There is a spill over effect from unions. Raises in pay due to union negotiations raise the general pay level for all workers. Increases in benefits for uinion members increases benefit levels for all workers.
America’s middle class was built on unions. As unions went away so did our middle class.
If I was as cozy with the mob as conservatives like to say, my job would be much easier. This is laughable.
Are there instances of unions having connections to organized crime? Yes. Are there instances of business having connections to organized crime? Yes. Are there instances of politicians having connections to organized crime? Yes. Corruption isn’t exclusive to unions, nor is it common these days. Most unions have no connection to “the mob.” Unions are amongst the most regulated organizations in the country.
Try again.
Bullshit. Most everything unions negotiated (five-day work week, eight-hour work day, overtime, higher pay, safe work environment, employer-paid benefits) have benefitted the general public.
You are talking about a closed shop where you MUST join the union to work there. I don’t think this is true of government unions, I know its not true of federal unions.
Every state is different but the average benefit plan for federal employees is lower than that of their private sector counterparts that get that benefit. So federal heathcare benefits are better than what people get on average but if you remove the folks who don’t get any health care benefits at all, federal health care benefits are behind the curve.
Most people who vote republican do that they time they vote. Voting to support teachers and policemen is hardly screwing themselves over, some people call that a desire for a competent government workforce.
Unions are extortion? WTF?!?!
Let me add to this. The teachers and firemen are the sexy public workers and were the face of this “No on SB5” campaign. But if you turn on your tap and clean water comes out, thank a public worker. If you flush the toilet and the turd goes away, thank a public worker. If your street lights are working, thank a public worker. If your neighborhood isn’t being overrun by inmates from the nearest prison, thank a public worker. If your kids’ school isn’t a filthy pig sty, thank a public worker. If your local park is mowed and isn’t filled with vermin and trash, thank a public worker.
Reducing pay and staffing levels for all public workers-- not just cops, firefighters and teachers-- would affect our communities. Racing to having the cheapest and smallest workforce will not benefit us in any way.
That’s how the invisible hand works – a population of greedy people each out for himself produces the best outcome in the long run, because leaving all the control in the hands of a class of capitalists or communists or aristocrats or technocrats or whatever has been proven not to work (generally because then only one group is able to act on its desire to grab all the marbles, without effective counterbalance by others).
Really, your ignorance of basic Wealth of Nations 101 makes one wonder if you have a reason other than masochism to keep repeating these inane arguments.
When one performs an apples-to-apples comparison of jobs requiring similar skill sets and education, the government is even further behind the curve.
The unions have a history…? Oh, God! Ever hear of strikebreakers or the Pinkertons? Jay Gould said "I can hire one-half of the working class to kill the other half.
Oh, the United States in the late 19th century was socialist? It was plenty capitalist. These problems, and other ones like child labor, were solved by a combination of union power and government regulations. Please explain to me why a capitalist would do something to reduce his profits.
Businessmen focus on their companies and profits to the exclusion of others also. As mentioned, that is how capitalism works. Why do you think it is evil for workers to freely band together to negotiate their conditions? Remember if they go on strike they don’t get paid. Maybe this is no problem for the fatcats, but it is for most workers.
Sure some unions have and had mob ties, and I’m fine with the government doing something about it. But most don’t. It is not like old style capitalists have clean hands either.
You must have read a different edition than I did. The benefit of greed is that it makes people produce things. As Smith famously said, “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” The union isn’t making dinner for anyone. It’s just grabbing the roast beef for itself and leaving the mashed turnips for everyone else.
The theory that history can be explained by competition between classes comes from a very different book indeed.
It is precisely the desire for profits that makes a (successful) company treat its employees well.
So, things like child labor, hazardous working conditions and minimal pay were solved by the companies themselves? Organized labor and government regulation had nothing to do with it? Please provide cites to support your ridiculous assertion. Or are you saying that child labor, 16-hour work days and the occasional dead worker are examples of treating employees well?
Heheh. Oh, dear.
Right, because if they don’t treat their employees well, they’ll go on strike, and cut the company’s profits to zero.
Wow.
I remember the first time I took too much NyQuil. 
No I think he is saying the high pension will make them retire.
Everything is not a zero sum game.
Why is it that when CEOs negotiate a 10 million dollar pay package… well thats what the market will bear and we must respect that. We cannot put any restraints on the CEO’s ability to negotiate his pay.
When a bunch of teachers get together and say lets negotiate as a group because each of us individually is totally expendable but as a group we become much more important to our employer, THEN the pay that they negotiate is somehow extortion? I know that some jurisdictions have wierd labor laws but generally speaking, you don’t have to sign a contract you don’t want to sign.
SB5 is egregious. If the Republicans hadn’t been so greedy, it probably wouldn’t be a referendum on the Republican party in Ohio.
And where does the other half come from?
Well apparently they can make all the other school systems compete for their labor.
You do realize that the state as the largest employer of teachers in the state exercises a virtual monopsony on the consumption of teaching labor. The free market pricing mechanism breaks down with monopsonies and monopolies.