----- Original Message -----
From: "John D. Giorgis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2001 2:49 PM
Subject: Unions Re: Villain of the Week: Bolder Technology Corp
> At 11:58 AM 1/26/01 -0800, Josh wrote:
> >>Nurses, teachers, firefighters, police -- all are getting the short end
of
> >>the stick.
> >
> >Since they're all (except some nurses) government employees, what's the
best
> >solution?
>
> Well yes - but these occuaptions have another thing in common - they are
> all heavily unionized. Now, I am not opposed to unions in general.
> Rather, I take objection to the *policies* generally pursued by unions.
Unions do not operate under some monolithic set of policies that conform to
your experience.
>
> In particularly, unions persue policies geared to the lowest common
> denominator worker. Now, when you are dealing with commoditized workers
> doing highly unskilled and routine labor in a manufacturing plant, this is
> a very rational strategy. Unionization in these situations will almost
> certainly be able to produce some advancements in wage and working
> conditions. These strategies become less universally beneficial,
however,
> in non-commoditized, *professional* occupations, like those listed above.
IBEW rules work pretty well from what I see and we electricians are not
exactly what you would call unskilled.
>
> For example, why is it that our best and brightest children do not pursue
> vocations in nursing, teaching, or law enforcement? I suspect that a
> strong portion of it is the lack of reward for merit. In business, or
> law, or medicine, if you become one of the very best in your profession
you
> can expect to be very well rewarded. You can be the best nurse or
> teacher in the world, however, and you will still only be paid based on
> your years of service and the cost of living of your city.
Are you talking about negotiated wages?
>
> Consider, for example, my situation. I happen to work as an Economist
for
> the US Government, and based on my employee evaluations, I happen to know
> that I am very good at what I do. Now, if I was the type of person who
> did not place as high of a value on public service, short hours, and
> flexible work schedules as I do - then I might pursue a job in the private
> sector, where I could expect to earn substantially more money. Most
> employers, though, when faced with the loss of one of their top employees
> would likely offer a reasonable pay increase to try and retain said
> employee. The US Government, however, bound by its union contract, can't
> offer me a cent more to stay. I am paid strictly according to my years
of
> service with the government. (O.k., there is a bonus system based on
> performance, but the bonus for even the top rating amounts to
substantially
> less than a single week's salary.) This of course, poses a public
> dillemma, as our entire civilization suffers when we are constantly losing
> our most highly talented nurses, teachers, and economists.....
In my local, union wage is a *minimum* wage and it isnt too uncommon for
some people to be paid more because of merit. I was recently paid extra
because I was running a job and the people working for me were newly
organised, lacking in basic skills, and not really what you would call
qualified. I deserved it, thank you!
>
> In this case, the unions are acting to protect the lowest common
> denominator worker, but are in fact producing the counter-productive
> results of driving the most talented workers out of their profession, and
> as a result, we all suffer. This will continue to be the case as long as
> our unions insist upon treating labor like an undifferentiated commodity
in
> occupations where treating labor as differentiated professionals is much
> more appropriate.
>
You have union labor who are skilled and earn higher wages, then you have
non union labor who may or may not have much skill.
I'll admit that within my local there is variance in the skill level between
individuals. But when times get bad and the work disappears, the skilled
people keep their jobs and the unskilled get by however they can.
>
> P.S. Before you accuse me of hating unions - you should known that I AM
> America's Unions - AFGE Local 12.
>
There are good unions and bad unions, good contracts and bad.
xponent
rob
