States Aim to Strangle Unions by Their Blue Collars

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Elspeth Reeve reports: "Time to party like it's 1981. States are running out of money, so where do they turn to save some cash? Union busting! 'State officials from both parties are wrestling with ways to curb the salaries and pensions of government employees.'"

Workers at a GM plant in Janesville, Wisconsin, 06/03/08. (photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

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+2 # genierae 2011-01-05 13:51

"In the last days there will be men who will laugh at the truth and will be led by their own sinful desires. They are men who will make trouble by dividing people into groups against each other." Jude (Excerpt from 8 through 25.)

-4 # rock 2011-01-05 18:28

Actually, McGurn's analysis made the most sense:

"Private sector union workers "increasingly pay for more of their own health care, and they have defined contribution pension plans such as 401(k)s." That means they need their companies to succeed."

Welcome to the real world! Now, if we could just get "Public Sector" unions to experience that same need!

+3 # peanut 2011-01-05 19:09

If private sector employees are following professional advice about their investments, they are not invested in their own company.
Enron proved that as have many other companies. It might surprise the anti government radicals, but most government employees want their employer to succeed They just know that the employer is providing a service, not earning a profit. No less important.

+3 # peanut 2011-01-05 19:14

Last I heard, employees were being advised by investing professionals to take their 401k money out of their company stock. Enron is example of disaster that can cause, ""It may surprise anti government types but government is not supposed to make a profit, it is providing a service and most government employees try to provide good service.

0 # Daniel Fletcher 2011-01-06 00:52

You are absoutely correct peanut. Your nay sayers are dolts. Public employees on the whole, work extremely hard. For nearly 30 years as a public employee i never put in less than a 60 hour week and I rarely got any over time pay for most of that span...and I always had peers surrounding me working just as hard. We were driven by idealism in the first place and when we organized ourselves, it was of necessity and it served everyones best interests in the end, even our customers, the tax payers (which we were also by the way).

+1 # Daniel Fletcher 2011-01-06 00:47

Quoting rock:

Actually, McGurn's analysis made the most sense:

"Private sector union workers "increasingly pay for more of their own health care, and they have defined contribution pension plans such as 401(k)s." That means they need their companies to succeed."

Welcome to the real world! Now, if we could just get "Public Sector" unions to experience that same need!

Even as a member of management, I've served on the boards of public employee unions my entire life. I guess that qualifies me to tell you that you're full of crap. But rather than rest on my laurels, the destruction or dimminution of organized labor in the "real world" has been so bad, that no one in their right mind would advocate the outcomes they have been suffering. Every employee worth a damn, and civil servents are on the whole entirely worthy, want their organization to succeed. I have never seen greater dedication than I have found among public employees on the whole. Even YOU, fool, have benefited from the union movements in ways you probably have no idea of yet you would advocate the pauperization of everyone if you could. Once again, you don't have a clue, do you.

-3 # rock 2011-01-06 08:11

No doubt you were always an exemplary worker Daniel, and gave much more than you took back. Too bad your high standards are not being lived-up to by many of your public employee union comrades.

+8 # Ken Hall 2011-01-05 14:13

The question we should be asking is why we all don't enjoy the same benefits and salaries the unionized workers have. Ah, that's right, the free marketers and corporatists facilitated the flight of jobs and factories overseas, eliminating good jobs here in the states. Those who voted for Uncle Ronny's smaller gov't should be having second thoughts now.

+3 # wsbeck 2011-01-05 15:05

Yes, it's true. Folks should be asking why they don't enjoy the same benefits and salaries of union employees. (Though in actuality, no one would have a weekend without the union actions early in the twentieth century). But the real question is why aren't the unions on the offensive instead of playing defense all the time? Why don't unions advertise (together) the benefits of unions for working people and that we all must join together. Ask your union why it's crouching in a corner instead of coming out fighting?

0 # soularddave 2011-01-05 18:21

In my UNION shop, some people are grousing about the Union. I ask:"Which 7-8 of us would give up a day of work each week so as to provide employment for another person"? Without a union to back us, the company could make that decision.

"How 'bout if we worked 8 hours for what we make in 7, so we could have another person?" BTW, we get paid for breaks and lunch, and double that by lingering.

Greed is at work here, and some just don't want to pay the $25/month to have a $2,000/ year raise negotiated for us (plus pension, health care, work rules, vacations, days off, o/t, etc.

Bitch, bitch, bitch!

Unions = opportunity toward the stability of middle class persuits.

-2 # Daniel Fletcher 2011-01-06 01:02

My life long union experience is so different from yours. We never got paid lunchs. Or paid breaks and lingering got us nowhere. Any over time pay had to be approved before hand and if we couldn't get our job done in 8 hours or wanted to stay longer and do more, that was on us, not our employer. Of course, plenty of workers were devoted to our negotiating the highest raises for the least in corresponding loyalty or effort, but I guess that's universal to all organizations I suppose. We were glad of temp agency employees ironically because that made our jobs safer. If cut backs were needed, that's where the cuts occured. Some of us would give up sick days and vacation days for sick employees who leave time had run out. Somehow working less days to preserve anyone's job didn't come up. I guess we were lucky. We did offer a unilateral cut of one days labor per pay period for a higher hourly rate once, but that didn't go through. Hmmm...

+1 # genierae 2011-01-06 06:57

I am now retired, but the last five years that I worked, my work conditions and benefits eroded greatly. My healthcare premiums rose so high that I could no longer afford to pay them; one of my breaks was eliminated, and my lunch break was off the clock; my workload increased to the level of burnout; I was forced into job combinations and unpaid overtime. All because the wealthy owners wanted to make more money off the backs of their workers. This is what happens when there is NO UNION!!! If the Republicans take away my social security, I will not be able to go back to my job, its too physically demanding. So I guess I better find myself a sturdy shopping cart and some heavy-duty bags, huh? (I'm only half joking.)

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