The unions were created for good reasons early in this country's mfg history. But today there is no reason for them, period. People claim that Unions "protect their jobs". Joining a union is no guarentee that one will keep his or her job. If a major mfg didn't have a union does anybody think that nowadays they could get away with mistreating people without being sued senseless every other day? I at one time took a tour of a nearby GM plant because I had applied at Harrison where the AC compressors were being made. My uncle had nearly 30 years in at the time there. He was responsible for distributing parts. We were shown a short presentation of the mfg process and how tight tolerances and controls were the backbone of their quality control and output. My tour went thru the part of the plant where most of the older guys worked (most had 20+ yrs in) including my uncle. During the tour I was appalled at what I saw, one guy with his feet up on a bench, reading the morning paper and drinking coffee. I also remember vivdly seeing a guy removing some kind of "protective" tip from each part after they came out of the paint booth. The average kid behind the counter at McD"s would make more physical movement then this guy in one day without question. We stopped at my uncle's workstation and since the tour leader knew I was related, and my uncle proceeds to tell me that at 11:00 A.M. HE HAS COMPLETED HIS WORK FOR THE DAY! Get this, he was actually at his workbench building a model car for his grandson! Was he permitted to go work on something else when he had his work done? NO! Why? Because the union rules did not permit him to do so. He told me that he wasn't even able to unplug his machine because the union protected guys whose job was to work on machines and unplugging one was a no-no. So I get to the end of the tour and at the back end of the line the tour guide stand atop a vast number of skids of finished compressors and proudly points at all the skids and says "See guys, this is exactly what we are trying to avoid. All these units you see need to be reworked. That's why we have the quality checks in place". Before I leave my uncle wishes me luck and proceeds to inform me that most of the guys working in his area were pulling down $50K+. So we wonder why the Honda plant here in Ohio can crank out a large number of quality cars and still pay their workers a decent wage without the "help" of a union. If you were forced to pay a guy $15+ an hour for shooting screws, you would jump on the bandwagon and take your business out of the country too.
Unions and Corporate Mangerment aren't good or bad. Like everything else, it's the people IN them that make it good or bad. Both are power positions, and 99% of people that wnat power want it for the wrong reasons...
