Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Weakening labor unions: It's a very big deal
Scripps Howard News Service ^ | 10/8/6 | ANN MCFEATTERS

Posted on 10/07/2006 9:13:02 PM PDT by SmithL

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-36 next last

1 posted on 10/07/2006 9:13:04 PM PDT by SmithL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SmithL

Hate to hear that...NOT.

In a world where the lowest-paid supermarket workers earn a living (albeit modest) wage, the need for union membership is near nil.


2 posted on 10/07/2006 9:19:46 PM PDT by jra
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL
wages have gone stagnant, jobs are going overseas,

I guess the current economic boom is a figment of my imagination

traditional pensions are nearly gone

Nobody's stopping workers from investing in 401(k)s and IRAs. The sooner Social Security and other funds paid for by taxpayers are gone, the better.

employer-paid health insurance is disappearing

Companies aren't supposed to be providing health insurance anyway.

the minimum wage is not a living wage

You damn skippy it ain't!

and workers have fewer options in disputes with management.

More good news.

3 posted on 10/07/2006 9:21:36 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jra
If it's bad for the unions, it's good for America.

L

4 posted on 10/07/2006 9:22:26 PM PDT by Lurker (islam is not a religion. It's the new face of Fascism in our time. We ignore it at our peril.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SmithL
"Saddest of all, a majority of Americans eligible to vote this November, with all of the House and one-third of the Senate at stake, will not bother to go to the polls."

Actually that doesn't really make me sad at all.....because those who don't vote are usually the LEAST informed....IMHO.

5 posted on 10/07/2006 9:27:05 PM PDT by goodnesswins (I think the real problem is islamo-bombia! (Rummyfan))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

ping for later


6 posted on 10/07/2006 9:29:05 PM PDT by kublia khan (Absolute war brings total victory)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL
WOW makes no sense that the liberals would promote a sex scandal, I mean "words about sex" scandal, as their ticket to retaking power. Starving children would make better tv than exposing their gay agenda.

Sure got to wonder about these people, after all the dollars these unions pay these liberals.
7 posted on 10/07/2006 9:30:02 PM PDT by Just mythoughts
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL
"Traditionally, Democrats generally favor workers."

Right, except to have freedom to choose whether to belong to a union. If they don't want to join, have thugs make them join. Ann probably also thinks that all the workers of Cuba love Fidel. The Israelites who waxed nostalgic for the fleshpots of Egypt were Democrats.

8 posted on 10/07/2006 9:30:36 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: goodnesswins

Ms. McFeatters is simply lamenting the fact that her beloved unions won't be contributing as much to Dem coffers. Her concern for voter-turnout is a ruse . . . she wouldn't give a whit if the $ was still flowing in.


9 posted on 10/07/2006 9:31:00 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

This agency of government ought to be abolished, I'd think. Workers should be able to join unions if they please and employers should feel free to fire them if they do, as they should. Currently they cannot fire them, at least openly. I'll be happy to see the parasitic unions go:

http://www.neoperspectives.com/unions.htm


10 posted on 10/07/2006 9:34:28 PM PDT by traviskicks (http://www.neoperspectives.com/Amnesty_From_Government.htm)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jra

there was never a need for it.


11 posted on 10/07/2006 9:35:25 PM PDT by traviskicks (http://www.neoperspectives.com/Amnesty_From_Government.htm)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

Oh, cry me a river.


12 posted on 10/07/2006 9:35:47 PM PDT by HANG THE EXPENSE (Defeat liberalism, its the right thing to do for America.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

Unions have served their purpose in the past, but I don't think we're in danger of reverting to 19th century working conditions if the Unions disappear. Far from protecting the average worker, the unions have become nothing more than a legal wing of organized crime. My brother, a union electrician, tells me the horror stories from the union hall, where the well-connected cronies of the bosses are taken good care of while the average working stiff gets the crumbs. The cost of doing business in the city is almost double that of the sunurbs, mostly due to the unions (and the Lib/Dem fetish for taxing and regulating everything).

I don't begrudge a guild of professionals trying to get what they can for thier work, but the current setup is just a disgrace.


13 posted on 10/07/2006 9:37:21 PM PDT by Sterm26 (Death before Dhimmitude!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL
But this Bush administration is transparently hostile to workers even as its mistakes have been costly to business trying to compete in the long term. And business will not be better off with a cowed, unmotivated work force.

If the workforce is cowed and unmotivated I think the author should look at the union activities rather than those of the Bush administration. Any any worker who cannot compete in this economy doesn't deserve a job.

The economy is strong, unemployment is low, and unions are losing membership... sounds like Bush is doing something right.

14 posted on 10/07/2006 9:37:51 PM PDT by eggman (Democrat party - The black hole of liberalism from which no rational thought can escape.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL
Republicans control all branches of government, including the executive and legislative branches and the Supreme Court

The pubbies control the SCOTUS? Really? When did that happen?

15 posted on 10/07/2006 9:37:55 PM PDT by upchuck (Q:Why does President Bush support amnesty for illegal aliens? A:Read this: http://tinyurl.com/nyvno)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 1rudeboy

Yikes....I just re-read it.....she's a sympathizer!


16 posted on 10/07/2006 9:38:30 PM PDT by goodnesswins (I think the real problem is islamo-bombia! (Rummyfan))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

Our Little Miss Writer above should hardly be surprised to see the GOP treat unions as their enemy, as the AFL-CIO alone has donated over $900 Million more to Democrats than to the GOP over the past decade.

She also lies about "stagnant" salaries (they are increasing even faster than inflation) and omits our booming economy, booming stock market, and full national employment (unemployment down to just 4.6%).

Over the long term, she can't win with lies and omissions, either. Her factual arguments must stand on their own or else she will lose regardless.


17 posted on 10/07/2006 9:38:42 PM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

It is not only "big business," whoever that is, that wanted a major change in the membership and the culture of the NLRB. Even ordinary citizens, such as I, tired of the NLRB behaving as a shill for the capos of Big Labor.
No institution in recent decades has been more contemptuous or destructive of the civil rights of American workers than labor unions, and the NLRB has been a passive observer, if not an active supporter of these decades of trashing workers' rights. Even the Reagan administration failed to take corrective action, vis-a-vis the NLRB.


18 posted on 10/07/2006 9:40:03 PM PDT by Elsiejay
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sterm26

Unions have served their purpose in the past, but I don't think we're in danger of reverting to 19th century working conditions if the Unions disappear.




Except that in the past they did a good job of keeping illegals off work sites. With the demise of the unions in construction trades in many parts of the country well....


19 posted on 10/07/2006 9:40:57 PM PDT by durasell (!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: jra

the unions have out lived their usefulness. The last market strike on the west coast, the workers lost big time. The unions are trying to gather immigrant help to boost membership.


20 posted on 10/07/2006 9:43:52 PM PDT by television is just wrong (our sympathies are misguided with illegal aliens...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-36 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson