[TheForge] OT Union Rant (Was Re: concrete)

[Dann Johnson]

On CNN today,  Thompsen Electronics , ( I think that they make both  RCA 
and GE  TVs ) announced they will be ending  US  TV  Production.

A few years ago,  I spoke with, and later watched the daughter of a 
Minnesota  blacksmith come to  blacksmith conferences.  She came to take 
pictures of blacksmithing ideas / and occasionally buy the  iron art  to 
send to China to be replicated  for a "home interiors" kind of 
company.    No matter how good the work ethic of  the  American 
Craftsman,  there will be a Chinese "artist" willing to make a reasonable 
replicate the idea for 40 cents an hour.

The pendulum swings back and forth , always an excess sweep away from the 
center.  For many years now it has been swinging to the right.

Being an Anti-Union is an easy thing.  We all have heard of the excesses 
that Unions are accused.  However let us not forget the  heavy handed 
factory management excesses that caused Unions to form in the first place.

In my opinion, Unions are not about keeping substandard 
workers  working,  but about human working conditions. living  wages.  Yes, 
even the original  idea of a 5 day work week, and a 40 hour work week.

Surely no one works  just 40 hours, but the idea is still there.  Most non 
union employees benefited from the concept,  and the potential "threat" of 
union, and as a result got a chance for a home life.   Non-Union Companies 
that I know of, for example Winnebago Industries that make the Winnebago 
Motor Homes, always  seemed to time their wage increases around the time of 
pending Union vote.

Some companies, like  the one my daughter works for,  have gone to a 39 
hour  "part time" work week to avoid the question of  insurance 
costs.  Overtime wages are also under assault by the current administration.

There will be some tough battles ahead, for when the pendulum swings to far 
to the right... the rebound will be painful.   Even in a "workers state" 
like  China,  as in my opinion,  and many 3rd world factories,   workers 
are still going though the 1850 - 1900 industrial revolution that chewed 
workers up and spit them out as broken, damaged people.


Dann Johnson


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