I am at a bit of a loss for something to write about this morning.
Are "Unions" an ephemeral organization?
"Ephemeral" means "lasting for a markedly short time", like a woodland flower in the springtime.
Historically, Unions are a recent social invention. There were Trade Guilds for a very long time but they were different in the sense that they were self-employed and didn't "strike" against their employer.
One of the foundations of Union power is that "the plant" was immobile and could not be economically relocated to a location where labor was less contentious. That foundation is crumbling with flexible manufacturing where most tasks are done with generic robots and the entire programming in the factory can be downloaded onto a few 128Gb thumbdrives.
Another foundation of Union power is the wealth created by the Industrial Revolution. Unions like to claim that they created that wealth but it is more accurate to say that they exist because of the "surplus" wealth.
It would be difficult to find a union member in South Sudan, Burundi or Yemen. Their economies crystalize along a different kind of tribal affiliation.
In a similar way, it is difficult for me to picture a renaissance in unions if our economy collapses.
Bad Bosses
The major thing keeping Unions in existence are bad bosses. If you figure that 5% of the population is mentally ill, and since the power of being a boss attracts the mentally ill, it is reasonable to assume that more than 10% of the bosses are whack-a-doodle.
I was blessed to have some "good bosses" in my working days. It wasn't until later that I realized how good they were. We got stuff done. They cleared obstacles. They sat us down and explained how we screwed up and what we needed to do differently next time. No rancor. Just facts.
I think the people suggesting societal implosion is imminent share your feelings. It's been about 6 years since I worked for another 'company'. I installed sewers and hung sprinkler pipe, but the building trades in the field are a whole different animal than any kind of office job w/ a mixed-bag of coworkers. I've been self employed for 2 years, and have fired customers in the middle of the job.
ReplyDeleteI honestly and truly cannot fathom what it must be like for folks managing a line at a factory. The stories I hear, I'd end up getting reprimanded, if not fired, for how I would react to some of these people.
That's as much a cause of the impending troubles as anything else. There's a whole cohort of our society coming of age, that literally cannot DO anything. Fast-food jobs are above their skill-set. They may have college degree's, but they can't actually DO anything. Flipping burgers and salting fries would challenge their ability to maintain focus for 6 hours. What are we to do w/ these people, the un-vaxxxinated ones that is?
You see, it ends in death. No matter where you start the story from, it ends with piles and piles of dead people. That is the inevitability of what is coming down the pike.
I'm struggling to figure out how your comment has anything to do with Unions and bad bosses.
DeleteBut I am just starting my first cup of coffee.
Maybe you were about to post to some other site and forgot what screen you were working on?
Peace bro. Read Ecclesiastes 1
One of my best college papers was on the history of the AFL-CIO.
ReplyDeleteUnions will always exist now because they are gigantic money laundering machines for Democrats.
Unions produce nothing except envy and violence.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately they were necessary to counterbalance corporate greed, else they would never have come into existence.
Like taxes, an unfortunate fact of modern life, but there should be ZERO unions of government employees, especially teachers.
A really "good boss" is one of those things you don't appreciate until you get one who's not. From my experience there are more BSers running things than good bosses.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. The world is changing. Everyone bitches about offshoring jobs, but unions will not survive the global economy. The worker making $40.00/hr is now at the mercy of the guys that will do the same job and take pride in it for $15.00/hr (or less)! Simple market forces will destroy the unions that can only exist in artificially maintained bubbles of prosperity.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately one of the few things Marx got right were his ideas about the concentration of capital. It’s all downhill from here and there’s no magic solutions.
I have been the beneficiary of many good bosses. Not one of them was in the context of a management/union relationship. I cannot imagine the additional strain that would put in the working environment; the "us versus them" mentality never makes for any kind of good human relationship.
ReplyDeleteUnions were useful when they were no labor laws - that hasn't been the case for decades.
ReplyDeleteThey are losing members because they lost their way and are often just a tool for the Democrats. Even their negotiating is poor, and members recognize that.
There are an increasing number of lawsuits against unions, and Right to Work has shown that when they can't require membership, few join.
I foresee unions only staying around in a few areas and industries where they are protected: for example, teachers unions and public employee unions in Democrat strongholds. Not coincidentally, these will be the places struggling economically and with high crime, even as the rest of the country takes off.
Jonathan