Does Anyone Remember Eastern Airlines?
So the Delta pilots are getting ready to stage a strike in retaliation to the Delta management's decision to challenge the pilot's contract, in effect renegotiating it. Delta has already filed bankruptcy and is in restructuring.
Someone please tell me what airline pilots need with a union? In terms of skill level and pay, they are near the top of the food chain in the airline corporate structure. I beg to differ with anyone who says we need unions in this age of labor laws and regulation.
Not many years ago, Eastern Airlines went belly-up when the Mechanics Union went on strike, and the pilots refused to cross the picket line.
Unions serve no purpose except to prolong the life of the union itself. They have no real interest in the livelihood of the employees. All that they care about is the dues.
Take for instance the situation with GM and Ford, both full of UAW members. Recently, both the GM Doraville plant and the Ford Hapeville plant in Georgia have been slated to close. Why? Because the UAW sucks the life out of the ability of the automakers to compete with foreign producers. The auto industry will most likely go the way of the steel plants that graced such areas as Youngstown, Illinois, a virtual ghosttown now. Most steel is shipped from foreign mills by way of steel brokers. The union prevented the steel plants from competing. How?
For one thing, wages are inflated for the skill level of most union workers. Do not misunderstand, I am not minimizing the value of these employees, but the fact of the matter is that two basic components exist in the cost of any product: raw labor and raw material. From the time that true raw materials are drawn from the earth, a component of labor is added to change that material to something that will be usable by someone else. Labor is continually added to the material cost until the product is consumable.
In the case of the auto industry, the labor to assemble the various automobiles in the U.S. is added to the cost of the product. On the flipside of the coin, price to the end user will be part of the determining factor as to whether he will purchase a product, along with quality and availability. American-made automobiles on the market as new cannot be purchased for less than $20,000. The car-makers must realize a profit, or risk losing shareholders to invest in their companies. Purchased material costs are pretty much fixed, although they can be negotiated, but not to the level to make a large difference. Labor is where savings are realized in most cases.
Obviously, two components of labor cost are the rate and time. If the time can be cut from a process, cost savings can be realized. But in the case of many labor unions, productivity is not of the utmost importance. They often give lip-service, but in reality, they are not concerned. If a union employee is classified to do one job, he cannot do another job outside his classification. If an employee is classified as a material expeditor, he drives his little cart around until someone needs something moved.
Rate is the other factor, and this is where the unions really excel in ripping a new one for their companies. Everyone knows stories about unproductive employees who make inflated amounts of money who cannot be fired because of the union. So other union employees are forced to take up the slack.
If the union truly cared about their members, they would negotiate reasonable wages that would help to ensure the viability of their company. They would work with management to help weed out unproductive employees so that the more productive employees do not pay the price.
Anyone can argue what they consider to be a fair wage. A fair wage, in my view, is whatever someone will pay you to do whatever job it is that needs to be done. If someone will pay you more for the same work, go to work for him.
A good measure to determine what you consider to be a fair wage is to consider what goes into producing and transporting a loaf of bread to sell. Then ask yourself how much you are willing to pay for that loaf of bread, keeping in mind that several companies must make profits off of the bread as well as pay for the materials used in making it. Maybe things would become clearer then about how unions are ruining American business.
Someone please tell me what airline pilots need with a union? In terms of skill level and pay, they are near the top of the food chain in the airline corporate structure. I beg to differ with anyone who says we need unions in this age of labor laws and regulation.
Not many years ago, Eastern Airlines went belly-up when the Mechanics Union went on strike, and the pilots refused to cross the picket line.
Unions serve no purpose except to prolong the life of the union itself. They have no real interest in the livelihood of the employees. All that they care about is the dues.
Take for instance the situation with GM and Ford, both full of UAW members. Recently, both the GM Doraville plant and the Ford Hapeville plant in Georgia have been slated to close. Why? Because the UAW sucks the life out of the ability of the automakers to compete with foreign producers. The auto industry will most likely go the way of the steel plants that graced such areas as Youngstown, Illinois, a virtual ghosttown now. Most steel is shipped from foreign mills by way of steel brokers. The union prevented the steel plants from competing. How?
For one thing, wages are inflated for the skill level of most union workers. Do not misunderstand, I am not minimizing the value of these employees, but the fact of the matter is that two basic components exist in the cost of any product: raw labor and raw material. From the time that true raw materials are drawn from the earth, a component of labor is added to change that material to something that will be usable by someone else. Labor is continually added to the material cost until the product is consumable.
In the case of the auto industry, the labor to assemble the various automobiles in the U.S. is added to the cost of the product. On the flipside of the coin, price to the end user will be part of the determining factor as to whether he will purchase a product, along with quality and availability. American-made automobiles on the market as new cannot be purchased for less than $20,000. The car-makers must realize a profit, or risk losing shareholders to invest in their companies. Purchased material costs are pretty much fixed, although they can be negotiated, but not to the level to make a large difference. Labor is where savings are realized in most cases.
Obviously, two components of labor cost are the rate and time. If the time can be cut from a process, cost savings can be realized. But in the case of many labor unions, productivity is not of the utmost importance. They often give lip-service, but in reality, they are not concerned. If a union employee is classified to do one job, he cannot do another job outside his classification. If an employee is classified as a material expeditor, he drives his little cart around until someone needs something moved.
Rate is the other factor, and this is where the unions really excel in ripping a new one for their companies. Everyone knows stories about unproductive employees who make inflated amounts of money who cannot be fired because of the union. So other union employees are forced to take up the slack.
If the union truly cared about their members, they would negotiate reasonable wages that would help to ensure the viability of their company. They would work with management to help weed out unproductive employees so that the more productive employees do not pay the price.
Anyone can argue what they consider to be a fair wage. A fair wage, in my view, is whatever someone will pay you to do whatever job it is that needs to be done. If someone will pay you more for the same work, go to work for him.
A good measure to determine what you consider to be a fair wage is to consider what goes into producing and transporting a loaf of bread to sell. Then ask yourself how much you are willing to pay for that loaf of bread, keeping in mind that several companies must make profits off of the bread as well as pay for the materials used in making it. Maybe things would become clearer then about how unions are ruining American business.
posted by Badbeans | 4:26 PM
3 Comments:
Well written. This ain't the 1930's. Our country is replete with labor laws. Labor Unions have been corrupt since their inception. Americans are unionizing themselves right out of their jobs. As a former non-union over the road truck driver, I often had the opportunity to cross paths with Union workers. From sea to shining sea, my impression of them is that they are quite lazy and the job security that the union provides them serves as an incentive for poor work ethic.
I recall delivering a roll of steel to a construction site. I had to travel this poorly maintained construction road to reach the crane that would unload me. I had to stop midway because some asshat parked his wheelbarrow in the middle of this very narrow road. There were several people, "on break", just sitting there watching this unfold. I got out of my truck, looked around, paused, looked around again then grabbed the wheelbarrow and began to move it to the side of the road. One of the asshats yelled "Hey mother f*****! Get your God D*** hands off my f****** wheelbarrow before I rip your f****** arms off!" I was armed at the time and did not wish a needless confrontation with an asshat. So I let go and stepped back. Knowing I was a non-union driver he remarked "You on a UNION jobsite now sucka! You don't touch a f****** shovel without a card 'round this f****** place!" I said "Then would you use your card to move it so I can deliver my freight?" He said "I'm on break!" So I got in my truck dropped it in 3rd...revved it repeatedly to broadcast my intention...then promptly ran the hell over that wheel barrow. By the time I arrived at the crane, all productivity had stopped. They were waiting on an "official" to come and "discuss" it with me. (word travels faster than work on these jobsites)
I kept my gun close as I was getting threatening stares from every angle. When I went back down the same road on my way out, I saw the crushed wheelbarrow sitting right in the same spot...right in the middle of the road. Sans a wheelbarrow, this "card carryin'" asshat couldn't work. He too was in the same spot. I grinned like the Cheshire Cat as I drove by. True story.
Good one Badbeans.
Unions have simply outlived their usefulness, period. In the days of old when employers were abusive to their employees, unions served to protect common workers and organize a fair wage for the type of work. I believe unions are even credited with establishing the (5) day work week. A lot of good came out of early unions.
One area that you didn't touch on is the fact that most, if not all, unions are extremely partisan toward the democratic party. Employees who are basically forced into joining unions (so they won't be shunned and not represented in any issue problems)are upset that tons of their labor dues end up in a party they absolutely oppose. No different than conservative teachers (no that's not an oxymoron, there are some) who oppose the NEA.
You hit the nail on the head when you say that today's unions do not value employees and, in the end, unions destroy companies.
My younger brother worked for a time for Bell South on phone lines. Initially, he had no intention of joining the union. However, one day, while beginning work, he jumped into a truck in which the previous driver failed to set the brake properly, and he promptly rolled into another truck. Of course, this was considered an accident. The union officials contacted him, and they notified him that they noticed that he had not joined. My brother told him that he had not, nor did he want to. The union official then told him that if he joined, the union would represent him and probably be able to avoid any disciplinary action, but if he did not, then, I quote, "F**k you." My brother joined.
My brother also described his typical day to me. At 7 a.m., meet at the office. Leave and go get breakfast. Get to the job site at about 8:30. Look over the job site, talk about what to do until about 10:00. Go on break. Start back about 10:20 to 10:30 in discussing what to do. Start setting up for work until about noon. Lunch break. Start work back at 1:00. Work until about 2:30, then take the last break. Start taking up tools and equipment. Back at the office at 3:30 to 4:00.
GM, Ford, Bell South, and all other companies who are unionized have no one to thank but the unions for losing the competitive edge.
In the earlier part of the century, our economy was not quite as globalized as it is today. U.S. citizens purchased domestically manufactured goods more than imports. Today is just the opposite. And in a free market economy, if one can purchase a product with the same quality and availability at a lower cost, then why not purchase the less expensive item, even if an import?
And Waynedawg, good point about the union allegiance to the Democ-Rat party. This only further supports my assertion that the union is not concerned with their constituency, but rather, they are concerned with their own viability.
Isn't it ironic that union officials often accuse management of the very practices that they are guilty of, namely padding their executives while ripping off the ones on whose backs they are riding?
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