I had a case of insomnia last night. After an hour or so of tossing and turning in my bed, fruitlessly trying to get back to sleep, I caved into my untimely energy and surfed the internet for an hour or so. During my online adventure, I discovered that the Teamsters and SEIU are splitting from the AFL-CIO. Am I the only one who's saying "It's about freakin' time?"
When unions were first formed, they served a genuine purpose. Remember that during the industrial revolution, people worked 12 hours a day, and got roughly one day off every other week. Work-related injuries weren't just a possibility, they were a PROBABILITY. Wages were so low that entire families -- kids included -- HAD to work just to keep a leaky roof over their heads. Meanwhile, the Rockefellers and Carnegies made so much money that 100 years later, their descendents STILL don't have to work. In other words, unions didn't just "serve a purpose," they were a necessity.
As the unions began to organize, quality of life improved dramatically for the average worker, and the playing field began to level a bit between employers and employees. Wages rose, work hours dropped and the workplace became a safer place to be. Realistically, unions had accomplished their goals. Once these goals were accomplished and institutionalized in American Society, unions could have theoretically gone by the wayside, or at least stayed around strictly as corporate watchdogs. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. Unions became a bureaucracy and entrenched themselves in society. This, of course, makes perfect sense. After all, these union leaders had become almost as rich and powerful as the Robber Barons they were taking on. At this point, unions took on a life of their own.
Fast-forward a couple of decades, when unions started going nuts. They started not just asking for fair wages, but for obscene wages (based on the skill set of the average union worker). They began the process of making even the most incompetent, unqualified union worker virtually immune from termination. And soon the union employees started becoming complacent, with American product quality and product ingenuity soon falling as a result. (If you doubt me, think about the quality of the average 70's American-made vehicle. I sure wouldn't want to own one).
The early 80's brought the beginning of the end for unions as we now know them. Quality and profitibility was low, but the unions weren't willing to work with management to ensure the long-term viability of the companies. Foreign products -- superior in quality and lower in price -- began creeping in to the economy, crowding out American goods, services and jobs. About the same time, corporations began to realize that they could ship the unskilled jobs to foreign countries, save money, and oftentimes still end up with a better product.Layoffs started occurring en masse. Unions lost some of their influence, and American workers were forced to take lower-paying non-union jobs in order to make ends meet. A lot of union workers will say that this was a result of corporate greed. To an extent, they're right. But at the same time, unions need to be accountable for their role in this too.
It looks like unions are finally starting to get it. Maybe this is the first step in a complete overhaul of the union mentality. Maybe they'll start allowing for the reality of today's world. I'd like to make a couple of humble suggestions. Allow for some wage variances based on performance. While it's reasonable to make sure that your union members make a decent living wage, you should allow for bonuses, raises and other perks to be disbursed based on performance. If Joe Shit the lazy employee makes the same as SuperEmployee, there's no incentive for SuperEmployee to do any more than Joe Shit.
You should also consider making it easier for management to get rid of dead weight. If a new employee performs better than a tenured employee, and it's time for layoffs, it's unreasonable for the better employee to be laid off, just because the other guy's got seniority. If a guy's not performing, the company should also have the right to can him, without all of the grievance bureaucracy bullshit.
It's time to let go of the past, and get a grip on what's going on today. Unions, get your shit together and work for the common good, or face extinction.
When unions were first formed, they served a genuine purpose. Remember that during the industrial revolution, people worked 12 hours a day, and got roughly one day off every other week. Work-related injuries weren't just a possibility, they were a PROBABILITY. Wages were so low that entire families -- kids included -- HAD to work just to keep a leaky roof over their heads. Meanwhile, the Rockefellers and Carnegies made so much money that 100 years later, their descendents STILL don't have to work. In other words, unions didn't just "serve a purpose," they were a necessity.
As the unions began to organize, quality of life improved dramatically for the average worker, and the playing field began to level a bit between employers and employees. Wages rose, work hours dropped and the workplace became a safer place to be. Realistically, unions had accomplished their goals. Once these goals were accomplished and institutionalized in American Society, unions could have theoretically gone by the wayside, or at least stayed around strictly as corporate watchdogs. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. Unions became a bureaucracy and entrenched themselves in society. This, of course, makes perfect sense. After all, these union leaders had become almost as rich and powerful as the Robber Barons they were taking on. At this point, unions took on a life of their own.
Fast-forward a couple of decades, when unions started going nuts. They started not just asking for fair wages, but for obscene wages (based on the skill set of the average union worker). They began the process of making even the most incompetent, unqualified union worker virtually immune from termination. And soon the union employees started becoming complacent, with American product quality and product ingenuity soon falling as a result. (If you doubt me, think about the quality of the average 70's American-made vehicle. I sure wouldn't want to own one).
The early 80's brought the beginning of the end for unions as we now know them. Quality and profitibility was low, but the unions weren't willing to work with management to ensure the long-term viability of the companies. Foreign products -- superior in quality and lower in price -- began creeping in to the economy, crowding out American goods, services and jobs. About the same time, corporations began to realize that they could ship the unskilled jobs to foreign countries, save money, and oftentimes still end up with a better product.Layoffs started occurring en masse. Unions lost some of their influence, and American workers were forced to take lower-paying non-union jobs in order to make ends meet. A lot of union workers will say that this was a result of corporate greed. To an extent, they're right. But at the same time, unions need to be accountable for their role in this too.
It looks like unions are finally starting to get it. Maybe this is the first step in a complete overhaul of the union mentality. Maybe they'll start allowing for the reality of today's world. I'd like to make a couple of humble suggestions. Allow for some wage variances based on performance. While it's reasonable to make sure that your union members make a decent living wage, you should allow for bonuses, raises and other perks to be disbursed based on performance. If Joe Shit the lazy employee makes the same as SuperEmployee, there's no incentive for SuperEmployee to do any more than Joe Shit.
You should also consider making it easier for management to get rid of dead weight. If a new employee performs better than a tenured employee, and it's time for layoffs, it's unreasonable for the better employee to be laid off, just because the other guy's got seniority. If a guy's not performing, the company should also have the right to can him, without all of the grievance bureaucracy bullshit.
It's time to let go of the past, and get a grip on what's going on today. Unions, get your shit together and work for the common good, or face extinction.
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