Back                                                    Unions? Do we need them?

I just ran into an article by Deroy Murdock, (Of Scripps Howard News Service.) complaining of the extravagance of union officials.  Most of his statements though true were also ludicrous:

He complained that Union Officials paid themselves too much. My God some of those people who ran a million or more member Union had the gall to pay themselves $280 thousand a year plus benefits. How come he doesn't mention some of the C.E.O.s of major corporations who receive composition in the millions or tens of millions.

Terry S. Semel C.E.O. of Yahoo received 230.6 million for five years. I'm sorry but I don't see the difference in the leadership abilities.

He also complained about where they chose to go and the hotels they decided to stay in when they held conventions. I guess the multimillionaire C.E.O.s stay in motels.

Let's take a good look at unions and find out if we need them or not. If you think your boss or the C.E.O. of your company will just give you money, you better think again. Why do you think so many business are going overseas? Are they going for the talent? The tax breaks? To be closer to raw materials they need?

NO! They are going for the cheap labor and weaker labor laws.

Unions came into being because of working conditions: Long hours, low pay, unsafe working conditions, and child labor. Only by uniting did the workers have the power to demand a decent living. Don't ever think that the owner of your company will look out for you without pressure. If it weren't for the pressure of unions (Even if your company isn't unionized. They worry that if they don't equal the union shop down the street they will be unionized.) you would have to take what they gave you and they would give as little as they possibly could.

I've traveled throughout South East Asia and seen the way the people live. I've seen sweat shops, children working in dangerous conditions. The slums of Bangkok and some of the poorer areas of Java, Indonesia.

Unions made the middle class, nothing else. Now with the demise or weakening of the Unions the middle class is in danger of disappearing. Is the United States in jeopardy of becoming a third world country, with only rich and poor? A country without a middle class.