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Unions...

Do you think unions are a good thing or a bad thing?

  • Good

    Votes: 6 46.2%
  • Bad

    Votes: 7 53.8%
  • Not sure

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    13

conserv.pat15

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Do you think unions are a good thing or a bad thing?
 
They're good for the people who belong to them. But they're bad for labor, business, and the nation's economy as a whole.
 
Unions once had a place in the American economy.

Now, all they do is force companies to move their production overseas where they can pay a ton less for the same work.
 
I think its good because it protects workers from immoral treatment without the use of government intervention. I would also advocate a "consumer union" if that could actually work. I mean unions aren't perfect but I don't think they are so bad as to be thrown away. I mean it could be worse. We could have the government intervening and then everyone would start bitching and moaning.
 
Last edited:
M14 Shooter said:
Unions once had a place in the American economy.

Now, all they do is force companies to move their production overseas where they can pay a ton less for the same work.

What about carpenter's unions? They usually don't work for one specific company, they are often contracted for specific jobs, and what they do is kinda hard to outsource. :mrgreen:
 
Stace said:
What about carpenter's unions? They usually don't work for one specific company, they are often contracted for specific jobs, and what they do is kinda hard to outsource. :mrgreen:


What do contractors need a union for? Whom are they going to negotiate with?
 
Kandahar said:
What do contractors need a union for? Whom are they going to negotiate with?

You know, personally, I'm not sure....I can find out, though. A friend of mine and her fiance are thinking of moving down here to North Carolina (they're from Wisconsin), and she was asking me about carpenter's unions for her fiance.....I'll have her ask him and get back to you on that.
 
conserv.pat15 said:
Do you think unions are a good thing or a bad thing?

They can be a good thing because if most employers had it their way, they would not be paying the employees a decent wage reguardless of the type of work that needs to be done.Some companies like to screw the guys on the bottom just to give to the man on top, airline CEOs are a good example of that.
If it was not for unions most of america would be working for slave wages.We still need unions because companies will find ways to cheat workers,they will also figure that they can get a illegal to do the same job for 3/4 less pay.

Now I do not think people need 1 or 2 months vacation each year,free cosmetic surgery or free education provided by a company.
 
jamesrage said:
They can be a good thing because if most employers had it their way, they would not be paying the employees a decent wage reguardless of the type of work that needs to be done.Some companies like to screw the guys on the bottom just to give to the man on top, airline CEOs are a good example of that.
If it was not for unions most of america would be working for slave wages.We still need unions because companies will find ways to cheat workers,they will also figure that they can get a illegal to do the same job for 3/4 less pay.

Now I do not think people need 1 or 2 months vacation each year,free cosmetic surgery or free education provided by a company.

Employers can't just pay whatever wage they feel like paying; if they don't pay the market wage, no one will work for them. If people would be working for slave wages without unions, how do you explain the fact only 12.5% of Americans are union members? Are the other 87.5% slaves?
 
Unions use to be a good thing but they have long since outlived their usefulness............Most of them are corrupt........
 
The question is too vague to answer. What does "good" mean?

Union can perform needed functions. Do businesses want to negotiate wages with ten thousand different job applicants? No. So a union provides a convenient interface.

Are unions good for the economic health of the country. No. Overall, unions have raised the price of every good in the country, from houses to toilet paper, either through direct costs to employers via extorted wages, or because non-union Americans have to demand higher wages because they're the ones paying the higher wages the unions are demanding.

Unions seek to establish a monopoly on labor. For some reason most of the clowns that cry about monopolies in business are totally supportive of unions.

Unions seek to gain their monopoly on labor by retaining a monopoly on violence. Again, the usual suspects who decry violence elsewhere think nothing of union thugs roughing up replacement workers.

Overall, unions have been a bane, not a boon.
 
Kandahar said:
Employers can't just pay whatever wage they feel like paying; if they don't pay the market wage, no one will work for them.


Not everyone works a job because they want to.Some take a job because they have bills that need to be paid like yesterday.


If people would be working for slave wages without unions, how do you explain the fact only 12.5% of Americans are union members?
Not every job actually involves skilled manual labor.

Are the other 87.5% slaves?
Some are proably working below their worth.
 
Unions have kept pace with the federal government. They both have become too big and too corrupt.
 
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