Originally Posted by
chief31
Healthcare is clearly insane.
My question would be "Why should the non-union workers be having to pay the insane amounts?" as opposed to why should union workers get a better deal.
(Healthcare really aught to be one of the few things the government runs. It's the only way end the insanity, without allowing the poor just die because they get sick, or injured.)
Don't you think that a man who puts in a full career to help a company make millions should be treated fairly, with, or without, a union?
I do.
But without a group voice, (union) you can't get a large company to even listen to the discussion.
Being in a union gives you a voice against an otherwise unwilling to listen large company.
The company is a large group who frequently uses that group power to impose their will on employees, and a union is just a large group of employees working together to counter that kind of one-sided relationship.
Employees need jobs, and employers need workers. The two sides have to be able to work together. If you negotiate as an individual, you will be forced to take whatever the employer decides.
When the working class works together, those talks become two-sided. And they are forced to work together.
As for being unwilling to listen to negotiate, I think this is something that could be said of anybody. But I think tough negotiations are exactly what a Union is about.
The UAW has given back in each of the past several contracts with Caterpillar Inc. (My employer) So I know that The UAW definitely does negotiate.
Unfortunately, Caterpillar Inc. makes a habit of finding loop-holes in any, and every, term that they have agreed to, just the same as any big corporation does.
Laws get passed, and labor contracts are signed, to keep employers from being predatory to the working class, and they cheat those laws and agreements.
Outsource, hire part-time and temporary workers, and just plain find a fault in the way laws are worded.
Last contract, Caterpillar told The UAW "unless you want us to be forced to move the jobs away from the area, you are going to have to accept what we are offering in this contract".
The UAW did accept, including major changes (less) for all employees, and Caterpillar still moved their entire engine-building operation.
In order to deal with an entity that is so satisfied to play dirty, you have to play a little dirty yourself.
Far from perfect. But, unless you are happier with Marxism, anarchy, or a form of slavery, then I don't think there is any way to keep the owners semi-honest.
They aren't going to do it themselves.
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