Labor Unions Feed Joblessness
The New York Post shows us how the big labor unions kill jobs and celebrate corruption. Excerpt:
In Congress, union giveaways -- like the ever-upward minimum wage -- have helped feed a painfully high jobless rate, now stuck near 10 percent.
Union-driven pensions, health-care programs, overtime and other work rules have nearly bankrupted industries (Detroit), threatened the fiscal integrity of state governments (California, New Jersey, New York) and wreaked havoc on entire nations (Greece).
In New York, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. actually teamed up with the unions to kill 2,200 jobs at a planned Kingsbridge Armory mall last winter.
Arguing, bizarrely, that no jobs were better than "low paying" jobs, Diaz demanded retailers at the proposed mall guarantee pay and benefits of at least 60 percent above the minimum wage.
Understandably, the developer balked, the mall died -- and the jobs evaporated.
Terrific.
Near the end, the article points out that the labor unions used to play a part in helping the working poor become members of the middle class, but now they are foes of the people who are out of work and would take any job at all, i.e., the working poor. Why? Because they are anti-market.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry every time I drive past our new local Marc's and see the union people picketing the eeeeeevil non-union employer. Hey, not only are jobs jobs in this economy, but people will buy wherever they can afford it.
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather was a proud union member, but then, he lived through the Great Depression. I wish I could think he'd change his mind on them today, but I think he'd be too entrenched in the mindset.
Unions did a lot of good things throughout their history, e.g., made it so people didn't have to work on Sunday, etc. But at some point they utterly lost respect for the entrepreneurship which enabled their existence and "killed the golden goose" in the private sector. Now their entire existence is owed to the public sector and so we should see anti-union sentiment continue to rise as they now directly feed on our taxes.
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