Ever wonder why men would hang out at union halls waiting for a short-term job? I did. I wondered why they didn’t seek a regular, full-time job instead of waiting for days for one that might last only a single day. It turns out that employers who need a short term union worker have to pay 2, 3, 4 times the normal wage for these part-time workers.
My neighbor back in Washington is one of these. I asked him once why he didn’t get a full time job in his trade as a welder and he told me how much more he got paid hourly by taking those short term jobs.
As it is, unionised shops have to pay much higher wages than non-union businesses, plus there’s benefits packages and retirement funds that eat another huge chunk of what would otherwise have been profits for the business owners.
Unions came into being as a means of protecting workers from harsh and unsafe working conditions and unfairly low wages, and were a good thing that helped make America a much better country. The Unions brought the monopolist industries into line and had a lot to do with the creation of the middle class in our country.
Nothing ever stays the same, though, and Communists and organized crime saw big opportunities in controlling unions, and the unions were taken over. The Communists wanted the “Workers, Unite” political power of being able to influence millions of American workers, while organized crime wanted their hands on the membership and retirement funds, as well as the power that the unions gave them over the unionized shops. They could and did call strikes to paralyze businesses and force the owners to cave in to what were often very unreasonable demands, or shut down entirely.
The practice of striking makes the employees suffer as much or more than the companies. The constant demands for higher wages that companies simply aren’t making enough profit to pay, has caused the demise of a lot of businesses, and now another big one has bit the dust.
Hostess, the maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, is shutting down after 82 years of continuous business, because of The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union’s strikes and unreasonable demands that Hostess is simply unable to meet. They have no choice but to go out of business, it’s 18,500 UNION employees are losing their jobs, and their UNION bosses say that it’s not their fault but the fault of Hostess.
OF COURSE it’s the fault of the union bosses, you cavilling sons of bitches! You thought you could get more golden eggs from that goose if you just squeezed harder, but you killed the poor bird instead and now all that gold you were getting, you’ll never see again. You stupid, greedy pigs! Thanks a lot for making prices higher and our recession deeper. Do you think all those 18,500 people are still going to be paying union dues to you when they have no money to eat and pay rent with?
There may still be a few unions that have honest leadership and really are out to protect their members, but most of them long ago started using the members as badly as the monopolists did. By continally pushing for higher wages, they only benefitted themselves in charging higher union dues. For all the rest of us, including the workers, higher wages means higher prices, so nothing is really gained.
Unions have served their purpose. That was then. Now they’re nothing but parasites on America, holding us down and keeping people out of work instead of opening up the job market, and they need to be tossed into the dustbin of history.
It may be an urban myth that Hostess Twinkies have a forever shelf life because of all the preservatives in them, but buy one and put it on a shelf and see if it outlasts unions.
Wouldn’t that be fitting if it did?
I used to make strawberry shortcakes out of Hostess Twinkies. A lazy approach, but a great treat and easy to put together.
The time of benefits resulting from unions is gone. Now we have unionocracy! In other words, a thugocracy.
This morning, the liberal anchors on CBS news show were rejoicing in the demise of Twinkies. “Less obesity and diabetes!” they crowed. Idiots. Without Twinkies and like Hostess products, I’ll just go down the street to Dunkin Donuts.
I will miss Hostess’s Beefsteak Rye Bread — my favorite off-the-shelf brand of seeded rye bread. I bought a loaf just last week for my turkey sandwiches.
Your publication is based on half truths. Unions used to make up roughly 40 percent of the work force in this country, and now it is down to about 11 percent; and yet you suggest that “unionacrocy” is a growing threat.
The reailty is that history is repeating itself. Millionaires are becoming billionaires; not through merit or hard work, but by misappropriating middle class tax dollars. (Note: Union workers pay taxes!!) Government bailouts, nepotism and political slants in the controlled media against unions are the current trend in America. I am a union worker and have not seen a cost of living raise in almost 4 years, and yet the unrepresented CEOs and other upper echelon personnel who cannot manage themselves, let alone a company or an organization have received steady raises and bonuses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. These people accept their bonuses as the infrastructure collapses and gleefully point the finger at the union worker who is working harder for less for their companies demise. Cost of living and taxes increase, but the union worker paycheck does not.
This is the reality of the middle class, whether they are belong to a union or not. Your rant is without merit or integrity.
My rant is without merit or integrity. Really! Boy, are you full of it!
If unions are so wonderful, then why has their membership fallen 29%, as you say yourself? You haven’t seen a cost of living increase in 4 years? Then why are you still in a union? Self-hatred? Stupidity? What IS your problem?
Millionaires have become billionaires not because of stealing middle class dollars, and you have no proof of that. You’re just parroting the Leftist, Marxist line. The fact is, inflation has made a million dollars common. Homes that sold for $1500 in 1955 sell for $200,000 now. Do the math.
I don’t blame you for being jealous of those who climbed the corporate ladder and got rich, instead of doing like you and being just another worker, but you chose your course in life. Bummer that you didn’t go to college or mary the company president’s daughter, but there’s only so many top jobs and daughters to go around, you know?
Unions forced me to move from Catapiller dominated Peoria, Il. I was a non union worker in sales and I couldn’t afford inflated health care costs, inflated food prices, etc.
Yes Unions Suck, I have been a strong anti-union individual for almost 20 years now, and was raised in a union household, I remember the steelworkers and teachers strike in the mid 70s, how Wisconsin was held hostage and the schools closed, I have worked as a contractor in many union companies over the years, and know first hand the inner workings of these companies, have seen Great Companies close due to strikes, labor disputes for as petty as a nickle raise, have had windows shot out, family threaten, verbal abuse in break rooms against me, tools and equipment stolen or drop into dumpsters, factory equipment destroyed, but I remain steadfast because I believe in America and your right to have an voice, I think union members have forgotten why we left Europe many years ago, don’t stress over cupcakes, they will return and it wont be a union company, did I mention Michigan in now a right to work state, yep, home of the UAW, forced to become a right to work state out of survival, one thing I can share over my years of experience is that you don’t have to fight the unions, sit back and watch them die by their own hand, self inflicted wound.
Those damned anti-union Republicans! They don’t understand… Us working men and women need all of the money made by these thieving billionaires so that we can spend it on pot, porn, and abortion operations! Those so-called hard working business owners need to realize that we the people are entitled to have every cent they earn, even if we don’t work for it in the first place! The rest of the money needs to go to the government so that we can get more free stuff and Obama’s family can go on more awesome vacations and golf tournaments!
Damn right! Now you got it! Skreech, flap flap flap. Free stuff. Gimme more free stuff!
Loved your article! I used to work in a union environment.
I went to college- and went to work for a production facility that was union. My views are my own, and of my own experience. Unions protect lazy people. The reason union employees are so mean and paranoid, is that God forbid anyone works hard or thinks for themselves to make a decision- because then, “the company would expect that from all of them”.
You are correct, unions were needed at one time to protect people from long hours and harsh work environments in the 1800′s- but are no longer needed!
Loved the Hostess paragraph.