Comments on: Unions http://www.kennelson.com/newblog/unions-8107 Politics, Technology, and other stuff from St. George, UT Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:11:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: D E http://www.kennelson.com/newblog/unions-8107/comment-page-1#comment-4183 D E Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:52:13 +0000 http://www.kennelson.com/newblog/unions-8107#comment-4183 Unions in general are incredibly corrupt. Much of my mother's life was shaped by a union Coup d'état which ran her father, and therefore her family, out of town. Unions are necessary to fight monopolistic businesses and poor working conditions. For instance EA software was sued in a class action lawsuit for demanding 65-80 hour workweeks from salaried employees without compensation. They contended that the employees contracts stated that they were salaried and not entitled to any overtime. In a sue-happy legal system, especially California's, the class action lawsuits are the Modus Operandi for such situations but I honestly believe that a pair of Unions (one for the Programmers, one for the Artists) could keep EA in check in the long run. However, when the unions *become* monopolies they are as much a threat to the worker as the company itself, sapping increasing "union dues" from the paychecks, forcing people to join, etc, etc. When I worked in a deli in California over the summer I was forced, contractually, to join a union. And I was told that I could 'fight' to have my dues not used for political donations, but that it would take me months. They also told me that every grocery store in the county had to have the SAME UNION. That tells me that the entire supply chain of food for 3 million people could be threatened by one union. Tell me how that is helping workers, who also must eat? Unions in general are incredibly corrupt. Much of my mother’s life was shaped by a union Coup d’état which ran her father, and therefore her family, out of town.

Unions are necessary to fight monopolistic businesses and poor working conditions. For instance EA software was sued in a class action lawsuit for demanding 65-80 hour workweeks from salaried employees without compensation. They contended that the employees contracts stated that they were salaried and not entitled to any overtime. In a sue-happy legal system, especially California’s, the class action lawsuits are the Modus Operandi for such situations but I honestly believe that a pair of Unions (one for the Programmers, one for the Artists) could keep EA in check in the long run.

However, when the unions *become* monopolies they are as much a threat to the worker as the company itself, sapping increasing “union dues” from the paychecks, forcing people to join, etc, etc.

When I worked in a deli in California over the summer I was forced, contractually, to join a union. And I was told that I could ‘fight’ to have my dues not used for political donations, but that it would take me months. They also told me that every grocery store in the county had to have the SAME UNION. That tells me that the entire supply chain of food for 3 million people could be threatened by one union. Tell me how that is helping workers, who also must eat?

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