Conspiracy to destroy organized labor?

The American Labor Movement is failing:
www.usnews.com...

There seems to be a reason. The Democratic Party is bleeding it to death.
By some accounts, over 500 MILLION dollars came out of union members pockets last election cycle.

This to a party that sold them out with support for NAFTA and GATT in the '90s.

The question I have is if this is a DLC / corporatist plot or has labor leadership simply blundered?

you might want to look at this item i dug up
www.nationalcenter.org...

Teachers' union officials in Florida have given up on their challenge to the enforcement of a state law banning the solicitation of political donations on government property. The move could cost government employee unions an estimated $500 million in donations that would be spent on political activity.

also the fact taht labor unions are now barred from donating to politics in the US. (But have used PAC to get around it)

The simple fact is, Labor unions were a power, but a GOP led congress and senete and Union busting presidents (Reagan/Bush) have slowly whittled away thier power. Even wal-mart now uses Union busting tactics openly with no recorse for the workers.

Unions have lost power because they have lost their viability.

Who needs them?

Auto workers? $30 an hour to put on lug nuts? Ford has $3000 PER CAR added to the cost of a car.

Steel Workers? What steel workers? Every country in the world produces cheaper.

I was in Chicago when the toll booth workers were striking. TOLL BOOTH WORKERS! A trained monkey can do that job.

$30 dollars an hour my ass.

Maybe their ENGINEERS get that amount, but definitly not the end of the line guy checking the torque on the lugnuts.

At best, I estimate their lower end workers are making 12-15 dollars an hour. Which isn't bad considering all of the "electronic help". Do you think the "robotics" ask for time off?

Now, the toll booth workers strike was just ludicrous...

The fact is that the Republican party has become corporation friendly. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. It just happens to be bad when they do bust unions. But I can only think of once when they did bust them...air line strikes in the 80s.

And Realist...please remember, for the most part of the 90s, Republicans did control the Legislative branch.

And besides, the link just says that they are experiencing a down time. It happens. Everything has cycles. The economy, the internet, the friggin' Country, the Saints. (You know they are due for a NFC championship soon...next three years...) It happens...you cannot expect to have everything run at same speed or better every year. If you do, you will end up having an unmeetable goal each year...Which is one of the downfalls of our economy...which is dictated upon doing better than the year before...

Unions are losing power because they should.

The time of unions in the developed world is passing....quickly. And thank God. Unions no longer serve the purpose they were designed for oh-so-many decades ago.

Unions are a socialist leftover from a bygone era.

The word Union is synonymous with Soviet. (look it up, dont take my word for it.)

It is beyond me how a leftist, socialist construct like unions can be called "American". Unions are the antithesis of the "American Way".

Unions in America are nothing more than legalised gangs. The union leaders are only interested in feathering their own nest and dont care about the rank and file.

Unions on their way out? Good. They should be.

It would seem to me the only real power they can "employ" is the ability to strike; there is still legal protections written into federal laws from the New Deal to help them with that

But a general strike of say, all AFL/CIO union members could not be funded because there is no money left in the coffers- it's been spent by democrat consultants and advertising guys.

A pretty effective strike breaking strategy...

It's a shame that the unions were taken over by greed, unethics, and immorality. Originallly they were a necessity for the common labor guy ( I know, I sound like a communist...) Unfortunately, the little guy is the one who always takes the hit. The unions did a fine job of making a living wage for the guy who checks the lug nuts, prepares the food in public places, etc.

The leaders of the unions got to where they took and took. The paid lip service to the benefits for the members and quit bothering with protecting those members. the unions, as they stand, are unviable. This is obvious in that companies like Wal-Mart, beat them down, threaten their workers and make the unions go away. Unimpeded, the workers are being put back in a position of sweat labor/slave labor.

What is sad to me is that so much headway was made, then let go. I honestly believe that there will be a time, in the future, when unions will make a come back. They, almost by definition, have to. The common worker is, once again, starting to be beat down by the corporate world. I suspect the form may be different, but they will be back.

Many people forget that a majority of labor laws were created BY union lead efforts. If fact, if it were not for unions many of the american jobs would be replaced by minimum wage part-timers who would have no future. WIth a union a person can work at a labor intensive job and still make a decent living.

If fact, if it were not for Unions many people would have lost thier jobs due to poor and dishonest managment (I am one of them)

If everybody bought products made in their own country, then unions would still be feasible but everyone runs down to walmart to buy something that is 50 cents cheaper cause it was made in china or some other third world country. Even our television jokes around about the quality of things made buy lazy over paid westerners. Also your stinkin mutual funds & 401k plans invest your retirement savings in oversea companies. THE EASIEST WAY TO STOP GLOBALIZATION IS TO BUY GOODS MADE IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY. It will keep you, your friends & relatives employed and cut back on the people getting laid off and draining the socialistic safety nets of welfare & unemployment insurance which raises our taxes and increases our cost of living. This sounds corny but it starts with you!!!!

As I sit here perusing this post I tend to wonder how many people have taken the motto of this site as anything other than a very pretty cliche....
DENY IGNORANCE
By calling unions a socialist or "commie" as it were holdover you are enabling Amerika's supposed "New Economy" and swallowing the party line with a smile. For those of you who haven't figured out what the "new economy" means here it is. You work harder for less! Period. While unions are by no means perfect they did provide the average american worker a way to be heard by our employers and elected representatives. The deunionization of America coupled with illegal immigration are the reason why many of you haven't seen a raise that even keeps up with the increased cost of living in years.

Black Flag is correct. Unions are some kind of pinko scheme. Employees should be grateful to employers that they have jobs! Maybe there is a conspiracy to eliminate "organized labor" - it's called FREE MARKET CAPITALISM!

You smug sons of guns...do you know what would happen in a pure and only capitalistic society? DO YOU? You sit there and think that you know, but you don't. Or else you would not be making these idiotic claims.

In a pure free, untethered, undisturbed, unregulated market you would be property. Yes...you! Slavery would be back in a hurry, after all...labor is cheap when you don't have to pay it. Is that what you want? Personally, I have no care to be a slave to the system. If not slavery, you would be receiving sweat shop labor pay. Is that what you want? To make two dollars a week at each four of your jobs? If not, then bugger off. You cannot get rid of unions or regulations in the free market system unless you wish to be owned...

Originally posted by BattleofBatoche
If everybody bought products made in their own country, then unions would still be feasible but everyone runs down to walmart to buy something that is 50 cents cheaper cause it was made in china or some other third world country. Even our television jokes around about the quality of things made buy lazy over paid westerners. Also your stinkin mutual funds & 401k plans invest your retirement savings in oversea companies. THE EASIEST WAY TO STOP GLOBALIZATION IS TO BUY GOODS MADE IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY. It will keep you, your friends & relatives employed and cut back on the people getting laid off and draining the socialistic safety nets of welfare & unemployment insurance which raises our taxes and increases our cost of living. This sounds corny but it starts with you!!!!

Wow. I Agree with you.. You got a way above for that one

Allthough it is almost impossible to boycott China, nowadays almost everything not perishable is most likely from China.

Originally posted by BattleofBatoche
If everybody bought products made in their own country, then unions would still be feasible but everyone runs down to walmart to buy something that is 50 cents cheaper cause it was made in china or some other third world country. Even our television jokes around about the quality of things made buy lazy over paid westerners. Also your stinkin mutual funds & 401k plans invest your retirement savings in oversea companies. THE EASIEST WAY TO STOP GLOBALIZATION IS TO BUY GOODS MADE IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY. It will keep you, your friends & relatives employed and cut back on the people getting laid off and draining the socialistic safety nets of welfare & unemployment insurance which raises our taxes and increases our cost of living. This sounds corny but it starts with you!!!!

Holy cow, I agree with Batoche too. Who woulda thunk it?

You hit the nail right on the head with that post. Of course, if you're ignoring me as you advocate, you'll never know.

True, in Chicago journeymen mechanics make $30.00 an hour. Almost automotive dealers and repair centers belong to Mechanics Local 701, myself included.

On the other hand, Heavy Equipment operators with Local 150, make upwards of $32.00 an hour. The men in construction deserve what they make. That is hard labor, through all types of weather. The definitely deserve more than some twit on Wall Street.


I also worked construction in Germany. My pay as an ironworker there was $10.00 an hour, compared to $29.50 here in Chicago.

Unions help in a BIG way!

I've been a manufacturing Aerospace manager for over 25 years and have listened to and watched and been a part of dismanteling unions several times. And the reasoon for fighting unions, each time was to lower the benefits and wages of hourly workers while raising the benefits and pay of middle and upper management. Thecompanies have continued to earn record profits and give bigger bonuses, while outsourcing more and more work to companies that pay slave labor wages, even outsourcing of military programs to countries that have no business knowing our secrets.

Interesting replies!
I would agree with most that point out that capital is amoral, and, like water, seeks the lowest level it is allowed. If it is allowed world wide range, it will find the cheapest labor somewhere.

"Buy American" will not work, because even the people whose jobs have been outsourced will seek a lower price. Finding goods not made in China is a difficult, time consuming task.

Last week old man Sweeney retained leadership of the AFL/CIO. It appears labor leadership has learned nothing, and will continue it's slide into obscurity.

If corporate leadership had hatched a conspiracy to destroy unions 20 years ago they couldn't have done better that what they've got now.

Your post is true! The people who cannot afford it will not buy "American" just for the purpose, which reminds me of the TV (gasp!) interview saying that most foreign products come from American minds (well, duh!) - take for example the new(er) best HDTV's - DLP high-definition... The tech is from an American company (Texas Instruments - gee, where can that be based?) but some (maybe all, dunno the facts) are made in Japan (my DLP HDTV is from Toshiba, which, I dunno but can reasonably infer is made in Japan or somewhere in Asia) because, guess what - they work cheaper than we are willing to!

Soo, get rid of unions and let the market decide... instead of the market saying, "Yup, I'll buy a Japanese or European car... I'll buy this American car! (or tv/stereo/whatever) Unions drive costs up, and guess where that leads retail prices? Education, Initiative, Education, people! Geez, some are afraid the Japanese, etc. will surpase us one day... well, guess why?! Give those highschool/college DROPOUTS some incentive! You never see Microsoft, etc. EXECUTIVES going on strike!

It's apparent that all manufactured products with any amount of labor involved that can be done overseas will be.

Look at furniture: the La-Z-Boy you are sitting in now has the material cut and sewn abroad and is stapled to a frame with the "Made in USA" tag here in the states, most brands are made completely in China.

As to unionization, the only opportunity for growth is in the service sector, or government.

One is too fragmented to effectively organize, and the other should not be, as it serves the people. Also, public service unions (teachers, police, fire) are often prohibited by law from striking, so the most potent weapon they have in collective bargaining is denied them. (remember the PATCO strike?)