I'm lucky enough to work for one of the better companies in this country. However, this company makes money by contracting its employees out to third parties, and I'm sick of the shit some of our corporate customers pull, and tired of having no voice in the matter. Why don't I have any recourse?
NAFTA. Enjoy your minimum wage future.
The government stepped in for many of the most pressing causes in workers' rights (occupational safety, etc) during and after the Great Society, and a generation was raised with little knowledge of and no real need for unions.
Companies, of course, were not sorry to see them fade away.
You don't have to work at "one of the better companies".
Unions financially destroyed, or forced companies out of The USA.
No companies = no need for workforce.
No workforce, no need for Unions.
It's a peculiar cycle.
This is, of course, an over-simplification considering NAFTA, OSHA and EPA over-regulation, along with Unions were the real driving force in crippling American business and manufacturing. But it works.
>>5
Well, fact of the matter is, some industries can't afford any longer to both maintain a decent standard of living for their workers and remain competitive on the global market. If they're forced to nonetheless, and collapse as a result, it doesn't much matter whether the final nail in the coffin was driven in by government, unions, or flying pigs - globalization was still the root cause of death.
Unless, perhaps, you're suggesting that it's the duty of governments to pander to the lowest common denominator of the global market and outlaw unions, gut workers' rights legislation, and do all else necessary to ensure that their businesses remain competitive with third world manufacturing bases. 19th century capitalist paradise, anybody?
Unions didn't take it far enough. The corporations still had all the power they needed to take jobs overseas. If anything, unions should have been more corrupting of the government.
I never understand the right wing viewpoint that unions contributing to campaigns is evil while drug companies and every other corporation on earth contributing is A-OK. At the very least, unions are representing working people.
> If anything, unions should have been more corrupting of the government.
No. No. No. Unions should have continued fighting and wielding their previously enormous political influence. If the unions had pressured congressmen to vote down NAFTA/OAS/etc. then outsourcing never would have been an issue.
I wish we were back to the days that Walter Reuther led the UAW. He fought like Hell to have product pricing partially controlled by the union. Never came to fruition, but a worthy cause. Of course, he was killed in some mysterious plane crash.
Anti-union people love to bitch about how unions cause inflation, but they also inflate the wages of everyone else in the area. IIRC, right-to-work states generally have lower average household incomes (in the sub $100,000 range) than states with unions.
>>9
To clarify one thing further: I'm not talking about corrupting the government. For unions to have PACs and mobilize their membership as a voters base is no different than corporate campaign contributions. Corruption is undesirable and a word that I would not use.
This shit started long before NAFTA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_%281968%29