. You best figure out how to compete for the work available.

Saving Big Auto

We seem to have a sudden need to save everything. In our rush to save the world, are we dooming our own society? The land of the free is becoming less free with every passing bailout proposal. Freedom to both succeed and fail seems to be no longer allowed once you get to a curtain size. Capitalism has been reserved for small business only. Or to be more Blunt, small businesses are the only businesses that are allowed to fail. Once you get to be as big as a national bank or a national auto maker, the American tax payer now becomes responsible for keeping you in business. CEOs no longer have to worry about making good or bad decisions because no matter what, the government will step in and save the day on the backs of its people.
I don't know how much available money you have in your budget but I don't recall setting asside billions of dollars for corperate bailouts. If I get in too deep, who will bail me out?
The comical side of this is watching the Democrats try and deal with this. Their liberal philosophies get in the way of their political constituansies. How do you get behind saving the big auto makers when....
autos cause global warming.
Auto makers are corperate robber barons of the people.
Saving big business will save the republicans
Auto Industry supports Big Oil
Yet how do you not.........
Auto Workers Union got you elected
Where are you going to get all those tax dollars you claim you need.

The plain and simple truth is the unions have fleeced the auto makers and they can no longer compete in a world market. Until they can get out from under these contracts they will continue to lose money and fail. Chapter 11 is the answer to the problem. A simple reorganization will restore cash flow and return the auto makers back to the business of making cars. The union workers will have to decide if having a job and a future is important.
Yes, I realize that millions of Americans will take a pay cut and probably have major finacial challenges. They will still have a job and millions of people beyond them who supply all those parts that make up the cars will have jobs as well. Most of them won't take a pay cut only suffer a benifit cut on future pensions and such. Close to one third of the labor costs to the industry falls into this catagory. We can save the many and get our econemy rolling again as well as be able to price American goods comperable to their foreign competition.
The American auto industry has come a long way in making quality cars that can compete in the market place. They can surely accell if some of the finacial burdens can be lifted.

Congress may be looking at the wrong type of bailout for the auto makers.

No On Taxpayer Bailout of Auto Industry, Say Free Market Economists

The Writers

I not a big TV fan. My family has certain channels that we seem to get stuck on but most of them are older shows. The garbage that is put on the air today as actual entertainment needs a complete overhaul.

I don't even bother going to the movie theatre anymore. I worked as a lighting and special effects artist for a number of years and I find some of the new tricks interesting but the storyline and acting keeps me far away.

All that said, I find it hard to have sympathy for the writers. If they write of their own free will what I see on TV and in movies, than we need a whole new crop. The writers union should be disbanded and we should start over. The media has taken such a sweeping left turn that the only sound choice is to start over.