[xoxoxoBruce]

Unions have done a great job, increasing workplace safety, shortening the work week, and reining in first line management, usually by reporting their behavior to the people that actually own/run the company. I know there have been many cases of unions, usually the trade unions, keeping women and blacks out, but once they were let in, the unions made sure they were paid and treated equally by management.

The union's Achilles heel is that they are run by elected people. That sounds good until apathy settles into the membership, then the union leaders become nothing more than politicians. Democracy and unions are both great ideas, when the people are engaged and involved.

Unfortunately Americans, having it "too good for too long", have been so involved with "me", they've let control slip away. Now political & union elections have become, money talks, discourse walks. So the unions have declined parallel to the nation.

Blaming unions for driving manufacturing out of the country is ludicrous, how many Americans do you know that will work even eight hours, for a dollar a day? Same goes for quality, face it, skill level will vary, but every employee must work to the standards the company has set as acceptable, or they're gone, union or not.

If you cite a case of a substandard employee being protected by the union, it's because of lazy management not doing their job and blaming it on the union. Any union employee can be terminated for violating company standards, the union can only make sure the company documents those violations, so supervisors can't just fire somebody because they don't like their lifestyle, religion, or politics. No matter how good the contract, the law is the last word. Then if the company and union don't agree, the national labor relations board decides.

Right now, killing unions is the target of the Money-Class that's taken over politics. Not because of wages/benefits, but because they are organized groups that could hold political power. So they convince the non-union people that unions are bad, divide and conquer, stamping the last possible voting bloc they don't control.

Goodbye unions. Goodbye democracy. Welcome your new money-class overlords.