So here we are a few days before the beginning of a new America. Our first multi-racial President will take office amidst an avalanche of pressing issues. Americans have a short attention span. I give him 90 days. If there’s no dramatic change we’ll turn on him faster than a cat in heat chasing it’s tail. These last couple of weeks President-elect Obama has talked about the impending sacrifice ahead. Our problems are going to be tough to solve but we can do it if we work together. It all makes sense to me. But somehow I don’t think Congress, K Street lobbyists, labor unions or Israel are going to give Barack Obama the chance he deserves. Though the electorate sent Obama to the White House, let’s face it. Barack Obama is about to be cut off at the knees unless we start ramping up the pressure on Washington.
That’s where the labor unions come in. Like many Americans I watched the fiasco that was the Big Three begging Congress for money. And there he was Ron Gettelfinger, President of the United Auto Workers Union, sitting at the table with the Big Three management talking about the devastating effect of an automotive meltdown. Whoa there! Wait just one minute! Mr. Gettelfinger, you’ve been giving the American consumer the proverbial middle finger for the last 20 years. It’s not like we didn’t know this would come to pass. Jimmy Carter tried to warn us. We didn’t listen. The gasoline crises of the Nixon era are a far away memory – for most people. Mr. Gettelfinger, where has the union been when it come s to green technology and preparing for the future of America? It’s been complacently silent while it sleeps contently in the giant marital bed known as Congress. And, Mr. Gettelfinger, it just plain sucks. You talk about the sacrifices the American auto worker makes, yet what has union leadership done to put America back on the path to self-sustaining prosperity? Labor union leadership throughout these United States is nothing but a mirror of what goes on in Washington. Deals are made. A few get rich and the rest of us poor slobs are taking the scraps thinking we should be grateful for everything our union leadership does on our behalf.
I’ve been a member of Laborers International. I didn’t always agree with union leadership and the root of my disagreement was that I felt Union leadership led from individual personal gain, not for the benefit of its membership. I’m one of those who ardently believe that NO union official should earn more than 150% of the average wage of a union member. I also believe that no union money should be donated to political campaigns. Union dues should be used for administration of union business, education of union membership and for investment in the infrastructure that most Union members work hard at every day. Instead of unions investing dollars in politicians, perhaps it’s time unions started investing in themselves by investing in those projects that employ union workers. That’s a win-win situation in my book. We’ve had a political upheaval in America’s government – it’s time for union rank and file to take a closer look at its leadership and decide what’s best for their respective Unions and for America.
Article comments
1 - Brunelleschi
Reading all 4 pages made me dizzy.
:)
It sounds like you have a chip on your shoulder.
Unions are not organized to change industry or lead it. They represent workers. If unions adapt attitudes of management, and union workers act too "entitled," they are just echoes of the system they work in. They didn't invent it and they don't own it.
2 - Lumpy
With Obama in power we can expect huge increases in abusive union power. A federal ban on right to work laws and open ballot mandates to make sure union members toe the line for their bosses. A sad turn when what we really need is some trustbusting on the labor monopoly.
3 - Silas Kain
Try a boulder on my shoulder. It's an opinion piece, albeit a rant. But if you read between the lines, my friend, you will see that your point about organized labor is right on. The problem is Union Management acts more like a friend to political powerhouses than an advocate of its membership.
4 - Al Barger
Of course, the soundtrack here should be Dylan's "Union Sundown." "Sure was a good idea till greed got in the way."
But I don't believe in all this "buy American" crap at all to start with. It's cheap racism or nationalism. Mexicans got to eat same as we do. And consider also in that case that more American firms building and hiring people there would take off some of the pressure for them to come here illegally.
But generally speaking, buying the best product for the best price is the American way - the one that has made us so successful for so many years. And hell no, I'm not going to pay for the extra $2,000 or so in cost for a GM car to cover their crazy union fees than for a Toyota (perhaps built 20 miles from me at their newly opened Greensburg plant) that is also built with well paid American labor.
5 - Roger Nowosielski
You're right on principle, Al, wrong on sentiment. And no! It's not true it's "American attitude." If it is, then America had gone down the toilet. Fifty years ago, it would be unthinkable. America ruled and your own neighbors would have thought you "un-American" and would have chased you from their midst. Not that I would commend that.
Sure, Mexicans have got to eat. But what has it got to do with us. It's their problem, unless of course you're going to embrace the notion of a gentler, more caring nation - surely a Republican idea as George Herbert Bush had demonstrated in the first place: he was proud of having "the brown ones," remember.
6 - Silas Kain
Al, I get your point as well. What I failed to articulate is that I am most outraged over the overtime dollars than anything else. What Union "stewards" or "favored laborers" are getting all the overtime in their respective locals while "less favored" unionistas still wait in the cold for a chance to go out on a site? This piece is geared toward rank and file union members who aren't getting the "perks" their co-members are getting. The next point was those states and municipalities which are required to hire union companies had best insure that the tax dollars being paid to these firms are not going to "overtime". I'm all for an infusion of tax dollars into the infrastructure. Perhaps it's socialist, but it is necessary. My fear is that these union companies who reap the rewards will perpetuate past practices. This time around we need to be vigilant. Every penny must be accounted for. Public dollars require transparency. This is OUR money, folks. We have to account to the Internal Revenue Service, it is time for the government (elected, union and religious) to account to us.
7 - Brunelleschi
Silas-
What do you expect unions to do? Negotiate contracts then stay home and function as a glee club? Management has been busy in Washington since before unions exixted fighting for themselves.
Anti-union laws exist. Unions HAVE to be political, and work within the political system and become what they are fighting (another management). It's reality.
8 - Silas Kain
I'm not disputing that, Brunelleschi. Perhaps the labor unions would be best served if they became their OWN political party, i.e. the Labor Party. It's not such a bad idea. How many overtime hours are being used these days in union shops? And if these overtime hours are chronic, why aren't the union halls distributing that work equitably among its' membership? Is that so unreasonable to ask? The unions are front and center in screaming about the economy and jobless rates. If one Union hall is shelling out 120 hours a week in overtime every week, that means there are 3 union members who are not getting 40 hours work. If my math is wrong, correct it.
9 - Ruvy
Silas,
Eventually I knew you would come to the doors of syndicalism. Syndicalism is all about making private enterprise work for justice for the working stiff. An you are a fellow who believes in justice.
The AMERICAN unions were all designed about sucking off the profits of the company without ever thinking abut how to make the product better.
Samuel Gomper's four letter word - MORE.
EUROPEAN unions were all about controlling the company for the betterment of the worker - which usually involved, among other things, making a quality product.
The ONLY route out of this mess for Americans is to adopt the European model and stop feeding the union stewards overtime and privileges.
Think about it, dude.
10 - Brunelleschi
Silas-
You are really stretching the labor/overtime issue to try and make a political issue out of it. Why?
I really don't think my own work, happiness, freedom, or my options are dependent on one labor group's overtime stats. I really don't care what they make.
It's just not a national policy issue.
11 - Brunelleschi
Ruvy-
What a bunch of nonsense.
Since when is it a labor organization's responsibility to make the product better? That is 100% management's responsibility.
America's economic model is set and matured. It starts with Locke and his ideas on the necessity to protect middle class male's property from arbitrary appropriation from above.
The US constitution reflects Locke's ideas. This was pre-industrialization, pre-union, pre-multinational mega corporations. Still we are stuck with it and it's not going to change much, even if there are better examples to follow.
12 - Silas Kain
Make a political issue of it? Stretching? Let me ask you this. A private union company is contracted by a government agency to perform a job. The job is saddled with cost overruns, more specifically overtime costs. There is a huge increase of unemployed -- INCLUDING union members. THAT, my friend, IS a political issue. There was a time when union membership took an active role in producing quality products. But, like everything else, they became complacent. In many respects union management is almost as guilty as corporate honchos in the outsourcing of American jobs. There's no doubt that we're transitioning to a new kind of economy. If labor unions are to maintain an active role in the new American economy there has to be transparency when it comes to government contracted jobs, period.
I am in complete agreement with Ruvy in his call on European labor unions. American corporations who adopt a European model may find themselves in a better position when this economy turns around. This is about union management and their moral responsibility to their membership. In a booming economy overtime costs are inevitable. In a virtually dead economy, there should be NO overtime dollars paid, period. That's why we have union halls where members stand in line in the dawn hoping that this will be a day when they see work. That is equity. That is justice. That was once the American way.
13 - Brunelleschi
I wanted to follow your line but you lost me.
You are throwing all your broken chips at once.
How do the cost over runs (out of control overtime) change employment data? Are these related or different rants?
Out of control overtime is a local problem, not national news. Big deal.
Again, quality is the responsibility of management. A happy crew with the right tools does a good job.
It just looks like you have a lot of incoherent beefs with unions.
14 - Brunelleschi
OK, I don't share the obvious bias and anger spilling out from some of you, but I have a funny union story for ya...
A few years ago, I arrive at a basketball arena in the NE to photograph an indoor motorsports event. It was a weekend hobby at the time, but I sold photos to a network.
After picking up the "backstage pass," I'm approached by two union people, who ask if I am shooting for show management, etc. I tell them no, they ask a lot of nosey questions about my business and I avoid details.
Finally, they say, since I got my pass from show management, and they don't have the same equipment as me (cameras), that this fellow from the union will shadow me all night, and be paid the weekend rate....wait right here we have to get your details...
I pretend to cooperate, then I ditched them! I told show management about it and they managed to shuffle them here and there and I think they gave up.
I still don't hate them. I just think they are goofy sometimes.
15 - bliffle
The UAW made a couple of bad mistakes over the past 30 years. One was throwing their lot in with the Big3 in national politics. That removed one of the important voices for Big3 management change that could have averted this catastrophe. If the UAW had taken a strong stand on better mileage and less pollution, taking a long-range view for their membership instead of slavishly following managements short-term view, we'd all be better off for it.
The second was chaining their fortunes to the Big3 by accepting future rewards over immediate rewards, in the form of extravagant pension promises instead of pay raises. Promises that were entirely controlled by management. They surrendered their independence and became puppets of the Big3 managers.
The UAW rendered themselves powerless.
The UAW is so powerless that they cannot be responsible for the Big3 failures. Toyota is losing money this year and they don't employ any UAW workers.
16 - Ruvy
Brunelleschi,
[Personal attack deleted by Comments Editor]
No economic system is set in stone. Either you adapt and develop a system that delivers economic justice - or someone takes over from outside and screws you over royally. That appears where you are headed now under the banking elite Obama represents (Bush represented the oil elite - the other side of a stinking pack of thieves).
Hey dude! It's your country. I USED to live there and understand what it would take to bring about a measure of economic justice. But it's your country and if you want the sharp rod up of outside control shoved up your butt, knock yourself out. It ain't my problem.
We USED to have a system that delivered economic justice in Israel - but it got corrupted and was finally abandoned for your sick model of exploitation - which stinks royally!
17 - Brunelleschi
Ruvy-
My point is that American THINKING about a just economy dates back to Locke. It's 18th century, and won't change.
What the US constitution founders got from Locke was the part about the government ensuring the security of private property. This was to develop a strong middle class, and they needed to be protected from arbitrary seizure of property from a despot.
It's so engrained into American thinking, it's lasted through industrialization and globalization (so far).
I think you find it stronger in GOP true-believers and libertarians. This business about you work hard, save, own, invest, and follow personal responsibility and everything will be fine is GOP 101 rhetoric.
It's a meme.
18 - chinamanufacturer
China has a leading role in the global economy today, and it is one of the most important industrial producers.
19 - Silas Kain
It also has a corrupt system in place which allows the rich to remain rich and the poor to live in virtual lives of servitude. But how else does a government control such a blown out population? Chinese products are inferior. Chinese food products cannot be trusted. Chinese medical samples used in medical research are not reliable. I could go on and on about good ol' China.