Are US Labor Unions Dying?

[Cow Poke]

Have they outlived their usefulness? Reached too far?

Have you been (or are you now) in a Labor Union?

(I was UAW for about 3 years way back in my youth )

[Cow Poke]

Oh, and when I was a cop, the TEAMSTERS UNION was trying their best to "organize" us.

[Teallaura]

1) Over reach coupled with poor job performance.

2) Yes.

[rogue06]

Are US Labor Unions Dying?

In the private sector ... pretty much.

In the public (i.e., government) sector ... still pretty strong.

[Cow Poke]

In the private sector ... pretty much.

In the public (i.e., government) sector ... still pretty strong.

I forgot about the GOVERNMENT labor unions!

[Teallaura]

[Cow Poke]

yes??????????

[rogue06]

yes??????????

By now you should realize Teal is naturally grumpy when it comes to us.

[Cow Poke]

Source: Wall Street Journal

The United Auto Workers union suffered a crushing defeat Friday, falling short in an election in which it seemed to have a clear path to organizing workers at Volkswagen AG VOW3.XE +1.10% 's plant in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The setback is a bitter defeat because the union had the cooperation of Volkswagen management and the aid of Germany's powerful IG Metall union, yet it failed to win a majority among the plants 1,550 hourly workers.

Volkswagen workers rejected the union by a vote of 712 to 626. The defeat raises questions about the future of a union that for years has suffered from declining membership and influence, and almost certainly leaves its president, Bob King, who had vowed to organize at least one foreign auto maker by the time he retires in June, with a tarnished legacy.

© Copyright Original Source

[Thoughtful Monk]

1) Over reach coupled with poor job performance.

2) Yes.

Agreed.

Would add - failed to adjust to new economic realities. Their fighting to keep benefits and are now gone...Like lifetime employment.

[Cow Poke]

My personal experience with labor unions was, as I said, United Auto Workers. It just seemed to me that the Union was unnecessarily adversarial to Management, and worked far too hard at making things complicated in order to employ more people.

Example - I operated a water cooled welding machine. If it broke down, EVEN IF I had the ability to "clear it" and make it work again, I was required to notify my foreman that I needed a "skilled tradesman". Often, an electrician would show up, add his "lock out / tag out" to the control panel, then decide it needed a pipe fitter, because it was a cooling problem. Further delay until a pipe fitter shows up who adds his lock out / tag out to the control panel, then decides he needs a machinist, who would eventually show up, adding his lock out / tag out to the control panel.

It was obvious it was a game -- let's drag this "repair" out as long as we can, because the entire production line has to be shut down til the welding machine is back up and running.

[Epoetker]

Organizing lower-class workers, whether for actually working dangerous jobs or implying/threatening violence, tends to require a great degree of discipline on the ground and as a result tends to lead to the sort of racial makeup found in, say, street gangs (hint: it's not multicultural:)

It was the early 1970’s and my mentor, the late Dr. Arthur Fletcher, received the “green light” from Secretary of Labor George Schultz and President Richard Nixon to integrate the construction workforce on federally regulated projects. Construction unions were livid about this. AFL-CIO president George Meany demanded the firing of Secretary Schultz and the immediate shutdown of this program. President Nixon ignored him and Art kicked off the program in Philadelphia – The Philadelphia Plan. The second city was Chicago.

The Chicago Plan was very confrontational. Construction unions tried to invade the Palmer House Hotel where Art was having his meetings with local labor leaders. Death threats were real so President Nixon called Mayor Richard Daley and warned him that if Art is harmed in any way the 101st Airborne will be marching down Michigan Ave. Art left Chicago alive but the mob put out a contract on his life. For the next two years he had Secret Service body guards. The Chicago union halls had to sign a Consent Decree claiming they would integrate their ranks.

Whatever you believe about integration, in general people who are forced to accept others at gunpoint tend not to take it very well. George Meany foresaw this government mendacity:

The main function of American trade unions is collective bargaining. It is impossible to bargain collectively with the government. Unions, as well as employers, would vastly prefer to have even Government regulation of labor-management relations reduced to a minimum consistent with the protection of the public welfare...

I'll give George Meany some credit, the man could turn a phrase pretty well:

In 1971, he explicitly signed off on McGovern as an acceptable Democratic candidate, and then, in 1972, ruthlessly sabotaged him in a fit of cultural pique for turning over the Democratic Party, as Meany claimed from the dais at a Steelworkers’ convention, to “people who look like Jacks, acted like Jills, and had the odors of Johns about them.”

This, of course, was back when J. Edgar Hoover being caught wearing women's clothing was supposed to be shameful rather than a noble admission of his true victimhood status, so please bear with the attitudes of the time.

[Cow Poke]

Ya know, Epo, I believe you could wreck a one car funeral procession.

[Epoetker]

Wrecking this one-man procession has created new jobs and opportunities for advancement. For instance, when you describe this:

I operated a water cooled welding machine. If it broke down, EVEN IF I had the ability to "clear it" and make it work again, I was required to notify my foreman that I needed a "skilled tradesman". Often, an electrician would show up, add his "lock out / tag out" to the control panel, then decide it needed a pipe fitter, because it was a cooling problem. Further delay until a pipe fitter shows up who adds his lock out / tag out to the control panel, then decides he needs a machinist, who would eventually show up, adding his lock out / tag out to the control panel.

In general labor unions are made up of people who all do the same job. What you're describing isn't really a union, for there's no common spirit that unites it. It's the corruption of the greater purpose of the organization by individuals exploiting their individual interests to grab as much power ('impact' is the bureaucratic term) as they can in their own individual niches, and can be seen even in completely non-unionized organizations and completely non-unionized jobs, in secretaries and managers and bureaucrats as much as trades involving actual physical labor. You are important, and you show your importance by exercising power publicly, even if there's no actual need to do it. "Never let a crisis go to waste," etc.

Indeed, a good labor union would strive to break down this mentality among its members first (though it would likely filter up to its management eventually.) Effective long-term leadership lies in crushing this attitude among all those who work for you wherever it crops up.

[Cow Poke]

What you're describing isn't really a union, for there's no common spirit that unites it.

Yeah, it's SEVERAL unions banding together to oppose "management", and abusing the power they hold. So, you're right -- unions are even WORSE when they conspire TOGETHER.