Post by AztecWilliam on Apr 16, 2011 11:43:02 GMT -8
Its power is much diminished, except, and this is a big exception, in the public employee unions. Here's a provocative bit from Taranto's piece . . .
Perhaps (labor unions') political power is fading because increasingly their adversaries are not Big Business but taxpayers. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, a majority of labor union members work for the government.
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704628404576264974199553468.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion
AzWm
PS: No, I do not hate labor unions and do not want to see them disappear. But, as did FDR, I understand that government worker labor unions are problematic.There is a pendulum effect in most things, and the same is true of the field of labor/management relations. Prior to about 1950, workers really needed union protection. They surely did not need to have company goon squads beating up labor organizers.
As the decades rolled on, however, labor became, in a sense, another big business. Clearly, the economy has changed greatly. Unions are not as attractive as they once were. That is especially true when you consider that unions donate, without worker approval, to one party virtually exclusively. They are seen, in large measure correctly, as an adjunct to the Democratic Party. Because many union members since 1980 have voted against the Democrats, it's obvious that said money is being taken to support candidates whom the rank and file oppose and do not care to support financially.
(I should also mention the obvious cases of outright racketeering which plagued many unions for so long. It's hard to appeal to the better side of workers when you are in thick with the mob or a reasonable facsimile (i.e., a Hoffa).)
Perhaps (labor unions') political power is fading because increasingly their adversaries are not Big Business but taxpayers. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, a majority of labor union members work for the government.
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704628404576264974199553468.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion
AzWm
PS: No, I do not hate labor unions and do not want to see them disappear. But, as did FDR, I understand that government worker labor unions are problematic.There is a pendulum effect in most things, and the same is true of the field of labor/management relations. Prior to about 1950, workers really needed union protection. They surely did not need to have company goon squads beating up labor organizers.
As the decades rolled on, however, labor became, in a sense, another big business. Clearly, the economy has changed greatly. Unions are not as attractive as they once were. That is especially true when you consider that unions donate, without worker approval, to one party virtually exclusively. They are seen, in large measure correctly, as an adjunct to the Democratic Party. Because many union members since 1980 have voted against the Democrats, it's obvious that said money is being taken to support candidates whom the rank and file oppose and do not care to support financially.
(I should also mention the obvious cases of outright racketeering which plagued many unions for so long. It's hard to appeal to the better side of workers when you are in thick with the mob or a reasonable facsimile (i.e., a Hoffa).)