Dec 16 2008
The Union Label
In this volatile economy everyone has to bite the bullet, right? No they don’t, only the common man does. Everyday the news has some new crazy thing going on. I’m afraid to watch.
First it was wallstreet with outstretched hands. ‘Help us out, we completely mismanaged our company, and if you don’t pay for our mistake- it will collapse your house of cards.’ So, we give them a big band-aid to stop the bleeding, and is the stockmarket any better? Doesn’t look like it. It looks like we saved the jobs of the people who messed it up in the first place. I haven’t heard of any CEOs getting canned. Every person who is on the board should be fired for sucking AIG dry while it floundered and nearly collapsed. Was there not one person who saw it coming?
Now the line gets longer. Everybody wants in- the airlines, the railroads, etc. The automotive companies are squealing the loudest now. They need all kinds of money to run their daily business. What? Did I hear that right? And what plan do you have to fix that? None? Well, step right up, and get your fair share!
For years I have been watching the car companies and their unions bully everyone to get their way. The unions are not needed and are making the process of self correction slower. The benefits and salary they have gotten over the years is so much more than in any other sector. Nowhere out there can you find a job like that. And nowhere can you screw up something and not be fired for it.. People say we need the unions to keep management honest. Well, that only works if they are not corrupted too. In this day and age we have the media to keep us informed, agencies to enforce laws, and strict guidlines to follow. There is no need for the union to oversee things. It seems that they are only looking out for themselves, and leaving the rest of us to fend for ourselves. The one time I had a union job, I got wrongly fired, the union did NOTHING for me and to this day owes me 60 bucks in dues. They were completely useless.
To fix this industry they need to disband the union, fire the CEOs, hire people who care about their work ethic and get rid of the deadwood. If they had done this years ago, they wouldn’t be in the position they are currently in, on their knees, hands outstretched.
How come the non-union car companies operating in the US are doing okay? I don’t hear their employees screaming that they want more money and benefits. They are happy they have a job.
We need to weed out the deadwood, get down to reality with salary, especially of management. WE NEED TO START BUYING AMERICAN!!! We have sent our jobs overseas and now we are sending our money there too. We have become the world’s police at our own cost, while our healthcare system is not working. We pay farmers to not grow food, while people are going hungry. These problems in our society have to be addressed before we go telling other people how to run their countries. We need to buckle down and rethink the way we waste our precious resources.
There would be big problems in our system for awhile. You can’t fix a problem without stirring things up. The only people who will be squawking after it is over, is the slackers who started this trainwreak in the first place! And it not only the autoworkers union that needs to go, the rest do too. I have not seen one thing the union can do that public opinion can’t do. Hire people to check on companies to keep them on the up and up. Reported abuses seem to clear themselves up like magic when exposed to public scrutiny. I know this is not a popular opinion. The funny thing is that most of the people who are upset, are benefitting from a union affiliation.
