The UAW's predictable demise

[Cow Poke]

From coercion to corruption to collapse: The UAW's predictable demise

Having been a member of UAW way back in my younger days, I have to say I feel a sense of justice here...



At our very first UAW meeting - an orientation - the local union boss introduced himself, proudly claiming "They call me the dirty old man" and basically proceeded to explain what all we could get away with under the union's protection, and how to scam the system. He strutted around like some important mob boss tossing out gratuitous profanity to prove how tough he was, and how corrupt the company was.

[seer]

Having been a member of UAW way back in my younger days, I have to say I feel a sense of justice here...

Wow unions are corrupt! Yeah, I was Teamster for 10 years, I can confirm.

[Leonhard]

I'm happy about the unions in Denmark though, I'm currently the member of one along with most of the people in my profession. I wonder if it's just a cultural thing that they're perceived as such a good thing here, and derided so strongly in the US.

[seer]

I'm happy about the unions in Denmark though, I'm currently the member of one along with most of the people in my profession. I wonder if it's just a cultural thing that they're perceived as such a good thing here, and derided so strongly in the US.

Here in the US they have a long history of corruption and being in bed with organized crime.

[Cow Poke]

Wow unions are corrupt! Yeah, I was Teamster for 10 years, I can confirm.

When I was police, it was the Teamster's Union that was trying to 'organize' us.

[Cow Poke]

I'm happy about the unions in Denmark though, I'm currently the member of one along with most of the people in my profession. I wonder if it's just a cultural thing that they're perceived as such a good thing here, and derided so strongly in the US.

I think it's that, here in the US of A, they tend to be headed by, in effect, mob bosses looking to enrich their own fortunes.

[Chaotic Void]

Here in the US they have a long history of corruption and being in bed with organized crime.

... And here in Canada, they've also been responsible for their fair share of bullying, deception, and occasional bouts of xenophobia.

[Sparko]

Unions say they are there to help the worker. and sometimes they do. I think in the past they did serve a purpose to stop greedy employers from taking advantage of workers. But that was before we had things like OSHA, and various other agencies that protected workers (And the unions are probably responsible for us having those things too).

But now it seems they are businesses in themselves. They exist to enrich and promote themselves, on the backs of the very workers they say they are helping. They "gum up" the works. Making it impossible for workers and employers to communicate directly and work out their own problems. Once a union is in there, everything has to go through the union. The employers can't deal with the workers, the workers can't go to the employer. It all has to go through the various bureaucratic channels of the union. And like any other bureaucracy, it is an unwieldy beast of red tape and paper work. And the workers still get the shaft. They only get what the unions settle with the employers for. They have to strike unless the union is happy. Then the union takes their cut from the workers. It causes "overhead" for both the employers and the workers. Making things more expensive for the consumer too.

[Cow Poke]

Unions say they are there to help the worker. and sometimes they do. I think in the past they did serve a purpose to stop greedy employers from taking advantage of workers. But that was before we had things like OSHA, and various other agencies that protected workers (And the unions are probably responsible for us having those things too).

But now it seems they are businesses in themselves. They exist to enrich and promote themselves, on the backs of the very workers they say they are helping. They "gum up" the works. Making it impossible for workers and employers to communicate directly and work out their own problems. Once a union is in there, everything has to go through the union. The employers can't deal with the workers, the workers can't go to the employer. It all has to go through the various bureaucratic channels of the union. And like any other bureaucracy, it is an unwieldy beast of red tape and paper work. And the workers still get the shaft. They only get what the unions settle with the employers for. They have to strike unless the union is happy. Then the union takes their cut from the workers. It causes "overhead" for both the employers and the workers. Making things more expensive for the consumer too.

Like so many other institutions, unions were created to address a specific problem, but then they didn't go away - they just became bloated and perpetual. And that was back when a person would pretty well work for the same company for their whole life - today, you can vote with your feet. Somebody doesn't treat you well at work, you can quit and go find another job.

[Sparko]

Like so many other institutions, unions were created to address a specific problem, but then they didn't go away - they just became bloated and perpetual. And that was back when a person would pretty well work for the same company for their whole life - today, you can vote with your feet. Somebody doesn't treat you well at work, you can quit and go find another job.

I worked at a manufacturing company when I was in my 20s and inexperienced in the ways of the corporate/political world. The Union (I forget which one it was) came in and tried to unionize us (one of the other employee's invited them. They are like vampires, they can't come in unless invited) - And they went around promising everyone they would basically get rich and stick it to the boss. This was a small family owned business, with about 50 employees. But what we didn't know was that if they did get in, the owner was going to shut it all down. The owner told us that and explained why, because he couldn't afford to pay us more than he was, that he wasn't going to have to talk through the union, that if we had any problems we could come directly to him right now and that is the way he wanted it, and we should want it that way too. We voted out the union and the guy who tried to start it was encouraged to "move on" --- That was 30+ years ago. I long left that company, which eventually was sold off to some other company. But I am still friend with the sons of the former owners.

[Cow Poke]

I worked at a manufacturing company when I was in my 20s and inexperienced in the ways of the corporate/political world. The Union (I forget which one it was) came in and tried to unionize us (one of the other employee's invited them. They are like vampires, they can't come in unless invited) - And they went around promising everyone they would basically get rich and stick it to the boss. This was a small family owned business, with about 50 employees. But what we didn't know was that if they did get in, the owner was going to shut it all down. The owner told us that and explained why, because he couldn't afford to pay us more than he was, that he wasn't going to have to talk through the union, that if we had any problems we could come directly to him right now and that is the way he wanted it, and we should want it that way too. We voted out the union and the guy who tried to start it was encouraged to "move on" --- That was 30+ years ago. I long left that company, which eventually was sold off to some other company. But I am still friend with the sons of the former owners.

Yup - I worked for a company many years ago that made all the telephone equipment for the Bell system (except the phones themselves) and it was owned by a family. Same story - we had some people who kept pushing for a union, and the vote kept failing.

One day, the owner called a company meeting - HUNDREDS of us - and explained what good benefits we had, how the pay was competitive with anything in the area, and how "I'm too old to want to fight a union, so please feel free to vote, but if you vote for a union, I'll simply sell the assets and retire." (He had even instituted "flex time" way before its time)


The vote was something like 28% for - and I think those were die-hard unionists.