Talking Points Destroyed: Unions

The Money Party's noise machine is burying the needle to get you numbed up for the next election. I'll be demolishing their talking points one at a time for the next few posts. First up, for Labor Day, unions. They're evil, of course, because they're corrupt. Well, corporations are corrupt, governments are corrupt, your local PTA is probably corrupt. Anyone with unchecked power becomes corrupt. Unions are different because they're supposed to be on your side. Have your ever tried to talk to your supervisor about unsafe working conditions? Probably not, because you know it's futile. You're outmatched before you even walk in the door. Who's on his side? The Chamber of Commerce. The Supreme Court. The Republican Party. Industry groups. The media. The stockholders. The list goes on and on and on. One way or another, the Money Party gives money to all of these groups. Who's on your side? Only you. You're on your own. There are supposed to be government agencies, such as OSHA, to help. Even talking to them can get you into trouble. Usually they don't get involved until someone gets hurt or killed. A company like, oh, British Petroleum, can push workplace safety to the back burner. The government agencies who are supposed to check up on oil rigs have their hands tied, with slashed budgets, congressional interference, and indifferent staff. The company itself pushes management to skimp on everything, including safety equipment, safety training, emergency manuals, and routine maintenance. If a situation has become obviously dangerous, employees are discouraged from complaining to their supervisors, the government, or the media. All these conditions come about because the company wants to make a few extra bucks, and they are deliberate. When an oil rig or a coal mine blows up and kills people, then, it's not entirely an accident. It's dangerous to work on an oil rig, or in a coal mine, or atop a skyscraper under construction. Some accidents are simply unavoidable, and people will die because of them. Some accidents are avoidable, but if you let management decide how much effort to put into avoiding them, they'll err on the side of profit, not safety. One reason the union is there is to protect you from avoidable accidents. Yes, that cuts into profits. The question here, though, isn't about whether employees will risk their lives. They do that every day. The question is about how much risk they're willing to take and about who decides on an acceptable level of risk. If you belong to a union, you have a seat at the table, and you can help make those decisions. If you don't belong to a union, you're on your own. You can take the risks your employer decides are acceptable, or you can look for another job. On the company's side, spending more on safety adds to the cost of drilling for oil or mining coal. The human cost of getting at those resources should be reflected in the total cost. If the cost of drilling a mile down in the Gulf of Mexico becomes prohibitive, then alternative energy sources become more attractive ... and that's exactly how free enterprise is supposed to work. Another reason for unions is to keep wages fair. If you ask your supervisor for a raise, you have no leverage, nothing to bargain with. As with safety, the deck is stacked against you, but with a union, you and your co-workers can negotiate as a group. You have a seat at the table. During the reign of the Money Party, we've seen productivity go up, which means profits have gone up. Wages, on the other hand, have stayed practically flat. I keep saying that the wealthy are greedy and short sighted. This is a prime example. Because they refuse to share their increased profits with their employees, the people who make those profits possible, they keep more money in the short run. At the same time, they tell their employees--in their own terms, economically--that there is no reason to work harder and increase productivity any further. Productivity levels off, profits level off, and they lose money in the long run. That doesn't sound complicated, does it? And yet it's a lesson they haven't learned in thirty years. What ya gonna do? Management and labor should be partners. Both are affected by decisions about the direction of the company. The employees in the trenches know how the industry works from the bottom up, while the officers see things from the top down. Putting those perspectives together can only help a company. Partners don't always agree, but they both want to advance their shared enterprise. By making the workplace safer and keeping wages in line with productivity, management and labor can both benefit in the long run, which also makes our country stronger.