TrickyRicky
Senior Member
Here's where I get all crazy and agree with the union against several points being made by the general public.
First off my opinion on unions: The problem I have with unions is that they claim to represent workers in general, when in reality they are in essence a private club with the mandate to protect the interests of their worker membership exclusively. There are many such interest groups from corporations to political parties so I don't have much problem with them in theory. However, let's be clear they are in it for themselves, period full stop. There actions may have precedent setting positive impact on other people outside their membership but this is incidental. I have less distaste for public sector unions because here two groups are arguing over proper compensation usually in a sector of the economy that is a monopoly or near monopoly of the government. So a worker has little choice to change his or her employer if they want to stay in the same sector but are unsatisfied with the compensation.
Now to the points being made against the union in this instance. I don't really think that using current economic conditions as an argument for concessions is very strong in a multi-year contract scenerio. While the compensation and benefits that exist for union members may be excessive, even outrageous, the fact is that some idiot agreed to award them these benefits in the past. So I certainly do not blame them or feel angered by their attempting to maintain the status quo even if I wouldn't care if they failed in it.
First off my opinion on unions: The problem I have with unions is that they claim to represent workers in general, when in reality they are in essence a private club with the mandate to protect the interests of their worker membership exclusively. There are many such interest groups from corporations to political parties so I don't have much problem with them in theory. However, let's be clear they are in it for themselves, period full stop. There actions may have precedent setting positive impact on other people outside their membership but this is incidental. I have less distaste for public sector unions because here two groups are arguing over proper compensation usually in a sector of the economy that is a monopoly or near monopoly of the government. So a worker has little choice to change his or her employer if they want to stay in the same sector but are unsatisfied with the compensation.
Now to the points being made against the union in this instance. I don't really think that using current economic conditions as an argument for concessions is very strong in a multi-year contract scenerio. While the compensation and benefits that exist for union members may be excessive, even outrageous, the fact is that some idiot agreed to award them these benefits in the past. So I certainly do not blame them or feel angered by their attempting to maintain the status quo even if I wouldn't care if they failed in it.