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Originally posted by Cerebus
I'm reminded of the old "the Devil's biggest trick is to make people believe He doesn't exist" line. Given that we now live in a society where responsibility to shareholders supercedes responsibility to employees, the need for collective bargaining has never been higher.
Are unions a panacea? Hell no, and they are increasingly less relevant to a modern workforce, given that we'l hold 8 jobs on average in our lives, instead of 3. (A number that I'm coming close to doubling at age 31, depending on how far you count back.) I've never worked for a union shop, and given what I do, probably never will; my leverage is created by my essential Free Agent nature.
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In an increasingly smarter society (sounds crazy, but more and more people ARE college-educated), logic would say that we should be smart enough to know what is right for workers today. Granted, I said LOGICALLY...but this IS the United States.
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But if you've chosen a career with limited use outside of your present company, and if said company has behaved poorly enough in the past to create a union, the chances of it continuing to behave in that fashion are a lock. So whether or not the non-union public likes them isn't relevant. They aren't there to make anyone *but* their members happy... and in general, making people who are lower on the food chain happy is a good thing, both for the karma of a nation with non-static classes and the economy.
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A lot of the manufacturing jobs are being sent out of this country. The new jobs are low-paying service sector jobs where any attempts at unionizing would easily be thwarted.
If you look at where at lot of the union jobs are now, they are in industries where their services are really essential--teachers, police, transit workers, etc. If these people went on strike, many problems would result...for example, what if the teachers had went on strike. Then, a little boy who was out of school because of the strike is hit by a car trying to cross a street. As crazy as this may sound, technically, the school system and the union could be at fault because they were negligent in fulfilling their job to educate the child. (Yeah, that's a stretch, but it could happen.)
If SEPTA were to go on strike, people could lose their livelihood. We pay taxes to the city of Philadelphia in part to fund the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. We give them that money and in return, we expect a service to be fulfilled. That is, to take people to and from work, the Sports Complex, school, etc. In addition, we look to SEPTA to know where service is needed, how often it is needed, and how much it will cost for that service...and well as maintaining its facilities and employee base. At the same time, when you are in a "public" job providing a valuable service to the people, then the pressure to do a good job should certainly be there. Perhaps because of the fact that SEPTA is essentially a monopoly (although a public one), there is no real sense of urgency.
So, if a problem arises with that service, then of course, we have a right to know why. And we see it...SEPTA and the union are arguing over health costs, among other things. And while the amount that SEPTA employees pay DOES seem a bit high, it's a rising cost nevertheless. If you don't like what you have to pay, then either a) get your own insurance, which you could probably get cheaper, or b) find another job.
Sure, I want everyone to be happy. I want the TWU to be happy. I want SEPTA to be happy. I want the city of Philadelphia to be happy. I want my fiance to be happy as she rides the El every morning. I am trying to understand the anger of the union, but to me, it looks like they are crybabies. The battles that the unions wage these days seem rather ridiculous and petty.
My $ .05 on that one. I'm sorry, but I just find it ludicrious that the nation's 5th largest city (and 4th largest public transit system) has to endure a possible strike every 3 years...that is just ridiculous.
(end venting)
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After all, the last thing anyone would want is for our nation to be led by idiotic children of priviledge, right?
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*snicker* The poster child is sitting in the Oval Office already...