What was unfair about the wages?

1. People were paid more than they were worth.
2. Seniority (forget the cream of the crop rising to the top or the company promoting a better worker; it didn’t work that way).
3. Can’t tell the union to go pound salt, even if both the employer and employee agree on a deal outside of the union (so much for freedom of choice from the “pro-choicers”)
4. Some unions require a hefty monthly payment for up to a year before one is actually in the union.

You want me to go on? Maybe you’ll see these problems if you’re ever in some union.

Detroit isn’t failing due to labor, it’s failing because the companies failed to innovate.

Both.

And it’s not “labor”. It’s simply the union. With news of over ten thousand people paid not to work (AKA the “jobs bank”), I don’t know how the hell you can claim “labor” with a straight face.

The problem was very little union very much arrogance.

*shrugs* I personally witnessed an automotive company dry up and move south because of unreasonable union demands. The factory was in Ferndale. You’re from the area, right? They made brakes for GM.

I’m sure the company was far from alone.

Unions were a good idea in the 19th Century, a questionable one in the 20th, and down right obsolete in the 21st.

In Detroit the entire economy is based around the big three if you didn’t think the wage was fair sans union you’d had best move because it wouldn’t matter otherwise.

I didn’t think the wage was fair WITH the unions.

Chew on that for awhile.

And look at Detroit now. What wages? Jobs are quickly disappearing in that area and have been in a nosedive for seven straight years now.

The job situation is much better in “right to work” states. As you ask yourself, “Who is to protect the workers?”, consider, for a moment, that it is not the union that is looking out for “the worker”. The union is killing the industries that supply the jobs for “the worker”.

i didnt join my union and neither did my wife.

I told her to ask the union guys ‘what do i get for my money’ and ‘how much goes to organized crime.’ if the person seems rattled follow with this, ‘one more question; why do white collar union leaders get paid more than the average blue workin’ man worker gets pay? it seems to me the white collar union bosses with their fancy cars and suits should make LESS than the workin’ man, right? isnt that kinda your big sales pitch?”

the only answer they ever have is ‘well, if it wasnt for us youd still be making $1 per hour and kids would be slaves!’ while that 100% true……. we used to the ice man to keep our food cold, but because the world has evolved, we no longer do. union leaders are fun to screw with.

If I remember right the union WANTED Eastern to go out of business just to “get” Frank Lorenzo.

Talk about cutting your nose off to spite your face.

Rezistik – Who is to protect the workers? That is what I always wondered…who is to make sure workers are given fair treatment?

Oh, I don’t know. We have these things called laws. When you get out into the real world, you’ll see.

Why do conservatives love their employers so damn much…They aren’t your parents. They don’t take care of you. Your success is based on you, someone has to protect you from them because their success is based on working hard to make you fail.

Protect you from whom? “Your success is based on you”.

If they have to pay fair wages…

If you don’t think the wage is “fair”, then don’t work there. Simple!

But it isn’t as simple as that, in some places some economies are deeply rooted around a single industry or company, in a monopoly on labor in essence. In Detroit the entire economy is based around the big three if you didn’t think the wage was fair sans union you’d had best move because it wouldn’t matter otherwise.

Your right Robert108 not all people are equal or deserving and those that are exceptional should get paid better but when an unfair baseline pay is issued by employers attempting to maximize personal profits then the employees, ALL of the employees suffer.

I think the people who continue to perpetuate unions today are either too weak, too unskilled or simply too lazy to create their own deal with management.

I think you just described Buzz.

Yep, proof, toot, flew them many times. As far as Easterns demise

During Lorenzo’s tenure, Eastern was crippled by severe labor unrest. Asked to accept deep cuts in pay and benefits, Eastern’s mechanics and ramp service employees, represented by the IAM (International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers), walked out on March 4, 1989. A sympathy strike called by the pilots represented by ALPA (Air Line Pilots Assn.) and flight attendants represented by TWU (Transport Workers Union) effectively shut down the airline’s domestic operations. Non-contract employees, including airport gate and ticket counter agents and reservation sales agents, did not honor the strike. Due to the strike, flights were canceled, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars in revenue.

Buzz proclaims, Then you have nothing to worry about, quit your bitch’n.

Here’s an idea: stop reading. Quit your bitching. Go somewhere else.