Unions are going to be verywhere

They are the main cause for the auto industries crash. I would hope not.

I am definitely for unions. In fact, I'm part of one. We have one here at the hospital I work at in California and the union has gotten me a bigraise every year since I've been here and even saved my job when my supervisor tried to get me fired over something barely worth a slap on the wrist because she doesn't like me.

Some unions kind of get out of control which is bad but overall organized labor is generally beneficial to the worker.

I'm torn on unions, yes they protect workers, but when they get too powerful they abuse the power. Look at the auto industry.

Obama is not really focusing on his job to tell you the truth.

Thank god, I think every last place of work needs a union. It's not just for the pay negotiations, I have worked in some places where no matter who you talk to you're given the run-around. My employer was blatanlty violating fair scheduling practices and it literally took weeks for anything to happen.

And yes, there's a downside to unions. There's an even bigger downside to not having them, though, and if they're made a matter of national importance then putting regulations in place to avoid corruption should take care of that problem.

People should be given the choice. Unions are not always a good thing.

No, unions are always a good thing, the problem sometimes is the people running them.

If you want a good example of why unions ARE needed in every industry that supports working class families then just watch Wal-Mart, the high cost of low prices. It's an awesome documentary done not from the perspective of the so-called hollywood elitist but of small business people, union organizers, working parents, and every day Americans. I really found a lot of irony watching it for the first time during the recent elections because the Republican Party was basing their whole campaign almost on small businesses and protecting entrepeneurship, yet when it comes to unions and protectionism that could stop rapid expansion of corporations with no care for local economies or the well-being of their workers like Wal-Mart they're against it because it supposedly stifles economic growth.

Personally, I thinkevery industry needs anational union. I think there need to be periodicpay negotiations for EVERY industry, I think there need to be mediators at these negotiations. I also think there needs to be a minimum standard of living that includes equal education and adequate and equal health care coverage, I think there need to be salary caps on executives' salaries, and I think every company needs to follow teh Costco model of the highest paid employee's salary being proportional to the lowest paid employee's. Lastly, I think there needs to be greater awareness of what positions command what amount of money and there needs to be standards set so that certain positions cannot unfairly command disproportionate sums of money. That's not unreasonable, that's simply demanding fairness, that every employee in the company benefit from the company's success, and that companyies do not profit through disinfranchising or taking advantage of their workers.

No, unions are always a good thing, the problem sometimes is the people running them.

If you want a good example of why unions ARE needed in every industry that supports working class families then just watch Wal-Mart, the high cost of low prices. It's an awesome documentary done not from the perspective of the so-called hollywood elitist but of small business people, union organizers, working parents, and every day Americans. I really found a lot of irony watching it for the first time during the recent elections because the Republican Party was basing their whole campaign almost on small businesses and protecting entrepeneurship, yet when it comes to unions and protectionism that could stop rapid expansion of corporations with no care for local economies or the well-being of their workers like Wal-Mart they're against it because it supposedly stifles economic growth.

Personally, I think every industry needs a national union. I think there need to be periodic pay negotiations for EVERY industry, I think there need to be mediators at these negotiations. I think every place of business needs a union rep to act as a voice of the employees and negotiate with management based on STANDARDS that bot parties agree to when they hire/agree to work under the other. I also think there needs to be a minimum standard of living that includes equal education and adequate and equal health care coverage, I think there need to be salary caps on executives' salaries, and I think every company needs to follow teh Costco model of the highest paid employee's salary being proportional to the lowest paid employee's. Lastly, I think there needs to be greater awareness of what positions command what amount of money and there needs to be standards set so that certain positions cannot unfairly command disproportionate sums of money. That's not unreasonable, that's simply demanding fairness, that every employee in the company benefit from the company's success, and that companyies do not profit through disinfranchising or taking advantage of their workers.

that would be horrible. first of all, prices are going to go up even more. union employees are paid ridiculous amounts of money. look at UAW members. they do an incredibly unskilled job that any high school dropout could do and yet they get high wages and many benefits. the figure for total compensation, including healthcare and other benefits, was about $60, but i think that's gone down now due to bailout requirements. they have way too much power and it's time to do away with them.shoeman12

[QUOTE="shoeman12"]that would be horrible. first of all, prices are going to go up even more. union employees are paid ridiculous amounts of money. look at UAW members. they do an incredibly unskilled job that any high school dropout could do and yet they get high wages and many benefits. the figure for total compensation, including healthcare and other benefits, was about $60, but i think that's gone down now due to bailout requirements. they have way too much power and it's time to do away with them.-Sun_Tzu-

[QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"][QUOTE="shoeman12"]that would be horrible. first of all, prices are going to go up even more. union employees are paid ridiculous amounts of money. look at UAW members. they do an incredibly unskilled job that any high school dropout could do and yet they get high wages and many benefits. the figure for total compensation, including healthcare and other benefits, was about $60, but i think that's gone down now due to bailout requirements. they have way too much power and it's time to do away with them.shoeman12

[QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"][QUOTE="shoeman12"]that would be horrible. first of all, prices are going to go up even more. union employees are paid ridiculous amounts of money. look at UAW members. they do an incredibly unskilled job that any high school dropout could do and yet they get high wages and many benefits. the figure for total compensation, including healthcare and other benefits, was about $60, but i think that's gone down now due to bailout requirements. they have way too much power and it's time to do away with them.shoeman12

[QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"][QUOTE="shoeman12"]that would be horrible. first of all, prices are going to go up even more. union employees are paid ridiculous amounts of money. look at UAW members. they do an incredibly unskilled job that any high school dropout could do and yet they get high wages and many benefits. the figure for total compensation, including healthcare and other benefits, was about $60, but i think that's gone down now due to bailout requirements. they have way too much power and it's time to do away with them.shoeman12

EDIT: I should also point out that the drop in prices might not necessarily have to do with the price of labor, at least directly. A drop in prices might be the result of a loss in demand, because former union workers are now being paid a lot less, meaning they don't have as much disposible income as they once did, so they wouldn't purchase as many goods and/or services as the would of if they were still receiving those union benefits. So companies are then forced to lower prices to accomodate for this loss in demand.

And it should also be noted that union workers usually buy union goods. A UAW employee usually buys an America car.

First off, you're using relative terms. Fair compensation, they demand too much, you're not using statistics. For one, minimum wage increases in this country have not gone up at all. If you are working full time in this country at minimum wage you are earning below $20,000 a year. The average annual wage in the U.S. in 2005 was over $40,000. The poverty threshold for a four person family is $20,000. In 2005, over seven and a half MILLION families or over 10 percent of all American families were living in poverty. That is not acceptable, that is not because they work in de-skilled jobs, that is because they are being taken advantage of. On the other hand, about fifteen and a half Americans made triple figures in the same years.

It is not wrong to demand economic equality. These people drive industry. What do executives do? They lay out business plans, they crunch numbers, why does that warrant an astronomically higher standard of living? These people get rich off the sweat of their workers back and they turn around and say they can't provide health care benefits or even with a wage that will allow their family to neet the poverty level because it will threaten profits? Give me a break.

As for prices going up, these don't necessarily have to cut into profits. Like I said, there shoud be pay caps and proportionately matched salaries. That means that it is mandated that the cost of living come not out of the company's profits so a as to bring the whole comapny down, but out of the salaries of people who don't deserve them. It is basic fairness. It is saying that just because you are born into wealth you cannot use that wealth to aquire and advantage in life at the expense of basic rights like health care, education, and a fair quality of life.

Sorry for the double post, can't seem to be able to edit right now, I meant fifteen and a half million Americans made six figure salaries in those years.

Unions are as likely to become "too demanding" as the employers are to "take advantage" of their employees. It would have been great if people could get some decent pay and benefits without unions.Hungry_bunny

Unions are bittersweet. On one hand they protect workers' rights, and on the other they can become to powerful and make unrealistic demands of American businesses, which makes those companies search for cheaper labor.