An idea (From a business guy) for unionized workers......

[samsmart]

i know.... it's the wierdest dang thing..... it's almost as if they are artificially raising their own compensation resulting in depressing wages for everyone else.....

Yeah. It's almost like what CEOs do to their own non-union workers too.

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

i know.... it's the wierdest dang thing..... it's almost as if they are artificially raising their own compensation resulting in depressing wages for everyone else.....

Darn them for being greedy little capitalists seeking to maximize their returns

Why are they not good little socialists seeking lower wages to ensure that a fairer distribution of income is promoted

 

[Grim17]

And yet union workers still tend to receive higher wages and benifits then non union workers in the same field. If that is not bettering the union members I dont know what is

The op is about what unions should do with the dues they collect from members, so of course they are going to keep getting them raises and better benefits to keep them paying the membership dues. To the union leaders, members are the "cash cow" that finances their political goals and aspirations, and if you think they would take some of that dues money and use it for the members, you obviously haven't been paying much attention to their actions over the years.

 

[samsmart]

The op is about what unions should do with the dues they collect from members, so of course they are going to keep getting them raises and better benefits to keep them paying the membership dues. To the union leaders, members are the "cash cow" that finances their political goals and aspirations, and if you think they would take some of that dues money and use it for the members, you obviously haven't been paying much attention to their actions over the years.

But here's the thing.

CEOs do this too.

There's absolutely no difference in how unions demand dues which they use for political contributions and in how CEOs demand high pay which they use for political contributions instead of using that money to pay the workers higher wages.

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

But here's the thing.

CEOs do this too.

There's absolutely no difference in how unions demand dues which they use for political contributions and in how CEOs demand high pay which they use for political contributions instead of using that money to pay the workers higher wages.

Most CEO's will not use their own money to lobby government, but that which should belong to shareholders

 

[Joby]

Um, OK. Whilst many people seem to feel a need to determine if workers are intelligent enough to run a business, I think I'll post some stuff about workers running their own businesses.

From the top, when this is done it's not called a union run business, it's called a workers cooperative.

A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and democratically managed by its worker-owners. This control may be exercised in a number of ways. A cooperative enterprise may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which managers and administration is elected by every worker-owner, and finally it can refer to a situation in which managers are considered, and treated as, workers of the firm. In traditional forms of worker cooperative, all shares are held by the workforce with no outside or consumer owners, and each member has one voting share. In practice, control by worker-owners may be exercised through individual, collective or majority ownership by the workforce, or the retention of individual, collective or majority voting rights (exercised on a one-member one-vote basis).[1] A worker cooperative, therefore, has the characteristic that the majority of its workforce own shares, and the majority of shares are owned by the workforce

Worker cooperative - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here's a link to a very small sample of co-ops in the US:

USFWC Members | US Federation of Worker Cooperatives

Now, this is relatively new thing in the US (but not really that new at all). The entrepreneur fetish this country has is still in full swing, but while this glorification of the managers and shareholders (ie those not doing the productive work) was going on, the other jobs were getting shipped overseas.

While anti-worker sentiment is high, it's time for a reaction from the left. Time to stop going on the defensive. Why? Because if the jobs could be outsourced, they've been outsourced. But not a single worker co-op will ever be outsourced, because that would screw the owners, who are also workers who contribute.

I agree with the OP wholeheartedly, and I hope that the co-op movement and worker democratization grows at a time when the standard of living of the working class is under constant attack by those who worship the false gods of corporate america.

 

[Hicup]

Um, OK. Whilst many people seem to feel a need to determine if workers are intelligent enough to run a business, I think I'll post some stuff about workers running their own businesses.

From the top, when this is done it's not called a union run business, it's called a workers cooperative.



Worker cooperative - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here's a link to a very small sample of co-ops in the US:

USFWC Members | US Federation of Worker Cooperatives

Now, this is relatively new thing in the US (but not really that new at all). The entrepreneur fetish this country has is still in full swing, but while this glorification of the managers and shareholders (ie those not doing the productive work) was going on, the other jobs were getting shipped overseas.

While anti-worker sentiment is high, it's time for a reaction from the left. Time to stop going on the defensive. Why? Because if the jobs could be outsourced, they've been outsourced. But not a single worker co-op will ever be outsourced, because that would screw the owners, who are also workers who contribute.

I agree with the OP wholeheartedly, and I hope that the co-op movement and worker democratization grows at a time when the standard of living of the working class is under constant attack by those who worship the false gods of corporate america.

Thank you, however worker co-op's are not exactly what I was thinking, but certainly there would be room for that type of investment. My idea is simply to invest in start up businesses, and the union would take a cut of the profits, and this "cut" would be divided among the union membership. Sure, a single business here and there will not yield great results, but think about investing in something like the new "Subway" or anything that is franchisable. As it is now, Unions spend their money in none-realized, and unquantifiable ways.

The way I see it, it is very similar to what TARP and the continuing EU's funds are being spent on.. They're being mismanaged, IMO. Those funds (trillions so far) could have gone to the borrowers themselves, and instead of sending money after a dead horse, they could have been used to relieve the toxicity of the financial vehicles the banks, and insurers were facing.. Nut-Shell.. All these smart guys in Washington F'd up, OR they sent the money in the wrong direction ON PURPOSE!!!!!!


Tim-