My thoughts on Right to Work bills

[Naked Crook]

If anyone has been paying attention to the news lately, you will of heard the words "Right to Work bill", but does anyone really know what this is? Basically, these Right to Work bills in the US take power away from already powerful unions. Right to Work bills will allow the following: Allow people the choice to join the union or not. Allow the people the choice to pay union dues / fees. Give more privacy to workers whose views are not represented by the union. Grant people protection from union bosses. Allow people to continue working when the rest of the union is on strike So what does this mean exactly? Well, consider the following scenario. Assume you are in a profession, such as the auto-industry. Normally, you would be forced into the union, forced to pay union dues, forced to uphold the views of the union, and even forced to show electoral ballots to union bosses to ensure that you are voting along union lines. Right to work bills allow people the choice of joining a union all together. That is right, Right to Work bills grant more freedom to people. You would be allowed to leave unions or not join unions, and thus, not be answerable to the union bosses. You would not be forced to drop a percentage of your monthly paycheck into union dues. You would be free to vote how you see fit, and stay away from organizations that do not reflect your views. You would be free to continue working when a union, that does not support your views, goes on strike. This is called UNION BUSTING. Union busting is the consorted effort to take power away from Unions and place them back into the hands of the individual. Now...why would anyone want to take control away from Unions? Well...there are many reasons for this. The fact of the matter is, unions are too powerful. Every essential service in out society is unionized. Police, fire, doctors, public transit...it is all unionized. If a union wants more money, they can simply strike, deny service, and they can hold out as long as they want until their demands are met. Right to Work legislation creates non-union workers, who can continue to offer a service, even when the rest of the union is on strike. What this essentially boils down to, is that unions can no longer use our desperation against us. Unions will be forced to negotiate, instead of making outrageous demands and simply waiting us out. Now, obviously, there are some cons to union busting. Non-unions workers, while they keep more of their money, are not entitled to the same health benefits as their unionized co-workers. Non-union workers don't have the protection of the union if said worker is considered for the termination of employment. You are basically on your own. This can seem pretty daunting. However, it is important to note that being unionized does not guarantee employment and that just because you are in a union, does not mean that you cannot lose your job. Factories close, union or no union, and I dare say, over-unionization has caused more closures of domestic factories, simply due to the enormous financial cost of paying people their exorbitant wages that have been created by unions. In fact, the Chinese economy exists because of North American unions have driven the costs too high to make North American manufacturing a viable financial expense. But I digress. Even with unions, cuts always start at the bottom, and the unionized people are ALWAYS at the bottom, with the non-union upper and lower management being at the top. SO when management decides to streamline, whether your are unionized or not, you have an equal chance of losing your job. Being unionized does not guarantee employment, but being non-unionized under Right to Work bills, ensures that you make more money than your counter-parts, and you do not pay into unions. Statistically speaking, private insurance can be just as expensive as union dues. The cost of union dues can tally up to be equivalent to the cost of private insurance on an annual basis. Check the numbers yourself: The Blue Cross extended plan - state of Michigan: http://www.bcbsm.com/index/plans/mic...insurance.html UAW Union Dues: http://www.uaw.org/page/dues A Blue Cross extended health insurance plan is $2170.56 a year. This includes medical, dental, and prescription drugs. Now, consider a UAW auto worker which, assuming a 40 hour work week minimum, at a confirmed $28.50 an hour (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_d...utoworker_earn) translates into $59280 annually. To receive the EXACT same coverage for $2170.56 a year, union coverage that is equivalent to what The Blue Cross offers, your union would need to take %0.03 of your salary, which we KNOW is not the case when you consider the fact that there are union bosses and their salaries, union taxes, and the pensions of OTHER retired workers to pay for, on top of the fact that your federal and state taxes are calculated based on the PRE-UNION fees amount, and not the amount you actually take home in hand...being in a union costs WAY MORE MONEY than NOT being in a union. I can tell you right now, my brother is part of a union, and between 5 and 7% of his salary goes into union dues. Since the UAW does not publish the exact percentage, it is tough to say exactly how much union workers lose, but I can say this; if UAW workers lose 5% of their $59280...that means they are losing, right off the bat, $2964, which translates to a net loss of $793.44 annually If you ask me...unions are the most corrupt thing going since the mob. Speaking of the mob...you should read what The Teamsters (the 4th largest union in North America, with 1.4 million members) and the mob have in common. http://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/02/ny...n-leaders.html So...the next time someone approaches you and starts talking about how great unions are...tell them to go and fucking their own faces. I am all for union busting. I am all for putting unions in their place. I am all for taking power away from unions. And lets not forget...currently, the most powerful economy in the world, does not have a SINGLE union in the country. Which country is that? The same one that owns roughly have of the US Debt... China... Still...I would like to hear YOUR thoughts on union busting / Right to Work bills / unions in general.

[Erex]

Kill the UNIONS NOW!!!!!!! They are socialist, communist, and they have too much power, who the hell are they to tell you, you must pay to be in the union annually, so we can get your more money, and then you can't work if your not in a union, its unconstitional the unions today, when they first came around they were a good thing, now they've seen their good and now they've brought bad, and I'm glad texas is a right to work state. Shove it in your unions.

[Naked Crook]

Unions: You Tube You Tube

[Kairu]

Actually Jon, China does not own us. Most of the US debt is owed to ourselves with civil services. We only owe China 1trillion out of our what? 17 trillion? On an actual on topic note, I think it's good Unions are attempted to start breaking up. My personal opinion is that they're too powerful and have outlived their usedulness. They simply get in the way, imho. On a different note, I know it's against my company's policy to even be remotely affiliated to a union. From what an old manager said, if I ever wanted to take my company's store down woth me, all I have to do is mention that I'm joining a union and the manager is required to report it. Failure to do so is their termination from the company. And the whole store is shut down either way.

[Naked Crook]

Yes Kairu, you are right. I stand corrected. Upon re-checking my source, it said China holds the most of the debt owned by Foreign entities, not China owns most of the debt, period. In other words, the dollar amount of debt owned by foreign countries, CHina owns the largest amount of that. I stand corrected on that. But yes, I agree, Unions have outlived their usefulness. Initially, they were good. However, in today's day and age, where we have a justice system with legal recourse about unfair business practices, unions are no longer needed.

[lynksys]

Power corrupts. Simple as that.