Recently, here in Phoenix, local grocery chains Fry’s and Safeway had disputes with their respective unions. Supposedly no deal could be agreed upon and thousands of grocery workers went on strike this afternoon.
Now is it just me, or is this the WORST possible time in all of history to decide to go on strike?
Not only are you not working, but you’re protesting your wages and demanding higher pay, during a depression (or recession depending on who you ask). Do you really believe your jobs are going to be protected? Especially when both stores have secured over 6,000 temporary clerks? What harm could you possibly do to a company that has temporarily replaced you during your “strike”?
Which gets into the subject of unions. Regardless of what you may or may not have heard on CNN, the prime reason the largest automaker in the world collapsed and went bankrupt was because of unions. Yeah, maybe back in the 20’s unions were very much a positive thing. Without a degree in the field, I can say that they are probably the reason the standard of living was raised for many people and why so many people were able to make a living for many, many years. But these days, unions are only causing problems. They’re becoming more of a pest than an asset.
Going back to the UAW, talk about ruthless, good for nothing union leaders. Very few heard about it, because we have to support the unions in this country, you dare not oppose them, but their practices over the past many years has been dishonest and despicable.
First, most of the “engineers” that the UAW are protecting make $30+/hour, are salary, and work ZERO hours per week. That’s right, the UAW has made it so these men can sit at home, do nothing, and still get paid.
That’s not all. While they have secured high wages and rivaled benefits packages, they still pressure the automakers into more and more demands. Such demands these companies are forced to grant in fear of not only losing man hours, but because of the sheer power these unions hold over their heads.
And the fear was, “we can’t end the unions, that’ll end jobs and the automakers will all go bankrupt!” Oh, and, “we have to support the unions because they keep millions of Americans employed and we have to buy American built, not foreign!”
Well first of all BMW, Honda and Toyota are all union-less. Oh, and by the way, they also have plants across the country, so buying foreign is also supporting jobs held by Americans. As for Ford and GM, they both have plants in Canada, Mexico and China. So much for “American Built”.
This was meant to be a short rant about something local so sorry about the lack of links, but this is all verifiable, just by doing a search of the internet.
Guess I’m done for now.
- Jeff
No comments:
Post a Comment